WHAT a difference a year makes.

This time 12 months ago, Wes Foderingham had just been involved in one of the most memorable play-off semi-finals of all-time and was preparing to step out at Wembley with Swindon Town.

Fast forward a year and the 25-year-old is in midst of preparing for another final, this time in the Scottish Cup with Rangers.

When Foderingham was led onto the pitch in north west London 359 days ago, it was more than the future of Swindon Town on the line – for a lot of players, it was their futures at the club as well.

Foderingham was one of a handful of Town troops who had yet to commit to the club, with his contract running out just weeks later.

And as Jermaine Beckford wheeled away to celebrate his hat-trick and Preston North End’s imminent promotion to the Championship, the writing was also on the wall for Swindon’s number one.

“We had a very talented squad and a lot of talented players, and a few of the boys have gone their separate ways now,” Foderingham told the Advertiser.

“There will always be that little thing at the back of your mind thinking ‘what if?’ “What if we did win that game and everyone stayed together?

“You have seen it with Bournemouth. They pretty much have the same side that they had in League One, so it is possible.

“Obviously, there is the other side of that. There is the backing you need from the owners, which obviously wasn’t quite there.”

That in no way was a sly dig at owner Lee Power – far from it – but Foderingham, who with Andy Williams, was one of the highest-paid players on the books at the County Ground, had his own ambitions.

He had made it clear in the build-up to the final what the game meant to his future and when he trotted back down the tunnel to face the awaiting press, he already knew what was next for him.

“Myself and Lee (Power) had a very good relationship and I always spoke to him and was honest to say ‘if we don’t go up, then I am not going to stay’,” he added.

“There was no guarantee, even if we did go up, that I was going to stay.

“If we went up, then discussions probably would have taken place but if we went up, that wasn’t 100 per cent me saying 'I’m going to stay' and that wasn’t Lee saying 'we’re going to offer you X amount'.

“I couldn’t ask for any more from Swindon, from what I was already on, in relation to what the budget was.

“With the current budget they have got, it wasn’t possible, so it was definitely a case of if we went up, then that would bring more money into the club and they could invest that into the squad.

“There was nothing more I could ask from Lee and it was definitely the right decision.”

Foderingham had his heart set on testing himself in the Championship and despite having an offer on the table to move to the second tier of English football, it was not a prospect that had grabbed the former Crystal Palace trainee.

“I just thought I would hold out until something felt right and Rangers was actually the last thing to pop up,” he explained.

“All the boys were back at pre-season with all their clubs and it was a little bit of squeaky bum time if I’m honest with you.

“I got a call from my agent, I think it was on a Sunday afternoon, saying that Mark Warburton wanted to take me to Rangers to look around the place and see what I thought.

Swindon Advertiser:

Foderingham, pictured during his Swindon Town days

“For me, it was a big change. It was far away from home. I didn’t know too much about Scottish football. At the time, they were playing in the second tier, so it was all those things.

“I went up on the Monday and had a look around the place and immediately fell in love with the place.

“You look at it, with them not being in the Scottish Premiership, but you knew it was only a matter of time before Rangers got back to where they should be.”

It was a move that Foderingham couldn’t turn down and the deal was wrapped up within a matter of days before he was packing his bags for a new chapter.

When news broke of Foderingham’s move, among the well-wishers, there were plenty who were questioning the move and calling it a step down, and it took a while for the 25-year-old to win over the demanding Ibrox faithful.

However, Foderingham was out to prove the doubters wrong and after a shaky start, the Londoner went on to keep 22 clean sheets in a Rangers team who walked the Scottish Championship by 11 points and beat Celtic at Hampden Park to set up this afternoon’s Scottish Cup final with Hibernian, with a chance to play in Europe next season at stake.

“A lot can change in a year,” he said.

“As much as I enjoyed my time in Swindon and loved it and my career down south, I wouldn’t change anything.

“It has gone perfectly.

“If I could write down the dream script for this season, it would be what has happened already, so it couldn’t have gone any better.

“The Celtic game was the icing on the cake. I have been told the atmosphere is better at Ibrox or Parkhead, because at Hampden you have the running track around the edge, so you’re a little bit away from the crowd, but for my first experience, it was unbelievable.

“You’re trying to talk to your centre-half on the edge of the box and you can’t because it is that loud.”

However, Swindon, who showed the faith in the young goalkeeper after impressing on loan before he went on to make 164 appearances, will always have a place in his heart, and there is a little pocket for a certain eccentric Italian as well.

“Swindon is such a great club and the fans are brilliant,” he concluded.

“Obviously, it is under a different kind of regime to when I first joined but talking now brings back all the memories of winning League Two, getting into League One, being at the top of League One and all the drama with the change of the board and (Paolo) Di Canio leaving and then having a new ethos come into the club, which has helped me to get to where I am now.

“Me and Paolo had a good relationship and I am sure he would say the same thing as well.

“Everyone knows what Paolo is like and I am not sure he would take back (what happened at Preston, where Foderingham was substituted after just 21 minutes, having conceded twice) but the way he handled it; I am sure he would admit he was a little bit wrong.

“Obviously, my actions; you can’t condone that and I know that now.

“We had a good relationship and he is what he is – a very fiery character – but his knowledge of the game is incredible.

“Tactically and the way he prepares you for games is first class. The only question was the man management side of things, which is sometimes the most important thing, which I can appreciate now with the gaffer we have got.

“I can look back at my time there with great happiness.”