Thetownend.com

The Opponent: Leyton Orient

There is not much to be said about last Monday that probably hasn't been said already. It felt shit until Tuesday morning, then the recovery began. The team now need to go forward and push on, it would be nice if we still had something to play for with 6 games to go, its not an expectancy, more a hope, but why not? There is often a team each year that sneaks up the league quietly. Obviously we would be considered outsiders for a top 6 finish by most but I have this terrible sense of optimism that just won't go away. Its what keeps me going to the County Ground match after match and has done in the relatively short period of time I have followed Swindon. Long live optimism. Feel free to shoot me down.

Last time I went to Orient we drove to some tube station in West London, Hounslow or something like that, then spent what seemed like a lifetime travelling to the other side of London by Tube. At half time we sent the nominated burger gatherer for the fodder and he came back with what seemed like a rather nice pie at the time. After getting home and sleeping for a couple of hours I woke up with the worse case of tom tits you could ever imagine, as did the other pie eaters amonst us. So if I can offer just 1 tip it would be this, give the pies a miss, London has so much more to offer than pouches of Whiskas in Gravy surrounded by wet cold pastry.

Weather or not? - Looking like a decent day for travelling and for a game of football, although I take no responsibility of this is untrue. Top temperature of a barmy 12 degrees with a slight westerly wind.

Where the opposition gather -

http://leytonorientforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16873

"Ranger out for the rest of the season, two other top scorers havent a goal between them in the last 9 games!!!! (Nailed on for them then or are new Orient capable of making that 10)"

Tossers.

Last 6 - WLLLDW (2nd in League 1) Interestingly they recently lost 1-3 at home to the Slave Traders.

They have served us both - Billy Batty, Mark Cooper, Jonathon Tehoue, John Cornwell, Ian Culverhouse, Wayne Carlisle, Teddy Ware, John Smith, Pat Kanyuka, Gary Alexander, David Harper, George O'Hanlon, Stan Earl, Tom Jenkins, Rhy Evans, Arthur Barraclough, Fred Fisher, Alex Revell, Baden Herod, Percy Whipp, Glen Cockerill, Ralph Codling, David Peach, Calvin Andrew, Craig Easton, Craig Maskell, Tom Wells, Jack Brinton, John Gorman, Rollo Jack, Billy Reynolds, Scott Cuthbert.

The Odds - Leyton Orient 5/6  Draw 5/2  Swindon 10/3   Orient have an abundance of players that have shorter odds than our shortest priced player, Michael Smith, generally 7/1. You can even get 8's on Nile Ranger if you fancy donating your hard earned to Coral etc for bugger all.

The Son Says - We haven't mentioned the word Peterborough since Tuesday morning. Although he has now decided his predictions will not be just based on FIFA 14 scorelines that he gets against the respective opposition the night before a game. 2-1 Town.

The Prediction - Despite our 2nd team having to pitch up today, we will win 2-1, the recently pointless Luongo scoring the opener on his 50th appearance for the club and a late Michael Smith winner, proving our season is not over yet. 4'444 in attendance with 598 red brothers and sisters in attendance,

And Finally - Leytonstone is thought to have taken its name from a Roman military distance marker and is shown on maps from early times as “Leyton Stone”. The stone is still there to be seen at the junction of Holly Bush Hill and New Wanstead Road, it was moved from its original location when the roads were improved.

COYR COYR COYR

0-0 att: 1654. 500 from town

1654?

Oops,  4654

Meh. You trying to impress me with your write ups might actually mean something if you went to the games.  2-0 Orient.  I ain't going.

Cunt.

Indeed. But I have been called it by better cunts than you.

I had no idea broadband had reached the children's homes of Blackbird Leas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJERImN3J_c

Hilarious as usual .

You called?

I had a choice of going to this game or Port Vale, I chose this one. This automatically gives the kiss of death to Orient away.

Got to be a home win 3 0, Attendance 4,755 and 304 own fans,  Pretty much end of season.

Like a few others, I've ended up bored of tippy tappy, sideways/backward passing game and seriously considering not renewing my season ticket next year. I suppose I was spoilt with Decanios circus

I'm going for the day out and booze. Glass completely empty sort of guy were Town are concerned.

Looking forward to this. Never seen us win or even play well there.

Would be happy with a point

The daughter is off to this one as in uni that way and despite her never seeing town lose am going for 3.1 lorient

Club announced 568 tickets sold on Thursday so going for 670 town fans  in attendance of 5100 overall

I've got a good feeling about this!  2-1 Swindon COYR

I'll go for 1-1. Sunny day, London game. I reckon we'll take 750 at least.

750 would be a great turnout seeing how poor we have been on the road.

I've got Orient in my accy so pretty much guaranteed a draw/win for Town.

Brisbane Road is one of the few Laaandun grounds I've not been to watching Town - my fav being QPR for the whole matchday experience i.e. the boozers before the game

Was feeling really confident until I heard the injury news.

Going for 2-0 Orient with 450 travelling from Swindon.

If we were full strength I would be my usual optimistic self but with such a depleted squad, I think we'd do well to get a point here. Unfortunately I just can't see it this week. 2-0 Orient.

I think we may get something today.

A hiding!

Head says 2-0 defeat, heart says a scrappy 0-1 smash and grab

Orient are doing a Tranmere, having won only one game and losing 3 in the last 5.

