GL5Red versus Flashheart!

[THE FLASH]

Just got to love those comments.'Swindon play the game the right way'.

Before mugging us for another 3 points

This is spot on.

We don't look like having a plan A at the minute, let alone a plan B.

Never mind we will win tomorrow night, shock everybody and the season can be binned.

[Flashheart]

 
I never said I wasn't a supporter any more. Let's not put words in my mouth. Losing a real, pure, old-fashioned love for the club you've grown up with and wanting it to succeed are not mutually exclusive. Yes, there's a feeling of being 'hurt'. But I can say for certain that I don't feel anywhere near how I did about any results three or four years ago. And in my second year covering the club - the relegation to L2 - I really did care, despite results.

Also, the article was not really about one fan losing love for his club. It was advice to journalists not to cover their club - a very particular circumstance. There's a difference there.

I don't go to games now because of two reasons - 1. Work and 2. Because I really don't want to support the current owner. Yet I still found myself paying for a ticket for the Blackpool home game last minute when I had convinced myself I wouldn't. We won 3-2 and I didn't get the urge to cheer. Maybe that's the conditioning of being in a press box for so long. Maybe it's something else.

Anyway, my point is... you can be a supporter of the club (the name, the history, your memories) and not a fan of the club in its current state (be that for whatever reason). Feel free to disagree.

Fucking part-timer. 

[Tails]

 
I never said I wasn't a supporter any more. Let's not put words in my mouth. Losing a real, pure, old-fashioned love for the club you've grown up with and wanting it to succeed are not mutually exclusive. Yes, there's a feeling of being 'hurt'. But I can say for certain that I don't feel anywhere near how I did about any results three or four years ago. And in my second year covering the club - the relegation to L2 - I really did care, despite results.

Also, the article was not really about one fan losing love for his club. It was advice to journalists not to cover their club - a very particular circumstance. There's a difference there.

I don't go to games now because of two reasons - 1. Work and 2. Because I really don't want to support the current owner. Yet I still found myself paying for a ticket for the Blackpool home game last minute when I had convinced myself I wouldn't. We won 3-2 and I didn't get the urge to cheer. Maybe that's the conditioning of being in a press box for so long. Maybe it's something else.

Anyway, my point is... you can be a supporter of the club (the name, the history, your memories) and not a fan of the club in its current state (be that for whatever reason). Feel free to disagree.

You can justify it whichever way you want, but the article read to me like a bit of a condensed hissy fit. All a bit too dramatic from a journalist who is normally pretty level headed. Don't get me wrong, I like you as a journalist and some of the stuff you've written in the past is fantastic. I also have empathy on the falling out of love as after Preston I felt the same and I haven't had the same passion this year either (I'm also living out of Town now so I don't go as regularly as I used to).

I've got mates / family who support Oxford, Gills, Shitheads, all sorts of teams and that article was used to rinse me something silly (as if our results weren't enough!) so maybe I'm just a bit sour about it. Not sure. Respect to you for not slating Power as much as you could have though. If I'd gone through what you had with him I doubt I'd have bitten my tongue as much.

[Tails]

Oh and don't pretend you didn't have the time of your life when the good times were rolling. We were national news and you were at the forefront of everything STFC. Swings and roundabouts surely?

[Sam Morshead]

Fair enough if that was the perception of the piece amongst you and your friends (and sorry for laying foundations for yet more piss-taking about this season!) but I can promise that wasn't the intention. As for the good times, they were bloody great, absolutely, and they gave me a huge career leg-up too.

But I had my run-ins with Wilson, Fitton, Wray, PDC etc on occasion, and the difference there was a willingness to talk things through. To be communal. It's a soppy view but I think a small club needs to keep itself open to the idea of community. The current owner doesn't do that (again, as he is entitled) and I don't feel any attachment to the place any more. I still have an attachment to its history and my memories, though, which is what will undoubtedly drag me to another game when I get a chance... and another. Regardless of results, until Swindon Town feels like the Swindon Town that I remember, I'll be as disillusioned.
 
We've probably hit a wall here in so much as I know exactly how I feel and you know exactly how you feel about this sort of situation, and we're not of the same opinion.

[Tails]

Fair enough.

Is it true that Danny Wilson lined all of the press guys up against a wall and then laid into you all and handed you a leaflet or something?

[Sam Morshead]

Not me. I've not heard that one before. He took exception to a piece I wrote in 10/11, about the rapid decline post-play-offs. Pulled me in for a 'chat' one lunchtime. Made my sausage baguette go cold - which was irritating.

[Tails]

Not me. I've not heard that one before. He took exception to a piece I wrote in 10/11, about the rapid decline post-play-offs. Pulled me in for a 'chat' one lunchtime. Made my sausage baguette go cold - which was irritating.

Is that a euphemism? 

[Quagmire]

Sam, do you know, or have you heard things about Power that aren't in the public domain that are of concern to the club? If anyone on this forum is likely to know anything it's going to be you.
As opposed to people speculating that he's the devil.

[Sam Morshead]

Is that a euphemism? 

[RobertT]

Sam, do you know, or have you heard things about Power that aren't in the public domain that are of concern to the club? If anyone on this forum is likely to know anything it's going to be you.
As opposed to people speculating that he's the devil.

I guess people would call me someone who supports him, but if you want to know what is MO is, then research his time at Cambridge.  I can confirm you'll see exactly the same sort of approach to the media as we have here now.  They are there for him to used when he wants to, he see's no use for them outside of that.  I believe his view is that success at a club is the only thing that matters in terms of how the club is viewed, whether he is any good at achieving that is another question.

[Sam Morshead]

Sam, do you know, or have you heard things about Power that aren't in the public domain that are of concern to the club? If anyone on this forum is likely to know anything it's going to be you.
As opposed to people speculating that he's the devil.

I have heard things that aren't in the public domain that sit uncomfortably with me. But not devil-level uncomfortable. More like cold businessman uncomfortable. And as owner of the club he's entitled to run it as he wants.
Would I prefer someone else to be running the club? Yes. Is he the worst man to be involved with the club during my time as a fan? No.
I'd be much more comfortable with some level of transparency beyond 20 questions on the Beeb every six to eight weeks - a full set of accounts would be nice, but there's no obligation for him to produce them. He's also got no obligation to do any kind of press, but it'd be nice to hears answers to questions that aren't softcore.
Ambiguity is kind of necessary as I don't want to libel.

[Flashheart]

It's no secret that he's a ruthless fucker, that's not necessarily a bad thing for the club though.

[Sam Morshead]

On a purely business level, while he is at the club, you're right - it's not. As I mentioned before, I think there should be much more to a small club than business and he's shown no desire to engage with the community. Or build a rapport in any way whatsoever. Many will disagree.

[Quagmire]

On a purely business level, while he is at the club, you're right - it's not. As I mentioned before, I think there should be much more to a small club than business and he's shown no desire to engage with the community. Or build a rapport in any way whatsoever. Many will disagree.

In your opinion is there cause for concern with regards to the well being of the club? Should people be digging out their orange hats just in case, because with the way people are talking on here. That's what a few seem to want to do.