Thetownend.com

Seeing as i'm at work thought i'd start this bad boy.

Let's bounce back from Tuesday night with a win please!

0-1.

Haha how times have changed! A couple of years ago you were starting threads after a piss up in the student bar. Now here you are being the responsible adult working on a Friday night (as I am by the way). 1 - 2, back to winning ways after Tuesday

If it helps I am being a 'responsible adult' working in a nightclub!

Amen.

1-1 today. Could see Franchise losing though, Pikeys in great form.

Need to get that away form back on track today, and with the two Nathans back, I think we will. 0-2 Williams and Byrne.

Win today please...

Lose

I am a lot more confident of a win today than Tuesday. 1-2 with Luongo and Hylton 275 Swindonians. COYR

 Cut out the silly mistakes and a comfortable 3-1 win,Willo with a couple and Hylton

Win would be great today with Preston not playing and MK having a tricky trip to a revitalised Gills.

2-0 defeat and a big dent in my bank account!

See you all there

Don't know if this has any bearing on anyone travelling up, but the M40 northbound closed J9 (Poxford) - J10 due to 30 car accident

Back on track with a 3 - 1 win today. Willo, Byrne and Obika with 518 town fans.

Shut for the rest of the day i think aswell

We've sold 286 tickets pre-game
So I reckon 400+

Could see Cooper operating with Williams and Hylton today...

Radio's saying dont use M1 either, so go to J25 and go up the A1(M)
(or get off at J21a and follow A414 to Hatfield and get on there)

A1 not a bad road north of Bedford, al ot on improvements been done

Taking my lad today, which is rare for him, usually find we have a bit of a Northern following to push the support up.

my Valentines poem

"roses are red,
violets are blue,
I love the Swindon,
more than I love you"

yep,five of us going including a Leeds fan and my Manure supporting brother in law who now prefers watching Town. He was offered a comp ticket for the match by a Scunny company but said he'd rather pay for his ticket and sit with the town fans.  :)

Taking my daughter along as well so that's two more of us coming across from Leeds - Northern Reds, we are here!!

Hoping for a good atmosphere from our lot today, no MOT from the leeds fan though  :suicide:

Luongo not even in the squad. Nor Swift. Weird.

Town starting XI: Foderingham, Branco, Thompson N (C), Turnbull, Byrne, Stephens, Kasim, Thompson L, Toffolo, Williams, Smith #STFC

Subs: Belford, Barthram, Rodgers, Gladwin, Swift, Hylton, Obika #STFC

swift on bench

Just noticed  :-[

Strange brew

Luongo is injured.

That looks like a side that is set up not to lose - kasim, thompson and stephens as a 3 is probably the most defensive 3 we could have used. Dont mind keeping it tight to begin with and introduce swift and gladwin later on

Not liking this change of emphasis.

Where's that panic button?

He read the adver comments section and has refused to play

Glad to see Williams and Smith up top.

hope mass is not becoming billy big bollocks

Quite a bite to that midfield. Surprised Swift didn't start with Luongo injured. Ready for a battle today.

Getting a horrible feeling this might be the start of our annual slump. Away defeats, talk of players leaving, changes in team selection, yellow cards galore suspensions likely.

Come on you reds.

Alternatively we've got a load of games coming up and he wants to keep the squad fresh using mainly the same tactics that have got us where we are. Even if we lose, no panic here. As for Luongo leaving, no surprise there and to be honest even if he wanted to stay, we'd show him the door to get the transfer fee that would help us shape the new squad for next season.

Sam Morshead‏@SamMorshead_·3 mins3 minutes ago Yorkshire and The Humber, England
Some nonsense being churned re Luongo's absence. I'm told he missed training Thurs, didn't travel, had scan. Nowt to do with anything else.

Agent Sherwood has been given the Villa job then...  Time to start looking at their under 21 side :)

Corner to Town

We sound a little a little sloppy in defence and not creating much. Hopefully we can keep a clean sheet in this half and go for it in the 2nd.

Never really understood that one myself. Seems a waste of 45 minutes.

Pikeys beating Franchise.

Franchise 1-0 down

Don't think this will be goalless for long, end to end at mo

Franchise one down

Got me 7/2 on this one - part of an accy though

Sounds like we're waking up.

We're missing some good chances by the sounds of it.

Smith sounds lively today, 1st time in weeks.