I'm not particularly confident with so many players out, but I don't think it'll be as difficult as many seem to think.

My brother's going with 2 of his mates, as they live just down the road.  They never see us win.

This time last year (well the 19th) Tranmere slipped to 6th after a 3-1 defeat at home.

Will be happy with a point, 1-1 with 635 travelling fans

Christian Roberts on commentary duties today  ;D

DNG not starting but is on the bench today.

Foderingham; Byrne, Archibald-Henville, Ward, Reckord; Kasim, Luongo, Harley; Gladwin, M Smith, Murphy

Subs: Belford, Smith A, Branco, N'Guessan, Barthram, Reis, Barker

Harley is the new Gareth Whalley. Fucking invisible.

Possible injury to Fodders in the warm up....

Definately no Wes today....Belford starts.

Everything says we won't win so we'll win.

What else is going to go wrong this week?

If Christian Roberts is going to be a regular co-commentator - and it looks like he is - he should at least make the effort to get the players' names right.
I have heard Foderington and Benford so far.  >:(

Back on the sauce?

I've just got in.


Really?

Sweet baby Jesus, we've really pissed off the football gods haven't we? I think we might need to make a sacrifice to appease them.

He struggles with Luongo the most.

Christ on a bike! We sound as if we are going to take a massive dickin here!

Harley allegedly struggling to get in the game

He struggles to get in his shorts

Christian Roberts does sound like a right miserable fucker though !!

Harley is wank.

Oh fuck pen to Orient

1-0

Roberts not happy with Reckord!

So is Reckord
Soft pen to give away by the sound,
Oh well

Reckord is completely useless.

Change the Reckord....


 8)

Reckord reminded me of casal the only time I've seen him play.

Another 45 without a shot on target,
Sums up our attacking options really.

Still cant figure out why Barthram doesnt get any game time, if Reckord was any good at this level would be starting for Wolves

Roberts reiterating what I have thought we need badly and that is a "senior" player in midfield to cajole and Gee people up. Obviously Harley is not the answer. Have a horrible feeling our season ended Monday night as play offs are slipping away.

Our play off hopes were over at HT at Vale Park too.

Not quite the same though is it?  Half our team is missing and Leyton Orient's record is far better than Port Vale.

The fact we've not had a shot on target yet doesn't bode well either.

bring back Benson

Oh FFS 2nd Pen for Orient

Given away another fucking penalty jesus!!!

2-0

Boo.

SR out!!!

Talk about giving away 3 points on a plate. 

That was my prediction - Think it will be wrong!

When Cooper was on about 5th did he mean from the top or bottom

Gladwin & Murphy off
Reis & Barker on

:facepalm:

Poor discipline costs us again.

Lets be honest, before the game there can't of been many people who really thought we were going to win with this line up.

The most frustrating thing seems to be that we have lost without putting up much of a fight

Creepies 2 up at Warsaw - they're up next at the CG Tuesday

Not for the first time this season on the road.  10 points being lost can be attributed as much to lack of effort as injuries.

Attendance 5091 (765)

Decent turn out from the town considering our away form

I'm glad my evening won't be spent looking at Twitter.

Oh well. Nevermind.

Pleased that LO are doing well. Just think what might have happened if we'd got Russell Slade way back when. Maybe, after a couple of years, Cooper will be able to fashion a similar side.

Have you seen the play that led to the Penalties then

Relegation is it then

Giving away a penalty is as a result of a poor decision/challenge. I don't need to.

Don't torture yourself. You know how it goes by now, we try and hold out for as long as possible and hope to pinch one.

LO have a goal ruled out for offside.

I think this proves that our "reserve" players are not up to it (not including Barthram in that).

Ajose's just scored, to perhaps end our playoff hopes....

Bugger.

Sounds like we're getting hammered at the moment.

We deserve to be nowhere near the fucking playoffs this season, after the last 2 league games.

meant Belford

He's just scored again.

Slave Traders 3-0 down

A: It's the conference.
B: He's playing in the best side.
C: YOU CAN'T RECALL A FULL SEASON LOAN

I though we sold/released Benson?

So we can't pass the ball out from the back, and when we knock it long the ball is coming straight back as we are unable to hold it up.

Not a good recipe for a positive result then

Not always, so I think you should otherwise you are just guessing

I think it was only a loan, we should recall him

You can recall a full season loan unless there was a fee for the loan.

Both penalties today were players making individual errors.

Can't say i'm surprised with this result, would've settled for a draw going into this. It sounded like the players couldn't be bothered. Will be interested in reading what people who went thought of the game.

Did we have a shot on target in the second 45 ?
Cant recall one.

Life without Ranger  ::)
NO ONE we have up front holds the ball up like Ranger so why on earth do we insist on playing as if he is there,
Change it to suit who we do have

Not feeling too despondent after that considering the circumstances.

The table doesn't make for good reading as it is but a lot can change in 14 games, especially considering those around us are struggling to find any form as well. Walsall, MK and Vale all lost today and despite their win at bottom club Stevenage, Posh aren't playing well either according to their fans.

Can we nominate Reckord to be the new scapegoat?

This, I don't think we had a shot throughout the game

Oxford conceded a last minute equaliser at Morecambe.

Well the day wasn't too bad then

We definitely had at least one, their goalie pulled off a save.

Woo hoo.

What do you expect? Smith has no idea what to do with the ball outside the penalty area.

.

