Thetownend.com

I really like Exeter. I think they might be my new team. They've done really well for themselves. I can't really see how anybody would want to see the Grecians lose. They are a proper club who've beaten the odds getting out the conference.

Fuck that shit we are going to win 4-1.

3.0 Swindon, the great escape begins.... ;).

Would prefer Exeter not to have lost 5-1 at Colchester though. Teams have a habit of coming back from a thumping with a good result in their next game.

Just our bloody luck if they do.

2-1 Gloom and doom as another nail goes in the coffin

1-0 win.

1-1 with a 90+4 equaliser from Exeter.

The last game I actively avoided was Charlton away. I think I'm going to go to Ikea tonight.

Hart by knockout in the 4th.

Think I might join you. Meatballs and gravy for two?

We'll lose 1-0.

2-1 Swindon.

I'm feeling very confident about this week and I think we will win both our matches by a single goal.

Then we'll be right back in the mix with 6 games to play.

I can see 48 points being the safety margin this season.

Draw written all over it. 1-1.

after watching saturdays performance i think we will not only win tonight but i honestly think we will stay up, i think the players finally have the bit between their teeth.

Really excited about this game - COME ON TOWN!!! We can do it still - 6 wins out of 8 !

Agree. Come on Town, prove me wrong!

That's quite some statement Mex considering you were disillusioned recently!

Serious question, do you think we showed enough attacking threat to win the games we need to win to stay up? I've not been to the last two games, but in the home games before that we didn't (in my opinion). So if that's changed that's great.

I do have one reservation - your observations were based on seeing us play Brighton. By definition they are the best team in the league. I hope the same application is shown v Exeter who aren't the best team in the league (but are pretty handy).

keep the faith batch, one win will open the floodgates.

Can Hart put out a winning team, rather than draw specialists - I think this is the game we find out.

I go for a narrow 2-1 win.

I share the confidence re: tonight, tight game, but a 2-1 win. And a win Saturday. Should put us within touching distance of the teams above us. Then it's game on.

I'm pretty pessimistic by nature. A win tonight and a win on Saturday and we'll talk about keeping the faith!

We can't be shit all season, can we? probability suggests we'll put some wins together. Now is the time...

I wouldn't bet against it!

Please God, Allah, Zeus, Aslan or indeed, anyone else who can help

Please can we win today.

My lucky Big Buddah credit card thingy that I got while in Hong Kong can save us. I will rub his belly for luck.

At least you didn't mention Mohammed. That could derail a thread.

I'm trying to be optimistic, really I am, but I can't remember the last time I felt so meh about attending a game. Maybe I've just been disappointed so many times recently that my brain refuses to allow any positivity regarding Town.

(Bet the weather will be shit as well....)

Can't see us winning but would hope for a draw 0-0 tonight, will be there with the missus (3rd time lucky!) and my step daughter and her boyfriend who is the cousin of Exeters on loan keeper Ben Hamer, Chard's most famous football league player!

Is that near Cricket St Thomas?

Yes. It's the birthplace of powered flight. It's also full of portugeezers.

we'll nick this 1-0

I'm feeling optimistic, so 1-1

After 2 decent performances that could have very well got us 3 points at somewhere like Exeter I expect we will probably put in a shocker tonight, it’s the way our season has gone.

I used to look forward to any game regardless of what situation was but I just want this season to be over.

3 points tonight might give me a slight hope but I’m seeing a 2-0 defeat.

It is full of them, and man are they ignorant fuckers!

Two - Nil to Swindon Town Football Club

I like macaroni cheese.

2 nil to Swindon and Im indifferent to macaroni cheese.

at least a draw quite possibly even a win. It has to happen some time soon

We've done a remarkably good job of it so far

I'm going to see The Script tonight so will miss the game - hoping to find a 3-1 win as I exit the venue...

Remarkably, seeing The Script is probably the only thing i can imagine to be worse than watching the Town at the moment...

26-0

I like Turtles!

we will win tonight. 2.0 with Dougie getting his first for the club

Piss taker

Been a long time since I made a macaroni cheese....chuck some toms and bacon in and make sure there's plenty of sauce and the job's a good un. I'd like to commend the humble aubergine...fried like chips...mega ace, curried.. yum.

Just got to my hotel......less than a mile away....

Cmon for fucks sake town.....please win!!!!!

Really think we will get 3 points tonight, performances have improved and we look a lot more solid at the back.
A win tonight and again on Saturday, and maybe we can all start to think it's possible.......
Come on Town!!!!

who are we playing saturday

Hartlepool at home.

nah well lose that

monkhouse will score again and give it the biggun

again

I'm bored now. Just get these 8 games over with so we can have our summer off please.