Kiss of death, but by the sounds of it if we get first goal I think we'll win this.

goals seem to have dried up

We need to be getting results at places like Scunthorpe, 6th bottom, not won at home this year with LDLD in their last 4 home matches.

We know we have plenty of goals in our side, just need that goal to break them a bit.

Their own fans sound a bit like they are getting on their own players backs already.

Franchise score  >:(

Pikeys back in front.

Dongs 2-1 down

Nice :)

Jolly good  :)

We need to get more shots on target.

Swift, Hylton and Gladwin on the bench. Plenty of options for the 2nd half.

SMITH GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL

Yessssss 1-0

Yes!!! Smith!

Get in Smith!

SMITHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smudger!

Yes, Great time to score.  Will do Smith the world of good as well.

Close by Williams...

Shitty 1 nil up (the other smith (on loan) scores)

Fucking player cuts out just as Williams almost scores.

Williams misses a sitter.

Keep up the first half performance and we'll win this.

Should have been 2-0!

Smith again
Hopefully be fucked when he goes back

Keep a clean sheet and I think we'll win this  8)

They should really do something about all these on loan players scoring etc..

He's there for the rest of the season

HT 1-0

Is he? I thought he was going back next month.

No he isn't. Last game for City will be Mar 1st

Sams view:
Sam Morshead‏@SamMorshead_·9 secs10 seconds ago Yorkshire and The Humber, England
Two teams spent 40 mins trying their best not to score. Swindon clumsy in and out of possession til last five mins. Game wide open.

I thought I heard that they had extended until the end of the season in January?

He's not. 93 day loan, will miss jpt final for them. He's a guest on their behalf at the final.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31020624

No they weren't able to.  Too many loans for him or something.

Pretty shit half, we've looked decent going forward but a lot of wayward passes at the back - same as usual.

Good goal from smith. Byrne has looked very lively and causing lots of problems. Awful atmosphere,  havent heard a peep from them apart from about 15 teenagers nearest us.

It's because he's already played for 2 other clubs this season. Once his loan finishes with City that's his season finished

Yeah, just saw that, my bad.  Good news then.  Serves them right for having sooooooooo many loan players :)

Nicky Ajose keeps on scoring for Crewe

Hahahah who was the big fucker at half time doing the penalty thing? Best entertainment all game

He's keeping them up on his own!

Attendance here is 3,763 (340 from Swindon)

From Sam

340 Town there.

No wonder the atmosphere there is shit. Need to win this, get out of there and hopefully never go back.

player is practically inaudible.fucking uselesd

Every time we attack it seems to break up, fucking terrible...again.

Scunthorpe coms are perfect (but a bit boring)

Has tans been putting a few fishing tweets out that have been picked up by the 82ers?

http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/167848-massimo-luongo/

@tansmediasport

Wakey wakey at the back.  Nearly got caught.

Just five points separating 5th and 17th place in League One.

The opposition coms are always perfect yet ours are just crap. I too end up listening to at least half the game on the away coms normally.

The best one has been the Notts County proper old school 1970s sounding commentators.

That bloke is ace.

yeah,ive  switched.They like the "little feller on the wing"

One of the Scunny coms sounds like Tommy Docherty, whinging and moaning about everything with a jockenese accent.

It's like fishing with a hand granade isn't it, doesn't take much to get them going does it :)

Good work though Tans..  a lot of Bristol City wank socks will be getting washed tonight!

1-1 sheff utd

Sheff U equalise

We need another goal

Best fishing tweets so far IMO, well done. They are creaming in their jeans at the prospect.

The Scunny coms (the scottish bloke) is the biggest twat I have ever heard!

Got away with that, Scun hit the bar.

Phew, they hit the bar!

FFS Madden

Fuck sake.

Fucksticks

It was coming. Get the subs on.

balls

fuck

Draw not disastrous with how other games are going.

Why can we only play for 45 mins ?

FFS.  Didn't sort ourselves out from the original chance.

Scunthorpe definitely on top this half.

we're going down

1-1 82ers

Branco off?

phew.

Branco got away with a talking to...phew.

Branco lucky. Get him off now!

@andrew_FLICW: 65 - Scunthorpe players are furious as Branco lashes a ball against a Scunny player who was on floor at the time. He's on booking #stfc

The guy is a liability at times!

Branco lucky by the sounds of it.  I'd sub him to be honest.

He has one moment of madness every game he plays.

Scunthorpe coms:

Is that the Brazilian
Yep
Does the other guy speak Brazilian?

