RICHIE Wellens says he will always leave the door open for players to force their way back into his thinking even if they are on the verge of exiting the club.

The Swindon Town manager highlighted Ellis Iandolo and Keshi Anderson as two examples of personnel who may not have had a future at the club before turning circumstances around to make a name for themselves.

Versatile defender Iandolo was picking up substitute appearances during Wellens’ early tenure at the County Ground before bouncing back during pre-season this campaign.

The 22-year-old transformed himself into one of the first names on the team-sheet for a few months before his season-ending injury in December.

And Wellens said several of his ostracised youth players would do well to follow in the footsteps of the Chatham-born defender if they want a future at the club.

Wellens said: “If you give young players the chance to improve, they can improve quickly.

“Ellis Iandolo is a good example of that because he spent a lot of time out of the team last year, and in the summer, he probably thought his days were numbered.

“But he came in during pre-season and his attitude was spot on.

“He wanted to learn, he wanted to get better – all day I’d work with players like that.

“Ellis would have played more, but he obviously picked up that injury around Christmas.

“And the same with Keshi Anderson – I won’t lie, we made him available in the summer because I don’t think his attitude was where it should have been.”

Though Wellens opted not to name specific players, the manager suggested several of his young players would do well to head out on loan before coming back for next term’s pre-season fresh and ready to go.

Cameron McGilp recently went on trial to Waterford United – though the Irish club chose not to take the Australian for any further period of time – while Scott Twine and Luke Haines will spend the rest of this term at Chippenham Town.

And the Swindon boss insists that is the best way to get back into his good books.

Wellens said: “I’m not one of these old-school managers where I say: “once you cross me, you’re done”.

“I give opportunities to people because I’m going to make mistakes, and I don’t want them to hold it against me. So it works both ways.

“I’ll never close the door on anyone.

“It’s up to those players to train properly for the rest of the season, go out on loan, come back in pre-season and try and change my mind.”