....and my brother!

I hope you 'll be happy together!......oh,and by the way,who's that masquerading as Mex!

And no doubt Cureton tonight.

...further by the way,1-0 Town-sub Benyon with the goal.

Had that last night! Macaroni, bacon, tomates, mushrooms, and plenty of brown sauce. Heaven.

2-2.

1-0 defeat.

Good student grub....there are several student staples which I ate loads of when a tax dodger, that I vowed never to eat again when entering the real world. Things like cheese pie....make a mega pastry base, mash half a sack of spuds with a small cheese mountain and stick in the oven to cook....

What's Exeter's crew called? H Troop?

5-1 Town.

Well then I guess I will be happy to see the town play on Saturday for once thus season!

One change Benyon in for Grella

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10341~2326211,00.html

Swindon Town: David Lucas; Kevin Amankwaah, Scott Cuthbert, Andy Frampton, Alan Sheehan; Matt Ritchie, Paul Caddis, Jonathan Douglas (c), David Prutton, Elliot Benyon; Calvin Andrew

Substitutes: Phil Smith (GK), Michael Timlin, Alassane N'Diaye, Lecsinel Jean-Francois, Jon-Paul McGovern, Michael Rose, Mike Grella

Interesting to see Benyon starting ahead of grella, glad to see 442 again, if only O'Brien was starting, could tear them a new asshole again

Good to see Benyon start, but I can only imagine Grella has a knock, he's been very good since he came in.

I like the look of that line up for once. Which probably means we'll get stuffed.

MUST WIN.

For once I'm confident. 2-1 Town.
I like macaroni cheese - don't like turtles and can't stand the Script and as for Reg's student food that was rationing.
I like pandas.

Nice to see Benyon get a start. He's had some shit luck since he came in, with getting injured and then Hart arriving and playing one up front recently. Be great to see him score tonight.

I'm surprised DV hasn't mentioned Cureton yet and how he cost us last time, blah blah blah...

Evening all. Not feeling this new found confidence. Think we'll get beat, but would love to be proved otherwise.

Pandas are a waste of time

Early corner.

Corner to Town straight away

We celebrate corners like goals these days.

How many corners to stay up?

Wednesday losing. Is the commentray on STFCPlayer working for others?

Working for me

Fine for me

Vicious nasty cunt

I remember the days you frowned upon f.oul language

Wendies have equalised

That's printed as a 4-5-1

It isn't though.

They cant even be bears properly.

Proper bears eat meat and animals and salmon and honey and stuff.

Pandas eat bamboo, the fuckwits.

Well if the Adver say its 4-5-1 then it must be...

What?Its not printed as such or it's not what they are actually playing.

douglas to score, swindon to win 1-0 is a 130-1....got a quid on it..........again :)

Pandas eat the odd insect as well as bamboo. If you could sit on your arse all day eating are you a fuckwit? If you can only fuck when you chose to rather than when someone else whats it - are you a fuckwit? If you get deliberately captured so as you have your food and bithes brought to you, are you a fuckwit.
Pandas are cool - not fuckwits. The bit about fish, animals and honey is a fair point but don't diss the panda.  

Wendies losing again

Not what they are playing

Brentford took a punt on an 18 year old loanee from Leicester City by the name of Jeffrey Schlupp.

Three goals in two games now.

German U21 international is Schlupp.

Where is Ferry ??? Is he injured or fat ?

Cracking name.

Ummm is nothing much happening? nobody seems to have really mentioned the game..

Pandas - a waste of time evolution wise, they just exist for the; 'oh aren't they cute' crowd.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6844303.ece

You can fuck right off as well - but they are cute

Are we losing yet?

I'm beginning to believe :)

it's all a bit dull.

27.41  David Noble is Flagged offside, David Lucas takes the resulting free kick...

Exactly

The time and effort should be spent on time like Polar bears and Tigers, co's they are proper animals.

You could get a grizzly and paint it black and white. Or get a Polar bear and paint black stripes to save on paint.

It'll be just like a Panda, but better.

The child-lover is going to score, or hit the post-bar-post from 2 yards.

3 nil swindon!!! corner count

Prutts trying another long ranger that got close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_panda

It seems we have been told duff info....the Panda only eats 99% bamboo......they are fucking meat eaters....cute my arse.

I will happily take this boring shite if we nick a last minute goal.

And me, bit of pressure from exeter now.

Recovering from injuries sustained in an attack by a savage meat-eating panda

Need half time.

More than a bit of pressure now  :(

Ominous pressure now

Great article.

