Mark Kennedy said Swindon Town will challenge next season

The 48-year-old spoke to the press for the first time after being appointed Swindon’s Head Coach and spoke about the expectations of the club going into next season.

Kennedy said that he would not have come to Swindon if he did not think the club was capable of competing towards the top end of League Two and that would be the ambition for the club next season.

He said: “Trust me, we are not here to finish 15th or 12th in the league, we are here to get in the playoffs and I have come here to get promoted.

“Will that happen in the first year? I don’t know because I don’t have a crystal ball, but I haven’t come here to be mediocre, I haven’t come here to be average.

“I have come here to be really, really successful on my journey and also help Swindon on theirs.

“I wouldn’t have come here for one second if I did not think that we could do that.

“I had a couple of good opportunities to work in League One, but I felt the project here was really exciting and I also felt it had a reality to be successful as well. And I really believe in that.”

Kennedy added that he had picked Swindon because he believed that there was a strong project at the club and he could see that good times were ahead.

He said: “I am a big believer in looking forward and not looking in the past, but when I look at the work that has been done here; you have been through some tough times and I think there is a big light at the end of the tunnel.

“I think this is a really exciting project, I look at the fan base and on the average attendance alone you would be touching the top ten in League One.

“With all of those things in place and making sure to reconnect with the fans, getting them back with the club and I think that starts with the Head Coach.

“Managers come and go in football, owners, directors; but the fans will still be here in 100 years and it is so important that the club has an identity that it can be proud of and one that the fans buy into.”