view Gorman's match-by-match record
 
John GORMAN

Gorman originally arrived at Swindon in April 1991, as an assistant to Glenn Hoddle. Over the next two seasons, together they took the Town from the bottom half of Division One into the Premier League - and with Hoddle playing most of the time, Gorman received plenty of the credit for this turnaround.

When Hoddle decided to leave to take over at Chelsea at the end of the 1992/1993 season, he offered Gorman the chance to join him. Gorman looked set to leave as well, but Town chairman Ray Hardman offered him the vacant manager's position, which he accepted - a popular decision at the time, but, with hindsight, it left the club with an untried manager in their first ever season in the top flight.

Whilst Swindon rocked with the departure of Hoddle, Colin Calderwood and David Mitchell, Gorman set about trying to repair the damage, with limited resources. He made just three signings - Luc Nijholt from Motherwell, Adrian Whitbread from Leyton Orient, and Norwegian international Jan Fjørtoft from Rapid Vienna.

Originally, Gorman tried to utilise the same sweeper system that proved to be successful the previous year, using Ross MacLaren in the role vacated by Hoddle. The Town's first four games ended in defeat - which included a 5-0 home drubbing by Liverpool, a 5-1 reverse at Southampton, and a 1-0 defeat by Oldham, in which Gorman famously collapsed to the floor in disappointment after their injury-time winner.

With Swindon about to equal the all time record for the worst start to a season, and after Fjørtoft had so far failed to score, Gorman bought Keith Scott from Wycombe. In his first game, despite the Town being reduced to ten men early on after Nijholt's dismissal, Scott scored, and Swindon held on for a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers. The unwanted record was avoided, and the Town fans invaded the pitch as if they'd just been promoted again.

Over the rest of the season, though the Town won plaudits for their style of play, they didn't win many points - and were on the receiving end of some of the worst results in their history - 4-0 at home to Arsenal, 6-2 at Everton, 5-0 at Villa and 7-1 at Newcastle all spring to mind. Gorman attempted to halt the slide by bringing in experienced professionals - all on high wages - Andy Mutch, Terry Fenwick, Brian Kilcline, Frank McAvennie and Lawrie Sanchez all joined the squad, all to no avail. Town also had little luck with their goalkeepers - a series of injuries meant that four were used over the season, plus another two were named as substitutes. One of these, Jon Sheffield, became the first player ever to wear the number 40 shirt in the Premier League - an indication of just how many players were used.

Swindon's fate was finally sealed in April, when Wimbledon came to the County Ground ad won 4-2, the Town were relegated with three games to spare. The final nail in the coffin came on the last day of the season, when Leeds visited the Town and won 5-0, meaning that Swindon became the first team to concede 100 goals in the top flight for 30 years, and only five matches had been won.

The next season began more promisingly - the Town won six of their first eleven games - but soon the rot set in again, not winning in the next five. Then, after a 3-2 defeat at Bristol City, the board finally lost their patience, and Gorman was relieved of his duties.

Since leaving Swindon, Gorman took an assistant manager's position at Bristol City - before being reunited with Hoddle when he accepted the England manager's job. Gorman has also assisted Hoddle at both Southampton and Tottenham.

MANAGERIAL RECORD AT SWINDON:

Competition P W D L Pens
Won
Pens
Lost
F A SR%
All matches 72 15 20 37 0 0 90 148 35%
League (inc. playoffs) 59 11 18 30 0 0 71 128 34%
FA Cup 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 3 25%
League Cup 7 3 1 3 0 0 13 10 50%
All other competitions 4 1 0 3 0 0 4 7 25%

 


full name

John Gorman


 SCOTLAND

date of birth
16 August 1949

 

youth career
Edina Hearts 
Uphall Saints 
Celtic 

senior career
Celtic 
Carlisle United
Tottenham Hotspur
Tampa Bay Rowdies 
Phoenix Inferno 
Phoenix Pride 
Gillingham
Sheppey United

Gillingham
coach
assistant manager

Leyton Orient
coach

SWINDON TOWN
assistant manager
manager

Bristol City
assistant manager

England
assistant manager

Ipswich Town
coach

West Bromwich Albion
coach

Reading
assistant manager

Southampton
assistant manager

Tottenham Hotspur
assistant manager

Wycombe Wanderers
assistant manager

Gillingham
assistant manager
caretaker manager

Wycombe Wanderers
manager

Northampton Town
manager

Southampton
chief scout
caretaker manager

Ipswich Town
assistant manager

Queens Park Rangers
assistant manager

Milton Keynes Dons
assistant manager