Swindon Town have had some rather disappointing transfers over the years.
The Robins have endured some tough times in their existence, with the club falling to the fourth tier of English football despite once being in the Premier League.
Throughout that time, Swindon have witnessed many players walk through the door at the County Ground, with some going on to have bigger impacts than others.
Sometimes, a player joins a club and fails to live up to the expectations placed on them, and sadly, Swindon have had quite a few. Today, Football League World has picked out 8 of the Robins’ worst transfers based on the player’s spell at the County Ground.
Neil Webb
A player with plenty of top-flight pedigree, having made over 250 appearances for Manchester United and Nottingham Forest during his career, Webb’s loan spell with Swindon should’ve been highly successful on paper, but it didn’t turn out that way. The midfielder, who has 26 senior England caps, appeared just six times for Swindon and failed to make an impact during his spell.
Elliot Benyon
Benyon was a regular goalscorer for Torquay United, so he appeared to be the perfect replacement for Charlie Austin who was departing for Burnley, but that turned out to be completely wrong. With Torquay, the striker scored 38 goals in 144 appearances and helped the side earn promotion to the Football League, but for Swindon, he managed just one goal as the Robins suffered relegation to League Two.
Tony Thorpe
Thorpe signed for Swindon in 2005 after scoring regular goals with QPR, Luton Town and Bristol City. In his short time with the Robins, he was unable to continue his goal-scoring tendencies, grabbing just one goal for the Wiltshire side.
Vincent Pericard
Having been on the books at Juventus and Saint-Etienne, as well as scoring goals for Portsmouth, the Frenchman arrived at the County Ground with all eyes on him. However, his performances didn’t quite match expectations, as the club were relegated to the fourth tier and Pericard was released.
David Peach
Peach was a club-record signing in the early 1980s, joining from Southampton where he had made 224 appearances, scoring 34 goals from full-back. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite live up to the label of ‘club-record signing’, with his debut in a 6-2 defeat to Millwall making it difficult to win over the Robins supporters.
Alistair Sperring
From one embarrassing debut to another, goalkeeper Sperring made just one appearance for Swindon, conceding five goals, and was never seen in a Robins shirt again.
Mark McCammon
McCammon signed for Swindon as a 21-year-old in January 2000, but went on to have a rather forgettable stint at the County Ground. The former Barbados international made just four appearances during his loan spell with Swindon before returning to his parent club, Charlton.
Jake Findlay
Lastly, Findlay had been with the likes of Luton and Aston Villa before signing for Swindon in the mid-eighties. His time with the Robins was incredibly brief though, making just a small number of appearances before moving on to pastures new.
