Former Oldham manager and Doncaster Rovers midfielder Richie Wellens has been unveiled as the new manager of Swindon Town, less than 36 hours after Phil Brown got the chop.
Brown paid the price for a poor run of form and the narrow margin of victory in the FA Cup first round, but the club have acted decisively to bring in the former Latics manager, with chairman Lee Power announcing the changes.
38-year old Wellens has a deal that runs through to the end of next season. Noel Hunt, the assistant coach and player at Waterford (another club owned and run by Power) will become Wellens assistant.
The new manager was quick to underline his philosophy to the media, saying: “It’s a great opportunity to manage a football club that is well-run, has a good infrastructure, and a tradition, over the last six or seven years, of playing a style that I want to play.”
“I want to get the ball down, play positive, quick, passing football and bring results and success to this football club, because at this moment it is underachieving.”
Wellens’ only previous management role ended in dismissal last season as Oldham Athletic were relegated to League Two.
Our View
Wellens wasn’t entirely to blame for Oldham’s demise, as the Football Lab explains, and he might have a chance of achieving something with the right support at Swindon.
That said, the pressure is clearly on with Lee Power getting through managers like nobodies business. Swindon are a big club, arguably too big for League Two, but they’ve got a fight on their hands to push on to a top seven spot.
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