Thetownend.com

The opponent:  Stevenage FC

If I remember rightly, the reverse fixture against today’s opponents was one of the very 1st matchday threads I had a go at, and we stuffed them, or tore them a new one, which seems to be how today’s younger than me generation tend to say. Granted, it pretty much went downhill from that point, then up, then down, then up and so on. So is this to be the last home matchday thread of the season? I hope not and I really do believe it won’t be. I do have to wonder why some of the negative lizards close by to me on Tuesday night bother to turn up anymore. The first mis-placed pass and the arms are folded, if we miss what they consider to be a sitter its usually Alan McCormack’s fault, when it went to 3-1 against Crewe they seriously believed that we would throw it all away, they believed it so much it was like they actually wanted it to happen, just so they could turn round and say “told you so”. You must know who you are you miserable fuckers, I hope the pre match beer you often have too many of, contains the piss of a thousand fleas.

The club formerly known as Stevenage Borough turn up at The County Ground this afternoon, managed once again for the 3rd time in his managerial career by Graham Westley, possibly the nearest thing we have had this season to Steve Evans. Westley’s managerial career began when he was just 28, due to a career ending injury, and his first 2 games in charge for the mighty Kingstonian both ended in 4-4 draws! The trouble is with characters such as Westley is a large chunk of what you read is likely to be fabricated, although he does often come across as an all round tool.

Local area guide knowhere.co.uk has compiled a list of reviews of Stevenage, from residents to visitors and outsiders in general. One of my favourites on the list have to be “Having had the pleasure of this wonderful half cocked half way house to London for the past four months I thought you wonderful yokel locals might appreciate my comments. When discussing my residence here with friends and relations in cultural hotspots such as Liverpool, Bristol et al - eg anywhere except here. My main comment is to note that this crap hole has about as much culture as a fully sterilised and irradiated petri dish. I mean - you are nothing more than a bunch of cockney rejects who cannot seem to be able to make Stevenage a home as opposed to a stop over point for London. You're sad and you know you are... Repeat ad nauseum”. Perhaps this guy could work for the Stevenage Tourist Information Board, if they have such a thing.

What are they saying about us? –

“I'm seeing some tweets suggesting people are "boycotting" Swindon, presumably because of their 'high' prices. A couple of quid more than ours. Now, obviously they're not actually "boycotting" as no one at Swindon will know or care. There'll be no petition or complaint, or action. People just not going because they don't value the experience at £25. Fair enough.
Anyway, this was the first I'd heard of an active boycott, so I was wondering if anyone on here is involved with the boycott?

Of course I'll be going (ceteris paribus).

I prefer it when there's less fans anyway, 200 would be nice. Plus more chance of nabbing some player kit :)”

http://www.borochat.co.uk/forum.jsp?start=14847&article=222817

Stevenage Last 6 –  LLDWLD (Stevenage are currently 17th on 54 points)

The Threat – Top scorer for Stevenage this season is Lucas Akins with 10 goals in 46 games.

The irrelevant stats – After a fairly decent start to the season it would seems their form really did take a turn for the worse (and they turned to Westley?). Of the 22 away games that Stevenage have played this season they have won 8, drawn 4 and lost 10, scoring 21 and conceding 28 goals in the process.

Head to Head – Not a fixture that has came about that often down the years, especially with them having only being formed in 1976. In all competitions the record reads played 3, winning 2 of them, and the less said about the defeat the better.

The Odds – So how many of you actually took the 6/1 on Crewe a few nights back? Again it looks like big odds for the away team and regardless of our decent win on Tuesday we are hardly in a rich vein of home form at present. Swindon 4/9  Draw 7/2 Stevenage 8/1 (EIGHT).

The Son Says – At first I thought he was getting a grip of the meaning of football when he said “It doesn’t matter what the score is, we just have to win”. Which he shortly followed with “actually I think it will be 3-0”. Its been his first season as a Junior red season ticket holder, and he has loved every single minute of it.