Kermit and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., became the first Westerners to shoot a panda, on an expedition funded by the Field Museum of Natural History in the 1920s.

Museums have changed a bit since then, haven't they.

Much going on in the game. Lose and we go down, I think.

He should be on the pitch....so he can bamboozle the grecians defence.

Come on Town!

IS it still not half time?

When we have such obvious limited creativity, we need to make sure we can get set pieces in the box - something we appear to be failing at.

0-0 HT

HT

freekick count  Exeter City 5 Alan Sheehan 6

Sounds like we're making stupid mistakes and have no width. Hopefully Hart will sort it out in the break.

Not as positive about getting anything from this as I was 45 minutes ago - and I wasn't really very positive then!!

Cheers 

THESE ARE BOTH COMPLETELY NEW PROBLEMS.

Stood with jj edmunds and herthab.

Quality!

is Grella injured?

bet you wish you were stood with me  ;)

He's on the bench... so if he is, it's only a knock

Never mind, I'm sure the exciting Brazilian style football is taking your mind off it

Paul Trollop at the game.

He has been watching us a bit too much recently  :no:

What goon text in saying they will have to cry themselves to sleep if we don't win tonight....

Beat me to it DRS. He's the cheap option if Hart doesn't work out.

...well if that isn't motivation for the players, I don't know what is.

Well i hope it aint Peter Sellers......he's been dead twenty years.

Evening chaps....Forgot about this until Andy Carroll scored!

Have we been shit?

yep, struggling by the sound of it.

Alan Mac: "We're playing suicidal football"

Alan Mac lashing out!

He doesn't sound happy.

Love Alan Mac. Doesn't fuck around get's straight to the point and says it how it is.

nice to hear some passion, even if he is repeating himself a lot. i can see his point though, passing it across the back four does no damage to anyone, apart from maybe ourselves when we eventually give the ball away!

Just said something like "If I was Calvin Andrew I'd be having a go at the manager because this isn't working"

Sounds properly pissed off with the tactics.

Ooh free kick. Let's hope Dougie doesn't take it this time.

Maybe Alan Mac should have come in instead of Paul Hart?

Commentary cut out as we took that free kick >:(

gayers 1.0 up

Said he wasn't interested

Good.


COME ON SWINDON FOR FUCK SAKE.

Obika puts Yeovil 1-0 up.

Urgh  :no:

tbf i'm surprised anybody was interested in this shower of shit, if i was a manager i wouldn't go near it

on a lighter note, just had one of those ultimate steak pies, asda's finest, best fucking pie ive ever consumed

Penalty to Exeter.

Exeter penalty.

 :bye:

Another penalty ffs!

Goal. Hello League Two.

Is it too late to get another manager?

Any chance of this mist descending so badly the match gets abandoned?  :badmood:

4-4-2 now.Stick another one up top ffs!

"swindon's fight to avoid relegation looks to be over" there hasn't been a fight, they may have improved slightly, and lost games playing well but it means nothing, they're all a bunch of cowards and i hope half of them get culled in the summer. pathetic.

alan mac, slating the system ;D

Disappointing that we waited to go a goal down before trying to score a goal. It's so frustrating - we need 3 points. 1 is no good. Yet we have barely got forward all night.

Alan Mac talks a good game, be interesting to see what he'd do as a manager. In truth out of all the names that have done the round I'd prefer him.

Paul Hart is a fucking negative clown.

Useless cunts. Seen this coming since january. If not since november.

Paul Hart doesn't make a difference, and I think Andrew Fitton needs to take a long hard look at his own abilities to make football related appointments and decisions for Swindon Town.

Fitton is a great businessman and thanks for everything. He should stick to running the club business wise. Appoint a footballing director to handle the football business, please. You haven't got a clue!

Now Paul Hart won't get a new contract that's for sure. I really hope we find a way to get rid of a lot of our players too. They've slept on this cushion too long now!!

Goodnight, dickheads!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y3qxKn_oAg

17 games without a single win - 6 points from 51. I never thought I would be typing this back in August.

exeter have gone above charlton, they have had a good season :cry: :cry:

Alan Mac saying exactly what us supporters can see.  That's the sort of manager we need, someone's who played and understands the game and can see when things aren't working.  He'd never get the job because he'd be classed as too outspoken no doubt?

Paul Hart has been a useless appointment imo.  He may have tightened up the defence slightly, but that's no fucking use if you're going to play a shite system that's not going to score.  We've picked up a pathetic 3 points out of 18 under him, which I imagine we could have done with Wilson in charge.  