 ::) Thick cunt

We sound fucking hopeless this half. Get the subs on please!

Was that the Scottish twunt?

I'd do Branco off, Swift on and put Stephens back into CB.

Come on Coops, get Swift on.

Dongs equalise

Balls, Franchise 2-2

Yep

Seemingly unaware that A) The language of Brazil is Portuguese and B) Perhaps Branco can speak English?

yep

When are we going to see these games out and get a good win, we've been saying all season we will hammer someone, when? :suicide:

I stopped listening when they scored, the last thing I heard was a convo between the 2 coms........(jock) thats a sending off....(northern monkey) no it isn't.....(jock) yes it would be if I was referee!

Balls, Williams off the bar.

Branco off Gladwin on. Phew!

Good, Branco sounds a liability today.

26 goals in 5 games so far in the Bundesliga this afternoon  :eek:

Come on lads we can nick this.

We seem to hit the post or bar every bloody game.

cheers

We are under the cosh.

FFS

Blip

Doh!

Fuck!

you're welcome

Dongs go 3-2 down

MK losing too.

MK behind at almost the same time

ffs. cunty bollocks.

is the commentator a fucking Bristol city fan. excited cunt

Arse.

We've fallen apart.  Two fucking set pieces.

Similar to Scunthorpe 2 seasons ago.

Game over 3-1

FUCK! 3-1

Fuck about!

We need to toughen up and fast.

Fucking pathetic.

This is painful...

I repeat: we're going down.

So we've gone back to being fucking awful playing away.

Shambles

Useless bottling cunts

Here's the blip.

This half has been fucking useless. Scunthorpe are so shit, stereotypical grim northern long ball team we cant deal with.

This is why we wont go up auto. Awful

Meltdown

who was the cock on here that said feb should be an easy month :hmmm:

Lucky MK are having one too. We could be 7 or 8 clear if we weren't getting beat.

city losins

Cooper out!

City losing as well now

agreed

City 2-1 down

Dongs 4-2 down

Makes this result not too bad but a win would have been huge today.

Top 3 all losing , Preston right back in it if it stays like this

Pissing about with the ball in defence.

At least with the 82ers and the Bletchley stealers losing we arent going to be too far behind, Cooper out! Booooo urns.

sums it up

Adver Sports Desk ‏@AdverSport  2m2 minutes ago
Town have absolutely imploded here. Scunny all over them

No consolation all those close are losing, these shit northern teams know how to grind results out, look out for Preston and Sheffield Utd second half of the season.

Shame we can't get the points when it matters.
Sounds like we can't deal with some teams style of play, and have no plan b.

And why isn't Hylton on yet?

shit sticks and flappy parts. what a chance and fecked up.

I think it's a huge consolation that the others are losing.

I blame Parkin. After Williams' miss right after our goal he said something like "I hope this won't cost us later"
 :suicide:

Ironically we were all worried about getting through January without Kasim and Luongo.  February has been the problem.

Shame we don't ever manage to capitalise when City and Franchise drop points  We need to be more worried about those behind us if we keep this up.

I'm putting money on Sheff U for the title!

What time do you reckon Thor will be back on here? I bet he is having a wank getting ready to post on the 3 forums.

We've been awful today.  Simply not firing properly.  A poor Scunthorpe side has matched (or bettered) us in every department.  Truly gutting to watch a promotion chasing side play like this.

Shitty 3-1 down

If it stays as it is then it is a consolation because we're another game closer to the end of the season.

And now we are all losing by 2 goals. Fucking hell.

this feeling's not getting any better.

So do I.

Who cares?

Sheff United right back in it now 2 games in hand won would put them 6 behind, a month ago they were 18 points behind

Sounds like we're trying our best to reduce our goal difference to 0 in one game. Awful.

Who fancies us in the play offs against anyone?

Think Hylton needs a run, if not just to give the other strikers a kick up the arse.

According to the old Scot's cunt on Scunthorpe comms. Time should not be added to a game for substitutions because it's a form of cheating, and they are losing too many games because of it.

His co-commentator keeps giggling. I think he's giggling AT him.

Oh do behave.

doesn't matter, we won't even make the play-offs

Worrying thing is we weren't able to hold or increase our lead and have shipped 3 goals.

We've got some difficult places to still visit as well.

Thank god we have enough points to stay up ;)

After the shock of being shite for a few games, I just checked and we are still in the autos.

