TOWN’S youth policy on the pitch has grabbed plenty of headlines this season, but off the pitch it is clearly also thriving, writes ANTHONY MARSHALL.

A sell-out is expected at the County Ground for Friday night’s League One play-off semi-final first leg against Charlton, as Swindon look to cap a remarkable season by gaining promotion via Wembley.

And there to cheer them on every step of the way will be one of the club’s youngest season ticket holders, 19-month-old Jake Hutchinson.

The toddler has held a season ticket since he was just 12 weeks old, and travels home and away with parents Ian and Jo to follow Town.

And the Hutchinsons made sure they were among the first in line yesterday morning to book their place for the play-offs.

“We got them eventually but we had to wait about two-and-a-quarter hours,” dad Ian told the Advertiser.

“I thought we should get there relatively early but there was still a pretty big queue going almost all the way down the Town End.

“It’s superb to see though and hopefully it will be a big crowd and a great atmosphere for Charlton.

“We got Jake a season ticket when he was three months old and he absolutely loves it. At home he’s always kicking a ball or watching football, and he loves Swindon.

“He’s too young to have a favourite player yet, but just shouts and screams at the game instead.

“I know there’s other people with young kids who go along, but Jake has got to be one of the youngest.”

Hutchinson Senior is confident Town can progress through the semi-finals against the Addicks following what has been a campaign to remember.

“I’m nervous about it. I just hope we can win,” he said.

“I reckon we’ve got the best draw though. Huddersfield are hard to play at their ground and Millwall looked decent on Saturday.

“But the way we’ve played against the top sides we’ve done well and there’s no reason why we can’t beat Charlton.

“We deserve some luck at this club. I was kicking myself the other day thinking we should have got second place, but we’ve got a great board, great manager and a great set of players.

“I just hope we can keep hold of them all next season if things don’t go as well as we want them to.”

At 5pm yesterday Town had sold almost 5,000 tickets for Friday night’s game.

  • FORMER Town youth team player Karl Robinson has been named as the new Milton Keynes Dons boss.

The 29-year-old becomes the Football League’s youngest manager and takes over the Stadium:MK hot seat from Paul Ince, having stepped into the caretaker role when the former England man resigned last month.