It is mid-September and despair about Swindon Town being yet to win a game of football in the new season is setting in. Even with the lows the club have experienced recently, it is a surprise to be feeling quite so worried only weeks into the campaign. 

Another change in manager and recruitment strategy, now a summer tradition under owner Clem Morfuni, was meant to herald an upturn in fortunes, stemming the club’s successive lower finishes since the Australian entered stage left, donning a bucket hat.

The season is still just in its early days, but new head coach and self-described inter-personal relationships expert Mark Kennedy must be slowly realising how much work will be needed to turn his side’s torrid start into the stated ambition of a promotion tilt.

In fairness to Morfuni and his footballing eyes and ears Jamie Russell, the Head of Football, this year’s change in strategy was borne out of a recognition of previous failures, rather than simply moving away from a previous strategist’s methods.

Last year, Russell assembled a small squad of injury-prone ball players, made up of largely young and in some cases unproven talent. The defence ended up leaky, out of position and off the pace; as the club ambled to its lowest league finish since the introduction of the four-tier league system, the only saving grace was the efforts of players in the attacking ranks, most notably Dan Kemp and Jake Young. Without their goals, the table would have made for even more grim reading than it did.

So, out with that strategy, and in with the new; Russell set about contracting taller, more experienced players. The early summer window signings of Ollie Clarke, Rosaire Longelo and Tunmise Sobowale seemed sensible; building a solid base was prioritised. As the window wore on, the defence was further bolstered; bar striker Harry Smith, most of the headline signings throughout the summer were defensive-minded players.

Only in the final week of the summer window did the more attacking signings of Kabongo Tshimanga, Gavin Kilkenny, Danny Butterworth and George Cox put pen to paper. While the window was ongoing, we had been able to see the footballing fruits of the transfer window, which has been difficult viewing. 

Kennedy’s men, whether by accident or design, have so far played as if allergic to creating chances. Generally, they have been tricky to play through, and have plodded through games with clear effort and exertion, many of the seven games this season so far having been tight affairs as a result, but it’s hard to pinpoint many chances which could have turned the losses into draws, or the draws into wins. The strikers have been presented with few obvious openings, while Kennedy’s men haven’t even looked like scoring at set pieces, where one might have assumed such a tall side would be well placed to benefit.

Kennedy, for his part, has bemoaned the players taking his instructions too literally, rather than playing differently in moments which require a modification in approach.

All this leaves the impression of Swindon being victims of short blanket syndrome; in directing resources to correcting one issue, the defence, there has been a detrimental impact on the previously strong attack. There are many teams with greater resources than Swindon Town who struggle to find the right balance between defensive and attacking focuses, but the combination of a seeming lack of experience behind the scenes, with what reads externally as a low playing budget, is likely to conspire to make the balancing act between strength in attack and defence tougher than it might be. 

The over-correction in approach towards defence has led to the club’s metaphorical feet hanging out the end of the duvet in attack. At least the 6”5 tall Harry Smith should probably be used to that kind of thing.

Which takes us to the draw with Barrow. Gifted an opportunity to deviate from the script, thanks to the sending off of opposition number one Paul Farman at the end of the first half, while Barrow had no recognised goalkeeper on the bench, Swindon opted not to switch strategy. Rory Feely, the defender who moonlit in gloves for the majority of the game, had few saves to make as the Town prioritised possession and struggled to break down the Cumbrians. Kennedy praised his team post-match for sticking to the plan, rather than just shooting from any angle.

The detail that Feely was only finally beaten in the ninety-eighth minute after Butterworth released a rare long-range shot, the sort of which is easily saved by a trained professional, and which slipped under the defender’s outstretched arms, was obviously irrelevant.

It is patently absurd to only resort to such obvious tactics so late on, but here we are: with Swindon Town in 2024, any form of ignominy is possible.

It perhaps needn’t all be so doom and gloom, with the poor start to the season only that: a start. But it is difficult to see where the turnaround will come from. Even with the late window signings, the squad appears to lack creativity; it’s hard to see who will create chances for the forward ranks. The manager is already on the back foot with fans; while he may be “unconcerned” about when the first win will arrive, that sort of opinion is unlikely to become a majority position among a fanbase thirsty for some form of positivity to return.

At this point, what is left to suggest? The players are clearly trying to win games. It’s so early in Kennedy’s tenure that it feels wrong to call for it to end. Morfuni has struggled to consistently get footballing decisions right, and the goodwill he still has in some quarters seems to be slowly ebbing away. Nonetheless, the Australian is publicly headstrong that he doesn’t want to sell the club. 

Instead of despairing, perhaps it truly is time to change mindset: a mindset of trying not to be embittered at how woeful things get.