Mark's mountain men - Town boss on value of physicality

Mark Kennedy said that he was making a concerted effort to make Swindon Town a more physical team this season.

After struggling last season with a fairly short squad, four of Town’s six new signings so far this summer have been taller than six foot and Kennedy said that having a more physical team is something he prefers.

The 48-year-old said that when you look at top sides they tend to have plenty of big players and being able to compete that way in a physical division is important to him.

He said: “I remember doing a presentation on [Jose] Mourinho when he first got the [Manchester] United job and the first thing we noticed was in the first transfer window the height of his team went up by an inch.

“If you look at modern-day footballers in the Premier League, they are big and powerful players.

“When you look at the DNA of the league, it can be quite direct, set pieces are huge at any level and the further you go down the pyramid, the more important they are.

“Physicality and size are a big thing, but you do need to be able to play football as well. It is nothing to do with what has happened in the past but in an ideal world, it is something that I would want.

“I spoke to a League One manager today who is at a club who would expect to get promoted if not win the league and one of the first things he talked about was size and physicality and he has got some very good players, so that tells you something.

“It is very important at any level but particularly at ours.”

At six-foot-five Harry Smith is one of the notably big players that has been brought in but Kennedy said he can bring a lot more than just that.

He said: “I have worked with Harry before. You can’t get away from his size and when you stand next to him he looks even bigger than he is.

“But he is actually quite elegant, he is a very good footballer with a nice first touch, he can move, handle the ball, he is technical, he can finish, and with the right people he has been really successful.

“What a lot of people won’t know is that we fought off a huge amount of competition to get him and that is testament to Jamie [Russell] and the recruitment team.”