Swindon Town should look at Birmingham City starlet with Ian Holloway X-Factor comments in mind | OneFootball

Manager Ian Holloway has said he's looking for that X Factor in attack, maybe he should look at one player making waves at Birmingham City.

Despite a tame performance on Saturday against Bradford City that brought many Swindon Town fans back to earth after a somewhat promising previous week and the unsavoury scenes that followed, Town manager Ian Holloway has remained upbeat about his side's chances of turning things around before the end of the season.

Statistically, Town's attacking performance was one of the worst of the season, with xG generated just 0.05 and touches in the opposition box limited to just three (!). It seems quite obvious that effective reinforcements are required, and where. Ollie has already talked about leveraging his vast network of contacts to find the right players to get the club back up the table, as an unthinkable exit from the football league continues to cause real angst among fans, whose protests against the ownership show no sign of slowing down.

Ian Holloway knows what Swindon need

Speaking on Saturday after the drab defeat at The University of Bradford Stadium (Valley Parade), the manager belied that lack of bite in attack. He said, via the Swindon Advertiser: "That energy was exactly what I wanted but unfortunately today everything that we tried and wherever we went we didn’t quite have it in the final third. We put some great balls into the box and we didn’t get anyone on the end of it but that is how tough it is. Do we need more effort in that final third to disrupt people? Yes we do and we didn’t get that today which is disappointing.

"I am not downhearted as I have seen a shift in what we are doing, we are getting around the pitch better, tackling better, putting them under massive pressure, and they are not cutting through us. I feel an awful lot better on that bench watching my team than I did a couple of weeks ago and if other people aren’t seeing that then they don’t know what I know."

Town could look to Birmingham City starlet

The Football League is, of course, full of talented footballers eager to show their worth and make a name for themselves in an incredibly competitive ecosystem. Birmingham City, who have assembled one of the most expensive squads in the history of League One, have one young star who could be a missing piece in Town's toothless attack. Romelle Donovan, who burst onto the scene under Wayne Rooney, is seen, according to Mike Grant (Football League World's Birmingham City fan pundit) as one of the biggest talents at the club, has not had the best of season's so far.

He said: "The biggest talent at the club at the moment is Romelle Donovan, for me. Last year he burst onto the scene and played quite a few times under Rooney, then when Rowett came in he had a few games as well.

"His loan at Burton didn't go very well during the first half of the season, so I think he has probably not progressed as much as we would have hoped, but returning to the club ahead of a potential loan for the second half of the season could do him a world of good.

"The talent is there, the work ethic is there, but he is a bit lightweight. I think he needs to work on that. I still think he is the best talent that we have got."

Swindon might be a perfect match

Loaned out to fellow League One club Burton Albion, the player has not progressed as much as Blues fans would like. A drop-down to League Two and a loan to a club in need of some dynamism and youth in attack could be a perfect match.

At Swindon, Donovan would be able to get real minutes and work with a manager with two decades of experience in the Football League (Swindon's home match against Grimsby Town tomorrow will be Ollie's 1,000th match as a manager, and against one of his old clubs).

Chance to become a cult hero and save this one-time Premier League club from the abyss? Might be worth a punt.