Well, The County Ground was a much quieter place in the final weeks of the season after Paulo Di Canio decided to pack his bags. However mad he is, he got the team winning, and not a grea team at that. The Swindon squad for 2012/13 was largely made up of pretty average players who under any 'normal' or conventional manager would have managed mid-table at best. In the Kevin MacDonald did a fairly good job before and in the play-offs, only going out after a dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat to Brentford. Di Canio was hampered during he season by a transfer embargo, which left him unable to be his proactive self in the transfer market. Success was maintained on the pitch, riding high in league One for much of the season. There was of course the incident where Di Canio substituted Wes Foderingham early on in a game and then berated him. Some players were the victims of his wrath for having nights out. It was quite a stressful time for the boss. Which culminated in his decision to leave the club, while top of League One after an excellent run of results. The club was in the middle of a change of ownership, and star midfielder Matt Ritchie was sold to Bournemouth behind the Italian's back, as a source of income. Di Canio resigned, and Sunderland came calling. Then came Kevin MacDonald, who did a decent enough job to confirm Swindon's play-off spot, with victories over Yeovil and Crewe amongst others. The consistency of Di Canio wasn't maintained, but what he did was hard to replicate. The play-offs pitted Swindon against Brentford, who had lost to Doncaster on the final day in a battle for automatic promotion. Brentford's late penalty in the first leg made a lot of difference, and despite Swindon battling hard at Griffin Park, snatching a late equaliser courtesy of the since-departed Aden Flint, Brentford were excellent in the shoot-out, and youngster Miles Storey, who had impressed in the Capital One Cup earlier in the campaign, was the unlucky one to miss his kick. Surely Swindon fans would have taken the play-offs without hesitation at the beginning of the season, as a newly promoted club.
