Gavin Gunning said that Swindon Town will have to gain a new mentality if they are going to achieve more on the pitch than they have this season.

This season has been a disappointing one at the County Ground, with the side stuck in a purgatory between being 11 points adrift of contention for the play-off places and 14 points clear of the relegation zone.

When talking about what he thought would have to change for next season, Gunning said that he felt the attitude of the squad would have to change if they wanted to be able to challenge towards the top end of the division.

He said: “I think the team, for it to evolve next season, will need a change in approach and possibly in mindset.

“Still if you look at the Gillingham game, that mindset of we have 58 chances and can’t score, against Salford the same.

“Having that killer instinct about you and not giving them that chance when it is late, can you be tighter together and compact, leaders.

“We have a couple of good, experienced players who do well but we probably need a couple more, but it is not even about that, to be a leader you can be a 17-year-old, but if you communicate well and tell people where to go and what to do and set a standard.

“A leader isn’t just someone who is barking orders on a pitch, do you lead by example, is it your style of play and how you perform?

“Steven Gerrard didn’t bark orders around him, he was a leader by his approach and his commitment and his quality on the pitch, that can also be a leader.”

As for whether or not he will be part of that future, Gunning remains the interim head coach until the end of the season, and he was asked whether he felt he was doing well enough to get the role full-time.

He said: “It is a tough one for me to answer, I obviously feel that I have given the team a different style of play, but we haven’t got the points that we should have, that is football, no excuses from me, it happens because we didn’t kill the teams off.

“There are still 12 games to go and I am hoping that we can win a high percentage of them and then finish off the league really well.”