DANNY Wilson believes Swindon Town is on its way back to becoming the “heart and soul of the community”, as play-off fever grips Wiltshire.

After years of turmoil both on and off the pitch, life at the County Ground currently couldn’t be better under the stewardship of chairman Andrew Fitton and boss Wilson.

A place in the second tier of English football is just one game away as Town face Millwall in the League One play-off final next Saturday, and Wilson paid tribute to the club’s board in reconnecting the club with its fans.

“The owners put a long-term plan in place and have had to turn this football club round from what it was two, three, five years ago, to what it is trying to be in the next two or three years,” explained the manager.

“With the structure they are trying to put in place, they would be better to say what winning the play-offs would mean to the town as they have been living here longer than I have.

“But, from a footballing side of it, your team will always be the heart and soul of the community. And if that’s doing well then everybody has a bit of a spring in their step.

“If the club is doing well and there is something to focus on then it always helps the community.

“The crowds have been starting to swell for us, and it’s not easy to get people into the stadiums because we are living in an area which has been hit by the economic downturn.

“But they have found the money to come and watch and that is brilliant because it says they have faith and belief in us, which we are very grateful for.”

Throughout their push for promotion Wilson has publically played down Swindon’s chances, regularly describing his side as “underdogs”.

But the boss admitted that behind closed doors it has been a different story.

“I always believed it. Maybe people thought I was a bit cuckoo, but I always believed it,” he said of their potential to go up.

“We never said it openly though and just said we wanted to be in a certain area because it lets people down if you don’t achieve it.

“But as momentum has gained people knew exactly what we were thinking.

“It’s been great because of where we were this time last season.

“We had a lot of disgruntled fans thinking ‘here we go again’ and wondering what the season was going to hold.

“But after a big clearout, the new players who came in settled very quickly. And when you get the likes of Jon Douglas, Dave Lucas and Gordon Greer coming in as your back bone then it gives you a big help if you want to achieve something.”