The Prediction –  We will seal our play off place in style, thrashing them 4-0, saving me a stressful week of edging towards the panic button. Crowd of just 8’645, goals from Collins (2), Darren Ward and a late thunderbolt from Rafa De Vita ensuring our season will last a little longer just yet.

And Finally –  The first ever pedestrianised shopping centre in the UK was in, yes, you guessed it, Stevenage.

COYR COYR COYR

Breaking from tradition, we'll continue where we left off and win 3-0

By boycotting does that mean there'll be about 63 of them instead of the usual 121? Where is Stevenage?

We owe Westley a hammering after PNE away, so 4-1 Swindon to confirm a play off place...last home game of the (league) season...pitch invasion?  :hmmm: 8306 there with 178 from Stevenage! Goals from anyone will do!

5-0.

Westley's a cunt, 4-1.

1-0.

I've got a nasty feeling we'll draw today. Taking it to the last game would be the Swindon way.

We will trash them, 2-1. Goals from Ward and Flint (90+1, 90+4)

Will they read out the names of the fans who died this season today?

Really looking forward to today as i'm on a corporate day out, 3 course meal tour of ground, meet players :pint: :pint:, the sun is out its going to be a good day, 3.1 place booked in the playoffs in front of 9400 COYR

A consecutive 4-1 win.

Just getting ready to leave & for the first time for months not searching for big coat gloves etc.

I'm hoping we secure a PO today so I can enjoy Scunny next week.  I'm going for 1-0 (Rooney A), and 10k as it's our last home game, and the suns out.

Just fucking win please.

2-0 Scoring one In either half.

Game #2 for my boys today.  Stratton Bank this time.  And hopefully their first win.  I'm not even going to try to guess a score.  Pointless at the moment.  Consistently inconsistent.  But the sun's out, so I'm a little optimistic.

Looks like quite a big crowd expected today. Not usual that those DRS blocks are sold out

[url width=900 height=507]http://i.imgur.com/jZOAaGz.png[/url]

Fucking happy clappers making my queue time at the bar longer no doubt

With all the profits going straight into funding the Legion of Doom's Lair mwuhahahaha

Was tempted to go stand under the clock for the first time in many a long year - But couldn't get time off to go!

'I have a bad feeling about this. 2-1 defeat.'

Fuck. Stuck on the M4 near Reading.  Motorway shut between Reading and Newbury (J12 to J13).  Not convinced wr're going to make this.

Happened just before 11.30 apparently

No chance now.  Not happy.  Seem to be a fair few other Town fans around us in same position.  Stevenage could be thin on the ground as well, I expect.

Could you get to Reading station and get a train from there?

14:14 train from Reading gets in Swindon at 14:41.

No Ferry today then replaced by Rafa.

    1 Wes Foderingham
    4 Aden Flint
    5 Joe Devera
    11 Gary Roberts
    12 Alan McCormack
    16 Andy Williams
    22 Darren Ward
    23 Raffaele De Vita
    24 Nathan Byrne
    25 Massimo Luongo
    28 Adam Rooney

  Subs:

     7 Luke Rooney
     9 James Collins
     30 Leigh Bedwell
     34 Connor Waldon
     37 Mark Francis
     38 Matthew Jones
     35 Alex Ferguson

Edit; seen where the closure is.

Try hopping off at Reading West, going along past Thatcham and then across the downs if necessary.

Unless the problem is that the diversions are sending the whole M4 that way.

Just made it to J12.  Huge queues ahead still and road still shut so we're turning back.  Club has generously refunded cost of our tickets.

Superb write up Shaw Rosso. I will be plagiarising the "petri dish" comment for future use :nod:

2-0 Town, Rooney 44 and Collins 64

9,088 (166 Stevo's in attendence)

Apologies if that was a bit grumpy.  And thanks for the tips.  Two nippers in the back reaching the end of patience, so pushing on not really an option.

Quality interview with a 7 year-old slagging off his mate there.

Stratton Bank is going to be beautiful today- just spent the last hour or so in the garden working and blimey is it warm out there.

