Swindon Town Football Club was founded by Reverend William Pitt of Liddington in 1879.
The team turned professional in 1894 and joined the Southern League which was founded in the same year.
Swindon reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in the 1909-10 season, losing to eventual winners Newcastle United.
In 1910-11, Swindon Town won the Southern League championship, earning them a Charity Shield match with the Football League champions Manchester United. This, the highest-scoring Charity Shield game to date, was played on 25 September 1911 at Stamford Bridge with Manchester United winning 8-4. Some of the proceeds of this game were later donated to the survivors of the Titanic.
Swindon entered the Football League in 1920 as a founding member of Division Three and defeated Luton Town F.C. 9-1 in their first game of the season. This result stands as a record for the club in League matches.
In 1969 Swindon beat Arsenal 3-1 to win the League Cup for the first and only time in the club's history - courtesy of two goals from club legend Don Rogers.
Following management changes, Swindon had a long unsuccessful period culminating in them being relegated in 1982 to the Fourth Division.
They were eventually promoted as champions in 1986 with the club achieving a Football League record of 102 points, the second club to score over 100 points in a season, York City having totalled 101 two years earlier.
A year later they won the Second Division play-offs to achieve a second successive promotion. Promotion campaign Manager Lou Macari left in 1989 to take charge of West Ham United with former Argentine international, Ossie Ardiles replacing him. In his first season Swindon were Second Division play-off winners, but the club later admitted 36 charges of breaching league rules, 35 due to illegal payments made to players, and were relegated to the Third Division. A later appeal saw Swindon Town being allowed to stay in the Second Division.
Swindon progressed well during the 1991-92 season, Glenn Hoddle's first full season as manager, and just missed out on the Second Division play-offs.
In 1992-93 Swindon beat Leicester City 4-3 in the Division One play-off final to achieve promotion to the Premiership — bringing top-division football to the club for the first time.
They were relegated at the end of 1993-94 after recording only five wins and conceding 100 goals — the latter record has yet to be broken. The following year, Swindon were relegated for the second successive time and slipped into Division Two.
Swindon won the Division Two Championship in 1996 under the stewardship of former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon.
The club were relegated to League Two in 2006 which meant that they became the first ever former Premiership team to be demoted to the lowest Football League division.
Paul Sturrock was appointed manager in November 2006 and he guided Swindon to promotion to League One in his first season with the club,
The club has been beset by financial difficulties throughout its history, having been placed into administration twice and also twice fought off winding-up orders from Her Majesty's Customs and Excise over unpaid tax-bills.
In 2008 Swindon Town was taken over by a consortium fronted by local businessman Andrew Fitton.
A disappointing season then followed, as Maurice Malpas endured a tough spell at the club, leading them into relegation trouble from which Danny Wilson did well to rescue them - guiding them to 15th in League One at the end of Season 2008/2009.
The most recent season at the club was a success story, up until the last match of the season which ended in Play-Off Final heartbreak for Wilson's men, as they went down 1-0 to Millwall.
Originally playing in black and white with the addition of blue sash for away games, the club changed to black and red quarters on entry to the Southern League in 1894. The club changed again in 1897 with green shirts, with white sleeves. Town changed their shirts to the more familiar red in 1901. Initially a dark maroon, a lighter shade was chosen for the start of the 1902-03 season and also resulted in the club's nickname "the Robins" appearing in print for the first time in programme notes for the first game.
