Thetownend.com

Quality look forward to this.

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/display.var.2453552.0.stars_out_in_force_for_christian.php

Arrrr that's really nice.

They were talking about doing something similar when Wise was here weren't they?

Excuse me for being thick but why are Chelsea players involved? Whats his retirement got to do with them?

I would guess his friendship with Gus Poyet.

I was thinking apart from that, maybe a secret Chelsea fan :D

It is a testimonial in all but name isn't it?

Sounds like it.

I will have to see if I can fit this game into my busy schedule.

Sounds excellent to me. Nice of the Chelsea old boys to do it, if they do.

Wonder how much they'll charge for tickets

Relationship with Gus and Dennis who loved him. Plus would be a bigger gate if Chelsea were here as oppose to a Cardiff City team for example.

Whatever you think of Dennis Wise you have to admit he looks after his boys doesn't he?

I remember how he flew Brezovan's mum over here when Brez broke his arm. Brings a tear to my eye that does.

Dont get me wrong, Im not criticising, just curious if there was another connection.

I couldnt bring myself to boo that cunt wise as it is Christian's day.

I'm over Wise now. I wish him luck up at Newcastle. Said whilst smirking of course.

I wish him all the best in agreeing his compensation package in the coming weeks.

He should leave a happy man :D

I want to help organise Dennis' funeral if it goes into even more meltdown 8)

Nice idea.Will go if it comes to anything,great way to say bye to Roberts plus if Zola plays, WOW!!

I probably wouldn't go.

nice idea, good luck robbo.

This shows what a decent board we have now,For the first time in years im really optimistic for our future.

Not knocking the idea but what has Robbo done for a testimonial. He fought his demons to beat alcoholism fair play to him but as a footballer he had the talent but was pretty piss poor. You thank him for his efforts etc Sunday but a testimonial seems a bit OTT to me... He pretty much did nothing footballing wise at STFC.

Absolutely agree.

something to do with the fact hes had to retire aged 28

If you had been in a job for 3 years and then had to retire due to health reasons you'd expect your work mates/employer to do something wouldnt you?

You would expect them to say, nah fuck him he hasnt done anything other the 3 years....

Its less to do with his time at Swindon and more to do with career ending. I'd like to hope some Bristol City fans would come down as well....

Whether you agree with the game or not Roberts' problems have been well documented for quite a while now and it's things like this game, which STFC are allowing to take place at the CG, that show the club as being a caring employer. These things don't go unnoticed.

nice gesture but i agree with gazza.he's already done alright out of stfc.also i'm sure a nice insurance payout will be coming his way too.

Will Roberts get all the ticket money then...

Dont matter if he does. If people dont want to agree then dont go

nowhere in that article does it say that it's a testimonial and that he'll receive any money from the game...

by the sounds of it, he wanted to enjoy a send off with a testimonial-style match and asked if the club would host it. given christian's alcoholism i wouldn't be surprised if the profits were given to sporting chance or something.

if it was a testimonial or he was doing it for financial reasons, i'd agree...but it seems like a nice way to end a career that was cut short by injury and gives him chance to say goodbye

Chelsea old boys against who?

A Christian Roberts XI I presume (inc Noel Whelan and Darren Campbell)

so nine christian roberts'?

what's the plural of that?

Would imagine a few of our players will play as well.

I assumed against a Swindon...

I read that the likes of Campbell and Whelan would play on in the Chelsea XI.

So if it isnt a testimonial does that mean the club get the money it brings in?

a black mass?

I hope he gets the cash

I should get the cash..............

When I've worked for my current employer for 10 years or so, do you think they let me keep all the credit card payments on one day?

At my place, apparently, as a mark of 10 years loyal service we get .... a pencil. A posh one, mind, one of them propelling jobs and rumour has it they go for about 200 quid on eBay but even so. A fucking pencil.

christian robii

BUMP

My sites are restricted at work - does anyone know when tickets are on sale for this?

BUMP

No I don't.

Did you trip over my post Samuel?  :D

Its less than a month away and I cant find anything about it?? doesnt seem very organised??

I think the proceeds are going to a cancer charity, of which I am glad as I agree CR has done nothing to deserve a testimonial for his own benefit.

This is on the same day as some england match isn't it?  I wouldn't have thought that'd help the attendance.

To be fair though Jan, I think the FA have dropped the price for the England game so that might help.

Ha ha, good one Bo!

the adver interview stated that they will be raising money on the night for cancer charity.not that gate reciepts would be given to charity.
i could have misinterpreted it, but i'd guess that the gate money will go to roberts, and buckets will be out for people to chuck money into for the cancer charity.i hope i've got it all wrong and the gate money will be going to charity

I'd have no qualms with roberts getting the money. He's had his career cut short by 5 years, he's missed out on potentially 4 years worth of earnings. Let him have his pay-off. After everyones had there share it probably wont come to much more than 5K anyway

My money will stay firmly in my pocket then.
I shall continue to donate to worthy causes as i see fit.

it's only how i'm guessing it will be.i could be completely wrong.

