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Yes it is.

Maybe you should consider supporting Crawley still got an outside chance of the PO's, and could probably do with some extra numbers.

If we went up with this squad we'd come straight back down, regardless of the manaager.

You have a point Reg, I'm wasting my money consistently travelling to watch Swindon lose.  Last win I viewed was the Bradford City Home game.  I've been to several games since then.  I'm sick of seeing individual mistakes blamed also - Evans mistake made no difference to today's match whatsoever - we'd have lost 2-1 anyway.

King out, Harford or someone with half a clue in (i.e:  Championship Manager experience - more than Andyt King) and we'll make the playoffs.  I could scream right now, but hell I'll probably be at the Wrexham game, the total sucker that I am.

sonic I disagree.  Lutomn will come down with any manager as their squad is pathetic.  I can name several Div 1 sides with weaker squads than us - Gillingham, Rotherham, Crewe, Brighton (pathetic we lost to 'em last season all things considered), Plymouth, Watford, Burnley, Millwall.  I needn't describe exactly why - just view the websites and their squads.  It's obvious.  Get that cunt out of the job.

yup

Simon - will you for once make a remotely sensible, well-thought out and considerate reply, rather than just trying to boost your post-count over 2500?  Justify your opinion rather than looking like a limp-wristed lamo who just follows other people.  I disagree - our squad is very strong, we just can't put the right men on the pitch at the right sodding time.

if you don't stop calling people limp wristed lamos, I'll fucking twat you.

Our squad is weak. It's full of holes, lacking players and sufficient backup in key positions. Our first team is poor with the exception of a few good players. I think you're living in fairyland.

I'm going to bed, but demonstate.

We have two strong players in every position, bar goalkeeper.

Evans - good first choice, Book adequate back-up

Jenkins - good right back, O'hanlon superb back up

Duke - adequate left back, Nicholas good back up

Heywood - good centre back, Ifil superb back up

O'Hanlon - superb centre back, Reeves adequate back up

Igoe - Good right mid, Robinson adequate back up

Holmes - Good left mid, Howard superb superb superb back up

Hewlett - Good midfielder, Robinson adequate back up

Smith - Good midfielder, Miglioranzi superb back up - should start from now on

Parkin - 'Nuff said, Fallon a more-than adequate back up

Proctor - Meh no bad, Slabber is more than a player than many teams boast as a back up

You limp wristed lamo, the backup players we have is superior to some starting XI's some team boast.  We have a great squad, compare it to Bournemouth, Hartlepool etc. and its a fucking embarrassment we lie 9th in a league which is wide open, and full of players who should really be persuing other careers.

I suggest you get some sleep before you make yourself look like more of a twat, putting a point across is one thing but acting like a cunt is another entirely. I'll reply properly when you're not so riled up.

Ok then fuckwit, what more needs to be said? most of our players don't even want to be here, they don't give a shit. Our squad can't get in the play-offs of the fucking third division, how the fuck are we gonna survive in a division above this one?

A strong squad has cover for all positions - something we don't have. "Putting the right men on the pitch at the tight sodding time" as you put it shouldn't be an issue if we had enough strength in depth.

The reason i put a simple "yup", is because i'm tired of being a parrot. i've said this all before, but i just wanted to show i was in agreement.

Don't know what the fuck has got into you Walrus but you need to lay off the wifebeater or something.

I'm just fucking frustrated at seeing crap performances time after fucking time.  It's rediculous with the squad we have.  Today I hold me hands up - we played well, and were unlucky, but it just shows that we can play well and  we can compete with the better teams.  Today, okay I'm biased, but I feel we lost on poor referring decisions (penalty for me was not a pen) and an unlucky (I'm being nice) goalkeeper error.

I get frustrated though, as it costs me a lot of money to follow Swindon, when we play as badly as we did against Bournemouth, and before that agaisnt Southend, and before that at Colchester.  I don't mean to attack people in person - especially Town Fans, and for that I apologise -  but I do feel that we aren't in a league position fulfilling our potential.

In all honesty, do you think that 9th place in League One is fulfilling our squad's potential?

I'd say 9th is overachieving considering our squad, or rather achieving beyond our ability.

We're all frustrated mate, I could have cried after the Bournemouth game and nearly did writing a post about Sammy. Yeovil made a very good post a few weeks ago about making do with what you've got and being happy with your lot. I agree with that.

You may be frustrated Walrus, but you need to learn not to take it out on other people. My mates brother is facing prison because his mates couldn't control there anger and started fighting in the streets. Ok this is extreme, but seriuosly dude, chill.

