List of Swindon Town F.C. managers
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The current manager of Swindon Town Football Club is Ian Holloway. The club has had 37 permanent managers (of whom six also served as player-manager) while Iffy Onuora, Mark Cooper and Luke Williams have served as both interim manager and permanent manager.
Swindon Town's first ever manager was former Swindon Town committee member Sam Allen. Allen remains Swindon Town's longest-serving manager, holding the position for 31 years between 1902 and 1933, spanning 1,192 matches. Swindon Town's shortest reigning permanent manager is Martin Ling, who was in charge for nine games. Statistically, Swindon Town's least successful manager is Paul Hart, who won just one of his 11 matches in charge.
The first manager under whom Swindon Town won a major trophy was Danny Williams, who guided the club to the Football League Cup in the 1968–69 season. Fred Ford, Lou Macari, Osvaldo Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle, Steve McMahon and Paolo Di Canio have also won trophies with the club.[2]
List of managers
Updated 11 November 2025.[3]
| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sam Allen |
1902 | 1933 | 1,192 | 508 | 262 | 422 | 2,083 | 1,770 | +313 | 42.6 | |
 Ted Vizard |
1933 | 1939 | 285 | 108 | 63 | 114 | 455 | 481 | −26 | 37.9 | |
 Neil Harris |
1939 | 1940 | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 69 | 73 | −4 | 30.3 | |
| Louis Page |
1945 | 1953 | 369 | 135 | 95 | 139 | 515 | 570 | −55 | 36.6 | |
| Maurice Lindley |
1953 | 1955 | 93 | 26 | 25 | 42 | 114 | 134 | −20 | 28.0 | |
| Bert Head |
1956 | 1965 | 426 | 160 | 108 | 158 | 660 | 637 | +23 | 37.6 | |
| Danny Williams |
Jul 1965 | Jul 1969 | 222 | 104 | 58 | 60 | 377 | 237 | +140 | 46.8 | |
| Fred Ford |
Jul 1969 | Nov 1971 | 122 | 50 | 34 | 38 | 175 | 140 | +35 | 41.0 | |
| Dave Mackay |
Nov 1971 | Nov 1972 | 45 | 14 | 13 | 18 | 58 | 66 | −8 | 31.1 | |
| Les Allen |
Nov 1972 | Feb 1974 | 62 | 13 | 20 | 29 | 61 | 94 | −33 | 21.0 | |
| Danny Williams |
Mar 1974 | May 1978 | 227 | 87 | 61 | 79 | 340 | 328 | +12 | 38.3 | |
| Bobby Smith |
May 1978 | Sep 1980 | 132 | 63 | 25 | 44 | 208 | 169 | +39 | 47.7 | |
| John Trollope |
Sep 1980 | Apr 1983 | 121 | 43 | 33 | 45 | 161 | 153 | +8 | 35.5 | |
| Ken Beamish |
Apr 1983 | Jun 1984 | 68 | 26 | 17 | 25 | 99 | 87 | +12 | 38.2 | |
| Lou Macari |
Jul 1984 | Jul 1989 | 285 | 138 | 67 | 80 | 449 | 340 | +109 | 48.4 | |
 Ossie Ardiles |
Jul 1989 | Mar 1991 | 106 | 40 | 33 | 33 | 163 | 140 | +23 | 37.7 | |
 Tony Galvin* |
Mar 1991 | Apr 1991 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.0 | |
| Glenn Hoddle |
Apr 1991 | Jul 1993 | 120 | 51 | 32 | 37 | 202 | 162 | +40 | 42.5 | |
| John Gorman |
Jul 1993 | Nov 1994 | 72 | 15 | 20 | 37 | 90 | 148 | −58 | 20.8 | |
| Andy Rowland* |
Nov 1994 | Nov 1994 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | +0 | 33.3 | |
| Steve McMahon |
Dec 1994 | Sep 1998 | 204 | 75 | 49 | 80 | 245 | 277 | −32 | 36.8 | |
| Mike Walsh* |
Sep 1998 | Oct 1998 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.0 | |
 Jimmy Quinn |
Oct 1998 | May 2000 | 85 | 19 | 21 | 45 | 84 | 141 | −57 | 22.4 | |
| Colin Todd |
May 2000 | Oct 2000 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 29 | −13 | 22.2 | |
| Andy King |
Oct 2000 | Aug 2001 | 39 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 49 | 48 | +1 | 33.3 | |
| Roy Evans |
Aug 2001 | Dec 2001 | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 35 | −5 | 38.5 | |
| Andy King |
Dec 2001 | Sep 2005 | 193 | 71 | 48 | 74 | 265 | 263 | +2 | 36.8 | |
| Iffy Onuora† |
Sep 2005 | May 2006 | 40 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 25.0 | |
| Dennis Wise |
May 2006 | Oct 2006 | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 14 | +10 | 52.9 | [4] |
| David Tuttle* |
Oct 2006 | Oct 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | — | [5] |
| Ady Williams* |
Oct 2006 | Nov 2006 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0.0 | |
| Paul Sturrock |
Nov 2006 | Nov 2007 | 52 | 26 | 11 | 15 | 71 | 51 | +20 | 50.0 | |
| David Byrne* |
Nov 2007 | Jan 2008 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 17 | −3 | 30.0 | |