Amazing!

FT 3-1

Game over, poor day at the office.

We'll win the next 16 games. You heard it here first.

In the playoffs you need to keep it tight and hold your nerves, a bit like today?

Sounded poor and missed Luongo?

City and dons lost also so no ground lost or gained.

Need to beat Crawley next week, they won 5-1 today!

Rubbish result.

Good point. Because today is definitely representative of how good we are. Forget about all the games when we have been superb, today's result is the only one that matters.

How are we still 2nd?  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I blame Suggs, he started the thread too early!

Should help season ticket sales.  

He's just a shadow of his former self.

Did change of defensive shape after substitution catch us out. Branco needs to go  back to being consistent. Maybe Stevens needs to go back to defensive duties and give Branco a rest

Only Sheff United won out of the Top 7 every one else beaten apart from PNE who were laughing their bollocks off

Our problem is we can't grind out draws. Of course we want to win every game and should set up accordingly but when like today and The sheff utd game we are under the cosh fucking change it and just go for  a point

Again

Probably not the best time to play Crawley and Gillingham but at least we're at home.

We're still 2nd and we're having a mini blip together with Franchise and hopefully City. No need to panic just yet.

i maintain sheff u are not out of this.

our problem is that we have developed a soft centre. this is putting pressure on us.

nt has been prone to doing that all season, I'd rather him in there than not.

now we are in a massive pressure period 'winnable' home games.

Ah, the texts..... Time to switch off.

Last 3 aways

W 0 D 0 L 3 F2 A7 pts 0

Can't see why our form has taken such a sharp downturn  :sherlock:

Previous 3 aways

W 2 D 1 L 0 F 9 A 3 pts 7

Shite..

Missed chances and silly soft goals.

Texts are a joke too......people saying that we played shit.??didn't sound that to me.

Got to bury Crawley...get back on track..

We were due a blip.  We had a blinding January - and without two of our best players.  I wonder whether a few of our key men are simply jaded?  Certainly looked that way today.

Test of MC's managerial mettle now.  Could define our season.  How does he rally the troops for the final few months?

More texts....

It's Brancos fault...

Off....

I think most of the texts were fairly reasonable, although a lot blaming Branco.  Was he to blame for anything today?

Scunthorpe Coms were actually very complimentary.

He nearly got himself sent off but it didn't sound as though he was at fault for the first goal. He wasn't even on the pitch for the other two! Harsh.

These away games are tougher than they look on paper to be fair. Things have swung round noe as away we have to play the tough games with the majority of he games looking decent for us. 4 out of our next 5 at home with Crewe away in between. Good chance to get at least 10 points.

Cooper needs to go back to basics and stop chopping and changing the team all the time, he's falling into bad habits in terms of away matches similar to last season. He's a very good manager when things are going well and rightly deserves lots of credit but he does seem to struggle when things dip and seems to make panic decisions finding it hard to turn things around.
Today was a bit of a case in point playing Stephens in midfield when we had both Gladwin and Swift on the bench. We all know that we can't defend so trying to play defensively doesn't really make sense. We've got where we are by playing passing attacking football and that's how we've got to where we are and just need to go back to that...

Agree with this.  I personally would have dropped  Branco, moved Stephens back into defence and started Swift or Gladwin.  Saying that when he made those changes, we conceded twice (or were we already losing?)

I think Cooper is struggling at the moment to know who his preferred starting 11 are.  In some ways it was easier when Kasim and Luongo were out of the equation.

I'd be surprised to see the same starting 11 next Saturday.

Just back, what a horrible game in a crap atmosphere.

We were far superior than them in so many departments today, but appear to have reverted back to the frustrating pattern of slowing things down when we should be clinical.  Passing was wayward throughout the game, but up until they scored I never thought we'd lose, they are a poor side.  Then we helped them, we just seemed to fall apart, something I've not seen us do for sometime.  We lost every second ball and became shambolic at the back. 

I still think we'll be OK, we must learn from this and be more clinical in the final third, instead of getting behind their defence and then slowing it down & coming backwards.  Thought Williams was unlucky today, ran his socks off & unlucky not to score.  His first effort was a class save more than an easy miss imo (It was at the other end).

It wasn't just Branco today, I thought the back 3 looked jittery on loads of occassions & Nat was at fault for the 3rd.

Agree with Plymred, the fat bloke at half time was worth the entrance fee, he was stood next to me & the video his mate took was brilliant, got to get in on utube. 