That's me done for the season now, season ticket or not.  I have no desire to watch us sink pathetically into League 2.  As said so many times before, this season has been an absolute disgrace.  As Alan Mac has just said 'Goodnight Vienna'.

I can see Paul Harts reasoning for tightening the defense - try and sneek a win. But I think it's the players to blame more than anyone. No fight, no passion all season.

Im not normally one for knee-jerk reactions but Hart must go tonight.

It's now starting to wear my soul away.

I'll renew my season ticket if Alan Mac is manager!

I understand your frustration, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Hart kept Pompey up. He kept Palace up. The board weren't to know he wouldn't turn it round here.

I've been supporting Swindon for 16years and this is the most pathetic bunch of 'players' I have know us to have

The players been to blame the whole season. Useless bunch of cunts! I hope I never see a handful of them at Swindon Town ever again! Bye, bye fuckheads!

We're not even going down with a fight - a fucking disgrace - cunts, cunts cunts

At least we'll be the best run, most profitable club in L2, and in the Conference the year after.  :badmood:

Pathetic.

Clear the entire squad out in the summer. Bunch of useless cunts.

Was the forum down for the last 15 mins?

Hear Hear!

I'd take Eddie Murray, Ty Gooden, Mark Walters, Martin Ling and Andy Gurney every day over Jonathan Douglas, David Prutton, Michael Timlin, Michael Rose, Thomas Dossevi - oh fuck, I'd take everyone every day over this years squad, actually!!!

I think so - and it's back - at least it ends up being more reslient than our fucking team

I thought we've been remarkably chipper, all things considered.

We've got a pretty good L2 side though.......... ON PAPER

(Heads for higher ground)

Rubbish....i said it two matches ago.

Time to appoint a manager for next season NOW!
Stop all this fucking around...as for Hart his tactics/subs are more baffling than Danny Wilson's.
He had all pre season to tighten the defence....his job was to keep us up,he has failed miserably,you can sneak the odd win....you cant sneak a win every match.
He has had a go..............now appoint a manager that can get to work as soon as possible.

there was fuck all wrong with lingie

are they playing merry christmas everyone in the background at St. James?

Timlin's all right-only player we've got with any fucking fight in him!

It's the worst possible team for L2. You need heart for the battle down there (and I don't mean Hart!)

They are. I don't get it.

We were originally supposed to play them on Boxing day weren't we?

its because this game should have been played at xmas, according to wiltshire sound

cos the original game was scheduled for boxing day-how we laughed!

Ah Christmas, so much hope... "Don't worry, we're due a run".

Heady days.

Fucking pathetic, spineless, useless cunts. No fight, no desire, nothing.

Hart is fucking clueless. It's not like we need wins, do we you twat.

We are going down with a wimper, we were being mocked by Exeter ffs. Nightmare season, just want it to end. Cunts.

I realise that, but personally I think it would have been better to bring in someone for the longer term who had a slightly more vested interest in whether the club could avoid relegation.  A short term appointment of someone who has no connection to the club was also going to be a risk and as with everything this season it's backfired miserably.  

Why wait until 10 minutes from the end to go 4-4-2?  We were effectively down before this game, so why not really go for it?  Pathetic.

Literally. We should hunt them down through the woods with dogs and guns. Wouldn't last long, none of them are fit and none got any fight. Useless, hopeless, spineless wankers

All I have to say is these are the biggest bunch of useless cunts I have ever had the pleasure of supporting! I am so fucked off with stfc!
TEF could go into melt down tonight :)

Hart's interview:
- As good as we were at weekend we were as bad today
- Started well but couldn't continue
- It was handball by Cuthbert
- Maybe the weekend took a bit out of players
- Thinks its still achievable
- Can't take many positives out of tonight
- Understandable that fans may fear worst but Hart still hopeful
- First poor performance since Hart arrived. Don't see it happening again
- Whole team was poor tonight
- Benyon and Andrew worked hard

Paul Hart: "We weren't good enough tonight". Cheers Paul.

Everything's crap, including the fragile TEF tonight.

It already has, even the server gave up in shame

And the only thing he forgot ......................    6 games and still no fucking win.

The complete resignation we're all feeling seems to demonstrate itself with the thread only reaching 13 pages.  This type of thing was generating 30 pages a couple of months back!!!  Utter tosh and bollocks.  I've still renewed though!!   :doh:

Generally due to a technical collapse.