| Maurice Malpas |
Jan 2008 | Nov 2008 | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 59 | 61 | −2 | 31.0 | |
| David Byrne* |
Nov 2008 | Dec 2008 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 12.5 | |
| Danny Wilson |
Dec 2008 | Mar 2011 | 120 | 43 | 40 | 37 | 173 | 160 | +13 | 35.8 | |
| Paul Hart |
Mar 2011 | Apr 2011 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 12 | −6 | 9.1 | |
| Paul Bodin* |
Apr 2011 | May 2011 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 50.0 | |
 Paolo Di Canio |
May 2011 | Feb 2013 | 95 | 54 | 18 | 23 | 155 | 76 | +79 | 56.8 | [6] |
| Fabrizio Piccareta* |
Feb 2013 | Feb 2013 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 100.0 | |
| Tommy Miller* Darren Ward* |
Feb 2013 | Feb 2013 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.0 | |
| Kevin MacDonald |
Feb 2013 | Jul 2013 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 19 | +1 | 28.6 | |
| Mark Cooper† |
Jul 2013 | Oct 2015 | 125 | 52 | 27 | 46 | 184 | 179 | +5 | 41.6 | [7] |
| Lee Power* |
Oct 2015 | Nov 2015 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 0.0 | |
| Martin Ling |
Nov 2015 | Dec 2015 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 15 | −1 | 55.6 | |
| Luke Williams† |
Dec 2015 | May 2017 | 75 | 20 | 22 | 33 | 84 | 109 | −25 | 26.7 | |
| David Flitcroft |
Jun 2017 | Mar 2018 | 42 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 71 | 66 | +5 | 50.0 | |
| Matt Taylor* |
Mar 2018 | Mar 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0.0 | |
| Phil Brown |
Mar 2018 | Nov 2018 | 32 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 37 | 39 | −2 | 31.3 | |
| Richie Wellens |
Nov 2018 | Nov 2020 | 72 | 32 | 17 | 23 | 105 | 86 | +19 | 44.4 | |
| Noel Hunt* |
Nov 2020 | Nov 2020 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 50.0 | |
| John Sheridan |
Nov 2020 | Apr 2021 | 33 | 8 | 4 | 21 | 34 | 60 | −26 | 24.2 | |
| Tommy Wright* |
Apr 2021 | May 2021 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 50.0 | |
| John McGreal |
May 2021 | June 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | — | |
| Ben Garner^ |
July 2021 | June 2022 | 56 | 28 | 12 | 16 | 92 | 65 | +27 | 50.0 | |
| Scott Lindsey^ |
June 2022 | Jan 2023 | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 33.3 | |
| Gavin Gunning* Steve Mildenhall* |
Jan 2023 | Jan 2023 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 50.0 | |
| Jody Morris^ |
Jan 2023 | May 2023 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 22.2 | |
| Gavin Gunning* Steve Mildenhall* |
May 2023 | May 2023 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 100.0 | |
| Michael Flynn |
May 2023 | Jan 2024 | 33 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 57 | 70 | −13 | 27.3 | |
| Gavin Gunning* |
Jan 2024 | Apr 2024 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 27.8 | |
| Mark Kennedy^ |
May 2024 | Oct 2024 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 24 | −3 | 18.8 | |
| Marcus Bignot* Gavin Gunning* |
Oct 2024 | Oct 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 0.0 | |
| Ian Holloway |
Oct 2024 | 91 | 44 | 21 | 26 | 155 | 119 | +36 | 48.4 |
- Key
- * Served as caretaker manager.
- † Served as caretaker manager before being appointed permanently.
- ‡ Appointed as Director of Football, but with responsibility for team selection.
- ^ Appointed as Head Coach
Managers with honours
| Name | Nat | Tenure | Honours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Allen | England |
1902–1933 | 1910 Dubonnet Cup 1911 Southern Football League 1914 Southern Football League |
| Danny Williams | England |
1965–1969 | 1969 Football League Cup |
| Fred Ford | England |
1967–1974 | 1969 Anglo-Italian League Cup 1970 Anglo-Italian Cup |
| Lou Macari | Scotland |
1984–1989 | 1986 Fourth Division 1987 Third Division play-offs |
| Osvaldo Ardiles | Argentina |
1988–1991 | 1990 Second Division play-offs |
| Glenn Hoddle | England |
1991–1993 | 1993 First Division play-offs |
| Steve McMahon | England |
1994–1998 | 1996 Second Division |
| Paolo Di Canio | Italy |
2011–2013 | 2012 League Two |
| Richie Wellens | England |
2018–2020 | 2020 League Two[9] |