Swindon Town Head of Football Jamie Russell said that he is looking at a playing vision for the club that is inspired by Glenn Hoddle.

Mark Kennedy arrived as Swindon’s new head coach this summer at a time in which Swindon have looked to move away from a philosophy of relying on young talent in the first team.

Swindon had one of the highest possession rates in the league last season but struggled despite this as they were porous defensively.

Kennedy arrives with a reputation for playing more defensively sound football that with Lincoln City was initially in a 433 and then switched to a 343 for the majority of his tenure at the LNER Stadium.

The 48-year-old said of his playstyle: “The one thing that I do believe I am is an adaptable coach, I have always played and worked with possession-based teams, but I am incredibly proud of changing the mindset, recruitment, and style of play like we did at Lincoln to be really successful.”

When asked about whether he had sought out a particular footballing philosophy when searching for a new head coach, Russell said that he was flexible although preferred a system that is based on a famous team from Swindon’s past.

He said: “I think that football is constantly evolving all of the time, everyone was hung up around 442 and then it was 4321 and the Christmas tree formation and you have all of these wonderful things and then suddenly one person starts doing something different and it all changes.

“I think that the big thing for us was something we liked was going back to Glenn Hoddle, with three at the back and being able to build and using the centre of the back three to come out with the ball and be able to build.

“Mark is very much aligned with that, but that was not the overarching reason why we went with Mark, but in terms of the ability to go between 343 and 352 with a single pivot or a double pivot.

“With our recruitment, it is so important that we are not just getting a player that can only play in one position, everyone that we are recruiting is adaptable within positions.

“It could be that within one game, we could move within two or three shapes depending on what is happening and players would be able to adapt and move between those.”