Thetownend.com

I fucking hate you right now.

That was a fucking disgrace, no passion, Ifil was fucking awful.

3 soft goals against 10 men.

And what the fuck was Smith playing at for their 2nd?, fuck me i could have saved that.

Jesus catch the fucking ball!

I got told outside that the rumour is Brez has gone to Wolves.

Finally to that prick in the DRS going on about loyal supporters, fuck right off, Ive paid 20 quid to get in and if i want to go with 5 mins to go i will. So get fucked.

Mightilly pissed off, and big changes are needed for next week.

wolves wanted brez last season so it's no surprise.

Theres another thread on this.

I often go off on one after football but I disagree in alot of places

Brez is injured.....

i didn't know the messiah was in goal for us today.

in all seriousness, my response to your points:

meeeeh.

Where's Matt Murray these days? Still injured I guess... Well it would be a loan deal if he has gone.

Brez is a goner dv

Is that deffo Don Rogers Shop?

DRS first words today - "Ralphy got joggers nipple again?"

Then something about sheep later on.

How random 8)

Yes michael

On loan to Wolves?

Word I heard today is that there was a bust-up when Malpas told them the team yesterday and Brez threw his toys out of the pram!

No news on the so-called contract talks either, so that adds weight to Don Rogers Shop's story...

What a disappointing conclusion to a Swindon career.... if true.

i heard he fell out with mcgovern so wants to leave asap

I heard he fell out of a tree, hence the shoulder injury....

mcgovern must have pushed him

we get the point dave.enough now

sorry :(

mcgovern made him post it

Ah, so he's branching out!

Leaf it out Ronnie!

So he's leafing, but nobody's twigged yet?

FWIW, he was definitely at the ground today, saw him arrive around 2-ish. Which doesn't mean anything in terms of whether he is or is not going to Wolves or indeed anywhere, but he was certainly here today. Which is more than can be said for most of the team

no one knows fir sure...

Wouldn't be surprised if Brez went. Malpas has really fucked him around.

he'd be barking mad to go there

how?

Brez was his first choice keeper then after a few mistakes and poor performances dropped him.

How on earth is that fucking him about? Everyone has got to earn their place in the team. Timlin was dropped today....has Malpas fucked him around to?

It was clear from day 1 MM was a bit of a Smith fan. Brez did make a mistake but he was dropped straight away after Colchester. Then Smith came in and cost us a goal against MK and still plays today despite that and does that. Why wasn't Smith dropped after 1 mistake like Brez?

wood he go if he isnt guranteed fir-st team footbal though?

Went to the game today and paid £90 for the executive package.  Spoke to Brezovan before the game and he was injured and hence didnt play.

However the whole team were wank except for MacNamee and Cox.  Ifil had a shocker, and i cant believe Smith managed to fumble the ball when he seemingly had caught the ball.

However one of my mates who went on the executive shindig with me had a £20 bet on Leeds to win 3-1 and Beckford to score the first goal.   50-1.  The bookie in the must have paid out a shit load after the game, as loads of people predicted 3-1 Leeds for some reason  

....because Smith made really good saves was probably MotM and we won?

Wasnt Brez first mistake either in my opinion, anyway that doesnt really matter. The point is dropping a player isnt 'fucking them around'

Players have to earn their right to play in the team.

He can fuck off then, the cunts been just as shit as everyone else over recent times.

Maybe so. But Smith hasn't this season DV.

Neither has Brez, which is probably why they have played 3 league games each

True. Sadly we don't have any other options.

that's just reminded me that the leeds fan adje and i were chatting to outside the merlin had leeds to win 3-1 with beckford first goalscorer at 100-1.

i bet he's happy

Anyway Malpas out- and take Byrne and Williams with you

what did they do wrong today bart?

more to the point, what does williams actually do?

Just to go back to the original point, today was truly awful.
 
I hope none of the players hide behind the 'Leeds are a big club' tag because they are just another League one side, same as Swindon. They hyped themselves up for it, they bottled it and they got well beaten.

As for Bart, I thought he played the best side available to him today. Although I was very very dissapointed not to see Barry Corr on the bench.

why dont you fuck off with them?

Maplas picked a decent team, on paper probably our best team. It wasnt his fault two of players produced royal cock ups.

malpas tried to play down the "big game" tag. i liked that.

agreed about corr although if he's not absolutely ready, it's not wise to risk him with his history

No its never his fault is it?

