Jody Morris: Former Chelsea and Derby assistant named Swindon Town boss

Jody Morris (right) worked alongside Frank Lampard at Derby and Chelsea

Swindon Town have appointed former Chelsea and Derby assistant manager Jody Morris as their head coach on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Morris, 44, replaces Scott Lindsey who left the League Two club on 11 January to become Crawley Town manager.

He worked alongside Frank Lampard at the Rams and Chelsea, before leaving the Premier League side in 2021.

He was at the County Ground to watch Swindon draw 3-3 with Gillingham on Saturday, alongside owner Clem Morfuni.

"This is a great opportunity at a wonderful football club that is steeped in history, and I can't wait to get started," Morris said in a club statement.

"My footballing philosophy is completely aligned with that of the club and upon meeting Sandro [Di Michele, Swindon technical director], I was presented with a strategy and vision that I'm really keen to be a part of.

"I'm extremely proud to be leading such a forward-thinking club, with an owner and technical director that are passionate and committed to bringing success here.

"We now turn our attentions to an important 19 league games, with promotion at the forefront of our ambitions."

Swindon are currently sixth in League Two and have won three of their past six matches.

Morris made 173 appearances for Chelsea as a player between 1996 and 2003 and also had spells at Leeds, Rotherham, Millwall and St Johnstone, before ending his career at Bristol City in 2013.

He joined Chelsea's coaching staff after retiring, where he worked with their youth players, before moving to Derby in 2018 to work alongside Lampard.

He followed his former team-mate back to Chelsea in 2019 during Lampard's spell in charge of the club.

"To get a head coach with Jody's calibre is a real statement of intent from us here at the football club," Di Michele said.

"His coaching CV reads really well and he's worked at the very top level, so to have someone with that calibre and experience here creates an incredible opportunity for us."

'A hard working coach'

Analysis - BBC Radio Wiltshire's Andrew Hawes

Jody Morris emerged from a pack of contenders for the Swindon head coach role who he seemed to have the edge on in terms of coaching experience at higher levels.

His work on the training ground is well regarded and his Chelsea youth teams collected trophies as a matter of habit.

While you can't compare Swindon to Chelsea in terms of expectation, the default for Town fans is that whenever their team is in League Two they should look like they can get out of it as soon as possible.

This leads to one real challenge for any new head coach: 'managing up' and being part of a club such as Swindon where the technical director has made it clear that an aspiration is to polish up players and sell them on, all while getting that on-pitch success.

Swindon full-back Marcel Lavinier worked with Morris at Chelsea and said: "He'll be honest and he will work us hard, I'll tell you that." The look in his eyes told you he meant it.

It sounds a good place to start.