I think you might be right Arriba - I doubt he would do it at no benefit for himself?

I'm assuming this will be against the Chelsea Legends team that Robbo spoke about....bit silly though having it on the same day as an England game though, oh well I suppose he may get a few hundred turn up

adver today says a proportion of gate money will be going to charity.

Doubt I'll schlep all the way to Swindon for this.

Don't they know there's a recession on?

Should think Town will take the running costs for the night and the remainder for charity.

Well he is a taffy remember

nah.roberts will get a sizeable cut of it

He doesn't deserve a testimonial, how many games did he turn up for, how many did he excel in ... the man is no Swindon legend.

It'll be good to see that line up if they all turn up.

I don't care what the reason the match is on for or where the money is going. To be honest he's had his self inflicted problems, but he has also had his career cut short. If he pockets some of it who cares.

Exactly! Well said!

I shall be attending

I would attend if it wasn't a 164 mile round trip. As it is, I won't.

Don't blame you!

ermmm I just realised this is next week??

Some of my boyfriends family are up staying with us and want to go?

is anyone actually going? Its seems a bit poorly organised and under sold?? I mean I expected there to be more hype - maybe chances to go VIP and meet the players taking part and stuff like the legends match?

Wondered if we needed to actually buy tickets are just pay on the gate?

I shall be in a warm Seville watching england reserves vs Spain reserves, but even if I was around I dont think I would bother turning out on a cold night in Feb. Why does he not wait until end of season or pre-season when there would be a much better turn out.

I thought they would have publicised it far more - its been moved to 7pm hasn't it due to the England game being on?

I was going to go but am unsure now!

The KO is 7.05, next Wednesday.

No offence to Robbo but would rather watch Spain V England. At best Roberts was a shit player for us most of the time. I feel for the guy going out due to injury and will happily chuck a tenner in for Cancer research as my Mum's cancer is in remission but after thinking about it, he hasn't done much in my mind to warrant a testimonial match.

It's not a testimonial.

oh yes it it ;)
http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/TicketNews/0,,10341~1518915,00.html

N'ah I don't recognize it.

I'm sure the local Chelsea fans will be looking forward to this and I hope whoever goes have themselves a good evening.

I think I may still go to this, unless it's freezing or I can't make it back to the pub in time for the England game.

Some interesting quotes.


I read this and thought 'Fuck off' :) He may be right, but I for one hope we get a good draw in the FA Cup next season (pending escape from R1 and R2!!!)

called off until March, is this down to lack of interest?

No, due to the pitch still being partially covered in snow and allowing it time to recover before our next home game....

Its probably because with fixtures being squeezed in, they dont want the pitch cutting up, that's even if its palyable at the moment?  Wouldn't be surprised to see this put back to post season if we have any more postponements

Game postponed until Weds 25th March (day after Nothampton away).

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/TicketNews/0,,10341~1518915,00.html

The first comment on the news feature on the adver is a little harsh , he was no swindon legend by any means but I dont think he deserved this , you can make your point by not buying a ticket.

"jmostfc, wootton bassett says...
12:44pm Mon 9 Feb 09
should be canceled. roberts did nothing for the club and does not deserve this, only positive is some money goes to charity. hell only p**s it up the wall!"

oh for gods sakes - I hope my mates from work can get the time off on the re-arranged date!

Would the pitch have been OK for Wednesday? Is the weather there still Siberian?

what happened to roberts? did he retire through injury?

i liked the bloke. quality player for exeter. not so much for swindon.

Yes he did OF (retire through injury).

I'm sure they'll need some good luck trying to secure the 'big' names for the re-arranged date.

The headliner for the chelski allstars will be Kerry Dixon.

Shame most of the chelsea 'fans' won't know who the fuck he is...

Yup. Stick Petar Borota in goal to add continental flair.

Don't be so silly!!!

It is the Chelsea legends team that was getting together for one last game, Zola, Wise, Poyet, Di Matteo, Hasslebank, Kharine etc so I'm sure they will still play in the re-arranged game.

But he may struggle for opposition though as I'm sure Wilson will not want any of the current squad playing the night after a game and risking injury in what may be a crucial run in.

Joe Cole, and Joe Calzaghe now hoping to be there. When did Calzaghe play for Chelsea or Swindon? Maybe we can have Wise V Calzaghe instead. Fuck the testimonial

i wonder what the chances of getting an STFC legends team together are?

Digby, King, Moncur, Hazard, Calderwood, Taylor, Bobby Howe etc...

Isnt it suppsed to be Swindon legends anyway?? someone said Sam Parkin was playing????? surely Luton wouldnt let him play?