It is his responsibility as a manager to work out why his team are making such regular and major cock ups and minimise it. I am a manager- if my team made the same mistakes continuosly i would be pulled in the office and told in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable.

Malpas is a mistake- we may pick up the odd win/result under him but will never get the consistancy needed to reach Fittons championship in 3 years objective.

We have largely the same squad as last year- Malpas does not have a clue how to get the best out of them. Of the players we tried to get in the summer- he was the reason why many of them turned us down

shut up you cock

Yes, their strict instructions to Smith to use the controversial "drop the ball in the net" tactic backfired badly today

Is that the best you can do sonic- shut up

Is that cock as in penis, or are you saying he has the intelligence of a male version of an egg-laying bird! :flaccid:

bart how on earth did malpas cause todays defeat?
what would you have done differently?
how do you coach players not to make human errors?

i've tried reasoning with you in the past with logical and structured arguments, using examples and such but you don't even bother - so i'm just going to abuse you instead.

fannypuppet

Ok Mr. Manager how could you coach the errors out of your team?

we could have had Sir Alex fucking Ferguson himself in the dugout today being the manager. He wouldnt have stopped Ifil and Smith fucking up.

If the board want to back Malpas then let him go and find himself a proper million years expirence specialised coaches (defensive and keeper) because as far as I remember his back room staff are mainly Sturrocks left overs...

Yes but arriba we hear the same thing every fucking week for fucks sake- individual errors.

We are making far too many of them on a regular basis- it is the manager/coaches job to work out what is going wrong and to change it. These mistakes have been ongoing for some time now and they have failed to do so.

Everyone is human and makes the odd error- it is the volume and frequency that is not acceptable

Bart, I dont think you can separate Malpas and Fitton. If the fans were all like YOU and forced Malpas out then I think Fitton would walk too.

The defence is bad, but it can be fixed.

The club has come a long way in 12 months. Constant sniping after defeats at the management structure, (even awful ones like this) will only harm the club long term.

fitton deserves our respect and trust. i think we owe him that much.

I do however wonder how many people bought season tickets thinking we'd splash the cash and have a good season.

Can you not pay the second installment and stop going after the 10 games. When we're mid table I wonder how many people will do this?

could you answer my questions please bart?

After 2 successive 3-1 defeats in our first 3 home games, I am guessing there will be a fair number who are currently not planning on turning up to games 11-23!

They will turn up....things will get better ime sure.

he won't

Do you really think malpas has the ability to fix it- i dont

yes i do

He needs to have a look at that corner routine, it isn't working.

who do you think can fix it then bart?

Then why has he done nothing about it. We just hear the same old- schoolboy errors/individual mistakes spouted every week

Will it take us rooted in the bottom 4 for you to take your head out of the sand 

yeah, too many deep corners that miss everyone. it's a waste because macca's delivery is great

what will it take you to realise we're a mediocre club with mediocre players with mediocre consistency?

"The bookie in the must have paid out a shit load after the game, as loads of people predicted 3-1 Leeds for some reason"

looking at those goals I think Smith,Ifil and Aljofree must have had a bet on that as well

He was a legend of a defender for Dundee United. If theres any part of the team I do think Malpas can fix, its the defence.

As for bottom the bottom 4, its a possibility. But were in it together now. Were not on that revolving door any more, its us against everyone else.

Maybe you should support Leicester, Mandaric appoints a new manager every week.

Maurice Malpas Red N White army.

.

And a mediocre manager- says it all.


Dont try and justify these mistakes being made- we cannot even get the basics right

His crosses are a bit soft and floated most of the time, I would much prefer if he or someone else whips those corners in with pace. If you play them shorter they are far too easy to defend or just run of the mill for the keeper to pluck out of the air.

WHAT
WOULD
YOU
DO
IF
YOU
WERE
MALPAS
OR
THE
MANAGER
OF
SWINDON
TOWN
FC
THEN
OH
WISE
ONE
QUESTION
MARK

You lot have your heads in the sand- wait and see us sail down o the bottom 4.

Fitton needs to admit his mistake- and fulfil his promise to appoint a manager with a track record.

You never saw us making consistantly embarassing errors when sturrock was here.................

Answer a fucking question, just one, you can pick.

OK we'll wait and see.

Until then, fuck off. Thats a very fair deal.