Let's hope McEveley manages to stay injury and suspension free from now on and it won't be a problem.

Lack of firepower up front is going to be our main problem. 

Wow one fucking shot.

There was a decent shot from Harley, which the keeper saved. Then Reckord prevented a clear goal scoring chance by taking the ball off of Smith as he was about to shoot (from what I heard not saw).

People like Harley more of a disappointment than people like Reckord/Barker, etc. For someone to play that many games, and produce half-assed performances every game is nothing short of a disgrace.
Quicker Thompson is back into our midfield the better.

Cooper banging on re " we have a style and are sticking to it "
NOT WHEN ITS NOT FUCKING WORKING YOU DONT

I dont think any team in this league could be without 6/7 regular first team playersand put out a decent side/performance

To lose without conceding from open play or a set piece is very frustrating.

That was dismal. Only positive was Belford looked half decent.

Oldhamesque performance.

Has the world ended yet?

That did happen.

Scumbags out of top 3, Slave Traders back in bottom 4 - the world hasn't ended yet

5:10pm Sat 22 Feb 14
House with no name says...

Conference here we come alternatively get a manager who can manage at this level.


Own up, who was it?

Another good away day marred by the 90 minutes of crap in the middle.

I can only recall two efforts on goal from us, we offered nothing in the final third. On the positive side we looked fairly solid at the back but a couple of individual errors cost us.

To be fair to cooper, I'm not sure there is much else he could have done, because of the injuries and suspensions we had, they were just better than us all over the pitch.

Decent turn out from town fans, made a decent amount of noise as well, certinally more than the Orient fans anyway.

Twas all I could hear o  BBCWilts were town singing,
At least until they scored then town again till the 2nd.
"Is this a library "  :clap:

few points from today. Those people who think pritchard is a show pony  should have seen harley today.Gladwin and Rekord should be nowhere near the first 11 even if we're struggling.Initially Cooper's tactics were justified cos Orient never looked like scoring until the pen but frustrating that we didnt push on when behind.Belford should be happy with his performance.Byrne and TAH decent 1st half, NG is a better lone striker than Smith and finally Luongo is suffering a huge loss of form.Oh, one more thing, Ward is clueless with the ball at his feet.

In a word. Abject.

Wont go over old ground, but at half time me and one of the other lads couldn't work out who Gladwin had replaced at HT... That's how good he was.

Secondly with 10 minutes to go I though bollocks and went out and had a fag. I watch the remainder through a gate and you could see the Orient box. I saw one ball from us go over the stand, and only saw their goalie twice in the whole 10 mins which shows how much we attacked.
If they don't go up I wont go next year, my record is now 0-1-5 there.

Someone else said good turnout, and it was, with 10 mins until kick off they had us all in one corner and weren't going to open another section, could have got messy with the amount of people still trying to get in. until they actually did open up. Anyone know the official number? I would have guessed around 900.

765 officially

Tee he. The old cash on the gate scam..

Darren Wards form has suffered massively this season due to the way we are trying to play in my opinion.
For want of a better word, through this career he has never been a 'footballer', he has always been a ball winning centre half who gets his tackles, his headers and his blocks in and does the dirty work, he's never been someone to play from the back.
It seems to me we are asking a 30 something footballer to change his style when he is close to the end of his career.
It's not going to happen and unfortunately his form has suffered because of that.

Tbf we were missing Foderingham,  mceverly,  hall, ranger, mason, Pritchard, l thompson, n thompson (maybe more?).

No team in our league can cope with 8 players out, 6 of which are definite starters.

Oh, and if you were one of the people on twitter that said we need to bring Paul Benson back, please go and climb the tallest building closest to your house and jump off of it, if you are able to walk when you have landed, repeat it.

Ryan Harley is this seasons Gary Roberts.

Lazy, shit, a bottler, doesnt give a fuck and is most likely on a handsome wage.

How long is his deal?

Add Miles Storey to that...

Well that was utter shit....not quite the depths of Stevenage or Sheffield United but on par with the Pikeys.

800 odd fans showed up and they didn't deserve that.

Only the keeper Belfield gets any credit for me, at 2 zip down he still wanted to get the game going quickly, Harley and Reckord were dire throughout. Barker....why?

2nd pen looked cheap.

If Cooper dishes up shit like that at home he's fucking doomed...it had Malpas written all over it.

Orient we're better...faster....simple things right...but I did get an Os fan to bite outside with my out loud comment 'a great team would of hammered us from open play'.

Now to trawl back through for the pearls of wisdom from those who never went.

I'm just glad he didn't use the word system.

Cowardly fucker doesn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge the fans who travelled.

Slade was on the pitch clapping his fans, who never sang much....

2 years ssdly

I had a great day in the smoke... lovely weather.

Was there a game on?

Dire, slow to the 2nd ball, little passion or desire....... we couldnt even do the simple things, like pass the ball to a team mate. Byrne + Belford were the only players to show a positive impact despite the shower around them. Harley is so poor  the sooner Louis Thompson or Sicknote Mason are back from the injury the better.
Both penalties were needless ....... Reckord didnt need to dive in + Troy lost possession and then ran into the back of the player. Any chance Shrewsbury will swap Storey for Barker, he may not be the messiah but he is not so lightweight + would offer something different.

Shrewsbury were 2-1 down when Storey came on on the hour - result 3-2 win.

Today reminded me a lot of running a kids football team many years ago.

