Michael Flynn’s side make the short trip to Gloucestershire for their first away fixture of the Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Town got their league season started with a 2-2 draw at home to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday, and will now be looking to pick up their first three points of 2023/24 at The New Lawn.
A lowdown on the hosts
Forest Green Rovers, formed in 1889, were founding members of the Mid Gloucestershire League and won a plethora of local league titles in their early years.
The club won successive Southern League Southern Division and Premier Division titles in 1996/97 and 1997/98, earning promotion into the Conference - now, the National League.
Just over a decade later, in 2010, The Green were transformed when Dale Vince first invested in the club. Under his chairmanship, FGR became the world’s first vegan football club in 2015, and achieved promotion into the EFL for the first time, in 2017.
After five seasons in League Two, Forest Green won promotion to League One as champions in 2022 but came straight back down after finishing rock-bottom of England’s third tier last term.
Last time out
The sides met most recently at the end of the 2021/22 League Two season, at The County Ground, and it was Town who came away with all three points in a 2-1 victory.
First-half finishes from Louie Barry and Jack Payne were enough to secure the win, despite Josh March’s consolation on 69 minutes.
Head-to-head
21/22: Swindon Town 2-1 Forest Green Rovers
21/22: Forest Green Rovers 0-2 Swindon Town
20/21: Forest Green Rovers 0-1 Swindon Town
19/20: Swindon Town 0-2 Forest Green Rovers
19/20: Forest Green Rovers 2-2 Swindon Town
The manager: David Horseman
New FGR boss David Horseman took charge on July 18th, taking over from Hannah Dingley, who had been interim head coach after Darren Ferguson’s departure earlier that month.
Horseman, who is now in his first senior management position, had previously been the head coach of Southampton’s B team and was also a part of the Saints’ first-team set-up for the final three months of the 2022/23 season.
One to watch: Charlie McCann
FGR signed highly-rated midfielder Charlie McCann from Rangers in the January transfer window, and it looks as though his career in Gloucestershire is now truly underway; the 21-year-old made just three appearances throughout the second half of last season.
McCann began his youth career with Coventry City, before joining Manchester United’s academy in 2017, where he rose through the ranks across four years, before signing a three-year deal with Rangers in the summer of 2021.