What makes you think we will learn from this?

Should have learnt from Blades and Oldham

Think we missed an attacking midfielder, Gladwin swift luongo all missing from the off didn't help, as has been said back to basics next week the home games should hep, coyr we will still go up automatically.

Right it us simple.
Play your best 11 and stop fucking about tinkering.
Stick Stephens at back with Tommo and Turnbull.
Get Branco out a liability.
Midfield is our strength. We have 4 quality midfielders with Swift now added.
Should have started.
Play Willo and Smith up front andvyiunwoukd get back to winning.

Scunthorpe were absolute shit and we gifted 3 points.

Rant over....lucky never lost ground.
Play this next week and back to winning ways.

This,Branco loses his head far to easily and we were lucky not to be down to ten men.We also don't have a dominant centre back and we were all over the place from set pieces.Scunthorpe were poor except for Madden and the goalie and we certainly threw it away

Agree about branco, always feel that he is a second away from a red card. Was certain he would go when he smacked the ball at the scunny player.

Not saying he was at fault for the defeat mind, we were a mess across the board defensively.

Fucking hell I am still angry.
That was 3 points well and truly thrown away.
Said to Ardiles if we score first we will win. We did and in the bag. Wrong fucked about and threw away the easiest 3 points this season.
My cousin is a Scunny fan. After game he said people all around him were saying we are the best team they have seen this season. Fucking hell must have seen some shit because second half we lost the plot.
Branco could have been sent off. Looks uncomfortable on the ball.
No threats from them. They couldn't pass, couldn't beat players nothing.
3-1 against a pub team.
Let me pick the team next Saturday and we will stuff Crawley.

Agree with most of the comments. 3 points there for the taking and we didn't take them.

It's pretty simple really.

When attacking - Stop arsing around like mother fuckers in the final third - Get two or three times as many attempts on goal (on target of course) as we did today.

When defending - Stop arsing around like mother fuckers - There is no excuse for it Cooper, absolutely none whatsoever . Just cut it the fuck out out.

If we address these two issues we go up (and would have won today).
Fail to address them and we wont.

FACT!

P.S. Thanks for fucking up my day Town. It was going pretty well up until the 62nd minute. Bollocks to the lot of you.

P.P.S Nice to see you again Duke...

Admittedly not able to make many games but getting tired of reading about Branco mistakes every match day thread. Is cooper oblivious to this?

Other results very favourable. No biggy if this blip can end pronto

Don't know what happened there. Drinking to drown the sorrows.
Great to see you again and agree.
Shoot ffs, walking it in the net.
Still a game next week we should win, should we ?

Scunthorpe were awful tbh and will be bottom 6- however in the 2nd half we were even worse.

We still struggle at times to cope away from home with teams that go direct and in our faces- we seemed to crumble.

We don't look the same side to be honest since that break away in Tenerife.

Let's hope it is just a blip and we can resume normal service next week.

Good to see you, Duke.  And the Duchess and the mini-Dukes.  :)

Few hours after the game, still can't work out how we turn 1-0 up at half time (worked hard for the lead) & looking good 1st 15 mins of 2nd half into that. To be fair the warning signs were there early on, 1st 15 mins they had a couple of chances due to our silliness at the back. Two soft goals and the third a defensive shambles. Wheels really fell off in a way I haven't seen for quite a while, ok I don't see many, but probably not since Macclesfield in the cup (didn't go to Cheltenham....). Think I remember Cooper said after Peterborough in Nov when we nearly let 2 goal lead slip that he would be working with the defence. Well he needs to do it again to eradicate complacency - we can't rely on Wes time and again to bail us out.

Rant over and we're still in the mix, obviously the sooner we put this dodgy run behind us the better, starting next weekend. One other thing, when we were 1-0 up, little kid gets a Give Us an S going, will retain that as a positive memory of the day out.

Just an observation from an exiled fan.  Mark Cooper seems to be taking some criticism in this thread.  Every team has a poor period.  Perhaps this is ours?  Viewed overall, it seems we took a long time to give him any credit whatsoever, and we are quite quick to turn on him again.  In this promotion race we are, status and budget wise, the underdogs.  The fact we are in it at all is credit to the club and the manager.  I'd give him some slack.

Top man.
Right let's put that shambles behind us and win next Saturday. Great to see you again mate.

