Forward player makes permanent return to Swindon after previous loan spell

Swindon Town's sixth signing of the season is a familiar face to the County Ground faithful.

Former Sutton United forward Harry Smith has signed a permanent deal with the club subject to EFL approval after he rejected a new contract at the recently relegated League Two club.

Many will remember Smiths' tenure on loan from Championship Club Millwall in 2017, where he failed to really set the world alight.

But since then, he has developed into a formidable goalscorer, netting 11 goals in 37 appearances for his former club last season.

Before that, he made appearances representing the likes of Macclesfield in 2018-19, Northampton in 2019-20 and 2020-21 and Leyton Orient in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

It's during this varied career so far that he met Swindon's current head coach Mark Kennedy when he was in charge of Macclesfield, and he is looking forward to working with him again.

Smith is also able to boast two League Two promotions during his career, with the forward achieving promotion via the play-offs in 2020, before playing his part in Leyton Orient's promotion alongside now-Swindon Town team-mate Aaron Drinan, with the pair scoring over 30 times during their time with the O's.

After completing his move to the club, Town's most recent recruit said: "I'm really happy. I spoke with the manager two or three weeks ago and as soon as I spoke to him I knew it was somewhere I wanted to be playing my football this season.

"I think about when I was here previously it was my first loan spell in football, and I was a kid then to be honest, so I think the player that the club that's signed today is a much better player than I was then. A lot of development and a lot of games behind my belt now.

"I'm coming back a much different person and a much-improved player."

Harry Smith becomes Town's sixth signing of the 2024-25 summer transfer window.

In a previous interview with the Adver about his first spell at the club, Smith said it was a valuable learning experience. 

He said: "Obviously I’m disappointed with the amount of game time I got. I felt in certain aspects I should have got more but at the end of the day, that is part of learning,” he said.

“When I look back, I wouldn’t change it. Things happened. but I won’t go into that because it is in the past now.

“It’s just the way football goes. Sometimes you get on with your boss and sometimes you don’t. It was part of me moving forward and growing up."