Sorry to hear about people stuck in the accident- sounds like a severe accident involving a minibus, horrible.

God, it's terrifying how threadbare our team looks now. Only two first-teamers on the bench (Bedwell doesn't count really...).

Comminges starting at right-back for Stevenage then

Shame to hear that...good from the club though not much consolation

RIP Nevillew and all the others being read out today.

Concurred.

Yeovil 1-0 up, hope they finish third so we meet them in the semis.

Why is the sound on STFCPlayer always so bad? The Stevenage commentary is fine but ours sounds nasty

I don't know why because listening on BBC before the game the sound is perfect then when it swaps to player its like they are speaking into a muffled microphone.

Its a crap service for a product that is not free.

Get in!!! Flint!

Yesssss Flint

Flint scores, off we go!

get in!

Fucking hell. I've seen it all now. Great finish from, ERM, flint

Stick up up front as a target man ;)

GTFI Town :beers:

Sheff Utd losing

up to 5th as it stands

Go Flinty!

how much better has Rooney been since MacDonald took over?

Sheff utd 0-2 now!

Make that 3-0 Pompey v Sheff utd  :eek:

Pompey sold out today, there is a massive momentum after the takeover was completed yesterday.

Could be a force next season.

Pleased for them that the Football League have shown common sense for once with the 10 points deduction being applied this season.

Broken watches...

Straight red for a Stevenage player, not quite sure what happened there!

Stevenage have a player sent off!

Grrrrrr! Domestic problems meant I rocked up late - Everyone else beat me to it so cant listen. Grrrrr!

So...What's happening ya bunch o cnuts!

From being m'eh about Wembley a few days ago i'm starting to warm to the prospect  :gay:

we're winning, Stevenage are down to 10 and we've moved up to fifth.

HT 1-0

Out of interest would Benson be available for Swindon for Playoff games? is he on loan until the end of the season or the end of the playoffs?

Glad to hear the spirit of the late Norman Collier is with us today in the commentary.

Lee Cox is the only player currently on loan that'd be eligible for the play offs.

MK and Tranmere fucking up any remote possibility they had of catching us, Orient and Walsall still on the case though

And he is out for 2 months apparently.

Had surgery recently so think he can be ruled out

As things stand Scunny will go into the final day with a chance of survival. We really need to hold on to this win!!

Just what I was thinking....

Just noticed that those B'muff bastards are top. God I hate those cheating b'tards and can't wait for their implosion (i.e. overspent).

soapy tit wank.  You really think we would be in our position if the last board didnt overspend

Muff 1-1 Carlisle

'Muff are a bugbear to me as well.  Fact is, yeah we overspent, had that bullshit villification and in the meantime a club with smaller crowds, smaller ticket price can have 12 more professionals than us on higher wages.  So for that reason Im also looking forward to them coming crashing down.

Does that sound bitter?

Yes it does. I agree with every word.

Fuckstix

Pox winning their final home match of the season.

I don't have a sufficient vocabulary to describe just how bad STFC Player is.

2-0 see you at the semi-finals

If Brentford win in the late kick off they will usurp 'muff in second place as it stands.

Get in!!!!

Scrub that 'muff 2-1

WEM-BER-LEY WEM-BER-LEY

No more M'EH about it, BRING IT ON  :nod:

Absolutely - but spot on! I'm looking forward to a bit of schadenfreude!

Good

I don't like them either. If Ritchie was to score the winner against us in the playoffs however, I would be gutted.

I can't believe this fucking piece of shit costs a fiver a month

I probably dislike Boremuff more than any other team in our league TBF, I hope they fade and crumble under the pressure......that said I do not want them in the play offs.

Even Dinosaur Turner's Shrewsbury?

Yeap :)

Rooney sounds like he deserves a goal today.

Get in!!!! Flint x2

Play-offs here we come

Fuck me he's on (for a) hatrick!

Shame we didn't sack MacDonald isn't it?

