'No nonsense rule' helping new-look Swindon squad bond quickly

Mark Kennedy said that Swindon Town’s “no nonsense” approach to player characters has helped the team to bond quickly during pre-season.

Six new players have arrived at Swindon so far with 16 players from last season’s squad not being part of the group this year, but Kennedy says that the group have been gelling quickly.

Town have placed an emphasis on doing detailed work on the character of the players they are signing and Kennedy believes that work has helped the group come together.

He said: “Good people [helps build team ethic], one of the key things we looked at when bringing players in was the character.

“There is a bit of a no-nonsense rule with the players, the person is the most important thing and I think if you bring good people in then the transition can be seamless and quite quick.

“We have also brought a lot of leaders into the group, people with experience, people with promotions, people with a clear understanding of what an elite environment looks like, so that drives standards.

“I have worked in places where players drive the dressing room, I am not really into that but I am very respectful and try and stay out of the dressing room.

“We have certainly brought characters in who can do that but we didn’t bring people in to do that, I think that good people will do that naturally.

“I think that we have a good group of players with a mix of good people and talent.”

The players arrived back for pre-season last week and Kennedy said that what had been envisaged with those characters has also come to pass swiftly.

He said: “We have had a positive first week, the spirit of the group is very good and interaction with each other has been really positive, although you would expect it, it doesn’t always happen like that.

“It has been good to meet the players and I hope that it has been good for them to meet us, especially with everything being new and unfamiliar, there are a lot of new faces with new players, coaching staff, head coach, assistant, physio, and sports scientist.

“There are lots of new faces for everybody but what has impressed me most is it has been quite seamless and everybody seems to be comfortable in their respective roles, which makes my life a lot easier.”