Next point, i do think we should be at least in the play-offs this season. Unfortunately teams have there poorer seasons, i'm just hoping this is one of them. You only got to look at Arsenal at the moment

mistake prone  :evil:

I'd wager that reflects the majority of feeling this season.  

I took my friends to see Swindon play Brentford at Griffin Park this season.  Their first choice striker is a player who couldn't make the grade at the County Ground, yet Martin Allen has moulded a relatively poor team into playoff potential, while Andy King has moulded a superior squad into mid-table obscurity.  That is exactly my problem.  When I pay rediculous amounts of money to follow a superior squad gain unfair results it makes me scream.

I take you're point about your brother's mate, but I'm not like that - I'm trying to provoke discussion, but with any alcohol-fuelled brain I'm not doing so in the right way and I apologise.  Clearly Sonic/Yeovill feel we're doing alright, but you and me both agree we are underachieving - do you think King should be sacked for failing to achieve the squad's potential?  afterall, we're losing money with stayaway fans (a phenomenon I strongly condemn but there is no escaping from this fact) in addition to the fact that King is seemingly a born loser.

Our squad isn't that great. We've lost players we haven't had the money to replace, King hasn't been able to afford a defensive midfielder even though it's a priority because we don't have the money.  Right from the start of this season King was barely able to strengthen the team at all, even when Mooney left as we had no money saving it for a "rainy day", he's managed to bring in some great loans that have helped plug the holes but our debts and the amount of money we're losing means it's extremely difficult to move forward.

The idea that a new manager could come in and get this squad into the playoffs is totally unrealistic. In reality a new manager would have to build their own squad, as many players will have to leave, we would need someone adept in the transfer market, the chances of us getting a better manager than the one we've got is extremely small, we don't have the money for a manager with a decent record, our board are unlikely to make the right choice so any new manager is likely to be a huge step backwards.

yeah we've made too many mistakes, but 20 goals a season from Enoch Showumni?  Precisely....   Hell, look at Arsenal's squad - can you see Van Persie scoring 20 goals in a season?  Back up means they can fill in, NOT perform to precisely the same level, otherwise they'd hardly be a back up now?

i agree with the above, last season the team had a great run, but if we were in the championship this season we would be down with the forest. I don't believe this is a team that could walk the league easily. We have a team which should be mid to high table. the problem is that everyone expects us to be better last years achievements. not always possible...

Managers should never be sacked for under-achieving, only when the team is playing really really dire. It's a pretty absurd suggestion really.

Look what happened to City and Oxford. The same would happen to us.

you can't compare arsenal to us just due to the fact that the replacement for henry is either berkramp or Reyes, both world class players. Plus the style of football they play tends to mean the goals are spread out a bit more across the midfield as well

Exactly, it's fucking difficult to even keep on the same level with the amount of money we're haemorrhaging. I'm amazed we managed to stop and even reverse the decline. 4 years ago it looked as if we were heading straight out of the league, I'd almost given up on us but against the odds we've improved, even coming close to promotion.

I'm not sure we could survive financially in the championship at the moment anyway, any money we're losing is likely to be a lot worse, attendances would not be that much higher unless we were mid table or above, wages would need to increase. I don't know if we could afford it.

This is all fair points about us being a financial crock of shit but aren't Luton in a simular position?How are they managing to walk the league  off the back of just coming out of admin?

Find it quite funny to read all of your frustrations. I am a long standing fan who first started watching the Town after the appointment of Macari in the old 4th Div days. Having seen all that then I am shocked that anyone would think that Swindon's current team were promotion contenders.

The team is inconsistent and from the limited games that I have seen in the last couple of years (I live overseas) then they look totally devoid of quality and ideas. More than that, they looked a total shambles in the last game I saw and were completely outclassed in all departments by a supposedly struggling and inferior team.

When we have had a successful team in the past then goals have come from throughout the team. This team only seems to have one or two people who can score. From the info coming from the Co Grd at the moment, I would expect that there will be even fewer potential scorers next year.

I think it is probably time to blood the youngsters now and prepare for next year and life after Parkin, struggling near the foot of the table.

NMH

Last season was far from shambollic. With the squad largely unchanged, this is why people feel we should be pushing for play-offs (me included). Having said that, last season we JUST made the play-offs. We'll be back, it's just a matter of time.

