Thetownend.com

I've amended this post and added videos where i could and also took out a lot of the waffle.

My dad bless him used to tape all the swindon goals each week be it htv,sky or the beeb.There's a tape for each season starting from around 1987 to 1999!
I sat down and started to go through them last week and i have 1 more season to go.
I could go on and state all the obvious memories play off e.t.c but thought i would just put down some off the things that i noticed and have come to the conclusion of through watching these tapes and see if the memories come flooding back.


1.Dave bamber, this guy got more penalties than all our players over the past 20 years put together
The guy had amazing ball control and still can't grasp why he did not make it higher in his career for longer.

2. Jimmy quinn! lazy git but a hell of a shot. theres a game against bristol city in 87 where he scores a hatrick which is one the best hatricks i think there has been since I've been supporting us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL7LimrW0pk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL7LimrW0pk)

3.Bobby barnes...... no comment apart from what the hell happened to him? (edit: I see he's working behind the scenes for the PFA and has appeared in a few documentaries regarding Racism and Foreign players.

4.Phil kings hair was a sight to behold

5.lou macari! punching steve foley in the away dugout then admitting it in a interview and then goes on to say he would have done more.

6.the 11 pass move against middlesborough which Bamber finishes off, great goal, it was digbys comeback game after he had a pin put in his hand to hold it together, roger malone describes it as a mechanic hand!

7.Steve White's 2 goals against Bristol city as we whip em 4-0 at aston gate.
After the game when malone is trying to interview steve white, white keeps laughing because all the swindon fans locked in are shouting "we all agree roger malone is a wanker" It's picked up so well by the microphones you almost think the sound man made a special effort to pick it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqT9UPz4flg&feature=plcp&context=C405d6fcVDvjVQa1PpcFO-Uq8IHVBH3bn9JkJck64neLMrtmrm5oc%3D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqT9UPz4flg&feature=plcp&context=C405d6fcVDvjVQa1PpcFO-Uq8IHVBH3bn9JkJck64neLMrtmrm5oc%3D)

8.Tim flowers in goal for us!

9.Shay given in goal for us!

10.Duncan shearer
This guy always seemed missed his first chance but the guy was awesome, without doubt swindon's goalscorer over the past 20 years, lets hope sammy parkin can make me eat my words.

Does anyone remember the shearer goal against blackburn when the fog came down in the second half? we won 4.3 but shearers goal came after a defender tried to clear it right by the sideline shrivenham road end about half way up the pitch! it hits shearers knee and lobs the keeper from about 35 bloody yards. it's so foggy in the second half you can't even see foley score the winner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8_bJPEWzwI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8_bJPEWzwI)


11.Jon gittens went for four hundred grand back to southampton.

12.Alan Mcloughlin 1990 what a player, the guy was my hero.

13.Nicky hammond, i lost count how many goals went over that guys head.

14.Mark hughes 1993 getting punched in the face by a swindon fan as he runs into shrivenham road stand.

15.lee barnard, acting a prat after we win the playoffs against gillingham!

16.Ross maclaren! Forgotten how overweight this guy was but he did have some great games for us, some of his passing along with hazard was the main reason for our success.

17.swindon 6 stoke 0  when we scored our 5th the stoke fans start cheering with us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVuDTHq0Fi4&lr=1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVuDTHq0Fi4&lr=1)

18.how on earth did Peter Thorne only go for 350 grand? again how this guy never made the premiership is beyond me! a great finisher and the goal against man u in the cup was fantastic.

19.Fitzroy simpsons goal against sheff wed when he takes on a couple and lobs the keeper from 25 yards, scored a few more goals than i remember.

20 Chris hay! was absolutely awesome at the start of the season, a great hatrick but my favourite goal was against norwich when he picked up the ball on the halfway line off allison then took on 2 players and then just lobbed it over the keeper, 1-0!

21.Frédéric DARRAS, (very sad to hear he passed away not long back)

22.Lee collins ( a wannabe Darren Bullock!)

23.Darren bullock! ( a wannabe Terry Hurlock! )

24.Wayne Allison! bruno, him, Thorne and Finney scored a hell of a lot of goals between them and it makes you wonder what would have happened if we would have just sorted out our defence, hmm sounds familar. (this was written in 2005)

25.Fjortoft... brought a lump to my throat watching this guy play, you forget how bad he was at the start and then just how good he was, so many great goals that i could go on forever! the goal against millwall and then to hear jimmy greaves screaming stroll on in the commentry box! (edit, lovely play from beauchamp for the first goal)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YvUXFEsy_A&feature=plcp&context=C4011c4fVDvjVQa1PpcFO-Uq8IHVBH3a4yxph57UfoGcPvq81dX0Y%3D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YvUXFEsy_A&feature=plcp&context=C4011c4fVDvjVQa1PpcFO-Uq8IHVBH3a4yxph57UfoGcPvq81dX0Y%3D)

26.Our pitch was awful in the 94,95 season i think it was! it looked like wembley 69.

