A clear-out of the current playing squad is coming at Swindon Town this summer, according to interim head coach Gavin Gunning.

Following the defeat at Grimsby Town on Saturday, Swindon have guaranteed that this campaign would be the club’s worst since the four-tier structure of English football was introduced, as with one game remaining they will not be able to catch the 58 points tally of the 1983/84 season.

With the vast majority of the squad out of contract this summer, Gunning has been saying for weeks that the current crop would have to be playing for their future in the final weeks due to the catastrophic nature of the season.

Only Harrison Minturn, Ricky Aguiar, Jake Cain, Anton Dworzak, and Aaron Drinan are confirmed as being signed up for next season, meaning that the rest of the squad is in limbo, although the club possess options to extend the contracts of Jack Bycroft, Paul Glatzel, and Sean McGurk for an additional year.

Gunning said that a massive change in the current playing staff would be required over the summer as Swindon prepare to try and arrest the current negative trend of league positions year on year.

He said: “[How much surgery does the squad need?] A good bit.

“We know and we can see that the goals we concede are not great and we need to change.

“We know what we need recruitment-wise and that is what we have got to go and get.

“We can’t get this window wrong, it is key, this summer is massively important.

“100 per cent [we have a clear understanding of the strategy]. I spoke to Jamie and it is clear what we need, so that is what we have got to go at going forward.”

Speaking ahead of that game against Grimsby, Gunning mentioned the fact that the club would be looking for more physical players in the summer.

He said: “If you watch us you can see [dealing with crosses is a problem], we aren’t the biggest team and going forward we know we need a bigger one.

“It is there for everyone to see when those balls are coming in from deep, you have to be able to deal with them if you are a centre-half at this level.

“80 per cent of the teams play like that, so we definitely need more size and we know that and we will deal with that.”