Richie Wellens described his first experience of retaining and releasing players as ‘not a nice one’.
The Swindon boss released ten players, offering contracts to four of the 2018/19 playing squad last week as he heads into his first summer as Town manager.
He did not enjoy the process but said he had to right by the football club:
“It’s not a nice experience because players’ livelihoods are at stake but I have to make the best decision for the football club. The easiest thing for me would have been to keep a lot of the players and it would have been a lot less hard work for me now, in terms of the recruitment over summer.
“That’s what’s right – but with no disrespect to the players, have they really contributed – we were relegated from League One and, in two seasons, we haven’t made the cut for the play-offs in League Two.
“That says to me that the players we’ve had weren’t good enough so I think it was time for a complete rebuild.”
“If I’d have given contracts out to players who have not been in those play-offs then I don’t think I would have been doing my job right.”