 :beers: :beers: :beers: :beers:

Are you watching POXFORD SCUM?

My money is on Collins scoring the next goal.

How things change. Feeling elated here.

9,515 not a bad crowd.

FFS, Couldn't hit barn door with banjo for 2 months. 7 in the last two. Which I couldnlt F"£$"£ing make.
Have had  to pissing work.
I promise not to go too any more games just in case its me jinxing. We are now scoring for fun.

We are from Swindon, We Score when we want, We are from Swindon we score when we want....

Are we playing some really clever psychological game her with the rest of the play-off candidates.

For some reason I just don't think we are that shrewd. But I live in Hope..............

And every sodding day that the playoffs might be, im currently working.  I sometimes get gigs cancelled at short notice.  Its just not going to happen is it.  Ill have to sub the work out.

3-1 'muff, on the brink

Bournemouth promoted unless donny get a late equaliser.

FT 3-0, playoffs

Good solid win, coming at the right time COYR!!!!

Donny duly equalise

Sorry FFS. futbol24.com wrong. Donny lost

Flint swears on the radio. Always a highlight.

Ha, what did he say?

'muff not officially up.

 If Brentford win against Hartlepool this evening, and then next Saturday The Bees draw against Doncaster, whilst Bournemouth lose by a margin of 7, then The Cherries automatic promotion hopes would be scuppered.

 ::) ::) ::)

Another great performance.

Flint took his goals brilliantly but for me Roberts was MoM, never stopped running, delivered quality crosses time after time and took his goal excellently.

I hope we are hitting form just at the right time but you never know with the playoffs. I'm fuckkng nervous already...

i think were doing ok hitting form at the right time how long is ferry out for?

Hope McDonald plays a very weak team next week full of youth players and rests out main players and prevents them from getting injured, hopefully Ferry will be back by then and maybe even Thompson and Storey might make it back?

We need the gate money from the play-offs and Wembley, that's the idea

Colchester, who could still go down if Scunny beat us, might have a few things to say about that. But fuck 'em.

Should have been 9,518.   :(

The first player NOT on the teamsheet should be Wes.

He's going to get sent off sooner or later.

Scooped that ball from way outside the box this afternoon - 3rd time in 3 games he's been lucky

In his post match MacDonald said he'd like to rest players....but he hasn't got any to bring in  :)

Thompson at right back  and the spurs lad in front of him galloping down the wing at wembley would be nice :)

Saw 2 sides to Westley.

One, was the commander of a team of thugs - he's almost Mad Dog-ish

But fair play, he shook every one of our player's hands at the end.

And BTW, just what is the point of the 4th official - all it does is give a focal point to the rantings of the bench.

Him and the tall bald fella was in his ear all game, effing and blinding.

Enjoyed the cricket in the sunshine before the game, too!

Solid and effective performance helped by the sending off - whatever it was for. Good performances from a lot of the team, some below pars from De Vita and Williams (who is seriosuly lacking confidence).

Could have had a few more - their keeper made some fab saves and we made some poor decisions.

Took my daughter for the first time and she got her picture taken will Alan Mc. Happy days - lets hope we get some more players back fit.

Alan Mac absolutely bossed the game. Their player was sent off for whacking him after Mac got in front of him to head clear for a corner. Their number 11 was also a cock.
A really solid performance and good to keep a clean sheet.

Well I enjoyed that, honestly. :)

Pretty routine really, especially when they went down to 10.  Only disappointment for me was they were there for the taking and we should have, perhaps, scored one or two more.  Disagree with the comments about Williams, they way he held the ball up at times was good, he was brilliant for Robets goal, held the ball up with his marker kicking lumps out of  him as well as holding him back.  Macca and Roberts for me were the standout players but everybody put a right shift in, although De Vita looked at bit off the pace at times.

Had a great day, phil king was superb, superb result, only worry is meeting either Donny or sheff utd, fuck driving up there again :pint:

His feet was inside,so not outside the box...but he didn't need to risk it.

