Thetownend.com

.....reading this article about lack of atmosphere at Prem grounds, made me think of how lucky we are to still have the TE.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7168641.stm

    It may be small, a bit shit  in terms of facilities, but as we can still stand, it is still capable of generating some atmosphere.

   I often still get a buzz of excitement when walking into the TE at 2 mins to 3......it somehow feels like a spirtitual home.   I even see a few gnarled veterans from when I first started going in there 40 odd years ago.

  I suspect the scummers total demise coincided with nothing more than moving to a shit new ground, with no atmosphere.   The loss of their beloved London Road being the death knell for the club.

  So.....given the current trends I think we should treasure the TE whiile we can and try to ensure that in any ground move or development effort is made to try and keep something of its essence alive.

i read that earlier and thought exactly the same, i love being able to stand and having a few hundred to sing with.

I wouldn't go anywhere else

Thats the only thing that worries me about a new or re-developed ground, we would lose the Town End.

Unless they have sorted out standing at footie by then (which I doubt) I would hope the trust and others would heap the pressure on the club to at least keep some parts of the Town End alive.

Despite it's view you can't beat it and I remember when of a few of the lads started going back in there post standing and despite only being about 50 or so in there still made a noise.

i think the town end is a bit shit now.was ok back as a terrace and it does generate noise. but its a shit view and i'd welcome a new style stand over that anyday.something like walsalls home end maybe?

Matty, this might be of interest http://www.truststfc.co.uk/safe_standing.php  Haven't heard anything recently but I'm sure someone on here has.

 It may be a shit view, but that is probabaly why standing is tolerated, because its the only way to see.   Once that is lost, it will be very difficult to generate an atmosphere,  even if it a slightly bigger structure like Walsall and with better sight lines.

  It was always all about choice at the CG from the early 70's, if you didn't like standing then the Arkell's was for you....if you didn't like standing, but wanted a bit of atmosphere then the seats in Shrivenham Road gave you that.

 If you were a complete loon, then you'd stand on the Bank, even when pissing it down in your oilskin cycling cape.

  The Shrivenham Road terrace suited those who enjoyed a bit of banter but didn't want the possibility of trouble, which always lurked in the TE.

  If you have  a ground where all the seats are the same, and  the only choice is whether to go corporate or not, you take away teh atmosphere.

There was a scene in Six Days to Saturday - John Boorman’s 1963 documentary following a week in the life of STFC - with the groundsman shooting pidgeons in the Town End before a home game.  (For the anoraks, we stuffed Leyton Orient 5-0 in front of a 19,000 crowd.)

There was one obvious difference in that there were no seats - but it was amazing how little the Town End had changed in all other respects.  Looked and felt just as it does now.  I think that our fans in the Town End back in the 1960s would have been quite chuffed if they knew that their stand would still be going strong nearly 50 years later.

i know what your saying reg and i dont disagree with you. but football is changing and if we get a new ground then thats the way it is.
i always prefered the shrivvy road, and in the late 80-s to early 90-s it generated the best atmosphere imo.
different people have good memories of grounds and stuff but times change.

i'd love to see the documentary you mention.is it available anywhere?

And the fans who payed for it in the 1930's Ardiles!

I always think the south stand looks too steep, like everyone is sitting on each others shoulders. From the other stands it doesnt look like a football stand. With a lower bank like the Town End the view isnt nearly as good, but you feel so much more connected with the rest of the crowd and the players too.

We are well respected by other fans for the way our fans have supported from the Town End this decade.

The BBC only found the tape in their archives about 3 years ago.  But why it is not for sale in the club shop I don’t know.  If you’re interested in the history of STFC, or of Swindon in general, it’s priceless.

i think i've seen clips of it.does it have don rogers in a corner shop spending some of his wages? and the corner house of shrivvy road featured?

That's the one.  I think the shop you're referring to was in Rodbourne.

It is shown on BBC4 every now and then. Its on bootleg DVDs on ebay sometimes as well.

 I accept that....the main reason why Shrivenham Road was better then, and I used to stand on the half way line myself, was because the fencing put up in the TE, made it almost impossible to see.