27.MY FAVOURITE  roger malone commentary when romeo zondervan scores the winner against us for ipswich at the county ground! this is what he says! "now watch out for the lad coming up on the left he's called romeo zondervan,here he comes WHERE FOR,WHERE FOR ART THOU ROMEO HERE I ART! AND THERES AN ARTFUL LITTLE TOUCH TO MAKE IT 3-2

Sorry if this has bored some of you but thought some of you might find this interesting!

1995/96 Season we had a good pitch look like carpet. Seen my first game that season. agianst Blackpool 1-1.

But watching old vids are great. I got a few myself and Swindon golden goals.

must have been the year before! i can't remember so many games! swindon golden goals yep gonna do that one last to see if all the best are in there!
if remember don't they have a bristol city goal in there. allison scores it i think?

Could have been my first game, maybe my second.

christ i feel old now!

Good stuff there, I'd only really question your Thorne thing....I'm in the middle of doing a bit of research on players who've scored 30+ league goals that I've seen. There are 27, Thorne isn't one of them.

 His attitude, once he'd rejected a new contract stunk to high heaven as a disgrace to the red shirt..

 Bobby Barnes works for the PFA.

 I'm sure it should be possible, to put this stuff onto some kind of archive that can be accesible to fans so look after it

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/

Has a great archive and loads of stats, it would be great to see a few more news clips and fans opinions.

As for Darras he was last seen playing for A.S. RED STAR 93 no idea if he's still there or not, must be close to retirement if he is.

http://www.redstar93.fr/homepage.asp?flash=y

I think he was my first favourite player, pure gypo 8)


What I remember most about Gittens is his high pitched squeaky voice .



I remember when we got relegated for the financial stuff Malone was at the County Ground car park reporting for HTV and 3 or 4 blokes went for him.He stammered "Im just doing my job lads" and one of these lads gave him some shit about City and punched him in the face :soapy tit wank:

My point was more to do with the fact that he could have become a top player but maybe for these reasons you mentioned is why he never!
then again playing for cardiff is not what you would call failure.

ahh you're lucky to have all that footage, I have certain season reviews and videos but not enough. If only you could get copies!

tell you're old chap that i'll give him £ 50  for the job lot of tapes

quick sale - no need for ebay

if not would love copies

£50???  i don't think you can put a price on them! the tapes are quite old now so we hardly ever play them, i might stick them onto dvd some day though!

Do it bang them on DVD and sell them to us ,youll make a bomb.

£££££££££££


 :wink:

Abso friggin' lutely!

There must be at least 40+ users on here that'd pay for                                                               a copy of all that on DVD.

Kerrching for you chap!  :wink:

please put them onto DVD. this would be shear class as i think '87 is when i started watching the town.
did we beat the scum 3.0 that year with shearer bagging a penalty at the bank

How times have moved on, I don't swear as much when i type i know that.
stfc.co.uk has a lot of those goals on their site now. Just looking for the Wegerle goal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ3UfrNT2J4

hate to upset you mate but Darras is no longer with us...

yeah but he was when Dazzza made the post in February 2005.

I have a shed load of tapes from the early 80's myself havent got round to watching them for about 15 years, covering games from 82 onwards till around 93 with almost all the swindon HTV and points west highlights and also the match of the day/goals on Sunday games, if I can be bothered to get them onto PC I will upload a few of them, like Paul Rideout's debut game against Hull (81/82?) when he hit the bar from about 40 yards etc at the moment I cant be assed with it.

A few points from the original post....

Dave Bamber played in the top division for Coventry and their fans loved him but the management didn't.

Jon Gittens £400k....I would pay that all day, other than Taylor and Calderwood he was the most solid defender we have ever had in my time of following Swindon.

Jimmy Quinn, not actually lazy in games at all, always running around but boy did he have a fantastic shot and a good header of the ball.

Bobby Barnes, brilliantly skilled player, played at the highest level with West Ham but lacked consistancy but on his day was almost international level....now chairman of the PFA or somthing like that.

Macari often used to punch Foley to sober the fucker up, often played drunk and such a waste of talent.

Tim Flowers and Shay Given, 2 awesome keepers, Flowers never produced his best form while on loan to us, but Given did...excellent.

Swindon 6-0 Stoke what a wierd game, Town fans were singing Kamaras name most of the game, still a cult hero of mine and all time fave Swindon player, Stoke were terrible that day.