Had to laugh on way out of ground and sitting in the car.
Mad Phil wouldn't get on the coach and was "attacking" their fans at every opportunity, " you were really lucky in that game, repeat.
Even attacked my cousin, "you were really lucky in that game."

Good post that and agree.
Just disappointed losing against such a poor side.
When Swift came on he was running rings around them.
Need to keep a more balanced side, only my opinion, but apart from that not that much wrong.
On to next week now.
Win next Saturday and normal service resumed.

Sounds reasonable, and I will always listen to those who go to the games.  Its been a few years since I was a regular.  My dad still goes every home game so I get a match report.  Cooper does seem to be one of those managers who gets a grudging respect, rather than wholesome praise.  From what my old man tells me, we play intelligent football, with good results (the last few notwithstanding) on a tiny budget. 

A few home wins coming up and who knows.  I know we've come close but I find promotion still hard to believe.  I had a season ticket from 1993 - 2008 until life took over too much, but the idea of us, now, in the championship has become a stretch too far for my mind.  If we don't make it, considering many had us down for relegation, let us remember this as a good season.

Think you're being disrespectful to Scunny...it's a simple game, they wanted it more so prevailed...it happens

I wouldn't say they wanted it more, we were just sloppy and they capitalised. On another day we would have scored a few and probably won but need to cut out errors at the back

Where I live I can JUST get it on the radio (in the car)...

Is it me, or does the BBC Wiltshire Commentator seem to get stupidly excited everytime the opposition either attack or score? Are they an Oxford fan?

Agreed. We shouldn't go all 'Charlie Big Time' as we've criticized fans of Forest/Wednesday/Blades/Leeds etc etc of doing over the years. Scunny would argue they deserved the win and it is hard to argue against that.

HOWEVER. We should have had that game killed off and wrapped up early in the second half. We have the ability to have done that by taking our chances at one end and then closing out at the other. What makes me want to scream is that the only thing stopping this team going up is themselves.

We dodged a bullet yesterday with the other two slipping up as well. Let's hope that Cooper can sort them out because to be honest, there isn't that much that needs sorting but it's enough to stop us going up.

I don't.  There's a lot I liked about their set up.  The ground was nice & compact (even if it was a pain to get out of afterwards), and all three of the home stands made some noise.  Decent set of fans.

But - and there is a but - there was nothing in that Scunthorpe side that we should have been fazed by or scared of.  During the first half, the prevailing feeling among our fans was that we could not understand why we were not taking the game to them more.  They offered so little.  They were ordinary.  They opened our defence up more often than I would have liked, but the resulting efforts from their forwards were abysmal.  Had we been firing as we know we can, we could easily have been 3 goals up at half time.  Instead, we went in 1-0 and then let the wheels fall off in the second half.

As we did last week but Barnsley didn't capitalise!

We presented them with an opportunity which they took. We should never have presented that opportunity to them. That was the problem. (I'm agreeing with you BTW  ;))

Reg, you say they wanted it more but that's not true. Our boys wanted it plenty, believe me. Their failure was not applying themselves in key areas of the pitch at key points in the game.

Re. Getting out of the car park. When you're 3-1 down with 2 minutes of normal time to go and it's just not happening - sneak out - we got out of there in no time. I'd recommend it  8)

now not just you, I posted similar back in the thread somewhere.

but that's secondary to not being able to work out what the hell is going on half the time. they replayed the goals from the 3-3 the other year, presumably it was Hadwin commentating, it was like a breath of fresh air with clear descriptive commentary that left no doubt what was happening.

in fact, while it's arguable local radio has always been this, BBC wilts in general seems to be going down the same shithole as the Adver these days. used to listen to the breakfast show on the drive to work to pick up the sport and local news. it's become so bland it makes James blunt look edgy. Now they've booted out Mark O'Donnell too.

Bring back Vic Morgan, I say.

What happened with O'Donnell? He used to be great with the half time ska and stuff, the only time I can ever remember paying the slightest attention at half time. And he used to call out some of the dumber texts.

he got moved for continuity reasons iirc, the regular sports link got moved back.

as for his Saturday morning show this is an alleged response (taken from fb) when someone asked why it was being axed:

Exactly this. Not being disrespectful to Scunny in the slightest.
That was a game that should have been wrapped up in 45 minutes.
They simply were there for the taking a 3 points were gifted.

Wanting it more, doesn't imply that our lot weren't trying....just that the Scunny lads, had that bit of extra hunger....there's really next to no difference, between an outfit like us and Scunny.