We had a couple of players who had a habit of running around like fuck while they were chasing the opposition down, but rarely actually made a tackle.

They'd huff and puff a lot, sure. They'd manage to get themselves covered in mud somehow, but if you watched them closely, games usually passed them by and they actually did fuck all (they're kids though, so it was kind of OK, they were learning how to play the game, thought they could get away with stunts like that but of course they quickly realised that they couldn't when it was pointed out that we knew what they were up to and coached that out of their game)

Ryan Harley, Mark Cooper and most of those who went today will know fucking well where I'm going with this.

How Harley stayed on the pitch today while Murphy got dragged off, I'll never know. Murphy wasn't brilliant, granted, but he must be fucking devastated to see Harley staying on while he watched from the dugout.

I'm not blaming Harley for everything, but he's a fucking grown man who's picking up decent wages from our club, and to me, he's a cheating cunt.

I lost count of the amount of times he made it look like he was doing something today, yet rarely made a tackle, constantly gave the ball away cheaply and offered no bite, backbone, leadership or bottle for his team mates or the fans for almost the whole afternoon.

I'm beginning to worry that Cooper may actually be out of his depth at STFC, simply because I can't understand why he can't see what most of us can see with Harley, let alone anything else.

I accept that today was dire in a lot of departments. I'm not happy about it, but I accept it as part and parcel of football at all levels.

A bad day at the office, etc.

I can't accept poor, uncommitted, cheating, gutless performances from anyone weraing a town' shirt though, which is what we got from Harley today.

Even some of the the gibbering, mouth-breathing bafoons that were singing that ridiculous 'Forward' song today were slating him for his gutless performance as he pranced around like a fairy, making out he was doing something while actually doing fuck-all.

Good luck to Power with flogging season tickets while useless, uncommitted players like Harley remain on the payroll.

And that's sugaring the pill!

Who would people have played instead of Harley?

Just got back. A brilliant day ruined by Swindons brand of {Cough} football
I agree with the above and Pewsham Robin.
I would like to add Belfield, Byrne{for sheer effort} and Troy {for the first 70 minutes} were decent. The rest were a bag of shit And that is being unkind to shit. Its possibly unfair to blame Harley to much as he was no worse than the rest.
This footballing experiment is not working.

My feedback about Harley on today's performance was powderpuff. Delta's description was spot on.

They were also 2-1 down when Notts Co had a man sent off.

What would worry me is that after such a short time there that Miles didn't make the starting XI of a team in a relegation fight.

Having seen just seen the goals from that game the "Saviour" wasn't involved in either.

There is only one way to find out if Storey is any good or the next Andy Caton and that's to play him. I can understand loaning him out to get first team football, however with our season fizzling out for the first time since what 2006? We are likely to have games towards the end of the season where there is nothing overly significant to play for - ideal time to at least give him a decent go at it.

Word....send Barker out to a conference club to score a goal and get his confidence bubbling.

We are 8th not bottom,granted away form is poor but to say the experiment is not working is absolute bollocks isn't it

You can't just expect to graft a major change of philosophy on to a club overnight, if it has any prospect of working then it has to be long term, and it has to be stuck to....both of which are majorly difficult aims. It also requires the fans to buy into it...even when we were playing well back in the autumn, there were those already moaning, we're now probably maybe 3 or 4 more very poor performances away from a mutiny.

The present 'style' is nowhere close to what was on show in the early part of the season.

We are beginning to look vulnerable at home to average sides (Oldham. Colchester) and with 4 of the top 6 still to co e to the CG and the away form still dire a slide down the table looks inevitable.

If Cooper is steadfastly refusing to change anything because of some fanciful style mantra it looks difficult how things are going to change any time soon.

Damp squib end of the season

We didn't look fucking vulnerable against colchester you fucking spanner.

Didnt win.

Lucky to beat Shrews, given the runaround by PBoro on Monday, beaten by Oldham.

If you find that satisfactory, fair play.

A knackered side rife with injury was given the run around by Posh when they brought on McCann and McQuoid - two of the better plsyers in the league.

It's not really his choice is it.

He was a hoofball manager before he came to us, it's not his philosophy it's Power's.

Went yesterday and what a strange ground - no atmosphere/singing from the home fans, 3 sides redeveloped and old wooden stand to stick the away fans in! As for the performance it was lucklustre at best - I wasn't sure about the penalties but in hindsight they probably were, although the 2nd started outside the box IMO. Orient didn't need to do a lot to beat us which is worrying and we never threatened. What the hell has happened to Luongo, he was awful again yesterday but others played just as bad/worse (e.g Harley).

Positives: good turn out from us, outsang a side who are top of the league and a few beers in the smoke!

On to Tuesday...

Cooper doesn't set out to lose, most would of disbelieved the position we are in now and I would of snapped your hand off pre season.

However the facts remain:

- manager by default ( KMac wanted to choose his players and not power...and obviously paid to keep his trap shut when he left).
- Cannot change games...we've seen enough of that.
- doesnt treat the fans with enough respect...radio interviews and his system of coming across an arrogant fucker..and not even bothering to acknowledge the away fans on long trips.
- injury bullshit doesn't wash with me...we are not Torquay where two players get injured and we are playing 12 year olds...he/the club signed the likes of Harley, Barker, Reckord, so it's down to him if they dish up shit performances. QPRs old Harry will not blame non promotion on Charlie Austin will he?

