SWINDON Town’s latest addition, Olly Lancashire, believes he has learnt from his previous mistakes after putting pen to paper on a two-year deal at the County Ground.

The 28-year-old central defender endured a nightmare end to his stay at Shrewsbury Town after being frozen out of the side by manager Paul Hurst.

Having passed a medical with an unnamed club on the final day of the January transfer window, Lancashire had a change of heart minutes before the 11pm deadline which led to being told he wouldn’t be involved at the Greenhous Meadow, his last game coming on January 2 against Fleetwood Town.

As a result, Lancashire was keen to make the right move this time around, having had his contract terminated by Shrewsbury with a year remaining, and believes he has chosen wisely with Swindon Town.

“I first met the gaffer (David Flitcroft) and Futch (assistant manager Ben Futcher), about 10 days ago now. It took a couple of days to sort out the situation at Shrewsbury but I have trained with the club for the last couple of days and it has been a good start,” he told the Advertiser.

“It was pretty clear from my time there that it was time to move on.

“I had three good years at Rochdale. I was captain and we got promoted and had two good years in League One.

“This time last year, it was a tough decision to turn down a contract there to move to Shrewsbury which, at the time, I thought was the right thing to do but hindsight is a wonderful thing and it was a bad decision.

“That’s why the decision I made this year was an important one.

“When I got the permission from Shrewsbury, I was able to talk to quite a few managers and weighed up the options and once I spoke to the gaffer and Futch, it was quite an easy decision to come down.”

Lancashire and Town manager David Flitcroft have many mutual connections having both had spells at Rochdale, which didn’t overlap, and the defender turned to former manager Keith Hill for advice when coming to his final decision.

“I was in touch with Keith and the staff at Rochdale and they put my name in to the gaffer,” added Lancashire, who had a two hour meeting with Flitcroft.

“He just told me the plans for this season and beyond and I feel like I know how the gaffer works on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s a very intense and demanding way to play football but I feel that’s how I like to be managed and be involved in.

“Having spoken to some lads who have been involved under the gaffer at Rochdale, Barnsley and Bury, then it was a no brainer to take the opportunity and try to get promoted this year.”