This division is very uncertain, and no team with the possible exceptions of Sheff. Wednesday and Hull have far superior squads to everyone else.  If we did get promotion to the Championship, the financial benefits we would gain would enable us to invest and fight against the drop from the Championship.  However, I do feel that we missed a glorious opportunity last year, but for how long will be forced to rue Adam Virgo's header?  We were comfortably in the playoffs for most of last season after January, and only a poor end of season performance - probably down to nerves - saw us scrape in.

I maintain the loss of Tommy Mooney is probably why we are struggling, as when he's behaving and playing he gives the whole team a lift.  However, whether he'd have been capable of emulating last season's performances, is debatable.

If you look at the squads of teams above us, I would arguely strongly that we have a superior squad.  Brentford are playing Deon Burton, a player who looked totally out of place in our side two seasons previously.  Luton have the dire Sol Davis, who looked as though he had not improved since his time at Luton, and Russell Perrett the centre back is decidedly dodgy.  I think for a League One side, we do have good strength and depth and are capable of challenging these teams.

NoMoreHeroes:  I agree whole-heartedly with the idea that we often look devoid of ideas, but surely this is something which comes from the training ground rather than being the player's own responsibility?  We have a number of good playmakers - Miglioranzi, Igoe, Howard, Holmes, Roberts yet rarely can they spark something out of nothing, or break open a team who are remotely adept at defending.

The 3-0 home defeats of Bournemouth and Colchester in the space of 3 months are truly embarrassing and pretty hard to take.  Seeing teams such as Luton and Bournemouth easily do the double over us is a feat which I believe is unacceptable.

This season been's fucking crap from start to finish. A good bit here and there but lots of letting ourselves down. King out. That's all I can be bothered to say.

This topic started off with a massive complaint about the Luton game.
Imo that was the best performance of the season, and King made some brave, but correct decisions.

He has seen that the midfield was not covering the defence, so sent them out with a more defensive attitude.

The back 4 was Duke, Heywood, O'Hanlon, Ifil. They looked fairly solid throughout the game but there was always that danger that one of them would make a mistake-nothing the manager cab do.

The midfield was Smith, Miglioranzi, Jenkins, Igoe. He put Jenkins in there instead of Holmes because Holmes offers fuck all defensively. Smith and Igoe both chase the ball back and get stuck in (Igoe did this well at Luton) which made us more comfortable at the back. Then there was still the creative spark from Migs and Igoe going forward, with Smith always looking dangerous.

Then Parkin and Proctor were up front, and seemed to be playing two totally different games. No link up between them and Proctor was often stuck on his own as Parkin is not used to playing with somebody who likes to take the ball themselves.

The performance was good and the only reasons we lost were errors by defenders and the referee. On another day that game could have finished 3-1 to us.

We dont have a great squad at all. I think you need to get realistic Walrus

As whits pointed out half our team is prone to goal losing gaffs

Hewlett is an obvious weak link in the side, a lifp wristed gay of a defensive midfielder as you would put it.

I've stood up for Duke in recent weeks because of his form but he's not a natuarl left back in the mould of sol davis

We dont have a right winger at the club. Igoe dosnt like playing there and drifts infield constantly.

Fallon seems to have forgotten how to play football

i could go on.......

Yesterday we desrved all three points. end of story.

we should be in playoffs but have thrown stupid points away because the players haven't kept going to play the full 90.

I dont know about performance of the season but I agree totally with your tactical anlysis.

I think the whole point is that we didn't get all three points and we are not in the playoff places !

NMH

Although:

 

I guess I should have added 'consistently'.

NMH

You are wrong re.:  Proctor - he was definitely operating along the right wing, and Parkin was alone up front.  This would tally with King's use of a defender in the midfield of a 4-5-1, such as when O'Hanlon played in midfield against Bournemouth (and we lost, again - another team to do the double against us).

Ifil at right-back was a gamble, and the first time he has played there this season.  Kenilworth Road is hardly the place to begin experimenting, and in my opinion King should have had Jenkins or O'Hanlon there.  Having said that, Ifil did okay, and the right-back spot may suit him better as his mistakes won't hurt as much and he has greater license to go forward - he really is bloody good at running with the ball.

I will agree that Jenkins in midfield did look surprisingly good - when I first saw him start there I was thinking what the bloody hell is he doing, as O'Hanlon has impressed in midfield before - excellent strike against Bournemouth!

However, to describe King's changes as brave is ludicrous.  At no stage during the match did we play with two men up front.  We bring Roberts on, and immediately he too goes to the right wing.  This is what frustrates me most about King - he has no idea about substitutes, and never seems to chase a game quite as much as perhaps he should.  Likewise against Brentford, it took until about the 80th minute to bring on Fallon and then a bit later, Slabber.  10 minutes is hardly long enough for Parkin to make an impact, let alone Fallon or Slabber!