Is that the rule?! I thought if the ball was outside and he handled it, it made no difference where his feet were?

Bournemouth promotion confirmed after Brentford draw at Hartlepool.

Great result, good momentum for the play offs!

Watched argyle v rotherham today, Evans and revell both still cunts. On a side note, stockport relegated to conference north today! Doesn't seem to be that long since we played them!!

Stockport fans started punching kiddy players

Good solid performance by all the team.

Can we start thinking of QPR...Reading and the like in a few months time,Well at this moment we have a 1 in 4 chance.

Me too.

Not read the thread but hooray for confortable wins! We should have scored a lot more today.

We've been fortunate with the fact that Town just played two clubs with absolutely zilch to play for. I'm not arguing with that either. I think that if we were truly crashing and burning on the pitch then we wouldn't have been convincing victors over Crewe and Stevenage.

De Vita looked shattered in the second half and McCormack is an absolute animal isn't he!?! Hopefully he'll be around for a couple more seasons. McCormack got Lopez sent-off from absolutely nothing. It was very soft from where I was, not that I care.

We're going in to May and all things considered over this season, that's an achievement.

Nearly didnt make it due to the M4 debacle but stuck it out and got there with half an hour to spare.Think we were a bit lucky with the red,thought Macca was going too.Luongo improving every game,Macca MOM for me.Thought the young sub showed some good touches,especially when he put Collo clean through.Disappointed not much love shown to MacDonald-tried to start a "we are KMac's red and white army" but only a few(SiPi,Jayo,IOB,IBIMR) joined in!Nice to see Roberts play well,the extra space was handy tho'.WE CAN DO THIS!

Champo or L1 next year, Luongo is looking more and more like an asset we'd do well to keep hold of.

Stevenage number 8 was a right moaning prick

His feet were inside the box but he scooped the ball from an arm's length from outside the box.

Should have been red TBH - but, hey, who gives a fuck!

Why would deliberate handball mean a red? It wasn't as if it was denying them a scoring opportunity was it? According to the radio there weren't any Stevenage players about, therefore it was just handball as far as I'm aware, so a yellow.

When determining whether a goalkeeper may touch a ball with his hands, only the position of the ball matters. If the ball had not crossed (or touched the plane above) the boundary of the goalkeeper's own penalty area, it would be considered deliberate handling, The restart would be a direct free kick at the location of the handling.

The goalkeeper might be cautioned if the act prevented the development of a promising goal scoring opportunity in the opinion of the referee. The goalkeeper might be sent off if the ball would have entered the net if not for the handling (and without being touched again by any player) in the referee's opinion.

So if the commentator is to be believed Wes was harshly booked?

the officials missed it, wes was not booked. the whole crowd saw it and gasped and stevenage bench went mental. not sure how lino missed it

Oh really? Oops. Thought he was booked for it. My mistake.

Last game of the season at home, 3-0 win, play offs secured.........why was there not a pitch invasion?

'cause there was a sign saying keep off the pitch ;)

I was sure the mong element of our fanbase would spark a mini pitch invasion.

Pleasantly surprised I was wrong

Oh my god, some people going on the pitch. The world would end. Oh, wait.

I also noted that the non mong fans were pleasantly surprised when everyone left the ground by the correct exit  ::)

I hate the fact our club seems to be the only one in the entire football league that seems to abide by the no pitch invasion rule. Used to be brilliant getting on the pitch after the last match of the season, great way to end the season.

It was good last season. Everyone got off quick enough to see the Trophy being lifted.

That was when the mongs were fans. We only let respectable people in these days

It must just be me but they feel massively tinpot unless its for a last day promotion/avoidance of relegation or something similar

That's policy deserves some consideration

Yay, we avoided relagation, lets run on the pitch = great fans

Oh shit, we only reached the play offs. Lets go home

Yep the whole crowd were clearly devastated today and headed for the exits straight after the final whistle

The flaw in your argument has been highlighted

Maybe the fans realised that pitch invasions=fines, and would also mean the players would be less likely to come back out and celebrate. Wasn't there today, so can't comment on the general feeling around the ground though.

