Identity & place
What this club is really about
Swindon Town makes most sense as a club of sharp contrasts. The town was remade by the Great Western Railway and the train still sits on a supporter-chosen badge, yet the football club's own origin is a local Victorian story around Reverend William Pitt rather than a neat works-team creation myth. On the pitch, a Third Division side beat Arsenal at Wembley in 1969, continental adventures followed, a 1990 promotion was won and then taken away, and 1993 delivered a seven-goal Wembley release. Off it, financial crises and ownership battles repeatedly pushed supporters from spectators into organisers, fundraisers and, eventually, co-owners of the ground.
Place, industry & identity