Championship club make double swoop for ex-Swindon strikers

Derby County have made a double swoop for a pair of former Swindon Town strikers as they signed Jerry Yates and Kayden Jackson.

The Rams earned promotion back to The Championship at the second time of asking last season as Paul Warne earned his fourth promotion as a manager from League One to the second tier.

As they look to build for next season, they have brought in two former Swindon strikers to strengthen their attacking options, bringing in Yates on loan from Swansea City and Jackson following his release from Ipswich Town.

Yates was a star for Swindon on loan from Rotherham United, who Warne was managing at the time, during the 2019/20 season as Richie Wellens’ team won League Two. The now 27-year-old scored 12 goals in 25 appearances as he struck up a memorable partnership with Eoin Doyle.

He has gone on to have success with Blackpool before making the move to Swansea last summer, scoring nine goals as an ever-present for The Swans but has now made the temporary switch to Pride Park for the season.

He will be joined at Derby by Jackson, who was the second winner of the Samsung Win A Pro Contract competition, earning him a one-year deal with Swindon. He never made a senior appearance at The County Ground but after a great spell in Non-League, Jackson returned to the EFL with Barnsley and Accrington Stanley.

He then spent six years with Ipswich and made 29 appearances as they won promotion to the Premier League under Kieran McKenna but departed in June.

The 30-year-old has also made the move to Derby, signing a two-year deal to further bolster their attacking options as they look to get ready for the step-up.

Yates and Jackson will also join up with another former Swindon striker in James Collins after he signed a new one-year contract with The Rams after he netted 19 goals last season to help fire them to promotion.

The Republic of Ireland international scored 15 goals in his solitary campaign with Swindon under Paolo Di Canio and Kevin McDonald as Town lost in the playoffs to Brentford.

Collins’ most memorable moment saw him come off the bench at halftime against Portsmouth to score four goals and set up the other for Danny Hollands as Swindon won 5-0 on New Year's Day, but departed for Hibernian for £200,000 at the end of that season.