We've got him, hes a yes man for Power, so I stick with him but I don't have to like him.

Injuries, suspensions ( that's his fault again if there are bookings for gobbling) say what you like, if we start dishing up shit like yesterday at home, watch the fans turn on him.

Lets get safe and then he can start any experiments.

I already have my ticket for the slave traders and they MUST give us a performance that day, a load of tippy tappy, give the ball away every three passes will not be tolerated.

Absolutely agree, pointless him being on loan and not playing (he could stay with us and do that ;) )

I've never understood this kind of comment, what difference does it matter if he waves or not. If he's such an arrogant fucker then it probably wouldn't mean anything if he did.

Also respect works both ways

Indeed. We were better than Posh for 70 of the 90 and similarly at their place. We made a few mistakes and didn't take chances. A finely balanced game where we almost made it to Wembley.

I do agree that in games where our 'philosophy' isn't working, to stick to it anyway and expect results is the definition of insanity.

Not many have claimed Storey is the new messiah. Just that based on what we fans have seen he would be more useful than one or two of the options we have retained.

Lastly building this style of football long term is an admirable goal. But with likely budget cuts supplemented by loans it's going to be a bit hit and miss in my opinion. This season has been so close to a hit, I think frustration is showing.

I'm bored of this!

- Yes we are not as good as we have been
- No we don't have the cash to flash anymore
- No Cooper isn't the best manager in the world. If he was he wouldn't be here
- Yes Power exerts all the influence. It seems its his way or the highway
- Yes we have lots of injuries.
- No Ward doesnt look as good as last year
- Yes its annoying that prices are going up
- No we probably wont make the playoffs
- Yes we are doing well not to be in the relegation mix
- Yes Ranger is a good striker, but not a good role model!
- No we dont look as good without Ranger
- Yes Smith will score if we give him service in the right area
- No Smith isnt the best striker in the division
- No I don't think we can get Storey back, because I 'believe' that Shrews will have been asked to pay the cash up front
- No I don't think Storey is the answer anyway
- Yes Im disappointed that we lost to Peterborough
- No I'm not surprised we lost to Peterborough
- Yes Im disappointed that we lost to LO
- No I'm not surprised we lost to LO

Anyone who thinks we were given the runaround by Peterborough on Monday has to be ignored

wouldn't put it past him,the useless fucking cunt

95% correct.

The Football League Paper gave Belford 4/10. What did he do wrong?(Harley got 6!)

what utter utter utter shit.

It is WE that make this club...not Power, not Cooper, Not Steve Mc Moan, Not Lou Macari,Not Glenn Hoddle, not Paolo ' however his fucking name is spelt' Di Canio....US.....The majority have all fucked off and i doubt they really give a shit about us any more.

A whatever manager is in that hot seat i GET his respect because i have stood on freezing cold terraces in pissing rain which is running out of my arse, on a shit Tuesday in January 3 zip down away to Palace whilst they play 'Dont worry be happy!' on tinny PA system....and guess what...i actually paid to get there...i paid for my food...the ticket...i paid for it all.
AND....i have done this season in and season out since 19 fucking 79.....fat man...young man and boy....through thin and thin.

Two way thing?  Fuck right off....If Cooper feels its OK to just stroll off down the tunnel after 800 odd of us have made that trip yesterday and were dished up that shit, its fucking cowardly as the players were left to take it on the chin as he scurries off and tries to be a funny cunt with the reporter from Radio Wiltshire asking questions that the vast majority at home want answered.

I dont give a shiny shit if he was given a hard time by Peterborough supporters....hes manager of my beloved Swindon Town so he can fucking well do his job or fuck off AND that includes having to deal with fans properly.

If he cannot be arsed to walk 20 yards on to a football pitch and clap above his head without making eye contact, turn round and go down the tunnel....then fuck him.

Two way thing? He hasnt done enough for me to smell the steam off my piss.

Manager by Default....

Yes Man....

So, if Power is the puppet master and Cooper is the puppet how on Gods green earth are we ever going to progress.

OK, give Cooper the boot but he will only be replaced by another clone-like yes man.

Of the loanees only Pritchard will be missed but worries me more than anything is the dreadful quality of players that have come in. If we are left with that lot for next season we are truly up shit creek.

Either Power and/or Cooper have no eye for a player

I'm still quite happy with how this season is panning out. My only fear is that we may go backwards next year if we lose any key players.

But I don't go to games apparently so what do I know?

Shhh are regular attendee was talking.

I don't see why managers have to clap the fans. It's not the norm is it?
Just because the Italian fuckwit lapped up the attention all the time doesn't mean they all should do it. Plenty don't and fans are there for the team on the pitch (who should applaud the fans if the fans have backed them)
Cooper probably would have got a lot of one fingered salutes back anyway.

Di Canio's attempts to appease the Sunderland's fans was a hilarious misjudgment.

I don't remember the manager acknowledgement to fans being a thing until recently (last decade)... I'm pretty unobservant when it comes to that sort of stuff though.

This is brilliant,
Nope it's just a ridiculous stick to beat Cooper with.

To imply that applauding the fans is part of his job is staggering

You can't say that, The Flash goes to games you know. He's a loyal fan.

The guy clearly has a hatred for Cooper, even when we win he slags him off.

TBF he goes to virtually every game and if he feels he would appreciate being appreciated, fair enough.

