Thetownend.com

Bored to fuck.

Who was the better striker. Our Dunc or Charlie 'lock up your wife' Austin?

My money's on Dunc

shearer easily. And so were parkin and cox in recent years

Rate Shearer over Parkin - cant quite make up my mind about Shearer/Cox

Shearer over anyone. Parkin over cox

Roberts or Peacock?

Shearer over Alan Mayes?

Got to say, personally, didn't rate either of them

both shite

Those I've see play.

Shearer better than Cox who's better than Parkin who's better than Austin but only just.

How about a waste of money comparison

David Peach v Beauchamp

Where's Bamber?

Shearer was the better all round player...Austin is as good as any player up front for sniffing out goals,just knows where to be in the box.
For me the best player i ever saw up front was Rideout years back....at 17/18 he was incredible.

Cox over Parkin for me....just.

Shearer, Cox, Austin followed very closely by Parkin. Those were the days...

Sabin

No. Jan Aage Fjortoft over anyone. Big Dunc comes second, but a loooong way behind Jan the Man.

Nah he took too long to settle into the team IMO

Think Dunc was a better player for us myself and scored more goals. I'd have jan the man a close second to him though. Deffo the best 2 forwards in my time as a town fan.

Don't get why Parkin isn't highly rated in the responses so far. I'd have him 3rd in front of all the others.

Chalkie White would have scored 50 goals in the season 89-90 if he stayed onside more and deserves to be in there with this lot although his game was all about effort,not talent.

No. It's fair enough to say Fjortoft was better than Shearer if that's your view (although I would disagree with it). To say Shearer is a long way behind though is clearly just wrong.

Good points. I'd agree that, in their respective times with us, Shearer was the more consistent. I do feel that Fjortoft had more ability and was the better player.
Steve White was one of my favourites purely down to his effort and tenacity.
Parkin was fucking quality for us, just a shame that he couldn't kick on when he left.

Shearer. Although like Ritchie and Caddis, he was better with Chalkie as his partner.

You're quite right. Upon reflection I shouldn't have put a long way behind.

I agree overall Fjortoft was a better player but think big Dunc edges it for what he did in the town shirt.
Love them both to be honest.

Parkin was potentially better than all of them and think he would have shown it if injury hadn't ruined him. Wasn't the same player after the first injury he got at Ipswich

They're our best two strikers without a doubt and it's actually very hard to separate them.

Did they...

score goals with their left foot?     DS - Yes  JAF - Yes
score goals with their right foot?   DS - Yes  JAF - Yes
score goals with their head           DS - Yes JAF - Yes
score long range goals?               DS - Yes JAF - Yes
score goals in the box?                DS - Yes JAF - Yes

It has to come down to the best scoring record (although of course JAF played for us in the Prem and DS didn't - although if he had I'm sure he would have scored on a regular basis). I imagine Shearer's goals to games ratio was considerably better. Perhaps one of the stattos can look it up as I can't be bothered.

Shearer is my favourite Town striker since I started watching in '89.

I think Fjortoft and Cox were probably more skilful.

Parkin was immense for us, and he gave us a decent run of service before taking the Ipswich move.

78 in 159.

And i think it took him ten matches to register his first!

I remember it well.....a twenty yard daisy cutter that the Crystall Palace keeper fumbled into his own net.
May have been a cup match.

You are joking?

Close, hunt, slabber, mccammon

Cuthbert,Dibble and Grub.

  :wink:

Shakes

I see what you did there. In a thread about top Town strikers you named some really poor ones.

Had me in stitches, comedy gold.

No fucking shit sherlock

This is difficult - its very hard to be objective when they all played in different eras and different stages in our lives - which does influence how we think of them.  I loved Duncan Shearer but I was still very young when he left so my memories are faded.  Jan the Man is one of my all time heroes, but again I was still quite young.  Sam Parkin arrived in my peak of attendance at town games, whereas Cox turned up in the period of my life when I moved much further away and started a family.  I still saw a lot of games but had less of an affinity with him.

So after all that rambling: Fjortoft, then Parkin, then Shearer, then Cox.

They're all different types of forwards which makes comparison difficult. I'd always go for Fjortoft though, some great finishes and a decent goal celebration (something every top striker needs). Austin deserves a mention as he made the best start out of all of them, he looked class in the first 15 minutes he played despite making such a quick transition from non-league.

Parkin scored a hatrick on his debut and hit the ground running.

They are all very different types of forward so its impossible to say who is better like for like.

Austin is the best goal poacher I have ever seen in a Town shirt.

Parkin was the best target man.

Shearer was the best team stiker who was good in the air and on the ground.

Fjortoft was the strongest with the best shot, although Shearer got close.

White was the quickest over the first 10 yards to a ball I have seen other than Lineker(and he doesn't count in an STFC player contest).