Saturday was far from disasterous, and I agree it was one of the best performances I have seen this season, although I'd be interested to know how it compared to the home performance against Hull this season.  However, it's another 3 points lost, and we're slipping further and further from the playoffs, which are looking a more and more distant possibility.  We really need to win our next 3 games:  Wrexham (H), Franchise (A), Bristol City (H).  Its possible, but tough.

In addition, I'd complain about Howard not featuring yesterday, but everyone seems to hate the poor lad so I'll save my fingers!

I would be surprised if Harford didn't have a lot of input into the tactics on saturday. It sounded like we were using his inside knowledge to try and exploit a weak area in Luton's team and it worked to an extent as we put a lot of pressure on them. Unfortunately they got a lot of the luck that top of the table teams often get so we didn't get the result we wanted. 3-1 is a hugely flattering scoreline for them though.

My main gripes with King are purely:
 - His insistence we need more strikers (he signs Proctor, we start scoring less)
 - His blind faith in Hewlett.  We all know we need a new 'enforcer', yet he has forgot to buy/loan one
 - Persisting with Duke. Nicholas is betterer.

That is it.  I don't think he gets tactics wrong more than most managers at this level.

I have no problem with Howard, but think King got it right purely with the fact that we have a more defensive look about us. Ifil has played right back 3 or 4 times this season, but none of the se were memorable matches so I can understand you not recalling them!

Was lying awake in bed last night with a facking awful cold, and was thinking of a list of highlights and low points for this season.  Was a rather worrying conclusion:

Highlights

- Winning 2-1 at Ashton Gate
- Beating Bradford at home 1-0 with 10 men and a brilliant freekick from Igoe
- Signing Darius Henderson on loan, although only to miss out on his permanent signature (low point also?)
- Signing Christian Roberts
- Coming from 2 goals down to beat Wednesday 3-2 at our place
- Beating Wednesday 4-1 in the cup, then progressing to hammer Hull 4-2 next week
- Signing Mick Harford


Low Points
- Losing Tommy Mooney
- Losing Crosby
- Losing Devlin
- Realising Fallon could not match last season's good performances
- Failing to perform against Leeds like last season, although perhaps this was asking for a little much
- Being 3-1 up against Torquay at home, before drawing 3-3
- Being embarrassed live on SKY TV, again (vs. Notts County)
- New Years Day hangover - 3-0 loss at home to Colchester
- Losing to Southend in the LDV, after deciding that may be our focus for the season
- Rhys Evans seeming loss of form - lack of confidence currently costing the side
- Signing Jamie Slabber - sorry to the lad, but what a disappointment and a let-down he's turned out to be
- Miglioranzi's injury problems - hopefully we have seen the last of them
- Being spanked at home by Bournemouth 3-0
- King looking like he's letting go our bright prospects of last season ---> Nicholas, Howard...

Anyone care to disagree/try and even up the score?

With the news on the main site suggesting King will be ringing the changes in the summer (maybe under Harford's direction?) let's hope our recruitment is successful as that during the Summer of 2003 prior to our playoff season.

I would add to highlights

Swindon 3 - Stockport 0 - Any 3-0 win is a highlight
Swindon 3 - Hartlepool 0 - As above
Bradford 1 Swindon 2 - Great away win when they were up near the top
Swindon 1 - Bristol City 0 ldv - great derby win
Two periods of 3 successive victories (up until last year we hadn't had any for years)

Don't think it's been that bad, just hasn't quite lived up to last year. To be honest this is probably our second best season since winning division two after last year.  (Not a lot of competition to be fair. Most seasons have been shit since then. First half of 1996-97 and 1997-98 were ok).

The change over the summer is not all bad news, we are lucky enough to have a manager who can spot a bargain signing which is exactly what we need in this situation.

Consciously left out Bristol LDV match as it's an unimportant match, but as I included the Southend match that is perhaps in hindsight a bit unfair.

The 3-0 Stockport win is countered by that awful 3-3 draw with us being 3-0 up against Stockport, and with Stockport rooted to the bottom of the table, a 3-0 home win would really be an expectation, not a highlight.

3-0 Hartlepool win and the Bradford victory I agree.

However, the sequences have been in amongst piss-poor runs of obscurity, and results such as a 1-0 home defeat to Peterborough.  In addition to this, the signing of Steve Jenkins was hardly inspiring, and I don't think he will help get us out of this division, despite being a solid professional, although I felt it a bit harsh to mention this as an actual low point (though Slabber is bad enough to justify this unwanted accolade).

