paul plowman'sTHEY DIDN'T MAKE IT - AT SWINDON
A multitude of players have signed for Swindon Town but have not progressed to the first team.
This database - which was developed by fellow historian ALAN HARDING will hopefully list some 2,000 names of all those who have played at reserve team level for the club or as trialists for the first team. Thanks to MIKE SKINNER for providing many previously missing first names.
Do you have any additional info on a player listed here or any on a player not yet listed here?
If so, please e-mail me: paul@swindonfc1879.com.
FIND PLAYER BY SURNAME:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | V | W | Y | Z
FIND PLAYER BY YEARS:
Pre-WW1 | 1919-1939 | 1940s | 1950s | 1960-1965 | 1965-1970 | 1970-1975 | 1975-1980 | 1980-1985 | 1985-1990 | 1990-1995 | 1995-2000 | 2000-2005 | 2005-2010 | 2010-2015 | 2015-Date
| RAWLINS Matt (Matthew) Benjamin | F | 
|
| Born : Bristol 12 September 1975 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Arsenal (trn Jul 1992) - Wolverhampton Wanderers (cs 1994) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 11 Sep 1995) - Bristol City (trial ) - AFC Bournemouth (trial ) - Cardiff City (trial ) - Sligo Rovers - Cheltenham Town - Mangotsfield United - Weston-Super-Mare - Chippenham Town - Yate Town - Clevedon Town (cs 1999) - Gloucester City (cs 2000) - Chippenham Town (Jan 2001) - Yate Town (Sep 2003) - Taunton Town (cs 2004) - Weston-Super-Mare (cs 2005) - Chippenham Town (Jan 2006) - Clevedon Town (Jul 2006) - Yate Town (cs 2007) - Taunton Town (loan Mar 2008 perm Aug 2008) - Frome Town (Oct 2008) - Odd Down (cs 2009) |
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Matt played in Town's Combination home fixture - but played at Witney - against his former club Arsenal. |
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| REEVES David 'Ray' E | WH | 
|
| Born : Swindon 22 December 1940 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
| SWINDON TOWN (sb 29 Jun 1956 pro 7 Jul 1958) - Trowbridge Town (1 Jul 1960) | ||
Ray was in the first batch of boys to be signed directly from school in the summer of 1956. A right-half, he made his reserve team debut at 15, in September 1956. But just half a dozen appearances followed after he had being given a pro contract by Bert Head. |
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| REID Kyel Romane | M | 
|
| Born : Deptford, London 26 November 1987 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
West Ham United (Dec 2004) - Barnsley (loan Nov 2006) - Crystal Palace (loan Mar 2008) - Blackpool (loan Nov 2008) - Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan Jan 2009) - Sheffield United (Jul 2009) - Charlton Athletic (Jan 2010) - Bradford City (Aug 2011) - Preston North End (Jul 2014) - Bradford City (loan Oct 2015) - Coventry City (Jul 2016) - Colchester United (loan Aug 2017) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 30 Jul 2018) - Chesterfield (Aug 2018) - Sutton United (Aug 2020) - Billericay Town (Oct 2020) - Walton Casuals (Oct 2021) - Cray Wanderers (Dec 2021) |
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Kyel gained 40 England caps at under-17 to under-19 level. He played for Town in the second half of a behind closed doors friendly against Queens Park Rangers. |
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| REILLY Derrick Kevin Anthony | D | 
|
| Born : Surrey 4 July 1960 | Died : Swindon 19 June 2013, aged 52 | |
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
SWINDON TOWN (sb 28 Jan 1976 app 7 Jul 1976) - Hungerford Town (cs 1978) - Swindon Supermarine |
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A two-footed defender, Derrick made just over 40 Combination appearances but was released in the summer of 1978 after failing to gain a pro contract. |
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| REINELT Robbie (Robert) Squire | F | 
|
| Born : Loughton, Essex 11 March 1974 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Charlton Athletic (sb Jul 1989) - Aldershot (trn cs 1990) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 6 Apr 1992) - Colchester United (trial ) - West Ham United (trial ) - Wivenhoe Town (cs 1992) - Dagenham & Redbridge (trial Oct 1992) - Rovaniemen Palloseura (Fin) (trial Jan 1993) - Gillingham (Mar 1993) - Colchester United (Mar 1995) - Brighton & Hove Albion (Feb 1997) - Leyton Orient (Aug 1998) - Stevenage Borough (Sep 1998) - St Albans City (Jan 1999) - Braintree Town (cs 1999) - Grays Athletic (2002) - Ford United (cs 2003) - Chatham Town (cs 2004) |