Swindon legends v Chelsea Legends isn't it?

So er...which one is Joe Calzaghe playing for?

He'll be referee in what will now be a No DQ/No Holds Barred Battle Royale.

and "stars" from Hollyoaks

Isn't he at Orient on Loan or has that finished?

Nope he's now rotting away on the Luton bench.

Andy Gurney, Steve Jenkins, Sammy Igoe, Sam Parkin, Rory Fallon, Steve White, Shaun Taylor and Alan Reeves.
All involved apparently.

Fallon, Parkin and Igoe are involved in relegation battles - I doubt their input on the night will be significant!

That will draw the crowds. Would rather use my £12.00 to get to Yeovil! :)

really? Oh Im glad I got tickets now then - should be a good night

Grrrrr Gurney  :-[

Ace. I'm going just to see Gurns and The Tramp. Oh, and ofcourse, Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeves.

Ill only go if Petr Mikolanda and Jon Stevenson are there.

Meh, I've been watching a team all season most of who's "input on the day" hasn't been significant

Northampton away on the Tuesday and this on the Wednesday?

I know which one I'll be going to and it isn't Robbo's testimonial.

The whole season has been a bit of a tribute to him really..

its a fair comparison.  often half arsed, sometimes good

I still don't get what this game is for, as in why we should care.  I liked the bloke as a player, but it's harldy like he spent most of his career sweating blood for us.

Fair enough Rob. I can see what it is for but I don't care enough to part with the ticket fee.

The way I see it, I don't care what it's for. There are some good players like Zola playing so it's worth a look, given I can't get to the Northampton match.

Steve Jenkins?! I'm there!

i think this game will be a bit of a let down, Pook, Kennedy & Sam Morris are all playing!

It's about the Chelsea lot though isn't it?

Dear old Pooky is finished here isn't he.

who the fuck is, who the fuck is, who the fuck is Maximo?!

From the OS

Chelsea Squad:

Dimitri Kharine
Kevin Hitchcock
David Lee
Andy Myers
Jason Cundy
Ken Monkou
Celestine Babayaro
Kevin Keen
Clive Walker
Pablo Asensio
Dennis Wise
Roberto Di Matteo
Gus Poyet
Graeme Le Saux
Gianfranco Zola
Jamie Baulch
Thomas Hitchcock
Maximo

I thought Hasslebaink (sp) was playing?

I recall watching Clive Walker play for Woking at Swindon in the FA Cup back in the 95/96 season.

He was old then! He must be in his 50's now.

Nice pink kit for tomorrow.  I know, I know, it's the cancer charity thing, just saying.

How much of the money is going to Charity, seeing as it's 12 sheets for a ticket and a tenner to park - if most of it isn't going to Charity it seems a bit excessive to charge that when footballers are completely overpaid anyway for what they do

really? OMG!

Anyone got a list of the Swindon 11?

Isn't Sam Morris on loan somewhere else?  Why would he be playing?

They havent put the Swindon team up yet have they?

Callum Kennedy is defo playing though

who the fuck is maximo?

this is the only football related "Maximo" thing coming up on google?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7956835.stm

Not going.... a) got no money b) lineup is pretty poor c) Christian Roberts does not deserve a testimonial for the most part he was crap here. d) would rather have gone to Northampton last night and Yeovil Saturday!

Flasher Walker - ha, ha

hes on loan at Supermarine, but cos they are not full time he still trains with Swindon all week

How many are expected for this match, considering the legends match attendance was so poor, they can't be thinking that many will turn up for this can they?

I'm not going, I have no interest in Chelsea and the names linked to the Swindon squad aren't exciting me either.

If only you'd gone to McDonalds instead of TGIs!

Think 1,200 tickets were sold for the original fixture??? Legends match wasn't that badly attended to be fair.

I was told the other day it will be about 1500

If I hadn't got my ticket I would not be bothering to go, the chelsea lineup is crap and the Swindon line up sounds crap, sounds as if he couldn't get many players along so has scraped the bottom of the barrel, probably get Danny Wilson to lace up his boots I expect.

Disagree Gazzza, think the legends match, for me, finally put to bed the "oh of we brought back "insert former crowd favourite's name here" as manager then we'd get loads more turning up to matches (not that I ever believed that).  You'll never get a better Legend's line up than we did that day and to only get enough to open one stand was a damn shame.

Tonight is about CR and Chelsea, and for that reason, I'm out.

It was a damn shame I agree but given the lack of empathy within Swindon now towards the club, I can understand why it was as low as it was. A lot of the fans (not 5,000 of them) who would have been around for those days have long since left Swindon (not loads ofcourse), Those who went to those games, for the most part are probably lapsed fans as well who really dont care about the club, only go when we are winning sort of thing. A lot of our fan base these days as well is quite young so thought not to go to that game as "they didnt know who they are". A few reasons/excuses.... Totally agree with the setiment though that we should have had more there.....  My uncle who rarely goes to games unless he gets freebies did go to the game as he wanted to see "real footballers" so there was a bit of sentiment but not enough...