Dunno I never expect a 3-0 victory, Football's not as simple as that. I loved it anyway.
Considering Slabber has cost us absolutely nothing and even though he's not scored Parkin has got a lot of goals when playing in the same team I don't think he's really a low point. If we'd paid £20k+ for him or even signed him then maybe.

Leeds wasn't a low point, we matched them and played pretty well.

At no stage during the match did we play with two men up front.  sorry but we were playing the team who hammered a fairly good team 5-0 the week before and we had been beaten 3-0 at home the player who was out of posistion also scored so are you saying to play a defence minded team against luton was wrong

well. can't blame king for saturday. gunna beat wrexham on saturday!  :wink:

Swindon mad - when we were trailing, yes!  And I agree, at no point did we have two men up front, but least when we're losing stick Roberts up front, let Igoe do what he's used to and let him have a run at Sol Davis, and for God's sake give Howard a go!

Add coming from 2-0 down to win 4-2 with a parkin hatrick to boot to the highlights list! :beers

Jesus H Christ man, you can never EXPECT a 3-0 win, especially if you support STFC.  I'm not singling you out here (I've had a bit of a moan at you on the match day thread) I just think you should be lowering your sights a tad, old son :wink:

Figure of speach - 3-0 perhaps optimistic, but when a team of Wrexham, Stockport etc's calibre comes to town, you expect a win, and by a margin.  A 2-0 is an expected, and the excellent 3-0 and 4-2 wins respectively have been nice, but I don't think playoffs is unrealistic.  Automatic was a possibility with this squad, although we were previously a little light up front.

An interesting point - isn't it amazing when you revert back to line-ups and formations of old?  3-5-2 and Howard/Roberts back in the team....

in all honesty wrexham have scored 20 goals in 10 games, a clean sheet was never on the cards, it was a question of who scores more.

I thought football was always about who scores more?!

my point was we were always going to concede yesterday, although probably not expressed the best way  :D

Well these posts just sum up some of our supporters.... We are Swindon Town  in league 1 struggling to survive, we are not Brazil... why do people moan at every loose pass. Every time we lose you want the manager out, We dont want fans like that, do you not think the players can hear you swearing at them, no wonder they dont perform well because they are worried about making the smallest mistake infront of their own "fans". For once realise that we are not Chelsea and Arsenal, we are a team struggling to get over 6,000 attendance. If you want perfect football then support the top teams. Or watch international football. Not the football league.  :x

I'm sorry but that is such an unsatisfactory response.  I think even the most ardent King supporter will want the club to do well, and want to watch good football.  No one likes paying money to watch their club lose, and we're all striving for the same thing, whereas in your post there seems to be undertones of: "we're Swindon Town, we're born losers, let's expect nothing more".

Don't compare Swindon to international sides and top Premiership teams as we don't have to contend with them for the League One title - we do, however, have a right to expect our team to compete with teams in this division, which on several occassions we have not done e.g.:  Colchester (home) - I admit I do keep bringing this game up as an example, but there are others, Notts County (away) being another - the Colchester example just highlights it strongly.

If you read through this thread we've been debating the strengths/weaknesses of our squad, and the division between fans is the relevant expectation levels - personally I think playoffs is a very realistic target, and if we miss out on this goal then we have to look at the management and playing staff as something isn't working.  Last season, with a similar squad (arguably improved this season) we made the playoffs and at one stage had half a sniff of automatic - this season we have limped along and for long stages been in a fairly lowly position.  Whether or not we "overachieved" last season is open for debate.

Don't say the club doesn't want fans who complain - Swindon needs every bloody fan they can get, that's why the charge the poor sods so much to get in.  Every Swindon fan wants the team to do well - whether they channel it as a moan of frustration or cheer of encouragement - every fan has a right to express their emotion even if you do not agree with that.  The team is not nervous due to the crowd - they're nervous as they're not competent enough with the tactics, and the memories of recent embarrassing results fresh in the memories.

I cant be assed to quote but...

Did i miss something? Im FAIRLY certain holmesy wasnt on the bench today and has GONE

Please please correct me if im wrong and if I am why the hell wasnt he playing?

his last game was the wrexham game

He's like this all the time Whits. I just ignore him.

Note the hint or sarcasm mate

As for Dave... dont get me started

 :roll:  :wink:

You're a shocking fan. You need to get on the players backs a bit more.