Fitton doesnt need to prove anything to you.

answer my fucking question and stop ignoring it.

WHO WOULD YOU REPLACE MALPAS WITH?

Malpas cannot be responsible for Dog & Duck mistakes from so called professional footballers.
The only anti Malpas point I would make is this, when they went down to 10 men after 10 minutes why didn't he stretch the game and pull one of the defenders into the midfield. Leeds never changed their tactics during the whole game, theyplayed with a back four even though they had ten men, we had a chance to boss the midfield and missed out.

Corner routine was crap as well Dell boy!

Didn't work did it, hasn't worked all season .. doesn't mean the routine is crap though, you need the delivery to be right as well.

can someone just ban that prick? i've yet to read one single post by bart that contains anything remotely positive or constructive.

The corner routines were at least entertaining, kind of like a line dance.

I can't remember us even looking like scoring from one, so either the delivery hasn't been right all season, or the corner routine is crap!

Why does Macca scoop it up like that?

His flat deliveries are lethal.

Best corners of recent times were probably Grant Smiths? Paul Smiths were pretty good too. Maybe we should get Jack Smith to take them?

when our players run to the front post it goes to the back post
when our players run to the back post it goes to the front post

WITHOUT FAIL!

Paul Smith? I am thinking of Paul Evans of course. Daft bugger aint I.

:clap:

Speaking of Paul Smith he got slated by the BBC Radio Swindon text in-ers!

That Paul Smith was bloody useless....

Sums up our fans!

Dont think we've had a good corner taker for years.

Would like to see us try some out swingers for a change...because this season we seem to get so many bloody corners....

can you answer my questions please bart??

don't you get it? he doesn't answer questions. he just talks shit, annoys people then vanishes until we lose another game.

i annoy you sonic but at least i have reason and points i back up.
i've supported bart before,but he's making himself look a tool tonight.

Don't worry chaps (and BART) Magic Malpas will turn it around ;)

you don't annoy me, i just think you're a cunt

that was a joke. i love you really.

I've refrained deliberately from posting until now as too not post some twatish comment but time isn't healing the wounds of today.

Right this is no way intended as a Malpas out post but we are a bit of a club in crisis/limbo at the moment. If you listen to what our Newcastle supporting financial advisor has to say then the board has no real confidence in Malpas and their fear is if they get rid of him then who can they attract to replace him. If our board have no real confidence in the management then it presents a massive problem ...... today we looked like relegation fodder devoid of any ideas and I just don't think Malpas is going to get the time to turn it around, from what I've heard about Bullocks comments i sounds as if that if they can get a big name in charge then the will do it as Malpas just isn't doing the business.

I'd forgotten about this cunt.

How did I forget about him? Oh yeah, we've had some decent results of late and therefore has had little or nothing to bitch about, and you just cannot find within yourself to say a single positive thing can you Bart.

Fuck off and get a life you boring little cunt.

Never heard of Bullock. Where can I hear or read these comments that you speak of?

Right time to get abused. Malpas is not the right man imo. By switching and droppin players every week he is sappin confidence. Whats the odds yesterday mcgovern and easton at 2.30 both knew in their minds they would not complete the full 90 mins

If we had been 2-0 up he wouldnt have changed it. Timlin was probably dropped because he said he was focusing on Leeds game at Hereford, and because he has been pretty average, not really shone at all. JPM came in to give us a more balanced 4-4-2 because Easton out there makes us too narrow and defensive.

Cox, Paynter, Nalis, McNamee, Ifil, J Smith and Aljofree have all been regular starters. 7 players of 11.

Its an unfair criticism.

Its not unfair at all.whats balanced when jpm is on the right.malpas clearly stated he is going more attacking against leeds.how? Jpm cant beat a defender not one of our centre mids get forward enough(nalis exused) and then we are losing he sticks with two up front uses just two subs when peacocks sat there. So i would imagine thats peacock pissed off along with,mcgovern,brez.timlin.easton, yeah

Im no fan of JPM. He's slow and his passing is very average. At Aldershot it took him 4 attempts to get a cross into the box, first 3 went over the cross bar. But it does look like a 4-4-2 with him on the right wing. I cant see why JPM would be pissed off with Malpas? Malpas gave him another chance yesterday which he didnt really deserve.

Timlin, like I said, was probably a disciplinary thing after the newspaper article. Agreed with it, and he hasnt been great this season either.