Far as Wes is concerned, I've said it before and I'll say it again, without an Italian waving his arms and shouting at him, he can be petulant/dangerously confident at times.

There has to be someone with a link to an Italian restauranteur who sounds like Paolo?

Suppose it depends how you class "something similar"

I  Suppose it does  :doh:

Glad that's cleared up then

We've got another home game!

Disagree, keep the momentum going.

What's wrong with an end of season pitch invasion?

11 pages, says it all really. Routine win. Bring on Yeovil and Doncaster, either way round.

DV I was referring to previous years.

Quality nutmeg from Luke Rooney near the end - think he can be very effective in the later stages when the game opens up.

Stevenage were a very physical team but Alan McCormack just kept breaking it up for them and constantly offered his own team mates options when we were on the ball.  To be critical, his touch was mixed but still easily the most influential player on the pitch and for me MOM.

I don't think its a coincidence that our performances have sparked into life when Alan Mac plays in midfield.

The same position he played in at Yeovil when we previously won (before the last 2 home games) then was put back into defence and for a few games we struggled, he was put in midfield against Crewe and Stevenage and we start winning again.

Oh and didn't he also play midfield away at Coventry too for our previous win before being put back in defence afterwards?

Indeed he did...

Well spotted, gents.

KMac out ;)

It was just two total tossers I believe, not arrested, just ushered off by the stewards.  And talking of stewards the minute's applause at the start was well observed, even by the Stevenage fans - but obviously the majority of the stewards were under orders not to join in!!  Miserable bastards.

Epic day and night.

Enjoyed texting the I.T. Bloke at MK HQ to ask if his season was over! Ha ha....fucking ha.

Don't care who we get as we will be underdogs whatever happens and that's just the way I like it...

Pissed up in County...met Chalkies Shorts when he picked up his signed shirt...enjoyed WAM and then off to Bassett to watch generation 77 (I think that's it) in the Curriers.....kebab and taxi back with Mildew......Excellent..

Thick head and the shits and I have squash in 20 minutes...

Macca is a different animal in midfield  - as opposed to full back.  He spent half the game totally winding up the opposition, including a certain Mr Lopez and he gave Comminges a right earbashing at one stage. :nod:

Watched the Football League Show's coverage of the match- great to see Roberts score, and a cracking pair of nearly identical 'volleyed' (I think punted is more appropriate really...) goals from Flint. Typically the cameras missed the slapping incident.

I'm glad the season's nearly over though, because I've had just about enough of the FL Show heaping praise on Bournemouth week after week after week. "OH ISN'T IT AMAZING WHAT HOWE'S DONE? OH ISN'T IT A FAIRYTALE? THEY'VE COME SO FAR!" blah blah blah blah blah. Fucking love-in.

Never mind the fact we were in League 2 last season, have had owners and managers jump ship halfway through the season, our best player sold out from under us for a pittance, massive injury problems meaning we have to field 3/4 youth players every week, and yet we're still in the fucking playoffs.

Not that I'm trying to make our season a sob story, but it's a hell of a lot better than Bournemouth's 'throw money around buying every lower-league player with a hint of promise, ship out manager if his results aren't right' tale of this season.

Walsall fans not taking to kindly to us beating them to the last play off place :D sour fucking grapes!

http://upthesaddlers.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42540

Imagine how other fans must have felt with the PDC love in every week! Much more attention and praise than Howe and Bournemouth have got.

... I don't really remember there being much PDC love on The FL Show.. He'd get the odd mention, generally regarding his 'passion', but very little about the club/players.

I would class the mong element as those that think a 'mini pitch invasion' is something serious

It appears they know more about what is going on at STFC than we do.

We all know more about what's going on at Bournemouth than they do so that's hardly a surprise.

I don't really understand why we get annoyed about what other clubs forums think of us, football is tribal as anything and god forbid any of us ever say something ill informed about another team (but not Burnley, Burnley can fuck off).