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When Aldershot folded in 1992 and dropped out of the Football League, Robbie was taken on trial by Town. Five years later, he made the headlines when his goal for Brighton at Hereford kept Albion in the League and sent the Bulls down. |
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| RENNET Willie (William) James | WF | 
|
| Born : Perth, Scotland 25 October 1924 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
St Johnstone - SWINDON TOWN (trial 1 Apr 1947) - Perth Celtic (26 Jul 1947) - Stenhousemuir (Apr 1948) - Lochee Harp - Glasgow Celtic (Aug 1949) - Arbroath (Jun 1951) |
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Played in Town's three Combination Cup fixtures over the Easter weekend of 1947. |
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| RICHARDS Justin Donovan | F | 
|
| Born : Sandwell, W Midlands 16 October 1980 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
West Bromwich Albion (Jan 1999) - Bristol Rovers (Jan 2001) - Newport County (loan Jan 2002) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 4 Mar 2002) - Colchester United (loan Oct 2002) - Stevenage Borough (Dec 2002) - Woking (May 2004) - Peterborough United (Jun 2006) - Grays Athletic (loan Oct 2006) - Boston United (loan Jan 2007) - Kidderminster Harriers (Jun 2007) - Oxford United (loan Jan 2008) - Cheltenham Town (Jun 2009) - Port Vale (Jun 2010) - Burton Albion (Jul 2011) - Oxford United (Jan 2013) - Tamworth (Jun 2013) - Sutton Coldfield Town (Jul 2014) - Stourbridge (Sep 2015) - Sutton Coldfield Town (Dec 2017) - Hednesford Town (Jun 2018) - Rushall Olympic (Jul 2018) |
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Given a one-week trial at the County Ground, Justin played in a Combination Cup game against Cardiff. |
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| RICHARDSON Dave (David) | FB | 
|
| Born : Billingham, Co.Durham 11 March 1932 | Died : Leicester 28 October 2008, aged 76 | |
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
South Bank - Leicester City (Nov 1949) - Grimsby Town (Jun 1955) - SWINDON TOWN (9 Jun 1960) - Barrow (7 Jul 1961) - Oadby Town (cs 1963) - Kettering Town - Oadby Town |
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Dave had made 175 League appearances while at Blundell Park, but the emergence of Town's teenage full-backs John Trollope and Terry Wollen prevented him from breaking his duck at the County Ground. |
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| ROBINSON Karl Joseph | CD | 
|
| Born : Liverpool 13 September 1980 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Liverpool (sb ) - SWINDON TOWN (trn Jul 1997) - Caernarfon Town (cs 1999) - Marine (Feb 2000) - Bamber Bridge (Mar 2001) - Oswestry Town (cs 2001) - Rhyl (Jan 2003) - Kidsgrove Athletic (Jul 2003) - Prescot Cables (Nov 2003) - St Helens Town (cs 2005) - Alsager Town (Mar 2006) - Warrington Town (cs 2006) |
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The former Town trainee quit playing at 28 to concentrate on coaching and was appointed assistant to M K Dons manager Paul Ince in 2009. |
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| ROCHESTER Kraig (Craig) Shane | M | 
|
| Born : Wembley 3 November 1988 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Arsenal (sb 2000) - Reading (sb 2003) - Leicester City (scs 2004) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 6 Aug 2007) - Dagenham & Redbridge (Sep 2007) - Dulwich Hamlet (loan Apr 2008 & Jan 2009) - Hayes and Yeading United (Aug 2009) - Hampton & Richmond Borough (Jun 2010) - Umeå IK (Swe) (trial ) - Ånge IF - 1FK Sundsvall (loan Aug 2013) - Gällavare and Malmbergets FF (Apr 2015) - Piteå IF (Feb 2017) - Torlanda IK (Jan 2018) |
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Kraig was a trialist in the final pre-season outing for Town - a 1-1 draw at Hampton and Richmond. |
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| ROSE John William | F | 
|
| Born : Witney, Oxon. 1 February 1952 | Died : Witney 13 August 1988, aged 36 | |
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
| Carterton Town (sb 1966) - SWINDON TOWN (cs 1971) - Burnham Town (cs 1973) | ||
John was top scorer for Town's Hellenic League side in both his seasons at the County Ground - 14 in the first and 15 in the second. His premature passing followed a long battle with cancer. |
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| ROUND Dave (David) Leslie | CD | 
|