Eastoe and Mayes were great all round strikers who could make a goal out of nothing, Eastoe playing in a pretty poor Swindon side at the time yet still scored almost a goal every other game, and Mayes almost a goal every other game but playing with a great strike partner in Handy Andy.

So did Alan Mayes away at Rotherham.

So - partnerships

Mayes/Rowland v Austin/Paynter

Austin without a doubt

 Austin or Morris?

Ha ha I often think that in threads like these - the witty comedians think everyone will be at home pissing themselves as they have named poor players. It's a lovely comedic tactic that never gets old. I look forwards to also seeing them post a picture of John Terry on the Olympic podium in a couple of weeks

If we're going back a bit Paul Rideout did well in a pretty poor Town side too.

Let's not be too critical of DV.

He is, after all, the wittiest character on the TEF. Perhaps one day we can dare dream of being as funny as he. 

How about you contributing to the debate rather than shouting down other posters.

How sad it seems some people would rather take the piss rather than having a proper input.

Pathetic.

Mooney/Parkin - Austin/Paynter?

By them you mean Tans, the TEF wit machine and general comedian.


It is my goal in life to be funny as Tans. True story.


....because the original post in question that mentioned Hunt, McCammon and Close was a deadly serious post and a complete and utter valid input that added to the mature debate.

Of course in replying to me, you are shouting me down and not adding anything to the debate which is exactly what your protesting against. Christ, we had a thread the other day that descended into rumours about a player fingering a child for fuck sake....and its this that gets labelled pathetic?


oh, and the answer is him

[url width=245 height=275]http://www.visionsport.co.uk/images/C082-fjortoft.jpg[/url]

Cox is the most talented footballer I've seen play for us, by far (though that's admittedly not the longest time frame). He kept us up 08/09

Anyone who answers the latter needs to go and have a quiet word with themselves

Poor tans.

I suggested Sabin and DV didn't mock me.

I really don't get the praise Parkin gets at times, seems a little over the top at times. He did well in the third tier of english football and that's his career highlight really. The likes of Shearer, Fjortoft, Cox and Austin not only did well for us they also played at a much higher level, be it club or international. Still think Austin will end up premiership, he's got plenty of time.

Parkin wouldn't get in my top five Town strikers, especially if you take the emotion out of my answer.

The likes of Maskell and Mitchell achieved more than Parkin did

It's not really about how players do after they leave us though is it? Obviously it's nice to see some do well and you quite like others to fail (in a petty way depending on circumstances of leaving).

At the end of the day, while Sam didn't play in our greatest team, he was a 20 goal a season man for 3 seasons in a row. The fact that he stayed longer than Coxy and Austin means he's held in higher regard by many. Probably makes him a worse player as higher teams waited before moving for him but I think this thread is about how well they did for town.

Parkin with the ball at his feet inside the 6 yard box would always score.  The calmest finisher we've had.  Always had time in those situations.  Best finisher we've had.  Did he score spectacular goals like Fjortoft, Shearer or Cox?  No, not really, but he never missed a sitter.

However, of the ones mentioned a few times in this thread, I would grade them as...

1. Fjortfoft
2. Shearer
3. Parkin
4. Cox
5. Austin

I second this, and would like to add that if football ability was excluded the ranking would stay the same. I have based this definitive opinion on which one I would have been proud to have as a son in law. 

Jimmy Quinn had one of the best goals/games ratio - fairly similar to Shearer.

1 in 2 is good going at any level

Fjortoft the best player I ever saw in Swindon shirt.

Right cunt though.....so I heard....in the dressing room.

Shearer definitely the best for me, followed by Fjortoft.
Cox, Parkin and Austin well behind.

Though Noble would probably be my favourite Swindon striker, just loved watching him play.

I can confirm Fjortoft is a cunt of the highest order, great footballer though.

Why is he?

 We've had some great strikers down the years....some have done it for the odd season, some have done it for longer....I would have loved to have seen Harold and Harry play...Archie Bown, or Freddie Wheatcroft, who like Alan Fowler 30 years later made the ultimate sacrifice, in defence of our country. Jack Johnson was another who had a near 1 in 2 strike rate through the 20's.

Post war, we had Morris Jones, Bob Edwards and of course Maurice Owen, not forgetting Bill Stephens who notched 25 in a season before moving on to West Ham.

I saw Maurice play, but by then as full back, as he gradually withdrew from up front, to take on all jobs at the CG, including groundsman and wages packet dispenser.

In the 50 years I've been going, there's been a massive list of quality strikers, some already mentioned some a bit forgotten, and not just because they were a while back....top of the forgotten list I'd put Iffy Onuora, one of only 3 men to score 20 league goals in a 2nd tier season.

No mention of Martin Williams or Steve Cowe?

You must be ancient!  :D ......

Was that the season Craig Brown admitted eyeing him up for the Scottish National Team?

