New ground

[Simon Pieman]

I'm so hardcore, I pay on the day even though I have a season ticket

[Talk Talk]

I'm so hardcore, I pay on the day even though I have a season ticket

But that's just your Manchester Road floozie, Si..?

[leefer]

Agreed....its been an incredible turnaround for Reading FC....City,Rovers,Swindon,Oxford Reading...they used to be the minnows..the laughing stock...at present they are the biggest of the five...hate to say it.
We can get there if the local authority show inatiative and back Fitton and co...its about time they started backing the club abit more...get the youngsters in for free etc.
Swindon fans like us are loyal but more needs to be done to bring in the thousands that have never been to see the Town ever play.

[mexico red]

Im not cutting him any slack, until madjeski Reading were fuck all. Plus hes come on to  a rivals message board he deserves whatever he gets.

[Rich Pullen]

I was enjoying it - then KOT posted the attendances and the boob disappeared.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

The Reading experience and reaction to success, is what Andrew Fitton, the rest of the board and Nick Watkins, would be looking at to achieve with Swindon. The demographics are the same big towns with no significant football competition nearby and that is a huge potential (there are 193,000 people living in the Swindon Council area).

We almost had our success late 80's and early 90's a bit too soon in that we weren't really set up for the Premier League as football took off in the mid 1990's we were coming off the peak and went downhill rapidly. The antagonism around McMahon and Hunt also put off the support for a long time. Had we got in the Premier in say 2003 instead of 1993 we may well have gained that long term increase in the supporter base.

Reading, whether we like it or not, we're well set up for getting in the Prem, couple of misses in the play offs and then won the Championship so built the momentum in the supporter base. We haven't really done that yet, despite the season ticket offers and various offers, wonder what the take up on the 2 for £25 will be. Sure our gates will pick up about the 10k mark for the Rovers and Norwich games but we need to get the belief going in the local population and sustain the success over a longer period. Swindon is a big place and if we can tap into the locals then we could get the 25,000 if we hit the big time Prem again. Maybe a Wembley play off might be the trigger to get more in on a regular/perm basis.

Fond memories of Elm Park, we always did quite well there most of the time

[Talk Talk]

We can get there if the local authority show inatiative and back Fitton and co...its about time they started backing the club abit more...get the youngsters in for free etc.

Swindon Borough Council have absolutely zero remit when it comes to a private business like STFC. Sorry.

[jonny72]

Swindon Borough Council have absolutely zero remit when it comes to a private business like STFC. Sorry.

I don't buy that, the council do plenty of things to help private businesses - reducing town centre car parking charges to encourage shoppers for example. They use it as an excuse for doing nothing when I'm sure there are things they could do to help. Plus the club does get involved in community projects which is giving something back.

Surely the real issue is that the club has been a joke for a long time, maybe things have changed a bit now?

[Arriba]

the council have been a joke more like.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

Swindon Borough Council have absolutely zero remit when it comes to a private business like STFC. Sorry.

Maybe there's a bit of an opportunity with the state of public finances for the board to try and buy the freehold to the County Ground. A Conservative council are probably more open to flogging off a few assets to kick off some of the town centre redevelopment. Fitton and Co might view a few million investment as an opportunity as it gives them a huge asset to secure their investment or loans against.

If the Goddard covenant is still seen as a problem, maybe a 50/50 ownership of the ground with the council and some long term tie into with community sports facilities at the CG. A 50/50 ground partnership with the council would also reduce the risk of a Kassam situation.

We can only hope

We can only hope

[jonny72]

Maybe there's a bit of an opportunity with the state of public finances for the board to try and buy the freehold to the County Ground. A Conservative council are probably more open to flogging off a few assets to kick off some of the town centre redevelopment. Fitton and Co might view a few million investment as an opportunity as it gives them a huge asset to secure their investment or loans against.

I'm not aware of the council ever being opposed to selling the freehold back to the club. They've just refused to sell it for peanuts and want the true market value - which would be a lot of money if the land was redeveloped (as part of the ground redevelopment, or if the club moved to a new ground).

[Talk Talk]

I don't buy that, the council do plenty of things to help private businesses - reducing town centre car parking charges to encourage shoppers for example.

Uh - they get more revenue because of the increased number of tickets sold to more shoppers. Seriously, SBC don't give a shit about any businesses. If they did they would abolish car park charges and make the buses in to town free (and subsidised by council tax), cut the business rate to ribbons and offer subsidies to new start ups. But none of that is going to happen as they are fucked up the arse by the minimal contribution back from Central Government.

They use it as an excuse for doing nothing when I'm sure there are things they could do to help. Plus the club does get involved in community projects which is giving something back.

They don't make any excuses. They are just not involved and don't need to be. Quote me an Adver article where they have said this.

Surely the real issue is that the club has been a joke for a long time, maybe things have changed a bit now?

All I am aware of is that there might be some positive attitude from SBC on either selling the ground back to the club or some sort of partnering arrangement on that side of things because our new board are reasonable business men rather than the unrealistic fucktards who we used to have who hadn't got a clue.

[(.)Boobies(.)]

The Reading experience and reaction to success, is what Andrew Fitton, the rest of the board and Nick Watkins, would be looking at to achieve with Swindon. The demographics are the same big towns with no significant football competition nearby and that is a huge potential (there are 193,000 people living in the Swindon Council area).

We almost had our success late 80's and early 90's a bit too soon in that we weren't really set up for the Premier League as football took off in the mid 1990's we were coming off the peak and went downhill rapidly. The antagonism around McMahon and Hunt also put off the support for a long time. Had we got in the Premier in say 2003 instead of 1993 we may well have gained that long term increase in the supporter base.

Reading, whether we like it or not, we're well set up for getting in the Prem, couple of misses in the play offs and then won the Championship so built the momentum in the supporter base. We haven't really done that yet, despite the season ticket offers and various offers, wonder what the take up on the 2 for £25 will be. Sure our gates will pick up about the 10k mark for the Rovers and Norwich games but we need to get the belief going in the local population and sustain the success over a longer period. Swindon is a big place and if we can tap into the locals then we could get the 25,000 if we hit the big time Prem again. Maybe a Wembley play off might be the trigger to get more in on a regular/perm basis.

Fond memories of Elm Park, we always did quite well there most of the time

Excellent post and agree totally, with the exception of Archie Lovell running rings around McMahon for his hattrick and the Jan Arga Fjorotff (sp?) arms out celebration with full cheeky grin  

Good post.

[(.)Boobies(.)]

Swindons average attendances

1996 10,040
 
1995 9,408

1994  15,011

1993 10,576

1992 9,654

1991 9,613
 
1990  9,444

1989  8,645
 
1988  9,542
 
Readings average attendances:

1996  8,917

1995  9,350

1994  6,951

1993  4,781

1992  3,858

1991   4,073

1990   4,076

1989  5,106

1988  6,945

now fuck off back to stamford bridge

So are you not following the conversation?

I've said already the 80's were poor for us, as we the times the club were going through, and it picked up slowly with the change of chairman.

The move to the Madejski made all the differece. If you took 5 minutes to actually read the thread, you'd see why they picked up (Families started to attend, nicer facilities etc)

Now post up your attendances and ours from 1998 to the present day please? Oh.

[Talk Talk]

Show us your (.)Boobies(.)