Swindon Town begins the new season with a huge range of possible outcomes, and there is more room for hope than many fans believe. The real football begins this weekend as Swindon head back to Cardiff City for their Carabao Cup first-round tie. Ian Holloway has already said that his thoughts are more with being ready to face Northampton Town the following weekend, but there will always be a sense of excitement for the first match of the season where the result actually matters. Taking on a Championship side with a raft of talented players carrying over the kind of chemistry that won them more than 90 points and promotion last season will not define how this season goes for Swindon, but it will give them the opportunity to throw a marker down. When the league action does start at Sixfields the following weekend, there is unlikely to be the kind of fervour that there was a year ago. Town came into 2024/25 off the back of a strong second half of the previous season and a transfer window that inspired confidence. One could argue that this summer is the exact reverse of that. League standing (final 2025 table -- new season not yet under way): 9th in England League Two, 75 pts, 22W-9D-15L from 46 games, recent form LLDLW. Swindon investigating 'six or seven' deals to add needed quality to squad. Why Holloway's 'phalanx-like' tactics should have Town excited for the season. Swindon get three defenders back in time for Cardiff, but Snowdon left out. If last season began on January 1, 2026, Swindon would have finished 13th and nine points off the playoffs. They won one match from their last seven. It was a disaster that saw them fall away from an automatic promotion race all the way out of the playoffs. Then, this summer has been one where the signings have been solid more than exciting. Joseph Hungbo was the only addition who was playing at a club which finished higher than Swindon last season. With what happened from January to July, as well as the prospect of a club-record sixth straight season in League Two, a general lack of fan excitement is understandable. Gabriel Sutton had Town 18th in his pre-season predictions, FourFourTwo with the slightly loftier 12th, and the bookmakers have them tenth. Few in the fanbase seem to be thinking it will be much higher. But the beauty of League Two is that things do not stay the same for long. All it took was a change of perspective and a few League Two cloggers to turn Bristol Rovers from a team that lost ten in a row in the first half of the season into one that picked up more points than anyone else from February onwards. This summer has been a difficult one with injuries and missed targets, but between the whistles, things have looked good. The players who have arrived have been impressive, buying into the new ethos and fitting it very well. Clubs with far more quality ended up looking quite ordinary for long stretches. Ultimately, the bones of a squad that was one win from the playoffs still exist, a group many believed had a lot more in them than what was being seen. If Holloway has gotten over his malaise, then there is no reason this year could be better, or the wind may keep blowing in that same direction. Such is the excitement of the eve of a new season.