Swindon v Huddersfield - Jigsaw

Off to watch Swindon play against League One leaders Huddersfield tomorrow at the County Ground and it will be interesting to see how much Lee Clark’s team have come on from last season.


As a midfielder with Newcastle, Clark was well loved by the Geordie faithful, but had the nickname ‘Jigsaw’ given his propensity to fall apart in the box. His displays were always energetic and fully committed, but the Newcastle bookmakers were never troubled when it came to bets on his goal scoring prowess!

As a manager he seems to have subscribed to the Kevin Keegan principles of good attractive attacking football.

Keegan had Clark at Newcastle in the early to mid-nineties when the side was known as the Entertainers, but on one occasion Clark tested Keegan’s patience to the limit.

Following a substitution at Southampton (if memory serves), Clark stormed off fuming towards the tunnel, but was dragged back by Keegan and told that if he didn’t park his backside on the bench, he’d never play for the team again.

Clarkie duly sat down, but then spent the journey home on the coach (in tears according to one player) fearing he’d be transfer listed from the club he had supported as a boy. Fortunately Keegan forgave him, although he was eventually sold by Kenny Dalglish and went on to play for local rivals Sunderland and Fulham before returning to the Toon at the end of his playing days. To this day, Lee still has a box at St. James Park.

It will be interesting to see how he handles players who react in a similar way should he drag them off against Swindon.

One suspects that Robins’ boss Danny Wilson has dealt with situations like that on numerous occasions in his – much longer – career in management.

Wilson will be without injured goal machine Charlie Austin for the visit of the Terriers, but after a faltering start to the season, last year’s defeated play-off finalists have now put together two league wins on the bounce and are undefeated in four games.

I haven’t seen them play since Alan Sheehan rejoined the club, but his free transfer in August is a shrewd move.

Speaking to Martin Allen during half time at the Oxford game last weekend the former Cheltenham boss told me:

“I had him with me at Leicester and he’s an excellent player. His distribution is quality. He tackles and is great at set pieces as well. The board there asked me what else he could offer and I wondered how much more they needed from one guy.”

For me, Sheehan was one of the key players in Swindon’s success last term and with one or two signings like him, Danny Wilson could well get them on a roll again.

Wilson has said today via the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9016281.stm) that: "We feel we can compete with them. I'd like to think that they (Huddersfield) will think they've got a very, very tough game on their hands.

Huddersfield are a very good side and I think they'll be there at the end of the season, challenging with about six, seven, eight other teams. It promises to be a cracking game."

I can’t disagree with you there Danny.