I moved to France in 1998 and Frédéric Darras joined Red Star not long afterwards, having been released by McMahon. As they were my local team at the time I started going to watch them and they have remained my French team ever since. Mind you I've moved away since then and don't get the opportunity to see them much nowadays (the last occasion being in the French Cup against Marseille at the Stade de France earlier this year). Philippe Cuervo also played for Red Star a few years later, incidentally (as well as Tony "horse's arse" Cascarino). I know he wasn't a great favourite at Swindon (or Red Star come to that) but I always rated him and thought he was quite a classy player. He was certainly a cut above the rest of the Red Star team at the time (they were in the French 2nd Division at the time with crowds of under 2000 - it sure makes you appreciate English football watching some of the crap I've watched). It was such a sad loss when he died. Really nice bloke........

Fuck yeah JJ, they were probably my peak years of 30 games a season for that period there. Cant remember most of them though :)

I have similar copies of video tapes going back over the same period.
If anyone has the ability to transfer to DVD then they are welcome to them (for a copy).

Bambi was a fucking legend, he seemed to be able to fold his legs away.
Anyone else remember little Bambs (Roy Wegerle) playing for us.
I remember going to a night game at Hull when they both scored (2 each if I remember) in a 4-1 win.

So many great memories outside of the cup runs & play-offs.
Foley's goals against Leicester in a 5-2 (?) win that kept us up, MacLaren's goal at Birmingham from fucking miles out.  Leicester away at Filbert Street when we always seemed to have someone sent off.

Rideout scored a wonder goal on his debut but it was disallowed (for offside against another player if I recall correctly - back in the days when offside was offside whether the player was interfering with play or not....). The goal was similar to the one that he had scored for England boys against Scotland not long before.

He did score on his debut though, with a header I think. The game was also memorable for me because my all time favourite Swindon player, Kenny Stroud scored as well.

Remember going Up to Spurs in 1980 for an FA cup replay, there was an accident on the north circular and loads of Swindon fans couldn't get in, some managed to force open a gate and just charged through before the stewards managed to get the gate closed again leaving plenty more fans outside. We were one nil up until the last 5 or so minutes, Armstrong came on for them and scored two to put us out. Hoddle and Ardiles were both playing that night for a really good Spurs side.

What was unbelieveable during that period in the mid and late 1980's was the talent that Lou Macari found and turned into great players for us and then went on for big moves which ended up keeping the club afloat no doubt. Think of some of the players he signed like the Fridge, Shearer, the original Alan Mac, Zippy Bodin, John Gittens and Phil King were sold on for hundreds of thousands and Fraser at his peak could have been a million pound keeper.

The other testament to the Lou era is the fitness he installed into those players gave some of the really long careers well into their mid 30s (Bambi, Kammy, Fraser and the Fridge) and some even into their 40's like Chalky White and Jimmy Quinn.

Whilst, I love the excitement PDC is generating, Lou did this with no money, no crowds in the early days and no hype. If PDC can take us from Div Two to the Championship play offs in 5 years only then could you say he has equalled those acheivements.

I will gladly convert anything you have to DVD for you if I can take a copy for myself - have swapped footage a few times and I've now got a collection of well over 200 STFC DVD's.  Contents are all listed here:  http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/TVFootageDisc.asp

Most of the stuff from the late eighties and early nineties is pretty well covered - particularly interested in anything that anyone has got from prior to that or mid-1990's through to 2007.... and especially the Oxford and Peterborough games from 2001!!

I'm not sure what is on them, most of it was recorded from the local news program's.

If you PM me your address, I will send them to you.

Have you lot gotten nothing better to do  ????

Put me down for copies pleaseeee     :-[

In off the bar, bloody rocket of a shot. There was a strange atmosphere that evening - just a few days after Hillsborough, Brum in decline, the whole area reeked of menace. I went down to the front of the terrace when I saw the fencing was locked. I said to the steward in view of what happened at Sheffield, didn't he think it a good idea to unlock the gate? Two word answer, the 2nd was 'off'.


My memory of that is Armstrong was on from the start but was getting abuse from the crowd right through the game - the Spurs fans wanted him replaced at half-time. They were (are?) a terrible crowd if they didn't like a player. Lou took off Ian Miller, I think, for a more defensive Bryan Hamilton. Cue 2 goals from the now-superhero Armstrong.

If people want to know why we hate the Pikeys so much (apart from the CG ruckus), it was Hamilton who was elbowed by Brian Yeo on the half way line at Pikey Central. We had a corner at the time, so all the footy action was 50 yards away, but it was right in front of me and the linesman who chose to ignore the assault.

I will sort out what I have got and let you know mate, that would be good but I cannot guarentee all the tapes are still playable, will try and search them out of the loft in the next week or so.

Could be right Wilf, I thought they were booing when Armstrong came on as a sub, if that was the case he went from zero to hero that night.

Bobby Smith was the Town Manager for this game.

Of course, I wasn't even close.

That's great - thanks very much

Look up towards of this page, there's a video

Amended the original post and thanks to the wonderful http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/
I've been able to put a few videos in there relating to the posts