It aint cheap and a quick acknowledgement costs fuck all

Not as if the players or Cooper were gonna get this treatment

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yfHuMz0S7lk

The chorus of " what the fucking hell was that " was particulary warranted.

I care not whether Cooper applauds fans or not, although he did early season

Good on him.

Do you think his attendance automatically makes his opinion more valid than other people's? Do you think other people should be shouted down when they voice an opinion because they don't attend matches?

Maybe not shouted down but tbere are plenty on here that have " expert " opinions on players/games they have never seen bar a few highlights or had a couple of run outs to SN1.

While I dont always agree with Flash he puts his money where his mouth is and actually goes

Not at all.

But, as I said, if he feels he would like to be appreciated its fair enough.

I rarely go to away games these days, but I do think those paying good money for a day out and are served up an insipid performance deserve more than a few mealy-mouthed words from a manager who turns his back on the fans at the end of the game.

It's hardly an effort

And BTW, I do feel those that actually witness a performance do have a more valid opinion than others

Having certain views on matches and players performances you haven't seen is pretty daft. That said, there are plenty watching games that have no idea and that makes their points equally as daft.

I happened to be in the car listening to the texts read out after yesterdays match which like the last time I did that (quite a while ago) was abundantly clear the majority of texts were from absolute idiots. Whether they were there or not.

Quite right.

An opinion of someone who has witnessed a performance has obviously got to be listened to more than someone who has not.

When the subject is of a more general nature everyone's opinion should be equal - but then again, we know on here that that is not always the case

I know plenty of people who go to games and are total fuckwits whose opinions are an absolute joke.
I go to watch football,  not the manager and as such I really don't give 2 fucks whether he applauds the supporters, doesn't applaud the supporters,  or comes out at half time and does a lap of the pitch on a unicycle whilst playing the kazoo.
Supporters pay to see a game of football.  Sometimes your team disappoints you and you feel hard done by. That's football. Got fuck all to do with how charismatic the manager appears.

So because somebody goes to a match, that makes them a better judge of what is happening?

My opinion is generally formed mostly by commentary from BBC wilts and from the opposition. I usually (not always) find that both commentary teams have a similar opinion on a game, and on players, and I would usually share that opinion. If my opinion is not valid what does that make of the opinions of the commentary teams, considering they attended the match themselves.

I often here of somewhat comical complaints/observations of other fans in the crowd spouting complete and utter shite. Would you value their opinion more on the basis that they attended the match?

Not saying your opinion is not valid but surely getting your impression of a game from a third party(ies) cannot be as informed than that of someone actually in attendance.

It's the same as you reviewing a play without actually seeing it but going on other peoples reviews

I as able to watch a couple of games on TV recently. I was able to see the whole game with replays etc. What of my opinion then?

You'd be a dirty armchair fan.

I think Flash has been banging on specifically about the Orient game which he attended.

Everyone can have a different opinion of certain incidents in a match and a match in general, but I would rather trust my own eyes to form one than rely on second hand views of other people

the voice of reason.

 ;)

this is a forum...we have a say disagree....agree....it was just my view on someone elses.

Steve disagrees....fine.....Audrey says i have a point..fine.

Going to games make you a fan not an expert...watching on telly and listening on the radio makes you a follower.

on holiday i meet loads of Man United 'fans' been once......if ever...

Bit harsh to say some on here aren't fans.

I just don't know what to say to that.

I reckon doss has hacked his account 8)

Adje, they also had flint in the team of the week a few weeks back. Playing for Brentford!  Belford didn't do anything wrong, made 2 or 3 good saves as you know. The FL paper don't go they read the forums!

Supporter goes and supports.
Follower follows the team around the country.
A fan can be a fan wherever they are or whatever they are doing.

Well that's how I see it anyway.

A fan is a fecking fan any which way you look at it and they choose how much of their time they want to invest.

Couple of Orient fans were saying Belford was gash. Not that I respect their opinion at all.

Not sure why, there was one dodgy episode when he could have been robbed poncing about, but bar that was pretty solid. caught everything and his distribution wasn't too bad. One report I saw said he kept putting the ball out, I don't recall any. Ward though passed into touch with no player near at least 3 times. I think the thing that struck me most yesterday was how much we gave the ball away, it was almost constant throughout the game, Never seen it as much from us ever.

I'll tell that to my mate who, after being a ST holder for 17 years was made redundant last June and is still not working.

I am sure he would love to meet you for a chat

I don't post a lot nowadays, and now I understand why

I think you may have taken Flash's post the wrong way, i think he was trying to say that the people who say they are fans but have never been are followers. The fans are the people who have been to games & still go whenever they can, this may be the last season for a while that i get a season ticket but would still class my self as a fan.

Why the fuck does it matter

TESTIFY!!!

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lVu1KU0Un6w/T9-s6ed9cRI/AAAAAAAAxg4/pl6qY9VwaYg/s1600/bart+moves.gif)

Now the dust has settled I'll give my thoughts on Saturday.

Firstly a good travelling support which was noisy and backed Swindon from the start. Gladwin was playing left wing for the first half but I only realised this after about 44 minutes. I feel a bit sorry for him constantly being played out of position. I thought Ward and Troy both looked a bit dodgy first half, a few times I thought Troy misjudged the ball and Lisbie got in behind him too easily. Orient hit the post after some typical bad defending and then a stupid challenge by Reckord just before half time for the penalty meant an uphill battle for a point, let alone 3.