It never annoys me I find it really funny. And yes we do exactly the same it is the nature of the beast.

Walsall?

Since when did anyone give a flying fuck about them?

They gave a fuck about us yesterday because if we didn't win they they could still get into the play offs.

[/quote]

Yep, didn't look up for the 3 players who'd all pulled back to the 6 yard line and instead hammered it right across the face, could argue that someone should've been gambling but you've gotta get your head up there.

Haven't had a chance to comment on yesterday, but a good win, good performance and back to back home wins! If we can win again next week we'll have some momentum behind us going into the play offs, and that can't be a bad thing  :D C.O.Y.R!!!

Disappointing if I'm honest. If KMac can win by that the PDC would have won by a mile more. That's why he has to go.

Just back.

After the Stevenage red card there was only 1 winner and the question was by how. Stevenage were there for the taking and a little disappointed we only scored 3.

I thought Macca was man of the match, he played like a man posessed. Like the look of Luongo as well. I thought Robers was ok as well and took his goal well. The one player that worried me was Collins. He was only on for 15 minutes or so and couldn't do anything at all right. His decision making was pathetic. Although that said, he nearly bent one into the bottom corner (although I think he should have passed). Connor Waldon looked like a waif up against his marker but did ok considering.

Not expecting anything at all from the play-offs so if we do get to Wembley, it will be a nice bonus!

Collins is a strange one...scored 17 this year but if he gets the ammo and confidence could become a 25 a season man.
I agree to a degree about Alan Mac.....though his temprement is suspect and that will be found out big time against better more clever players....probably the reason he isn't at a higher level because he is quality.

Miserable brummies  :)

This is exactly my thinking too.

We're really not going to sing the place down again are we.

Reminds me a bit of the atmosphere at Wembley in 91, when we were all expecting the off-field shit to spoil the fun. After the game, the Sunderland fans were taunting us for not celebrating enough.

Going up under Jed's leadership will feel similarly hollow.

^ ^ We're a happy bunch arent we?

No it won't. I'll be going wild because we've just been promoted to the 2nd tier of football for the first time in over a decade, having had the rug pulled from under us just as it looked like we were heading for the title, avoided admin and almost didn't make the play offs at all.

Happy clapping cunt ;-)

There can't have been many town fans there in 91 to make any noise ;)

I was thinking I missed that one...sounded like it was crap anyway.

So I'm more senile than Reg now? Blimey...

The point stands. I'll briefly enjoy a promotion, but it won't shake off the impression we're heading for an almighty car-crash. The years may merge together, but at least Reg will appreciate the sentiment.  ;)

I cling to the shred of hope that promotion will make us an attractive prospect for potential purchasers if the club is still up for sale.

A good all round performance.

Nathan Byrne was my MoM. He was at it all game long and put is some fantastic crosses. Massimo Luongo was quality most of the game with just a couple of duff moments. Gary Roberts even got a degree of respect from SWMBO- she dislikes him with a passion normaly. Ward is back to his reliable self. Joe Devera showed exactly what we had missed whilst he was out. Flint pushing for a hat trick- WTF? Alan Mac- the solid midfield player that we have been without recently. Rooney A, ran his socks off and deserved his applause when subbed. Raffa had som nice little moments like we usually see from him and I think benefitted from the switch in wings after the substitution. Wes- well, what can I say? Another clean sheet. Not a lot to do but kept his concentration going. Some quick distribution from him as well. Andy Williams? I sooo want him to get a couple of goals to regain his confidence but I think he is trying too hard. He does some excellent running on the wing though and gets some good ball in.

Bring on whoever. Whats the worst that can happen?

Interesting that you had Byrne as MOM. For a premiership full back he is extremely one footed, not once did he try and use his left peg. Although his right is pretty decent so fair enough. His lack of height worries me a little. He did get up the Right flank a lot and looked dangerous. Could do a job as a winger as well I reckon.