Peacock shouldnt even have made the bench yesterday. Hes not a striker, he wont get goals at this level anymore. Got a whole game at Aldershot and missed two sitters. Cox handed him one on a plate and he still missed it.

You cant be afraid to drop players, and he hasnt been.

Mcgovern and easton usually play in eachothers position. Timlin yes i agree but still gets subbed every game. So far this year timlin has played on the left and in the middle.easton right and in the middle mcgovern the same and marshall and macca always switch. Malpas i think tries to be too clever.get a 11 you trust let them gel and the mistakes will go. You keep punishing players and droppin them you wont get consistency

Im the other way mate. After years of having threadbare squads, with everyone assured of their place, its refreshing to have the competition. The only player im a bit worried about is Timlin, because hes had a lot of games but weve not really seen him change a game yet this season. Hopefully he does get an extended run now.

But defensive mistakes like yesterday and Colchester and we havnt got a chance, not a chance. Not against any team in the league.

I certainly see where you come from i think i have just lost patience with malpas now.he seems void of ideas.i agree its good to have a good squad but its not if timlin plays on the left jpm middle and easton on the right.i know its not a regular thing but still happens

Sorry glos but that really is bullshit. We were a club in crisis a year ago, at the moment we're a stable mid-table side who are having a bit of a wobbly time on the pitch.
Like michael, I'd be interested in reading/hearing these comments for myself. Linkage?

As i said before though paul the boards hand maybe forced by lack of season ticket renewals.agree or not(which i dont)a fair few wont

Glos, I guess you meant the team is in crisis/limbo? Id agree with that, this defeat leaves the home supporters hurting. Too many goals conceeded at home, we aint going anywhere. Hereford JPT looks a big game to me, because weve got little chance of getting to Wembley via the league.

The club is making fantastic strives forward mate. Went corporate yesterday, its looking fantastic now. Not the embaressment/joke it was before. Obviously still no boxes. But its all been painted, mouldy roof tiles are gone, new carpet, leather sofas with wood veneer on top. Half decent food.

I've said Malpas needs time right from the start. I like what he's trying to do and the style he's trying to get the players to play. HOWEVER, if he hasn't got the man management skills to back up his undoubted coaching ability we've got one huge fucking problem.

On another thread, about the importance of a good number 2, someone mentioned how Hoddle and Gorman complemented each other: Hoddle was a bit distant but a good tactician, Gorman was more the man manager/motivator. For a successful team you need either a manager who has both these traits, or a manager and number two who, combined, have both these traits.

In my opinion a major bollock was dropped by keeping Byrne and Williams involved with the first team, Malpas should have had the freedom to pick his own backroom staff.

I was positive yesterday that we would come out second half and stretch Leeds, we had a player more than them FFS! Instead we looked like the team with 10 men. Heads were dropping all over the place and most didn't appear to have any fight or desire in them. Now compare that performance with last season at home to Swansea, when we had 10 men and battled like fuck. What's changed?

It's still early in the season and Malpas still has time to put it right, but conceding 3 goals for the 2nd consecutive home games is unacceptable.

By the way, I am still majorly pissed off with yesterday.

I hate the way you say what i am feelin but dont sound like a cunt

It's because I'm not a cunt.....

Behind the scenes, we are far from in crisis, as Spencer says executive area is starting to look the bollocks, in the next couple of weeks there is an open invitation to the top local buisness' to come and view facilities and I know at least 50 have taken up the option, improved facilities for supporters,cheaper season tickets with the highest take up since premiership days. Fitton, Wray and Watkins are doing exactly the right things behind the scenes.

In regards to the playing side, I have seen every game home and away bar 1 this season, and I feel that the team have only played exceptionally in the first 2, Tranmere and QPR. Yes we got results against Franchise scum, but we scraped that. I really felt we could do soething this season and shock a few people, Im not sure why the players have lost the confidence because that is what i believe it is. We have major troubles in our defense, Jerel looks to be perfectly frank fucking awful at the moment. He was fucking awful against aldershot to. When he made his mistake for the first goal yesterday his head dropped and not one other player went to him. Not one. That botheres me, to me that looks like the team were expecting it to happen, the same with phil smith after his blunder, no one gave him a pat on the back and said "come on we are in this together".