Scunny are now fringe PO side, with a couple of games in hand....after a wretched start to the season.

As for presenting it to them....again disrespectful.  We know someone like Madden can finish....the boy Hopper has just had 4 in 4, their game plan, work hard close us down, and there will be chances.....it's what we do.

Nowt wrong with it, I'm all for it, but it means we're from from invincible.

We should have finished a couple of the chances we created and then defended properly. That's hardly being disrespectful.

Any way, it's done now. 0 points is 0 points. Hopefully Cooper sorts it out.

We can agree on this.....on to Crawley next, and an emotional meeting with Darren Ward.

Again we'll need to be better than yesterday, to get owt from this one.  A horrible cunt like Izale McLeod, is a much better diver than Andy Williams.

Is he there permanently?

I dont think Ward can play can he?

That's what I thought Tans..

Pretty much. Until the end of the season I believe, which is when his contract is up here. My understanding is that he can't play against us but I could be wrong.

What frustrates me is how hard it seems we have to work to score, but how easy we make it for opponents to score.

Yes, I agree.

That's what I was getting at... If it was a loan, he'd not be able to play against us, if it was a permanent deal he could.

Shame really, he's been in the starting 11 since he got there so he'll obviously be a miss for them...

Although I think they have their captain back after suspension..

Most teams put the ball into the danger area at the first opportunity.
We pass, probe, pass again when sometimes someone should hit the target with a shot.
No moaning from me just stating how it is.
Gladwin appears to be the only player who takes a shot from outside the box.
Yesterday plenty of chances.

Not been any media reply to the Luongo buy back clause, which seems strange.

Thought Sam may have had an insight into it.

Probably a misunderstanding, misquoting or just simply: bollocks.

That said, it could be true.

hopefully ward will play.lets not get sentimental,he's not great

 that's cleared it up then.

I was going for a bit of Adver journalism...  :-[

If Spurs had the chance to buy back Luongo on the cheap from us, why would they have shelled out £5m on Delle Ali from Franchise. Pretty sure there are rules to prevent buying and selling immediately, certainly Premier to Premier League in the same window. They would also have to shell out on agents fees twice to shift on.

The Luongo buy back for £400k story doesn't stack up.  It amounts to a 100% sell on clause.  Spurs would buy him back, regardless of whether they actually needed him, to then (possibly) sell on themselves at a profit.  Makes no sense.

Didnt Jed broker the deal? They probably supplied the illuminous advertising as part of it

It does indeed sound bobbins. As you say, how would that work, "Hi Spurs its Lee Power here. We are just about to sell Luongo for £3M, if you don't want him back for 400K obviously". "£3M, well actually Lee..."...

But the Adver seem to quote Luongo :

 “They could buy me for what they sold me for, but obviously I am not in their plans, which is fine," he added.

Maybe there is some clause that means they could but couldn't resell within.... Or maybe its bobbins. Most odd.

I see the Oxygen stealer has just arrived

As reported, not it doesn't. But given that a five-year old could work that out (as is evidenced by the fact many of us on here have done so), then if such a clause exists, presumably it's hedged with some kind of "right to buy him back at the original price as long as you don't sell him straight on within the same season" clause. Unless this was one of Jed's deals. In which case the whole "obvious to a five-year old" thing doesn't really apply

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_  14m14 minutes ago
Swindon Town chairman Lee Power when asked by Link Sport 'do Spurs have a £400k buy back clause on Massimo Luongo?': "No." Blunt.

That can be buried along with the we have to play Swift rumour then.

Where is Chang?

According to my atlas, in the Pakistan bit of Punjab....

any body heard rumours that Luongo absence on Saturday was more to do with spat with Lee Power than a last minute groin strain? According to my friend Power not happy with him indicating that he wanted away and that he has done a Branco on him and refused to play him.......any truth in any of that or is he talking out of his arse?
Tom Bassam's choice of words suggests may be something to it......
Massimo Luongo’s absence was the major talking point of Cooper’s team selection. The Aussie apparently left behind in Wiltshire with a groin injury.

Safe to assume he's talking bollocks

Wait. So the inclusion of the word 'apparently' somehow lends credence to said rumour?

I saw Luongo on Thursday and he looked fine, so could well be something in it.

Fucking ridiculous.

Power is going to sell Mass whether we go up or not - everyone accepts that. So what difference does it make if Mass says it as well.