My lad's manager txted me earlier to see if the boys wanted to play in the Highworth 6 a sides on Easter Sat or Supermarine May 14th. I initially opted for Supermarine as the Highworth one clashes with the Notts County game. Then realised what I was saying and texted him back to ask if he could schedule games to clash with all our remaining fixtures so I wouldn't have to go and watch this useless shower of shite again

"The weekend took it out of the players"?Took what out,the heart and guts?They weren't in there to start with!

that's it,i dont even have that glimmer of hope anymore.
we are down for sure.
i dont blame hart at all,he was a desperate measure and time was against him, but it's now apparant that he isn't a turd polisher.hopefully the shite will get flushed out in the summer.what the fuck is douglas doing taking free kicks by the way? might aswell just give them a goal kick.

According to BBC stats we had 39% possession against a team with nothing to play for, nothing short of a disgrace.

And that was all in our own half.

Feel for the fans who went tonight,i was tempted..........glad i didn't go now.

It's really sad that it's got to the point where so many of us are really not wanting to go anymore.  For me it's not just about the losing, it's the negative tactics and lack of fight that's really done it.  I now honestly believe that we will go the rest of the season without winning.  I feel quite desolate this evening as the enormity of it all has just about sunk it - we are going down in the most pathetic fashion possible.

 

But we looked fucking good in that 39%, we made 'em work for that 61%.

Just back. Things started off slowly but surerly. Then really clicked in to gear. Half time came and went but and it was a slightly slow start to the second half. But the pace picked up and by the end I was in fits of hysterics.

I assume going to see Ed Byrne was a wiser choice than going to football. I'll read back through the thread now.

:D

Hit me a few weeks back when my youngest who's obsessive about football and will watch anything (and I mean anything) and absolutely loves watching Town didn't want to go to the Dagenham game because it's too depressing. If they can put him off watching football, they can put anyone off.

I thought I was reconciled to it at the back end of February, already accepted we were down, all anxiety gone and had entered a state of Zen-like calm about our shitness. So it came as quite a shock to realise they still had the power to piss me off still further.

I've just found myself wondering if we would have been better off keeping Wilson......

Things could get ugly on Saturday.

i dont think it would have made any difference! Wilson or Hart, the bottom line is this team are a bunch of fucking useless wankers!

I doubt it very, very much.

Always look on the bright side of life  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 points out of the last 60 available since our 2 - 1 win against Sheff Wed on December 4th I am just lost for words at how bad we are. I really dont know if I can stomach walking away while another set of away fans celebrates winning points at the CG on Saturday.

I hope they fucking do.

This fucking shower of shit can fuck right off, Paul Hart included. There is now zero chance of survival. I'd rather have the fucking yooth team playing the rest of the season than these fucking cunts ever setting foot on the sacred turf again, but I dont want to fuck the youth team players confidence up.

Not fit to wear the shirt. Not fit to set foot in the fucking county more like.

Come on Fitton. Put the entire first team on notice and get a proper manager in. Not Paul Cunting Trollope.

The club are fucking lucky my son still wants to go because the way I feel tonight they can fuck right off for a season ticket renewal.

Cunts.

It's my fault. I stayed in and listened to the football tonight instead.

My 7 year old chose a birthday party over the Dagenham game on the basis 'we always lose and never score'.  A couple of months ago he missed two parties in favour of watching Swindon.  How times change?

He did however ask me earlier if we were at home on Saturday and when I said yes, punched the air in delight and said 'yes'.  I did point out to him that we weren't likely to win, but he must be having withdrawal symptoms having not watched them for 3 weeks.  He'll now wake up tomorrow morning to the news that we lost again tonight and my refusal to attend on Saturday and for the remainder of the season.

Yeah, litch - except hunting ain't slaughtering.  These players should be summarily dismissed for gross misconduct.  I bet they've leeched some fucking good wages on the back of last season.  Christ we've seen some untalented players in our time - exasperating yes but honest.  This lot are a waste of space and good player that he is, Cuthbert started as club captain and needs to grow a fucking pair if he thinks the fans are the problem

As suggested a few weeks ago, would like nothing more than 90 minutes of abuse for the team on Saturday. Then again, would have some self-righteous cunts shouting "support the team" or some bollocks.

I'd have been self righteous then but now I've gone all Adver meltdown

Furious tonight. And sad for my club because we are pathetic.

At least give it a go and play positively, lads. Play with some passion, create some chances, show as if you care. Play 4-3-3 and if you score but lose, at least you've turned up.

Hart has got to go in the summer. 6 games, no real improvement.

I don't want to see many of the current squad playing in August in the red of Swindon Town.

Why was Grella a sub tonight? Was he injured on Saturday?

A game on Saturday followed by a Tuesday game is no excuse, players should be able to cope with that.

That's true. At least we're not Oxford.