For me we have to seriously question why there seems to be this lack of togetherness, Malpas obviously wants us to play the passing game,but yesterday Nalis, easton and timlin only rarely went to get the ball from aljofree and ifil giving them no option than to hoof. Something was very very right in the first 2 games, the question is what has changed?

Yesterday will take a bit of getting over, for sure.

In an odd way, I wonder if the turning point of the game was us equalising when we did. Before that I had thought that Marshall would come on at half time and we would have a real go at them. The goal meant that JP the passenger stayed on and we continued to basically play 10 v 10.

It is hard to criticise Malpas either for the starting 11 or the substitutions (except I would have taken JP off sooner). The level of application on the pitch yesterday just leaves a sour taste.

Where I will criticise Malpas is the attacking set pieces. The attackng set pieces are like comedy routines. My 8 year old can whip in a better corner than what we saw yesterday. Amankwaah has a decent long throw on him, so why do we never put an attacking throw in straight in the box and try to make some pressure? I like the way he is trying to get the team playing in open play, but sometimes you have to just wang it in the box and see of the opposition will make a mistake (like we seem to regularly :cry:).

Team spirit comes from good leadership. On the pitch we haven't got it, off the pitch I don't know...

Mex, the role of encouraging the team on the pitch is down to Aljofree, but all he does is rant and try to pass the blame. It is no coincidence that many believe Jerel plays better with Vincent.

I would make Nalis captain.

Making Nalis captain is not a bad shout.

With all these mistakes I can see players shrugging their shoulders again and lapsing into the careless attitudes that made our season so flat last season. We lost fans for that. Theres a few I know who cant get themselves up for this season after the lack of heart/passion/desire we showed from feb onwards last season.

Nalis wasnt here then and so maybe he could shake it up a bit. Hes a consistent performer.

I had a feeling it was going to be a bad day when the Sky stopped working in the Winners before the game...

On a brighter note I have calmed down considerably.

Town usually buckle under presure when they play one of the bigger teams at home where their is a large attendance of fans.

Swindons problem is they can't string more then 4 passes together before one of the players feels it necessary to hoof the ball up the pitch and hope for the best.  Only Cox, McNamee and Nallis looked comfortable on the ball, and had the composure to pass the ball on the deck to another player.  All the other players (especially Ifil) seemed to be scared of being in possession of the ball, and hence wanted to give the ball away as soon as possible.  This resulted in the players hoofing the ball aimlessly, hoping it would land to another player.

To be fair though,  2 of the goals we conceded today were goals which you wouldn't see Swindon conceding on a weekly basis (well Leeds second goal anyway).  The boys just need to put the performance behind them and get a result at Stockport next week.

Stef and Wiggy make good points.
Malpas did nothing wrong in his team selection and he's trying to get us playing the right way. I don't know why it's not always working - either we're not good enough or we need more time. Also, the goals we conceded yesterday were down to individual errors. As much as they pissed me off, and still are pissing me off, there's nothing you can do about them.

But we were playing against 10 men! We've got previous too, Barnet away anyone?

People seem quick to write off yesterday as being down to errors but forgetting we were critically and fatally unable to establish any kind of advantage yesterday.

So far this season we have had 3 disastrous results: Cheltenham and Colchester (both teams have only won a single game this season) and Leeds yesterday.

Malpas is the manager and ultimately the buck stops there. Stop making excuses for him.

 At half time I thought we'd go on and win the game...the second goal just about killed us, followed by the save from Coxy's header.

 I think I can just about remember 2 other such poor goals from free kicks in my time, Bart Griemink v ColU and Jimmy Allan once did something similar.

 I had Phil Smith down as a steady keeper....he may be lucky, that Brez is injured, but he can't complain if it's back to the bench.

Agreed if we are talking about coaching or Management.  However, something can be done, and that's to replace those producing them.  Problem is they keep coming from the same source - GK & CD's.  That's a problem, and the replacements seem to be equally at fault, so I think someone has to swallow pride and visit the Loan market asap.  Can Culverhouse or Calderwood be cloned with a younger age?

Yeah, but we had J Smith and Kanyukas errors vs Colchester. Bad mistake Ifil not playing that bloke offside at Aldershot.

They arent isolated anymore. It is a total shambles at the back. Its easy to say we should sign another centre back, but we didnt really try over the summer either?

They dont look organised. I think Ifil has been told to try and pass the ball instead of hoofing it upfield. While thats great in theory, its not really his game, I think its making him indecisive and nervous.

