Swindon Town are in discussions over appointing Barnet boss Dean Brennan as their next head coach, the Adver understands.

Swindon are interested in appointing the 43-year-old as their next boss, according to a source who wishes to remain anonymous to protect relationships, as they look to build for next season.

When asked about the story, a spokesperson for Town confirmed that talks between Swindon and Barnet over Brennan are ongoing.

The former Sheffield Wednesday winger has now emerged as the leading candidate for the role, having been admired by the club for several months, despite rumours that Derek Adams and Gavin Gunning were the frontrunners to take over from Michael Flynn.

The Irishman guided Barnet to second place in the National League last season, although they were knocked out of the playoffs by Tyrese Shade’s Solihull Moors in the semi-final.

His Bees were free-scoring last season as they netted 91 times in the National League, second only to runaway league winners Chesterfield, but they were not totally cavalier as only five sides conceded fewer goals than Barnet in the fifth tier last term.

During his three seasons as Barnet's head coach, the Irishman guided them to the playoffs twice, finishing fifth in 2022/23, also arresting a difficult start in which previous head coach Harry Kewell won none of the first seven games of the campaign before he moved from his Head of Football role to become head coach.

Brennan has been coaching for the last 14 years, working at various clubs across non-league, first becoming caretaker manager at Hemel Hempstead Town at the age of 29, before getting the job full-time in 2012. He guided them to a playoff final defeat and their highest-ever league finish in his first season, before earning promotion to National League South in his second, winning the league by ten points.

Following two seasons in the sixth tier in which Hemel survived comfortably and then narrowly missed out on the playoffs, Brennan and his assistant Stuart Maynard, now head coach of Notts County, left for Billericay Town.

His stint in Essex was not the happiest and lasted less than four months, before having a brief spell at Kingstonian, but left after just five games in charge.

In May 2019 he then landed with Wealdstone, winning National League South in the Covid-shortened 2019/20 season, before resigning in February of their first season in the National League and landing at Barnet later that year.