For the second penalty I thought Troy was just clumsy, although at times he looked like he had been drinking since 8am so it was no surprise when he gave away the penalty. From then on Orient's keeper could have gone and signed autographs in the crowd as he had nothing to do. I'm not sure whether they were very organised at the back but we just never ever looked like creating anything and in the end to come away with a 2-0 defeat was ok in a damaged limitation excercise.

Onto the players.

Belford - Did what he had to do and made some smart saves and looked comfortable coming for crosses. A couple of times with the ball at feet he looked like a disaster waiting to happen but got away with it. My MOTM

Byrne - Can't really fault his effort and he didn't do anything bad from memory

Ward - With the ball at feet he's hopeless. A number of times he passed the ball out of play when under pressure. Will be unhappy with his performance.

Troy - More composed on the ball but I didn't think he was as solid as in previous matches and made a few errors. That said he always looked for the ball and tried to find a red shirt.

Reckord - Not great, however he seemed to grow in confidence and made some overlapping runs. Took a shot on in the second half that I thought he should have left to Smith. Undecided about him.

Luongo - Average

Harley - Powder Puff, fairy, feel free to add your own description. Pulls out of headed challenges, pulls out of tackles, floats around the pitch putting in about 50% effort. I'm sorry but after seeing him against Oldham I thought he might have tried to rectify his abysmal performance. I'd rather have a youth player putting in 100% than this waste of space. A real disappointing signing.

Kasim - Tidy enough

Murphy - Apart from a shot that almost went out for a throw in behind him, I thought he did ok and not really sure why he went off. Would have given us an option to play diagonal balls in behind, if we ever decided to fucking try and do that instead of passing around for a minute and then giving it away.

Gladwin - Didn't know he was even playing. Out of position so harsh to be judgemental. Tried his one stepover trick once and the ball went out for a goal kick. Standard.

Smith - Works hard but the ball just doesn't stick with him. Often his second touch is a tackle. One good moment where he nutmegged the defender only for Reckord to take the ball off him. Not a sniff of a chance.

Reis - The guy is a left winger and his style is not going to work the way we play. I'm sure he wants to get to the byline and whip in crosses but he's hindered. Almost fell over the ball once trying to beat his man and fooled the defender so much he got passed him. Not seen enough to know whether he's going to be any cop or not.

Barker - Not sure he realised we were in our away shirts. Gave the ball away every time he got it. Not been impressed so far.

At least tomorrow night we can look forward to having Fallon back at the CG to inevitably score the winning goal!

 

I'm more worried about Wiltshireman Matt Tubbs....Crawley have had a couple of decent results since getting back on the park after a long break has seen them slip to the edge of the  drop zone. A win tomorrow for them and they'll be 8 points behind us with 6 games in hand....our comfort blanket, could start to look a bit frayed round the edges without a picking up a few points in the next 4 or 5 games. Fortunately a couple of draws will do.

Pretty much agree with that Bob's Orange.

Quite funny when the Town fans were abusing some guys on one of the adjacent flats balconies only to discover when one of them unfurled his scarf it was a Swindon one......................actually that may have been the most exciting bit of the game.

I thought you were ignoring me?

Time to hit that button again!

Very good.

I saw a scarf unfurled but didn't realise it was a Town one! Pretty cushty spot to watch football to be fair!

I'm pretty sure the guy behind me was told off for using one of these e-cigarettes. I can't be sure but I am sure the steward suggested it was a fire hazard!

Shut it Flash you dickhead!?

Its ok...im thick skinned...

shut it Flash you cunt!

Word!

Do you realise we've only lost consecutive games twice all season?

I note you've stopped citing historical comparisons now, probably because you'd have a bloody hard job finding a team that's been 8th in late February and has gone down.

The Crawley comment is irrelevant because they are the only team in a pretty strange position. If they were to overtake us which, sure, is possible, this would not in itself leave us doomed, as about 12 other teams who don't have 6 games in hand would need to do the same. Sorry to disappoint.

Yes...

We have shown no sign all season of going on a bad run. I struggle to find any basis for your comments. Ok, the home performances have tailed off in the last month, but that's largely because most of the games have been played in abject conditions. And during the same period we've gone away to several sides immediately around us and have earned a string of good results, none of which have been undeserved. We lost on Saturday, away to a team that has averaged nearly 2 points a game, with about 8 first teamers missing, half of whom should be back tomorrow.

Yes, we could mathematically still be relegated, but the same applies to about 75% of the Football League. I'm hardly holding out hope of a late promotion surge but to imply we could still go down is ludicrous, and so disrespectful to a squad that is serving us pretty well.

I'm not sure where you've picked up the discussion, but essentially it goes back to the Shrewsbury game where many lamented we'd won but undeservedly, as we'd ridden our luck like v Cov and Posh, and that unless things improved we could forget the PO's....my take was that we've never seriously been a PO contender, and should look over the course of the season as staying up being OK.

With this in mind, picking up those 9 points rather than say 2 had been vital in keeping us out of a slide. A slide that could still bring about a disappointing end to the season, given a seeming loss of form, loss of key players like Ranger, injuries and suspensions and poor away form, coupled with difficult to beat sides visiting like Oldham,  ColU, then the top boys

The basis for your point seems pretty tenuous.  Yes Crawley could catch us, but so what?  We have averaged just under 1.5 pts per game from first 32 games.  If we averaged half that from the last 14 games we'd be more than safe. 