Quite, I don't see that we a centre back pairing in the squad that can produce a steady performance.  All of them have moments like Ifil's yesterday.  We absolutely need one person who we can rely on.  They may not be as quick as Ifil, or as good in the tackle as Aljofree, or have the potential of Morrison, or rocovery ability of IFil and Kunyuka.  I hate Telfer, but he amazingly seemed able to cope yesterday by just doing the basics.

We have 5/6 centre halves how can malpas justify needing a loan defender

I don't mind that we lost to Leeds (as they are a bigger club with more resources then us).  However what annoyed me was the fact that we played against 10 men for 80 minutes, yet as Micheal says, we were unable to establish any kind of advantage as a result of this.

If we lost 3-1 and were simply unlucky not to get a point/win, then i wouldn't mind.  However the manner of the defeat yesterday was disapointing.

 Speaking of CC....Forest have had a bit of a dodgy start, they're even below Derby.
 Now Forest fans really know how to moan....JPM should ask his old man....McGovern you cunt....you've only captained us to the Championship and 2 European cups, but you're fucking useless.

 Anyway...CC has never been popular there seen as too defensive, if he goes within the next few weeks, should teh Board bite the bullet.  He has a proven track record inn teh lower leagues.

With difficulty I guess.  Maybe Vincent can do it, but I don't think he's going to be fit enough.  You can't coach a keeper to not chuck the ball in the goal, or a defender not to lift his foot over the ball etc.  We have a couple who may go on to be good, but right now name me something Malpas can do to stop individuals from making cock-ups other than not have at least one of them on the pitch.  Every single central defender we have has the natural ability right now to fuck it up badly.

I have to admit, I didn't see it being such an issue last season or close season, but it's now becomming clear that it was a far more important area to get right than who plays wide right.

God forbid mcnamee gets injured aswell. I understand  we cant help mistakes but its lack of closing down and the fact they looked like they had the extra man i cant forgive

Totally agree Don Rogers Shop.

When was the last time you saw a Swindon team win the midfield battle against opposition in our own division?
I totally agree with you.

That's all just tinkering, all 3 goals yesterday were completely avoidable if individuals had done their jobs properly.  No matter how hard we work on systems, style of play, closing down etc, it means fuck all if a harmless cross along the floor is skipped over by a player, or a shot straight down a keepers throat fins a whole in his body, or a defender lets an easy ball go right across his stomach, or a keeper comes for and misses an easy cross, or a keeper goes feet first for a 1 on 1 etc etc etc.  I'm not saying we'd be able to find the right player, just that I don't see another answer.  Ifil's been doing it for years under various managers and it seems he isn't going to change.  2 of the prospects will take time to develop and Aljofree is not likely to become a different player at his age.

if there is a weak link in the management team i'd suggest it's byrne or the keeper coach.

byrne is just a shouty mcshouty assistant - he's not a proper number two, he was bought to the club as youth coach and somehow ended up as assistant manager.

our defence was at it's best when sturrock was here with blackley but do/should we need a defensive coach when we've got a manager of some defensive repute?

i think before getting rid of malpas we ought to ship out some of the backroom staff and get some experienced and knowledgable people in.

The mistakes yesterday were not inconsequencial, but they were not the reason we lost the game.

Our team lacks organisation, discipline and is devoid of motivation. We lose men when we should be marking them, we're not confident when we have possession and to top it off we have the most wanky corner routines in the world......ever. I thought at one point the players were auditioning for the robinettes, I'm sure one of them was singing songs from Saturday Night Fever before the ball was put in.

I think I imagined that around the 10 minute mark, a Leeds player was sent off. I'm convinced it was the opposite. I've never seen a team lack so much control against 10 men. We should stretch a team in that situation, instead we were stretched.

Not good enough Swindon and Malpas. I don't care how they do it, but they have to erradicate these deficiencies within 4 games, or at least make a vast improvement or Malpas should walk. We've gone backwards on the end of last season.

Agree entirely with that Sonic I've made it quite clear in the past I think Granville is a big issue and Byrne is quite frankly embarrassing, how he hasn't had a touchline ban yet I have no idea. However it must be said it's upto Malpas to acknowledge the issue and do something about it.