Paul Hart in Witney and Repeat Offender in (oh let's not go there) have been the only solace

Thats the bit that hurts ............. At least they know what its like to win a game or two.    :cry:

We've won 7 in the league...

Next least - Rovers 9

The players have got away without much abuse... I hope that changes now

Game, set and match. We're down. Not Hart's fault, plain and simply haven't replaced players we sold/ left on a free transfer. It's a simple as that.

By the way, it's very easy to do what Alan Mac does, each and every one of us could do that. Too many pundits nowadays haven't got the balls to have a go at being a manager but just seem to know everything. Easy from those seats.

Locomotive Relegation ploughed into a few people tonight.

One shot on goal from open play is piss poor against a side with nowt to play for...

Hart stood clueless and couldnt see what Stevie Wonder could.....it wasnt working so fucking GAMBLE.....we dont get any points at 1-0 or 4-0 ...GAMBLE...shit or bust!

Probably renew but tonight Fitton, Watkins and everybody else can fuck off!

Well, barring an unlikely miracle, we're now fucked.

I was a bit puzzled reading some comments here earlier on that slated ALL the players for a shite season. I couldn't understand how anyone could want a mass clearout. Surely we'd want to keep the nucleous of our squad together for next seasons Divvy 4 campaign? They'd be instrumental in getting us promoted at the first opportunity, surely?

Then I got to thinking about previously untouchable players like Douggie, Ferry, Cuthbert, Lucas and JPM, and, in all honesty, they've all been fucking useless this season.

They were supposed to be our key players. These were the players that others would look to during the tough times, trusted players playing in key positions, yet not one of them upped their individual game when we really needed them to.

None of them stood out as being a head-and-shoulders cut above the rest of our squad. None of them made me feel proud that they were Town' players this season.

Dress it up how you want; Fitton's inexperience, Wilson not having a plan B, allowing Paynter to go on a free, flogging Austin and Greer, not replacing Ward, signing embarrassing cunts like Pericard and Dossevi. Whatever.

Our most trusted, highest paid and supposedly influential players have, without exception, let us down badly and can all fuck right off as far as I'm concerned.

The likes of Prutton, Sheehan, Rose, O'Brien etc are just picking up very decent wages, whist taking the piss out of the Chairman, the board and the supporters. They can't fuck off soon enough for me.

I wouldn't hold your breath if I was you. As a society we've lost our balls and wouldn't want to say anything that might cause offence.
Protesting is so 1970/80s.
Having accepted relegation when Austin left, what pisses me off most is these players will walk into other teams and play reasonably well.

Oh dear, this thread was painful reading, one shot on target, that really is shit. Must be time for bed. Good night

Just one point, I assume with Benyon starting we played 4-4-2?

Just in case anyone is clinging onto the hope we may get ourselves out of this mess... We won't.

The first one I'd like to see out the door is Cuthbert personally. His comments about the fans infuriated me, that and the fact he can't defend for shit without Greer holding his hand.

I may regret this post later but my god I'm angry.

Same as usual, straight switch with Benyon for Grella

Oh right, slightly strange then. Did we switch to more attacking formations after goal went in?

Resisted the temptation to post when I got back last night, as I'm usually more balanced after a nights sleep.

The game started ok. We looked in control (Without really threatening) for most of the 1st half. Exeter finished the half stronger and had our goal under pressure with a succession of corners (Cureton missed an easy chance, which was nice to see, the fucking midget cunt).

2nd half we were shit, total shit. We get a freekick in a decent area and who steps up? Jonathon fucking Douglas! Unsurprisingly he missed the target. We were crying out for a change, Grella for Benyon being my choice, as Benyon hadn't really got in the game, but Hart wasn't interested. Their goal resulted from the stupidest handball I've ever seen, why Cuthbert felt the need to do that defies logic.

The only 2 positives for me last night were Andrew and N'Diaye (Who came on late for Ritchie).

So the only 2 positives were a couple of recent loanees. The rest of the team quite rightly deserved the abuse at the end.

The worst thing is that Exeter were there for the taking, we could have and should have won that game. But poor tactics, poor selection and fucking piss poor performances meant that we are going down without a whimper.

Roll on May 8th.

didnt go last night-what happened with cuthbert and the fans?

As far as I could make out all the players accepted the abuse they got and the abuse was directed at the whole team.

Felt a bit sorry for Andrew and N'Diaye, as for the rest of them? They deserved it and should've got more.

Did we fuck.

A little group of about 20 or so fans had a pop last night.......i just bowed my head and slumped off.

I think it was Cuthbert who hand balled it for the pen 'volley ball' style. If so.....i would crawl under a rock and not come out...

