Swindon Town, football governance and me: A conversation with Heidi Alexander MP

The Swindon South MP’s father, Malcolm, is still a season-ticket holder at the County Ground. As a teenager, she stood on the Stratton Bank. And a visit to the 2022 playoff semi-final first leg against Port Vale played a considerable role in her decision to stand for parliament in this year’s general election.

“I sat in the County Ground and I thought ‘I want to come home’,” she says. At the time, Alexander was London deputy mayor for transport, having previously spent eight years representing the people of Lewisham in the House of Commons.

“I was thinking about when the reds might win a general election, and the County Ground chant about ‘when the Reds go steaming in’… I wanted to be part of that number.”