Dan the Fan: Is Lee Holmes just Matt Ritchie's replacement?

When I first saw the news on Wednesday I was pleased to see a very talented player come and join Swindon for the rest of this campaign and most likely next season as well.

But the cynic in me also started to wonder is this the beginning of the end of Matt Ritchie’s time at Swindon Town?

Before you start to panic I have no news of a potential transfer, this is just my mind at work.

We all know that Matt Ritchie is one of the best players not just in League Two but in the Football League on his day.

During the January transfer window Ritchie was Bournemouth’s main transfer target, they made a number of bids for the player but of course they were unsuccessful.

With Bournemouth now being very well financed by some new investors the club have been able to splash the cash to help the cherries playoff ambitions.

So far this hasn’t worked with 800K signing Matt Tubbs only finding the net once in seven games, but I’m sure that won’t put them off making a new and much improved bid for Ritchie when the window re-opens in June.

And also with Matt winning the Player of the year award for League Two and being talked about all over the country i suspect more than one club will try and sign the winger during the summer.

So with that in mind I think signing Lee Holmes is a great idea not just for this season but for the clubs future in League One and beyond.

Lee wouldn’t have come to Swindon just to sit on the bench; he could of done that at St. Mary’s, he’s come to play week in week out.

Like I mentioned before this is just my own guess on the situation, but if the cherries or other clubs do make an improved bid the club have to demand at least 1.5M for the midfielder.

Personally I hope he stays and next season Paolo will rotate Rooney, Holmes and Ritchie throughout the season on both wings, but it wouldn’t surprise me either if this were Ritchie’s last season at the County Ground.

Tomorrow Swindon take on the ever-improving and playoff hopeful’s Crewe Alexandra at the Alexandra Stadium.

The reverse fixture back in August last year was Paolo Di Canio’s first league game in charge of Town and no-one would of guessed the eight months we’ve experienced so far into Di Canio's reign.

Since the end of September Town have only suffered defeat twice in the last twenty four league games, an amazing record for the team and our eccentric Italian manager.

With just ten league games to go after tomorrows game a win over the Railwaymen could possibly put Town in a very commanding position.

But this Crewe side will put up much more of a fight that the side that visited Swindon last year.

The personal might be almost the same but the quality of the clubs football has increased dramatically over the past couple of months.

Players like Nick Powell, Luke Murphy, Adam Dugdale, AJ Leitch-Smith and Max Clayton all have big futures ahead of them in the game and have started to show that huge potential this season.

But even with Crewe being in good form i still can see Town coming away with at least another valuable league point, and with just 10 games to go after this fixture a return to the third level of English football is nearly in sight.

Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson6

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