His one-footedness is really annoying... how he's managed to get this far without being forced to train his left peg is beyond me. He won't even attempt to use it.

Good player though.

He's only a kid really and is still developing in his trade. he may be one footed but, that foot does a fucking good little job. I just wonder what that wing would be like if he paired up with nathan Thompson.

Sorry I meant left flank. But yes, with Thompson and Byrne playing on the right, we could be quite potent. Both Byrne and Roberts were putting some good crosses into dangerous areas on Saturday. The Stevenage defence had to be on their toes a lot of the time. Although a lot of the time, there was only really Adam Rooney to aim at.

The answer is easy. Flint up front with Byrne and Roberts on the flank. We will walk the plays offs using this system.

I know things didn't work out with Mr Polly Parrett, but young Byrne and Luongo do look very handy additions to the squad. MacDonald's contacts and eye for young talent could be handy in shaping our squads going forward. With Nathan Thompson, Miles Storey and to a lesser extent Louis Thompson, I guess this is how we are going to approach things going forward.

We have quite a lot of older players who are nearer the end of their career also.

Flint's ability in the air is annoying as well. He had one good header that their keeper did well to claw away, but how many times do you see Flint rise perfectly to head the ball, expect to see the net bulge, only to see him put it into the Town End. He scored 2 goals with his feet on Saturday but he should get more bearing in mind how powerful he is in the air.

I know what you mean, sometimes you want him to just show a bit more agreession in the air like Andy Carroll against United the other week.

To be fair, he normally has two to three opposition players holding onto his shirt at every corner, which the ref/linesmen fail to spot, or like that Notts County sub, just wrestle him to the ground.

Roberts fimally showing the form that we knew he had. Maybe KMac can take some credit here, he hardly shone under di Canio.

It works on Football manager if I'm out of subs! And as we all know, football manager is exactly the same as real life.

Could indeed be the way forward - I mentioned on another thread that this is the Posh approach (not necessarily that successful) to staying in the Championship on crowds of 7,000.  Quite like the Watford tactic, as it has turned out (even better) of competing with crowds in the low teens too but that might not be sustainable.

I wouldnt be adverse to a more long term plan, signing youngsters on a more sustainable budget... However if that is the route the new board are going to take then I think they need to signal that it is their intent to take it slow and give KMac time to build that philosophy. However, I can see the board carrying on with the same inteptitude that they've shown so far, not making that idea (or anything else clear) and so proceeding with themselves + KMac getting destroyed by the fans.

I think it's paramount that come the end of the season (when we know what league we're playing in) the board come out and put forward how they're going to run the football club.

It's important that everyone knows where they stand.

I'd be happy to see a more prudent approach centred around bringing youth on. Seeing Nathan's progress this season shows that given game time every so often a gem emerges. Miles has shown promise to.

From what I've seen/heard Alex Ferguson, Louis Thompson and Aaron Oakley are highly thought of, so it'd be good to see more youngsters progress.

Build that around some experienced pro's like Ward/Ferry and pick up a few loans and it would be certainly interesting to watch.

If they have any interest in running this club in the long term - which we dont know they do (I suspect not) - then surely this has to be priority number one? The club is in dire need of a direction and an ideology which the fans and board alike can stick to. At the beggining of the season I thought we had one, I thought under Paolo, Wray et al that we had a ruthless winning mentality that would continue at the club for a while yet. Obviously I was wrong, now we're back at square one, the same stage we were at before the Andrew Black era and i'm none the wiser as to what the club stand for, or at even what we plan to stand for.

What load of twaddle, you do realise it's just a football club don't you. You'll have them posting mission statements around thewalls of the ground next and setting us personal objectives. Since when did Swindon ever have an ideology other than to win more than you lose and more over announce it to the world

Twaddle?
Are you Stephen Fry?

Thankfully, we're not.

Is Connor Waldron (sp?) one of our development squad? He didn't get much time on the pitch on Saturday but the few minutes he did get showed him to be another terrier wanting to get stuck in.