Incidently Paul I meant on the pitch we're a club in crisis.....off the pitch we're in the best shape for years. I'll find out more about this Bullock character later but apparently he works for some Tewkesbury company and does some financial/marketing advising for the club. I personally know nothing about him but a few of my mates have mentioned him and they usually have no interest or knowledge of Swindon sounds pretty genuine.
edit: his names Andy Bullock

Anyway back to the game I still can't believe how we capitulated so badly against 10 men there is just no team spirit it seems and tbh 3-1 flattered us.

Spot on. "Don't ever ask a player to do something they are not capable of", Brian Clough.

Anybody remember Larry Lloyd?  Cloughie rescued his career and very successfully played him, but  within his limits. 

In both Stanley Matthews' and Brian Clough's autobiographies, it is remarkable the importance that both authors put on the mental side of the game.  In other sports, they talk about mental preparation, getting centered, putting fear aside, and focusing on execution.

We have a manager who as a player must have adequately prepared himself mentally each game, otherwise why so many international caps?  He talks about mental side quite a bit.  Has it dawned on him that none of his team are capable of winning fifty international caps, and that they probably do not have the extremely tough mental approach that he had.  The slagging off of players and ringing the changes is going to make no difference.  If the team are going to cross the white line playing in fear that they are going to make mistakes judged on international standards, rather than being confident of winning, each game becomes like one in a series in a relegation battle.  Relegation teams often look lethargic, although the players are doing their best, simply because the stress is getting to them.  Relegation teams often do better in away games, it's tougher to play at home.   

If experienced professional players are making stupid errors that would not be acceptable in Conference South, there is something fundamentally wrong with preparation for games.  If players cannot adapt to changes during a game, there is something fundamentally wrong with preparation for games.  If several players show a drop off in form at the same time, there is something fundamentally wrong with preparation for games.

If it's only about signing the right players, naming the best team from the squad, and letting the players get on with it, then Andy King should be reappointed and Brian Clough must have been just lucky in winning championships and European Cups.  Another Clough quote "you make your own luck".   


I liked Paul Sturrock as manager, one of the best qualified coaches in the game.  He seemed to be in tune with Clough's methods.

Clough did not "coach" his players, more often than not being a little worse for the bottle.  His team around him carried out most of that.  He simply inspired people and gave people the freedom, within his limits - which usually meant a certain type of player in the first place -, to express themselves.  At least that's how someone who played under him explained it to me.  He was certainly offbeat, encouraging training sessions to be 99% driven by use of the ball rather than running around for hours without one.

I still can't see how P Smiths hole in his body has anything to do with his Manager.  It happens to good keepers, just not very often.  For us it's been happening too often with too many.  A season in Division 4 convinced us we could defend, I think this in actual fact bollocks.  I now believe we have had a shit defence for going on 4 seasons at least.  Under Sturrock it seemed less evident maybe, probably because he went for a rigid defensive direct style beyond the defence.  Malpas has tried to open us up a bit and bring in more passing.  Maybe the lesson is we should just go to a direct lump it forwad style and stick 6/7 defensive minded people infron of the keeper and hope for 1-0, 2-1's.  It would require fans who don't moan at the ball spending more time in the air than on the floor though.

Now, I have memories of Gary Sprake.  A better keeper than given credit for.

Clough gave his players freedom absolutely true, in his book he explains how to win games.  He gave his players freedom by letting them focus entirely on games, he ensured that any worries they might have outside of football were put away before games.  He had a totally low stress approach.  His players had to be relaxed and in a positive frame of mind.  Everything was dead simple, keep the ball in their box not ours, design a team with a spine, and so on.

What happened last season was that Sturrock had the team optimized for their abilities, arguably that is what Clough also did.  When M.M. came along, he tried to play it more on the deck, the players didn't adapt and the results weren't good until the last few games of the season when it didn't matter.  Common sense dictates don't fix when not broken, but that's not what happened.  On a few occasions, the team have produced great stuff on the deck, but the opposing scouts are not going to let that happen week after week.

This season nothing much has changed, the fans appreciate the attempt to play attractive football on the deck, but the team does not appear capable of it week after week, especially against opposition with a strong midfield.  Some teams are getting points off of Leeds this season.  Cheltenham did the double over them last season, I think that's correct.  I think it all comes down to players being asked to play in a manner that they are not capable of. 

 

Fair enough, but even on the pitch "in crisis" is a bit strong.
OK, I thought you were going off a direct quote you'd read or heard. So these comments were third-hand then, passed on by your mates? (Not criticising, just curious as to provenance)