Did Cuthbert react? To the fans having a go I mean

None of them reacted. They were so motionless it was like the game hadn't finished.

oh.  thanks.

this is the reason I don't want hart full time.  he was given an impossible task keeping is up.  but if he can't go for it when we need three  points then next season under hart fills me with dread

Oh fiddle sticks.

I'm not really sure why I thought we could win and get out of this.

Back to reality for me.

First game I'd watched under Hart and not impressed in the slightest. 

He's brought in a couple of decent lumps who put themselves about and, more importantly, put the effort in but my god was his substitution baffling (sound familiar?).  Ritchie had looked pretty good when on the ball yet he's sacrificed instead of David "sideways or backwards" Prutton. 

The distinct lack of aggression and/or passion was the most concerning aspect.  Have they accepted relegation like the rest of us?

I will be relieved when we are mathematically down, so the playing staff / management etc can abandon this farcical charade "we are still optimistic etc etc", and we can concentrate on next season proper....

Here's the handball:

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

Fucking stupid idiot what is he thinking?

What the fuck was he doing.... its all just so sad to see what has happened this season.... it appears to be never ending :( This season cant come soon enough...if Hart is the man to employ to avoid the drop who`s the man to get us out of League 2....not Hart I presume...?

This is the only aspect of Fittons reign that doesn't impress me.

They took over and generated great excitement. Quashed instantaneously by dithering then appointing Malpas.

Malpas unfortunately wasn't up to it and got the chop. We drifted until Wilson was appointed. In my book this was still a great appointment. Last seasons memories will stay with me until I die/get dementia.

Then for reasons I don't understand Wilson was chopped after the transfer window slammed shut. Now I would not have sacked Wilson either, so I'm not being critical of that. But the timing was bloody off. And on the face of it Paul Hart has a great record at short term survival. But his hands were tied as there was no time to get into the transfer market.

From here it becomes more of a personal opinion. I don't think Hart is the man for division 4. You could argue that we can't judge him on 6 games. True but it is his style of play that worries me.

And so do we trust Mr F to get it right if we assume it isn't Hart?

Which ever manager we get its no guarantee we'll come back. My opinion is we need a buzz, a united front to lead us to battle next year. We can achieve this with

a: A big name like the Wise/Poyet combo or a player/manager.
b. A proven experienced manager like Paul Sturrock. Good football no. Effective football yes. Obviously we need to see who is available/poachable.

But as Reg pointed out before, finances may dictate otherwise. I know deep down we must never allow ourselves to spend money we haven't got in an unsustainable way. Which is why I fear we'll end up with Paul Trollope. And he won't unite the fans, create the buzz or get the players we need.

Spot on.

Absolutely correct.

Fitton is a good business man without question and I suspect he has had to pay a reasonable sum for Paul Hart, who it is reported is only signed until end of season. Presumably as we are now heading out of the division this will be reviewed. Fitton next choice has to 100% right otherwise we will be down for a while....there will be a choice of managers available for sure. If it were me I would go for someone who`s connections with clubs in leagues above us are sound...IF we can get off to a reasonable start then fans will return. Biggest problem by far is to somehow stop this dismal run... just cant see a win coming....

Don't see the point in that, i dont want us getting in a few youngsters on loan for a league 2 campaign they wont have the bottle.  I want a manager who has been there and done that in League 2, who knows the type of players to success in that league, namely old school style players who are nothing flash but have plenty of games under their belt at that level.  We need to turn into any ugly no nonsense team who dont take any shit every week.  Effective but not pretty.

Last night was concerning for me in that i wasnt that bothered we lost, i think i gave up realistic hope a month or so ago.  Lets just get the season over. 

the fact that trollope is watching our games regularly tells us what we need to know regarding the next manager.
at least he will have had a look at the squad in preparation.
the only way it wont be him is if dismal season ticket sales,or a change of heart(no not hart)on fittons part sees him look elsewhere.

What you are asking for there is Martin Allen, who I certainly would have advocated. And yes I am aware that he is now at Barnet

Yea he might be a dick but you would imagine he won't tollerate anything but 100% out of his players week in week out.  Dont know how long his contract is at Barnet but i wouldnt have any problem with him either.

martin allen was my choice weeks ago.
if he keeps barnet up then he will have proved his worth.

The whole Paul Trollope thing is slightly concerning for me not necessarily because of his managerial ability but because like others have said it just wouldn't inspire the fans at all and in order to get off to a good start in league 2 next year it'll help massivley to have a fully enthused fan-base.
That begs the question what would be the best option....