I generally read the forums, I just very seldom post, as you can tell.

Yes, ok, those home performances weren't as fluid as ones versus, say, Crewe and Notts County. But then Cov and Pboro are both obviously significantly better sides, so it's no wonder the games were tighter. And we played Shrewsbury in a monsoon, which didn't help.

Winning games isn't always about playing the opposition off the park. In each of the 3 that you mentioned, we scored at least 2 good, legit goals, because we have good attacking players. And we only conceded one, because we have a good keeper. And some ok defenders (I won't push my luck).

"A seeming loss of form"... 1 home defeat in 3 months, significantly improved away form, all of it against top half rivals, and a 2-legged tie in which we matched a higher ranked side, despite a number of handicaps, including playing with 10 men for an hour of the away leg, during which time they barely got near our goal.

I can't see where you're coming from.

Home and away has been like chalk and cheese.

I'm away tomorrow and cannot go, disappointed because the Crawley game will be a good gauge to see if we can bounce back with better players back in contention.

Let me try again....loss of form, we've failed to score in 5 of the last 8, prior to that it was 4 in 23, btw I'm talking league games here.

We've 15 games to go...in the last 15 we've got 19 points replicate that and we get a very respectable 64 points, however, it's quite conceivable we could get half of that, say 9 points, which gives 54, enough to stay up, but not the sort of season end you  want.

Anyway, debate makes it interesting, after the PV win, I said that was massive and has gone a long way to avoiding a 96/97 style end of season slide.

Is it not conceivable that we could get more than 19 points from the next 15 then Reg? Hmmm.

It is conceivable...maybe in your brain but not in mine....let's sit back and see what happens.

Personally think that the 19 points is more realistic. Just adding and element of balance to your pessimistic post.

You can dress stats up to say whatever you want them to. Right, we've failed to score in 5 of our last 8 league games. We've also failed to score in 2 home league games in the last 11 months. Take your pick.

I recall you saying before we played Walsall away (6th vs 8th I think it was) that an away win would be roughly akin to a bottom placed side winning away to the leaders. I know we only drew but, with respect, I just cannot see any basis for that kind of comment.

It's just the Reg way.Start off with a negative view use stats to back it up, us being a div 1 club means that is likely to be easier to show negative trends and thus be proved rigjt when things turn out as  predicted.

With Swindon it's more likely over time to have a poor run than a good one so less likely to be correct if your outlook is optimistic

Surely you answer your own point...the basis for saying it was unlikely we would win was shown by not winning. Our away form is effectively bottom 4, therefore it is going to be surprise if we do something.  It would be a whole heap stranger to say yes we'll go to Walsall and muller them based on absolutely nothing.

Surely anyone that has seen our last 6 games would realise that we're struggling at the moment and that our "form" isn't great.

That's not being negative, just looking at the performances in the last few weeks and realising that we're playing at a performance level below where we were earlier in the season.  We've got some good players that are able to hurt the opposition if they play well and if Crawley haven't done their homework then we *should* be able to get on top and beat them.

If, as seems a bit more likely at the moment, our players play like they have been in the last few weeks (not at their best) and Crawley have seen how our recent opponents have stifled us, then we're going to struggle. Again.

Surely all opposing teams will look at the Col U and Oldham games and think that it's easy enough to stop us at the moment if you just get yourselves organised.  Or they'll look at the Shrews game and see that perhaps we're a soft target to be got at as even an ordinary Shrews teams were by far and away the better team.

Reg is a pessimist, sure, but to say that there are signs that we're going to start playing well and winning is a bit baseless in my opinion.

I reckon another 0-0 on the cards, though perhaps I'm being a bit optimistic to hope that Tubbs/Fallon won't score in front of the Town End...

Nobody was saying we would muller them. Walsall had won less than half of their home games going into it, barely averaging a goal a game, and had done most of their damage away. Of course, you chose not to point that out at the time. If anyone was making irrational predictions it was you.

We'll have to part ways here....had I said it was unlikely we'd win at Walsall gone there and stuffed them 3-0 or so, then yes it would look a bit irrational.

Oh, so we were crap against Peterborough (home and away) and Port Vale as well ?

Who said that we were crap?

The Port Vale performance was good (especially from Pritchard who is so influential in the attacking play), but the two games against P'Boro we didn't exactly play well, did we? Not as well as we know that these players can play.

And that's the point, really.  The players aren't playing to their maximum capabilities (when looking at the last 5/6 games overall, I know that they played well at Port Vale) at the moment.  We hope that they can turn that around and find a bit of form, but to expect that it'll come in the next game is baseless.

If we can keep a clean sheet then we've always got a chance, obviously, but we need to threaten the goal more than we have done in order to win games

Looking at my "points predictions" (total guesswork and based upon previous seasons results) that I do at the start of each season, currently I have us on 45 and I reckoned on getting 66 points at the seasons end. Would have been/Will be quite happy with that total and although po's are still within grasp I am not optimistic we will make them and doubt if 66 points would be good enough anyway.

 :hmmm:

Ok you said the performances were poor.

Why focus on the poor performances when not all performances were poor?

We played well against Port Vale (which you agreed with) and overall we played well in both games against Peterborough.

You need to try and focus on the glass is half full

Don't say that to Reg!

Why not?