Ian Holloway insisted striker Harry Smith had a key role to play in Swindon’s push for promotion following his side’s 2-1 League Two victory over Oldham at Boundary Park.
Joe Snowdon fired the Robins ahead four minutes in before teeing up Tom Nichols in the 19th minute as the visitors surged into a two-goal lead.
Joe Quigley headed Oldham back into the game in the 34th minute but Swindon held out for their first away win of the campaign.
Danish side AC Horsens have targeted Smith and have had two bids rebuffed by the Wiltshire club, but – after the game – Holloway was adamant the forward was central to his plans going forward.
“I’ve made it totally clear that Harry Smith is not going anywhere. I just need these people to understand that he’s not for sale and he wouldn’t want to go to you anyway,” said Holloway.
“It’s dead in the water, it’s not happening. How would I replace someone like him, who can drop back into the centre-half position, head it out and win us three points?
“I’ve had a good chat with the chairman (Clem Morfuni) about this and I thank him for saying no to selling Harry. The money they were offering wouldn’t have kept us ticking over for more than two months. What good’s that?
“I want promotion and then we might be able to give Harry a first division wage and then a Championship wage if he likes how I’m managing him and he believes in what I’m doing.
“So all these other people, with the greatest respect, can jog on, he’s not for sale.
“The bid was an absolute joke for how good Harry Smith is and I believe he’s getting better and better every day as a leader, a man, a dad and a husband. So why on earth would he want to leave now?”
Latics chief Micky Mellon said a poor start to the game left his side with too much to do.
“We started the game really poorly, not doing what we needed to do, not doing the jobs that we need people to do,” he said.
“All the way through the team was way off what we need it to be. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb to get back into the game. We huffed and puffed and when moments came for us, we were lacking in quality.
“It was really disappointing. If you go off the cuff and pull off magical stuff, it’s great. But if you’re poor off the cuff then it makes it doubly difficult.
“We need to draw a line under it and people need to learn that you can’t play at any level like that.”