Obviously there is previous with Branco but that was a contract dispute.

Now the window is shut and all everyone wants is promotion, what would be the benefit of dropping Mass.

8) :fishing:

I've heard this today as well.  'Apparently' Power hasn't taken kindly to him saying that staying at Swindon would be a worse case scenario.

It could just be a rumour doing the rounds, but based on Power's previous with Branco and also the Adver there could well be some truth in it.  Maybe Power thinks our midfield did ok without him?

I love how the word 'apparently' suggests there's something a miss  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Wouldn't you limp a bit with a groin strain? He was moving fine...

So the person that stands to benefit most from our promotion wants to leave out arguably our best player?

OK then. Makes perfect sense.

Sense and football club owners are not natural bedfellows....look at the fella at Brentford, Warburton has them flying, so he's off out courting Paco Jemez of Rayo.

So this leaks out and they promptly drop out the PO's.

PS Jemez is ace, and would be a breath of fresh air in England.

Or he could be fucking knackered after flying to and from Australia, playing and winning the Asian Cup and coming back almost straight into training?

It wouldn't be massively surprising if we allowed him a couple of weeks off before our promotion push for the last 15 games or so, would it?

I was surprised that Cooper brought them both back in straight away.....I expected a bit of a break to acclimatise, especially as we'd coped reasonably OK.

He asked to sit out a game on Fifa 15, he said 'I'm not up for it boss'...

I wonder if this has any bearing on what's actually going on..

let's pretend this really did happen. it would be a fucking stupid decision by Power. we'd probably lose cash as it became apparent that player and club wanted a parting of ways,  and we'd lose and excellent player, which could cost us promotion, which could lose us cash.

I reckon power is a ruthless shit. but he isn't dumb/Paolo.

Groin injuries can occur between Thursday and Saturday...

So Cooper announces he left out Mass as he was tired. We lose, Cooper gets grief, Mass gets grief etc etc

Why not say he is injured, saves everyone the grief except some small minded internet trolls.

but he's probably IS just injured...

I agree.

A little surprised.

Yasser was subbed of early in both games, Mass started one but not the other.
It's purely a process of reintegration.

...

Not sure what you mean. He did say Mass is injured.

If Cooper has left out Mass saying he was tired etc etc

I've said it before and I'll say it again: we're going down.

Everything I've read of Luongo's public statements since his return from Aus I've thought were absolutely what a chairman and fans would want to hear.

While words along the lines of "at the worst" may have been used it was followed by I'll still be at Swindon playing somewhere I really enjoy my football, where I'm developing and with all my mates and that he's perfectly happy.

He's made it clear he's not going to be agitating for a move, but that if a big chance comes along that's great. Power has said pretty much the same thing. He's clearly not primarily motivated by money or he's be coining it in a desert somewhere.

Christ if fans can get their knickers in a twist over a player that has done absolutely bloody everything the right way there's no bastard hope for us and the fellah ought to just grab the first chance he gets to better himself because we might not deserve him.

 :clap:

Well said Dalai Lama - Some people seem to have gone a bit loopy today. First there were mass (almost a pun there) suicides in the offing because of our Chief Cone Gatherer (Who no one can possibly know if he's that good - although I suspect he might me in fairness) being rumoured to be off to Villa, now this. It's actually pretty funny.


Not me mate, I'm rock  ;)

Actually, I don't think you would necessarily be limping with that kind of injury. I reckon the problem would be when you try to run. Did you not ask him to do a few short sprints?

Generally speaking, you don't tend to limp with a groin strain. It's difficult to get up and moving, but when you're moving you're alright. Running is indeed the point where it hurts, and you start to limp.

I cannot believe you'd see a footballer not limping (who is 'apparently' injured) and NOT give him some basic drills to complete to confirm if it's true. Absurd.

At the very least, you would pretend to be breaking into his car - then you would see if he could run or not  :nod:

Ha exactly!

I've no idea, whether you'd limp a bit or not....Mass was in the Co-Op, my chum in the pub on Thursday night reckoned I should have stalked him, with a view to gauging his mental state from the contents of his shopping basket.  :sherlock:

At the time thought the suggestion extreme....but on reflection something has to explain why we've just lost 3 in a row on the road, something we didn't manage last season, when it was generally accepted we were dodgy travellers.

Now your're making sense Reg  :nod:

Now it looks like Barnsley may have contacted us over Cooper's availability.

Must be tempting, that one!  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: