Thetownend.com

As an old fucker whos seen far too many seasons of promotions , relegations and midle table obscurity you can tell when a side looks doomed to relegation , and thats what we are at the moment.

We needed a manager before the carlisle game - cos that , crewe , yeovil , orient and brighton was gonna make or break the season and quite frankly it's looking pretty broken.

Morecambe away next year will be nice though .........

We need a manager before the January window that's for sure.
After the Brighton game we have two weeks off that will probably be the window when he comes in or just before the Brighton game.
You are right Orient and Brighton games are very important, we must pick up at least three points.

More importantly in my opinion 4 or 5 players are needed. We have players who think they are better than they are simple as that . We need cox bang on form again and someone calm in the middle

We need a midfield enforcer, somebody who will not allow the opposition to play past us, one of the reasons we are so dodgy at the back is the amount of pressure we have to soak up through losing the ball consistently in the middle of the park.

True Ronnie, we do have one of the weakest midfields in this division, I haven't seen us win a midfield battle all season.

For me that is down to the coaching, it's not hard to stop another side playing if you press and harass as a unit.

 We've needed one of these for years...the last such was all too briefly Paul Smith, who was superb...Iffy obviously knew his quality having played with him, but sadly he was on his last legs.

3 or 4 new players. We dont have enough depth because what we do have on the bench like casal etc is shit, ideally 6 points over the next 2 games but 4 points would be good enough to give us some breathing space going into the Jan transfer window with a new manager and see what happens?

I agree we need a new spine to the team. A new commanding centre back and a central midfielder. Problem is we have too much dead wood in the over sized squad. Can't see the budget stretching too far unless we ship the crud out first.

We are in big trouble that's for sure. I think we need a new striker tbh. I'm not sure Corr and Sturrock are up to the mark and Peacock isn't a striker anymore. The CM position needs looking at and clearly so does the back 4. My worry is that the new man won't have time to look at it all and will make panic signings. Or that there will be no new manager at all.

Hes been getting alot of stick so dont want to add to his woes but we looked a better team when Aljofree went off yesterday,Morrison makes an odd mistake but hs distribution and throwins mean for me he should be in ahead of Ifill and Aljofree....not being funny onion but but its a case of getting a manager who can see things that are obvious to us....

We looked even worse when aljofree whent off. If he offers nothing else then he gives our back line some experience. Morrison just isn't good enough defensively. His marking and awareness is very poor, as can be expected because of his age. Aljofree is our best center back by far this season.

mmmm 2 down when he went off i believe....Morrison has been outstanding and can only get better...cant say that about Aljofree,we are bottom 5 so the captain needs to be counted,we obviously watch different matches Dave...he gets too many injuries because of his style of play,hes not been our worse player and the abuse he gets isnt right...but Morrison is young and we need to be building him up to play every natch...not sent to Plymouth for a holiday!
As for Aljofree it looks like hes out for a few weeks again no change there then...

We looked very stretched at the back in the last 20 minutes, maybe because were trying to go forward looking for an equaliser or because Morrison was upfield most of the time (long throws).

Personally I would like to see Morrison and Ifil in the middle. Morrison looks as solid as a rock to me even though a bit slow, Ifil has the pace the clear up behind him.

Aljofree does nothing for me, do not rate him at all.

Ajofree went off before the second didn't he? Infact wasn't it Morrison doing the offside hand wave that helped them out for their second?

Ifil was fucking awful yesterday, again. we need a new coach/manager or a miracle.

Wll unless i missed something yeovils second goal came about because morrison lost his man completely, then stood gawping with his arm in the air

Is my memory getting that bad, I was sure he went off after we were 2 down.

I thought he was definitely offside, haven't seen the highlights on the Championship this morning.

The second goal wasn't offside at all.

Thanks, just looked offside on the day, he must have timed his run to perfection.

their second goal was very good.

Morrison was a cunt for totally giving up on it though.

keep up, we got relegated last week when we lost to Crewe

We will not go down

we already have.

seriously though, I dont care for the fact its a fucking Sunday but if the likes of Fitton and Watkins arent working their bollocks off to speak to potential managers I will be seriously pissed off with them.

They believed they had the manager and his team in place after the Crewe game, you cant blame them if it then goes tits-up.

so, doesnt matter. we still need a manager first thing monday morning.

In repsonse to DV...

Yes, it has gone long enough and I agree that the time has come to get a new man in ASAP. Fitton and co need to sort it out sharpish because we need somebody to turn this mess around.

BUT I think giving up and saying we are already relegated is a load of bollocks. We aren't even in the relegation zone yet, and although it looks grim right now a new man could bring about the change we need. Look at Spurs. Look at Blackburn who couldn't buy a win. Look at Sunderland (ok, they don't have a manager but you get the point). If we beat Orient and Brighton, who are seemingly both as shit as us, then we're looking back up at midtable. 6 points isn't highly likely given recent form, but it only takes a bit of luck to lift us up a few places.

Of course it bollocks, im being sarcastic and taking the piss out of the people who have already relegated us.

Read any of my serious posts and I have not once said we will go down.

the longer it takes to get a boss in, our chances of going down increase.a new man could have assessed the squad by now, and moved in on players in january.

I've resigned myself to the fact we are going down so i dont think too much about it/ L2 Last time was fun but ofcourse hope we can turn a corner and stay up.

Dead right,  I thought he was waving to his mates in the Arkels.
Scary thing was he still got MotM, I guess the only surprise was they didn't give it to the Muppet in Goal.

Mind you, it would have been difficult to find anyone to get MotM.


It's getting to the point that Phil Smith has probably cost us more points, than we've actually managed to win, yet he's still in the team week in & week out.

It's obvious that the defence have no confidence in him (or the crowd, he gets ironic cheers for managing to pick the ball up). 

Posh, I said early his confidence is shot to bits, along with us the supporters.
Phil Smith needs to be dropped.

Regarding Morrison, no he wasnt Man of the Match but he gives it his all, I for one would not knock the lad, he is still learning.
Sso far this season, Cox not included, he has been the find of the season.

It's not hard to come to the conclusion that brez doesn't want to play for us anymore and will probably be on his way sooner rather than later.

I don't blame him. Some of the others who are playing obviously don't give a fuck about it either.

I've tried to defend Phil Smith, but I'm starting to think its gone on a little too long now. Trouble is, the thought of Brezovan coming in in his place doesn't exactly fill me with a sense of security or optimism.

I think that whoever comes in may need to get someone in on a short-term basis on loan, to give PS a break from the spot light and hopefully the introduction of a new goalkeeping coach (or whatever it is our keepers need to return them to their old selves). I dunno, thats what I'd do on CM anyway.

Has everyone forgotten we actually managed to score from a free kick yesterday?

When was the last time that happened as I can't truly remember!

Im still in shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, back on topic, losing to Crewe and Yeovil is relegation form and theres no denying it.

Quite. In fact perhaps the only positive to take from yesterday's game is that both goals came from midfield.

Also, the chicken balti pies were very crispy. Not how I normally have my pies, but surprisingly I rather enjoyed it that way.

Last person to score a free kick was Lee Peacock, in League Two against Grimsby I think....

It was at home to macclesfield. He slipt as he hit it. It made the score 2-0 to us, after ricky shakes' opener and subsequent moonwalk

Hasney going off injured, someone wants to be at home with the family over xmas and not travel boxing day!

And on Morrison, when everyone has been wanking over him i have said everytime that he currently isnt good enough, he will be in years to come but not now, its unfair on Morrison to be playing him at his age in such a shit team when he isnt ready

Morrison dealt brilliantly with noel williams i thought.

Morrison is nowhere near the finished article but most fans see a lot of promise there and will put up with the occasional fuck up like the 2nd goal yesterday as part of a learning process. The problem is that the central defensive pairing whatever it has been has been shit. At least he's learning not to be shit whilst the others continue to be shit.

Thats what happened in the Prem season....Ling and Moncur were just bullied off the ball and the defence just had to contain wave after wave....

ifil was at error for all 3 goals.

FFS Gazza that's want we want, some of that stiff upper lip, British fighting spirit.  It's flippin December and you've "resigned yourself" to us going down?  Bloody hell.

And Morrison is definitely good enough to play in our firsts this season.  He'll make mistakes but that's all part of gettin better, example and experience, the two ways us human beings tend to learn.

Ben, I'm not picking on you, but just quoting your post to prompt debate.

I've read this "Brez doesn't want to play for us any more" shizzle on several occasions. Now regardless of whether he's better than Smith or not, where the fuck is the source of that rumour? Is it from the man himself? Is it from one of JCP's youth team bumboys?

Its been a rumour now for quite some time which doesn't appear to have any substantiated facts behind it apart from some individuals' perception of Brez's body language.

Of course, if there are substantiating facts, then feel free to make us all aware of them.

He told me to my face he does not want to play here anymore. Will that do

If that's the case he's an unprofessional twat.

Much like 80% of the current squad.............

Was in Suju about 2 months ago.

Really? Why? And more importantly, can you prove it......

I can confirm that DRS secretly recorded his conversation with Brezovan and played it back to me.

Will that do?

No.

He also got someone to transcribe said recording and had another meeting with Brezovan, where the sulky fucker signed three copies. Brezovan kept one, DRS kept one and the third is locked in a time capsule, buried under the Christmas tree on the Magic Roundabout.

Will that do?

More like it. Better get and excavate that time capsule then.

Some might call me deluded but I still think our squad is good enough to stay up. There are some glaring weakneses in it, but on paper our 1st XI is a mid table league 1 side.

They are stuck in a rut and low on confidence though. The back 4 needs specialist work. If the new manager is any good he really should be able to guide this lot (+ a couple of additions) back into mid table. Its a much better side than the last L1 relegation seasson.

I'd agre with that. Man for Man this squad is much better than the 05/06 one. That team had a far better team spirit though

Agree 100% What they need is someone who tells them what to do, when to do it and how to do it.
They also need a manager who can get the best out of them.

I think without a new manager we'll lose to brighton and orient, but I still think with a new man at the helm we'll have enough to stay up.

In saying that, on saturday we were absolutely embarrassingly bad.

Not sure I totally agree with that, for a while Iffy did seem to manage to galvanise the players with a backs to the wall mentality, in fact we almost looked clear at 1 point. Once we sank back into the relegation zone though the team looked just as mentally fragile as teh current lot, but with less quality.  We did take a few spankings as well.

See i disagree.
Smith not good enough (can be but not at the moment)
Ifil & Aljofree not good enough
Pook
Mcgovern
Marshall
Casal
Paynter
Sturrock
Corr(due to fitness)
Peacock

Not one of those players imo can play any better than what they have done so far this season. Any new manager that comes in will keep getting abuse if we keep the mentality that are players are better than what they are.

 Nah....by way of comparison look at a game v Blackpool around the same time in 05.

 Evans in goal...far better than Smith or Brez.

 Jack Smith...the same as.  Ifil, O'Hanlon....Nicholas.  OK not great but could be a  steady unit, got a clean sheet on the day.

 McDermott Migz and Pook Bouazza

 Fallon, Mikolanda.

 Problem with that side...Mikolanda was shit, seem to remember a couple of sitters missed..

 I'd say not a lot of difference really.

 Interestingly in the Blackpool line up was an obscure full back Simon Grayson...who was made manager and took them up, the following season.

Apart from the three that I accept are not good enough, the rest could and should be good enough in this League. Hopefully when we get a manager who knows his onions (Laurent Blanc?) they will start to show it.

Understand what you are saying steve but i don't think we can get anymore out of those players.The best we can hope for is what you say in mcgovern's case that we may get glimpses.

Fair point with that side you have highlighted, but I was thinking of Iffys team post xmas where the likes of Shakes, comyn platt, Benjamin, Brown were all regulars

We need 32 points from the remaining 25 games to reach the magic 52 points. That's 1.28 points per game. Put another way, we need to win another 11 games. On current form that's a tough ask.

the one where Sean Morrison stopped with his arm up in the air as their midfielder ran straight past him through on goal was definitely Ifils fault.

Our players are good enough, Sturrock proved this.

No they are not Dv the league table proves this.

I think the point is a lot of the 05/06 team couldnt perform to a higher level than they did. We had some triers but they lacked quality bar a few players. Bouazza was decent for a bit, as was cureton.  Migz , for a good player he was very poor that season bar a few games.

We've all seen with our own eyes quite a few of the current lot perform to a better level than they currently are , in cases like Ifil, Aljofree and the keepers on a pretty consitant basis under different management.

We dont need to win 11. We're bound to draw some games.

There is a difference DRS. The way they have performed we deserve to be where we are,  no question.  Do they have the potential to do much better?   yes.

True, but I was just trying to make a point.

Averaging 4 points every three games i.e. win one, draw one, lose one, would also see us safe.

 CT...Let's look at the side that lost the clutch game v Rotherham, late Feb.

 Evans
 Smith
 Ifil
 O'Hanlon
 Nicho
 Shakes
 Gurney
 Migz
 Brown
 Peacock
 Cureton

 Certainly an experienced line up...casually tossed away a key 3 points after leading at half time.

 Still a lot of similarities to our present side.
 

 

 

I'm going to keep tabs on the W,D,L sequence by breaking down our fixtures into groups of three:

Leyton Orient
Brighton
Stockport
===
Millwall
Huddersfield
Hartlepool
===
Walsall
Oldham
Northampton
===
Southend
Leicester
Scunthorpe
===
Tranmere
Cheltenham
Franchise
===
Colchester
Leeds
Hereford
===
Yeovil
Crewe
Brighton
===
Leyton Orient
Carlisle
Bristol Rovers
===
Peterborough

It's definitely achievable, depends whether the team are up to it.
 
 

I think we should lose all our games, up to and including Cheltenham. Then win our last 11.

Just to make it exciting......

That sides midfield makes our current one look fantastic.  

Gurney in midfield - I'd happily erased the pain of watching that from my brain

Point taken about the back 4 and keepers being much of a muchness

I'd rather have cox over cureton in a struggling side based on work rate.

 Harking back to 05/06, had we won that Rotherham game, we'd have moved to 13th in the league.  This with 34 games gone.

 In order to stay up and get those points mentioned realistically it will happen in home games..in 05/06 after that Rotherham game with 17 games gone we'd conceded 24 goals at home this season after 11 it's 21.

 This current side is not just averagely inept, it's seriously inept. Whoever takes it on will have be a firefighter...hopefully it will still be Money and he can start by tightening up at the back, by bringing in fresh faces.

Fully agree there about being seriously inept, some of the stuff we play is non-league. I can see us being bottom 2 in a few games time.

without looking at the stats reg, I suspect we've score quite a few more as well.

I'm not trying to gloss over our current plight,  but if I were a manager I'd rather take over a side that scores goals but ships far too many than vice versa.  Its easier to sort out in my opinion,  be it via coaching or new players. decent defenders are easier to come by that decent strikers or creative players.  generally.

 At the same stage...yes you're right, 26 in 05/06 32 on 08/09.

 However, my overall point remains we're very much candidates for relegation, and changes are needed if we're to avoid this. Of course a new manager can affect change, but it will take a bit of time.

Aboslutely, but we do have most of the tools needed to get out of this. But what good is a spade in the frozen ground. What good is a drill for hammering in. What good is a spoon when all you need is a knife.

Actually perhaps tools isn't the right word, or is it.

Anyway the point is last time we were shit and everyone knew it. This time on paper we look like we have a fighting chance.

I think we all agree that change is required.

My point is that if the new manager can get the most out of the existing squad (or at least sturrock-esque levels of performance) and add a couple of decent players, then we wont have a problem.

If he cant manage taht then we're fucked.

On paper we should be finishing 8th - 14th but it's just not happening.

I still don't have the answer to my question on Page 4. Only I know that Brez told DRS in Suju that he doesn't want to play for us again? Why? Because he has been made a scapegoat for errors and forced to sit on the bench and watch Smith make errors?

If thats the case, he is just a spoilt prick who should be released from his contract immediately. We need players here who WANT to play for Swindon Town Football Club, not those who sit on the bench with a strop on because they aren't playing........

It also makes sense that if he's not happy, and the chopping and changing has become disruptive, then you pick and stick with the keeper who is happy to be at the club.

You're right though, I have no hard evidence that he's not happy. Heard it a few places, although I'm not someone who claims to have proper sauces, and it does seem to fit.

Either way, I think the weekly keeper switch around has been a factor in their down turn in confidence. Do we start it again now? Or do we stick with Smith, trying to get him back on form?

Smiths had his run of games, and made numerous fuck ups. As over rated as I think he is I'd be tempted to give Brezovan the same run now.

Agree that changing every week isnt a good idea, but sticking with a keeper in poor form just for the sake of consistancy is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Why give Brez a chance? He's been fucking dire this season as well.

I know, and agree.

But its either give brez a chance on the basis he cant really do any worse or get a new keeper, because we cant just go on letting smith make so many mistakes without doing anything about it

Leeds have had the same problems with their keepers this season apparently....a lot of similarities, managerless, beaten by Histon, had wise in charge briefly, lost as many games as us, in a relegation scrap....oh...

...and they'll have a new manager in by tomorrow.

yeah, coz that cunt bates already had someone lined up

 At least we haven't got a manager for him to steal this time.

he can take byrne today if he likes

There we go Simon Grayson appointed already.

That took long...

errrrr i've got a confession... this is my 2nd year of having a season ticket, the first season was 05/06... i'm hoping me having a season ticket doesnt correspond to swindon getting relegated....

Leggett out!

Now means a lot of good candidates would be more likely to go to Blackpool than here.

We're doing okay so far. Just a draw (or win) needed against Stockport.

I think we might go down. Wilson has a really shit record in relegation fights. He kept the Don's up by the skin of their teeth in his first season because Wrexham were deducted some points, but that's it, every other scrap has been lost.

I think 2 games in is perhaps a bit early to assess how well we're doing!

 But the positive is that he bounced the Monkey Hangers back at the first attempt, and they finished above us. Given our defensive incompetence at home, I'd imagine many sound judges would think we'll go down...of course Wilson sides aren't noted for their defensive rigour.

Up until yesterday I still thought we had more about us than we are showing and just needed a kick up the arse to get going. If a new manager isn't enough to motivate the players into action then I don't know what is. Only JPM seems to have improved as the season has gone on.

I now think without a few good loan players we are fucked. It's going to be tight, but we seem to have no bottle.

I really believe that we will get results against the better sides, in keeping with the season so far.Keep the faith

If we go down it won't have anything to do with Wilson, it will be the shite players we have.

Ive always said this is a shit league. The worst league at this level this decade, because weve had so many points deductions, relegating teams who shouldnt have been.

I still think there are 4 teams worse than us. Problem is, all of them seem to have been trying a lot harder.

Its a disgrace if we do go down though.

To have had the run we have had and still not be in the bottom 4 says a lot about the other teams.

A couple of new faces in january to freshen thing's up and we'll be fine,How far away is vincent from being fit.I think we've missed him more than anyone would imagine we would of done.

He did Reg, but like us they were way too good for that Division. I'm sure we'd have finished Champions without that fucking about changing managers half way through the season, (thank you Santa Bates you fucker!).

With due respect, there's always a good few clubs who feel they're way too good for that division..look at the scum. If you're in it, it's likely you've been poorly managed both on and off the pitch..and it's no given you get out first time. A decision needs to be made, maybe it has, as to whether Wilson will be seen responsible if we go down.

 Today we're told players out before anyone in....MM tried to move out "fringe" players, but because they're shite no-one wants them.

 Nalis, I could see accepting some sort of pay-out and retiring...but it's difficult to see beyond that, who might be shipped out without cost.

 My fear is that DW wont be able to turn our shower around and the fans will soon turn, leading us into the cycle of instability again.

I guess Marshall, Amankwha and Casal could be loaned out to lower league clubs while we get our own loaners in.

Hard to see it though, I agree with Reg.

 I suppose the abilty to engineer these sort of moves is the mark of a good manager.

We couldn't get rid of Paul Sturrock to a bottom of league 2 side-what chance of getting rid of any of the others?

You're having a mare today mate!

Blair?

yeah-thats the one!extended hangover mate!

 Assuming then that movements out and in are minimal, due to the policy of not going over budget..should we expect Wilson to be able to improve  the sack of shit we currently have?

unfortunately some of our players are beyond improvement(Peacock and Aljofree spring to mind)but a good manager should be able to get more from the likes of McGovern,Easton and above all McNamee in my opinion.

Surely they've had to amend the policy slightly in view of the situation we find ourselves in and a new manager in place.  Id hope so anyway. 

Dont fancy our chances of getting rid of Sturrock and Casal.  Pook and Nalis probably will be able to find somewhere to go in the next league down, Pook due to a good run in the first team where some said he played well and Nalis due to reputation and possibly as a coach?

Im making all this shit up.  No insider knowledge whatsover.

Can't see the policy changing.  Our owners are from Private Equity style backgrounds, so no doubt a lot of their personal fortunes have been cut in half since they purchased us.  Given the overall economic climate, the complete lack of lending facilities especially to those who can show a previous record of defaulting on payments, I can see us tightening up more than releasing the strings.  It may seem obvious to spend a little, but I don't want the next 20-30 years being put at risk to save one season.

I suspect that there will be a little lee-way, but what we will probaby do is to get in a few decent loans with a view to making them permanent in the summer if they prove themselves.

We have quite a few out of contract in the summer if I remember correctly so the squad will probably have an overhaul then with Wilson keeping those that he feels can either improve or those that can do a decent job at this level.

I suspect though that we will see a couple out on loans as Wilson is bound to have contacts being able to get players fixed up that he does not see playing here but can play elsewhere perhaps lower down the leagues, we may even see 1 or 2 offered the chance to cancel their contract so they can get fixed up elsewhere before everyone else in the summer.

As long as he get's in a vastly experienced centre half and decent ball player for the midfield that should give us the lift that is required, and then he just has to get another wide player to give our existing wide players competition for their place.

Maybe we should get that black guy who played at the back for Orient.......utter shite and made our fullbacks look calm and confident.
If he came in everyone would feel better than they are and morale would be improved....
Still think we need a Kamara type player in the middle to boss the game....

 I suspect the chances of getting a Kammy type player are zilch..it's worth remembering, he was one of the early black players...the casual racism of teh time meant that for a lot of old school managers, black players weren't to be trusted when the going got tough in an English winter...

 Someone as good as he was would be snapped up pronto by a biggish club.

Reg the name escapes me but didn't kammy spark out someone for racism. Jim melrose rings a bell

We haven't had a holding midfielder as good as Kammy since. He's easily in my top 3 favourite Town players if all time.

It was Melrose, who was at Shrews at the time. Kammy got pissed off getting shit off him and a few other Shrew players throughout the game and eventually jabbed him  one with an elbow and broke his cheekbone.

You cant beat an all action midfield player. Tackling, passing and shooting. Great to watch. Total football!

 More of a right hook...

If i remember rightly it was reported that Melrose insulted Kammys kids...think Kammy fell out with Macari and the club for not publicy supporting him when it went to court,maybe wrong though.....but ime glad he had some good seasons at Leeds and Sheff Utd at the end of his career.

He smacked him one as the players were running off the pitch after the game. Kammy made accusations of racism but then withdrew the accusations. The reaction of the Shrewsbury fans was interesting. They got a bit pissy from a distance and had a "mob" of abuot 20 waiting for us after the game. Me and my mate walked up behind them, tapped them on the shoulder and asked them if they were looking for us. It did help we had another 10 up the road.

Shrewsbury was a great day out in 06 and 1996 as well.

Just hope we are not playing them next year.

96 was ace me and my mate went up with two birds ended up leaving them and fuckin off to birmingham

Did you fancy a kebab more in those days than a shag?

1996 was indeed an ace day,my first ever away game as well  ;D Certainly one of the best,up there with the pox away in 2001 for sure.Remember the players coming out at the end,doing a lap of honour at the away end!

i dont eat kebabs but id rather do alot of things rather than sex

Got both that night dell:-)

I've worked out who you are!!!
Well what you do for a living anyway...

Your a catholic priest and you get all your information from the youth players from the confession box....

haha.like what?

Show off an internet forum.

:)

to whom? prospective buyers?