  My point  is, when and if something happens on teh ground, then lets ensure that the possibility of a singing area at least is reatined where people who don't mind swearing, being a bit pissed up, singing and the occasional disagreement can still congregate.

agree reg.clubs in new grounds do struggle to get those who congregated in singing areas to be together in their new grounds.i would deffo welcome what you say

  It definitely doesn't want to be too big....

Made by John Boorman for BBC Bristol in 1963 and only just rediscovered, Six Days to Saturday (BBC 4) followed newly promoted Swindon Town for one crucial week, bringing footie in the first Brylcreem era vividly to life. Here were Ernie Hunt and Mike Summerbee having a kickabout in the street, and spending their wages on sweets. When training ended at 11am, a player might be given an air rifle and asked to shoot pigeons in the stands.  :mrgreen:

would be ace to get a copy of that

i went in the TE for the first time ever this season and subsequent visits have varied wildly. sometimes the atmosphere is as dead as anywhere else and there seems to be quite a few boo boys/utter cocks wherever i stand.

if we ever redeveloped the CG i think it should be rebuilt around the TE as losing it would be a huge loss, not least in terms of tradition and history.

A modest behind the goal free standing stand in the TE would be perfect, I for one would much prrefer any redevelopment of the CG being done on the existing site, with stands replaced with thought, not the souless bowl.  The Ateyo end at Shitty is a nice example (although it hurts to say that).  A spanking new main stand where the Arkells is would do the job - with the corporate stuff and little atmosphere, the a decent south stand, and similar at the stratton bank end.  By keeping the same layout I hope people would stay in their current places for the match and the atmosphere could be easily retained.  I perosnally enjoy the steepness of the south stand as you get a good view even from the corners, but still fell close to the pitch.

There was talk years ago (shortly after the South/Intel Stand was completed) of redeveloping the Town End...which, after all, would be the easiest stand to redevelop.  If I remember correctly, it involved taking the roof off and building another tier behind the existing tier.  The new stand would have been a similar height to the Arkells/North and Intel/South Stands and would have been able to hold something in the region of 4,500.

I think the idea was swiftly dropped when (a) we became sh#t and (b) it became apparent that the days of piecemeal development of the County Ground were over.  I’ve often thought that one of the things the County Ground has lacked is an imposing home ‘end’, but I’m not convinced a revamped Town End would have worked.

Rip out the seats and I will come back with me DM's again. Still wear a crombie....ask Mex. :soapy tit wank:
The noise, the smell of piss behind the wall and of course the surge when Eastoe to Mayes rattled one in who could forget that.

The TE is merely a shadow of its previous life but granted, better than a lifeless new stadium. Pompey can still do it and thay have seats so why not us minus the 6.57 crew. :wink:

Nobody can take away the memories.

The town end sounds great when your in it, but the way the acoustics are at the CG I still dont think its that loud. Generally the TE cant hear the away fans and vice versa. I always find you get a better atmosphere when the core of fans singing are next to the away end which is why our away atmosphere is always so good.

Fratton Park is still an old skool style ground and the atmosphere there has always been loud when I have seen us play there or watched them on TV. It seems a more compact ground and not quite so open as ours to leak noise. The fans are also right on the pitch and there equivalent to the TE is a bit bigger. Plus the whole ground seems to sing there.

I hate the new style grounds as the atmosphere isnt the same. Bringing back safe standing would be quality as I do miss the good old terraces, its all about standing up at football. I fear the atmosphere at grounds is dying though, its such a shame.

mansfield at home last year, nuff said.

Thats why i said generally. That day was exceptional. Most match days that dont happen. I have been in the TE and not heard a peep from the away fans then someone in a different stand says they hardly heard the TE and the away fans were much louder.

Apart from one off days like that our home atmosphere is nothing more than average. Saturday was the biggest home attendance of the year, the atmosphere was terrible though!! Away from home I think we have one of the loudest atmospheres and best away followings.

I used to think id never go in any other part of the ground than the TE.

But annoying stewarding and a lack of a bar changed all that.