He was probably the most arrogant Swindon player I have known, hardly ever had any time for an Town fans when they asked for his autograph, several players did not like him at all and struggled training with him, ask Moncur, Fenwick and Kilcline who all had major bust ups with him and his "attitude".

Thats all I am prepared to put on the subject on here.

As a player he was awesome though and some things can be forgiven if he produces the goods on the field.

98/99...may well have been, we were mostly shite that year, McMahon got sacked Jimmy Quinn came in, and we just about managed to stay up, because Iffy would find a way to knock in an important goal every so often.

Watch out, DV will be on you in a flash

Steve White, great in the air!

Have to say not heard any of this about Jan before. Big shame if true. My only contact with him merely consisted of asking for an autograph as a kiddie. He signed that with a smile. Admittedly it was only "Jan F" but you can hardly blame him with a name like that.

You don't have to be nice to be successful.

Jan was a great player for us, the quality of which we may never get again but all hope we will.

Some players are great people but not good footballers....it is fairly rare to get both.

Was never fortunate enough to have seen Shearer play live (have seen YouTube clips though), he was a bit before I started going. Out of the later players Parkin was unbelievable for us, scored 20 + goals three seasons in a row with two seasons being in average sides. Without the injuries he would've gone on and played higher for longer. Cox was an all round brilliant player, scored all types, very skillfull and a nice guy too. I've said it before and I'll say it again for me Austin is the best finisher I've seen play for us, hugely prolific, goals to games ratio is frightening, right place at the right time and I think he'll play PL before too long.

Well. when people are discussing the Town's best strikers, those 2 are hardly at the forefront

..... pm?

I've got a picture somewhere of JAF, with my 2 lads when they were about 5 and 7, he couldn't have been more helpful or all round pleasant......

Nice.

I worked for the club at the time and knew a different side of him.

Never met fjortoft so dunno what he was lke. I've met a few players and ex players- managers town and others and they've mostly been talkative and friendly.

Yes, it is quite a nice pic :)

Years ago I sat behind Mike Summerbee when we were away at Wolves in the early rounds of the League Cup.

What an arse he was

Going off topic here, I had a chat with Martin Allen when he was Notts County manager when I stewarding he came across as a nice guy, and typical cockney bloke.

Trevor Benjamin anyone

I'll raise you a Ben Hutchinson

Full of himself, with no respect for others: Londoner

I see your Ben Hutchinson and raise you Jamie Cureton

Vincenzo Pericardo - I win.

Joey Beauchamp, Thomas Dossevi and Tony Thrope

Frank McAvinney

Tony Thorpe put the thorpe in Scunthorpe.......or something like that.

Shaun Close trumps Vinny every day of the week.

What did you do JJ ?

Can I offer Peter Thorne ??

I league goal in a 4 year Town career - Douglas Bader could have done better than that!!

I was a steward from 86 to 96 but worked F/T in the CG offices as IT technician from 89 to 92 while Ossie and Glenn were in charge.

Ahhh so you deleted the tax returns.

Thanks for that... 1st not 3rd

:D nah the accounts department was handled entirely by Mr Hilliers company when I was there, I just fixed the PC's not the stuff kept on them.

you weren't the only one fixing things unfortunately

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I cannot believe that the club had IT in that period, were you managing Spectrums and Amiga's

I worked on my first PC at University in 1985, the club had several 80286 PC's all working on DOS diskette.

The job consisted mostly of making disk backups of Lotus 1-2-3 and Word Perfect.

ISDN, PCs, Gas lanterns.

I don't think they even had WiFi until a couple of years ago. Watching Ed Hadwin struggle to remote desktop into his BBC PC over a 64K ISDN line was a treat to behold.

Why do some people think that PC's were invented in about the year 2000? ::)

Some people.... charming....


I had a Spectrum+2 in 1986 and can just imagine Ossie playing Daley Thompson Supertest, but never encountered computers in workplace until 1993-94 and never thought STFC were particularly forward thinking.

They weren't forward thinking.

But they had their first PC's way before I got there, all accounting and WP was done on them, no DRS, I did not do the accounts!

Yoof of today, wouldn't know what a Wordperfect keyboard overlay or a daisy-wheel printer was if it jumped up and bit them.

Init. huh.

Daisy wheels...I had forgotten about them.

I loved PC.DOS diskette to diskette on 5 and a quarter in floppys.

Is that a "comedic" suggestion? Sincerely hope not!

 Tell us why fjortoft was a cunt jj. Its not like he is still here.

I heard that Sabin was really good, but he lost a bet with Cantona so had to get through on goal and miss all the time. Don't know if that is true.

I think I covered most of it, arrogant, conceited, full of himself and not a very nice person to be around.

But then so is Cristiano Ronaldo apparently and I would still love him to be a Swindon player.

He looked nervous when razor got in his face after scoring for Liverpool in the home defeat.

Wouldn't you?