Big name retiring Prem player in the mould of Macari, Hoddle, Ardiles, McMahon etc?
A former 'hero' returning ... Calderwood, Taylor, Nijholt(?) etc?
Try to poach a successful lower league boss, someone like Tisdale from Exeter?
Stick with Hart / McParland as is?
Make McParland boss and move Hart to 'Director of Football'?

If we succeeded in poaching Tisdall for example, I’d seriously question his mental state based of the ludicrous decision to leave Exeter to drop down a league to manage us.

Andy Scott for me

Paul Buckle?

If they don't go up he'd be a good shout. Decent young manager imagine he'd jump at the chance to prove himself at a different club with more resources.

I'd like to see Richard Money in charge.

Did a good job with Walsall getting them promoted from league 2.  He resigned the following season when the club could no longer make the playoffs in league 1.  They were doing pretty well untill January when they sold a couple of their best players to Coventry.  

He did a good job at Luton too.  Fair enough some may argue Luton are the biggest club in conference and should win the league by a mile, but the financial shit they were in, and 2 sucessive relegations must have had a big impact on the team.

Hes got a good track record in the lower leagues, and if we put a bit of money behind him, i reckon he could get us promoted from league 2 and then top 10 finish in league 1 the year after.

Ditto Colin Calderwood

Tisdale would not come, I agree.  But I do like the idea of attracting a young manager with a track record in League 2.  Probably represents our most realistic hope of bouncing back quickly.

Graham Westley (Stevenage) or Paul Buckle (Torquay) would be near the top of my list.

Edit: didn't see that Buckle had already been mentioned above.  Seems a popular choice!

I would imagine that Trollope is here watching the game, he is a local lad and has history to the club and is probably just coming to watch the games with no hidden agenda, he is not really the type of manager we'd need for next season

Which is why he'll probably end up appointed with our dismal track record of managerial appointments!  ???

Buckle is a good shout.

I like us to go after John Coleman at Accrington, done well on a tiny budget by League 2 standard.  Been there for ages so might feek too much loyalty to leave but he has probably taken them as far he can and will know that league inside out.  

Its got to be Alan Mac!

No, it has to be you, oh special one.....

Just somebody who knows this league inside out.....Oh hang on .....i mean League 2

If i'd taken over when Paul Hart did I'd have kept us up!

Not sure why you think that....he has good Div 4 experience including promotion....can obviously work with an older figure in Lawrence (here think Fitton).  Got Lambert for a 100 grand and flogged him for a mill....similarly Hoskins will probably do the same ( don't know about his contract mind)

These are all the sort of boxes which Fitton wants ticking.

IMO The problem this year is that after last year our expectations were raised to expect top 6 and the players bought into how fucking good we were. We should have targeted staying up first, then playoffs, then automatic. Instead despite the fact we are shit we were more worried about how far we were off the play offs than relegation. Federerer doesn't turn up at Wimbledon and say he isn't worried about the first round and is only bothered about the final and that is why the mindset has been wrong all season. Yeovil, D&R, the Gas might all be shit but need beating before we set our sights on promotion.

Slightly different in that Federer plays in a knock-out tournament.

I know this is a dangerous comparison to draw, but did Arsenal or Man City target survival first this season?  Unlikely.  It is easy to lambast complacency but it's not difficult to understand why it came about.

I know the league is a  marathon not a sprint but my point about the wrong tone being set and the management team failing to guard against complacency is better demonstrated by Arsenal losing to Birmingham in the league cup final because they thought they only needed to turn up. I have felt that the players and manager have had that attitude at a number of the games I have been at this season (e.g. D&R home and away, Yeovil, Walsall etc. Etc.) Conversely we have performed well against the so called better teams (Charlton, Southampton etc.). This elitist attitude is unforgivable and the reason that we are better off getting shot of many of the current squad as once it has set in it is very hard to change.               

Disagree with you on this DA15red. Think after the positive steps taken last season it was more than reasonable to expect to build on that this year.

With the investment in the playing squad in terms of transfer fees and wages, and the oft-mentioned 3/5 year plan the targets had to be set quite high. The only way to improve and move forward is to aim above yourself and then push to reach those levels.

Clearly misjudgments of ability and other assorted errors were made, and I don't need to go into the failings in assembling the playing squad - but at the level of expectations and ambitions for the season I don't see why we shouldn't have gone in with the attitude we did.

I'm talking about the mindset on a game by game basis not for the whole season. No problem with having high expectations for the season but they can only be achieved if you are up for every game. I don't think that has been the case this season. E.g. Beat Charlton then do nothing against Oldham etc.

No but how many of them were mediocre (to say the least) the season before?