The nineteen eighties was a time of change for everyone, when events brought long-lasting repercussions throughout the world.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fought the miners, the Berlin wall was to fall to reunite Europe, and Nelson Mandela was to begin the transformation from incarceration to leadership in South Africa.

Back in Swindon, the railway works were closing for the last time, Honda were eyeing up a site in South Marston with a view to building a car manufacturing plant, and the relentless growth of what was then called the Borough of Thamesdown saw Swindon christened ‘the fastest growing town in Europe’.

Amidst all this change, the heavy air of lethargy hung over the County Ground as Swindon Town hit the bottom division of the Football League in 1982 and gave every indication they intended to stay there.

Two seasons later, it was mission accomplished. After club legend John Trollope tried, and the less lauded Ken Beamish failed to lift the status and gloom, season 1983/84 had finished with Town sitting in 17th place in Division Four, the lowest league position in which the club had ever concluded a campaign.

With this ignominious level still to be labelled ‘The Beamish Line’, it represented the worst finish Swindon Town, its players, and its supporters had ever had to endure.

If change was synonymous with the nineteen eighties, as July 1984 reached its final week, something was about to happen in Swindon to re-write everything.

On 23rd July 1984, Manchester United and Scotland legend

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