I liked it when we sneaked into the room afterwards and got photos and autographs!!

and My dad liked signing autographs for people who thought he was an ex player!

Ah memories. Fjortoft asked if I was going to send his picture to a gay magazine haha!

i went to the de vere and enjoyed watching them get stupidly drunk, bless them

Wise was just on BBC with Poyet and Roberts, looking fetching in his pink shirt. I think I scared my missus by just blurting out "PYGMY CUNT!".

I would of found it more fitting if it was arsenal and not chelsea, being rearranged to just weeks/days after our aniversary weekend of the league cup...makes more sense,people pay to go and get pissed celebrating what we did 40 years ago.

Chelsea won 3-2 then infront of just over 3,000. I see that smug cunt dennis wise with his pink shirt on the O.S now...

Zola hatrick, the lad shows promise.

Chalky scored one, a calm finish it was too.

You mean he didn't fall over?

[url width=640 height=480]http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/javaImages/91/62/0,,10341~5595793,00.jpg[/url]

The boy don't give a fuck.

Gareth Whalley played :D

Whalley played? has he been under contract but injured all these years?

Suuuuuuuprise!!! :D

Chalky, the legend.

Is that Reeves in the background?

Of course. Looking at the pictures on the OS Nicky Summerbee and Kevin Watson played too

Correct. And Steve Book was in goal. And Reeves went up front for a bit and looked better than he did at at the back. Hunt played too.

And Razak played a bit. If legend status is obtained by hitting hopeless shots mile wide he's a legend.

Gurney arrived in a fetching white van. If you have a van you'll always have work!

Ooolitt?

Did I just see Gurney? *Swoon*

I'm disappointed - he's still got one foot on the floor.

He's just landed.

Fair play to Zola for spending AGESSSS signing autographs at the end when he was subbed, Poyet too and Le Saux but can't say much for Wise who buggered off down the tunnel.

Sturrock had a couple of good shots in the first half  8)

Zola was and is a class act. Made watching Chelsea enjoyable!!

It was a bit of a laugh - Zola did spend ages signing autographs didnt he?

I now have the "Number one is Alan Reeves etc etc etc" song in my head and its DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!

We all dream of a team of Alan Reeves, a team of Alan Reeves, a team of Alan Reeves...

Number one is Alan Reeves,
And Number two is Alan Reeves,
And Number three is Alan Reeves..

Yes that one!  :wacko:

So it was the Alan Reeeves Testimonial then. I didnt go! How many boos did Wise get?

quite alot in a pantomine stylee - Callum Kennedy pushing him over was also amusing

Got to say, considering Chalky must be coming up to 50 years old now, he still showed Blair Sturrock the way to goal.

Most of the game it was Chelsea putting 10 men behind the ball and breaking. Callum Kennedy down the left was scaring the hell out of the Chelski legends with his pace.

And Pook was crap...no change there !!!

could someone please advise me why Pook is so brown? he looked like he had rolled in poo?

Probably because of all the shit that flies around here whenever his name is mentioned!  Or he has been associating with a certain part of Fatbury!

It was quite cringeworthy when they kept saying "The Legend that is Christian Roberts" - we were in fits of laughter and then at the end they referred to him as a "Legend in his own right" haha.

ha ha and when they kept interviewing him throughout the match

thought the match was shit. no where near as good as the legends match. as for poyet in his interview saying about thanks for the attendance and the amazing atmosphere they gave! is he having a laugh? i went 5 mins late and walking to the ground thought i got the times wrong. dissapointed in the swindon side that was put out. was awful and only a couple of ppl worth watching and they were on the chelsea team.

Well worth the £10 then? :D

...i paid £12 so def not! but as it was for charity il let them off. just a bit dissapointed with the big name talk they were giving for the build up.no wonder they didnt post the swindon team up on the OS until late.

how much has roberts given to charity fro the money taken?

You know what annoyed me as well - 2 bloody parking ticket men scouring the streets giving out tickets at 9 o clock at night - They knew alot of people would be at the CG who perhaps dont normally come (Chelsea fans etc) and people would perhaps park in the wrong bays etc - money grabbing on the night of a Charity match - My boyfriend told the 2 parking ticket men exactly what he thought of them!!

What did he think of them?

That they were not very nice people  :D

Only doing their job though werent they?

Not being funny, but people are supposed to have passed a driving test, so they should know what parking signs mean.

Same with speeding. I dont have a problem with taxes like these on stupid people. Same with smoking - another tax on stupid people. Its the way they waste the money that bothers me.