| Born : Rowley Regis, Worcs. Apr-Jun 1962 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Dudley - SWINDON TOWN (app 13 Sep 1979 pro 29 Nov 1980) - Stourbridge (cs 1983) - Redditch United |
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A powerful centre-back, Dave made around 100 Combination appearances in two-and-a-half years as a pro. |
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| ROWE Zeke (Ezekiel) Bartholomew | F | 
|
| Born : Stoke Newington, London 30 October 1973 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Chelsea (Jun 1992) - Woking (loan Dec 1992) - Barnet (loan Nov 1993) - Bangor (loan Sep 1994) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 25 Mar 1996) - Brighton & Hove Albion (loan 28 Mar 1996) - Peterborough United (Jul 1996) - Kettering Town (loan 1997) - Doncaster Rovers (loan Feb 1998) - Welling United (Mar 1999) - Kings Lynn (Mar 2001) - Hinckley United (cs 2002) |
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The Chelsea striker made two Combination appearances in three days for Town, scoring in a 1-1 draw with West Ham. The day after his second game, he agreed a loan move to the Goldstone ! |
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| ROWLEY Kyle | D | 
|
| Born : Stourbridge 4 May 1997 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Walsall (Jun 2015) - Sutton Coldfield Town (loan Aug 2015 perm Aug 2016) - Walsall Wood (Dec 2017) - Alvechurch (Jun 2019) - Cheltenham Town (trial Jul 2019) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 23 Sep 2019) - Stratford Town (Oct 2019) |
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Played for an hour in a behind closed doors friendly against Reading at Finchampstead. |
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| RUSSELL Alex (Alexander) John | M | 
|
| Born : Crosby, Lancs. 17 March 1973 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Liverpool (scs Jul 1989) - Burscough (Aug 1993) - Rochdale (Jul 1994) - Glenavon (loan Nov 1995) - Cambridge United (Aug 1998) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 12 Jul 2001) - Torquay United (Aug 2001) - Bristol City (Jul 2005) - Northampton Town (loan Aug 2007) - Cheltenham Town (loan Jan 2008 perm Jun 2008) - Exeter City (loan Feb 2009 perm Jul 2009) - New England Revolution (US) (trial cs 2010) - Yeovil Town (Jan 2011) - Bath City ( Jul 2011) - Clevedon Town (cs 2012) |
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One of three trialists who played in the first half of a pre-season fixture at Penzance, Alex went on to make over 500 Football League appearances. |
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| RUSSELL Colin | F | 
|
| Born : Liverpool 21 January 1961 | ||
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
Liverpool (Apr 1978) - Huddersfield Town (Sep 1982) - Stoke City (Mar 1984) - SWINDON TOWN (trial 6 Aug 1984) - AFC Bournemouth (Aug 1984) - Doncaster Rovers (Jul 1986) - Scarborough (Oct 1987) - Wigan Athletic (Jul 1988) - Colne Dynamoes (cs 1989) - Bangor City (cs 1990) - Morecambe (cs 1992) - Droylsden (cs 1993) - Warrington Town (cs 1994) |
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Colin was given a one-week trial, playing in a friendly at Forest Green, but immediately after signed on at Dean Court. |
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| RUSTELL Micky (Michael) Charles | M | 
|
| Born : Beckington, Somerset 17 September 1962 | Died : Warminster, Wilts. 4 February 2013, aged 50 | |
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
SWINDON TOWN (app 9 Jun 1979 pro 20 Sep 1980) - Frome Town (Mar 1981) - Calne Town - Westbury United - Trowbridge Town (cs 1984) - Melksham Town (Oct 1985) - Shepton Mallet Town - Welton Rovers |
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A tricky winger, Mickey impressed enough to be handed a pro contract on his 18th birthday. But his joy did not last too long as he was released before the season was out. He was killed in a road accident on the Warminster by-pass. |
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| RYLAND Doug (Douglas) Luther | G | 
|
| Born : Merthyr Tydfil, Glam. 1 November 1928 | Died : Merthyr Tydfil April 1994, aged 65 | |
| PLAYING CAREER | ||
|
SWINDON TOWN (am 25 Oct 1948 pro 12 Nov 1948) - Yeovil Town (cs 1952) - Chippenham Town (cs 1953) - Swindon Victoria (cs 1954) - Treharris |
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The Welshman was a regular in Town's Colts side and made 25 reserve appearances spread over four seasons at the County Ground. |
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