Thetownend.com

The opponent:  Colchester United

The last few days have been bloody awful being a Swindon Town fan. Some of you on here may well say its been bloody awful for the last few decades, but my education of all things STFC doesn’t stretch back quite that far. In recent times, only the end of the Diamandis era can be drawn in comparison to the recent saga, protests have been hinted at, even orange beanies are being dug out of the wardrobe, readied for action. Andrew Blacks recent tweets suggest there is more legs in this story yet, Paolo says this is how the club has been run for the last 6 months, and we have 3 potential loan signings that could really make the difference between a top 2 and a play off (or worse) finish. A friend of mine remarked that our new potential owner/investor/frontman has the look of a gypsy, this may well be true, but until the sale has gone through, and we can find out who else is behind this consortium, I will hold my judgement.

In the middle of all this mayhem, confusement and general bewilderment lies a visit to Essex, when once again we can get back to what we love the most, supporting our team. I remember just before the original fixture Paolo suggested he was “90% certain” we would win this one. I wonder if he still has the same optimism with the entire recent goings on?  To be fair, I had the wrong idea about the town of Colchester. I went there when we played them in the Cup last season (winning goal scored by Matt Ritchie I believe), and the ground was in the middle of nowhere if memory serves, so I didn’t get to see anything else Colchester had to offer. After a bit of research Colchester has as long a history as anywhere in Britain. It was here that the Emperor Claudius received the surrender of the Celtic kings to found the Roman Province of Britannia, making Colchester the oldest recorded town in Britain. And every era since - from the Saxon, the Norman, the Medieval, the Tudor, the Stuart, the Georgian, the Victorian and the Modern has left its mark on the town in some way or another. My prior knowledge of Colchester stretched to a Zoo, a prison and some vague thought it has something to do with that dreadful reality show, The Only Way is Essex. How wrong could I be!

Colchester Town  were the town's main club in the early 20th century and were the original tenants of Layer Road. In 1935 they joined the Eastern Counties League, but their poor performances in the league convinced supporters that the club should turn professional like nearby Ipswich Town. Officials at the club were against the idea, resulting in a new professional club, Colchester United, being formed in March 1937, which would also play at Layer Road. United joined the Southern League and crowds at Town matches quickly dwindled.  In December, United formed a reserve team, signing many Town players. As a result of this and financial problems (the club were £300 in debt), Town folded in the same month!
Colchester’s sons and daughters include presenter, Dermot O’Leary, Musician Damon Albarn, All round general prick Darren Day, and Paul Allender from odd rock group Cradle of Filth (I had to listen to them to find out what they sounded like!) Other people who have lived or died in Colchester include the milk snatcher Margaret Thatcher, and everybody’s favourite morality campaigner, Mary Whitehouse, the cunt.

I have now appointed Flashheart as theTEF Official Matchday Thread Poet Laureate, this is the fantastic first offering from our very own Wordsworth.

Flashheart's Foughts

The gaffer's still here to many a cheer, if things go our way he'll be here next year.

With tears in his is eyes twas a joyous surprise to hear him planning our next foe’s demise.

The board rumbles on with its takeover kerfuffle and still we’re frustrated their voices are muffled.

With some feeling threatened by fears of doom it’ll be good for a win to help lift the gloom.

So on to Colchester, that’s in the South East. We'll all be hoping for a point at least.

With a squad looking thinner than a meth-head wench we may not have men to fill up the bench.

Even with few men Paolo will try for a blinding performance no man can deny.

A win in this game would do us no wrong, we’ll be nearer promotion and where we belong.

Still some will be musing that all is bleak but perhaps they’ll be smiling this time next week.

If the new board’s revealed to have wealth and honour, things will be better than sex with Madonna.


What are they saying about us? –

“The game definitely appears more interesting for a U's fan than 5 weeks ago.

Reckon it could be a tight 1st half”

Again, it would appear the main forum takes registration just to be able to view it.

Colchester United Last 6 –  LLLLWW (Currently 18th in League1)

The Threat – Freddie Sears. Now there is a name I remember a few years back as being the next big thing at West Ham. Oh dear. So far this season he has found the back of the net on 6 occasions.

A Warm Welcome Too – I was hoping I could list various besmirchments upon the character of Michael Rose, but The U’s have seen sense and released him.

The irrelevant stats –  Colchester possess the twelfth strongest home attack (scoring 1.29 goals per game) and the ninth weakest home defence (conceding 1.36 goals per game); We have the eleventh strongest away attack (scoring 1.29 goals per game) and boast the third strongest away defence (conceding just 0.86 goals per game!)

Head to Head – We have played Colchester on 67 occasions and in that time we have won 26 times, lost 26 times and shared the points 15 times.

The Odds –  Colchester 3/1  Draw 13/5 Swindon Evens (Prices from Bet365) I have watched the odds for a couple of days now and our price has drifted out a bit, I’m guessing only having 13 fit players may have something to contribute to that. If Adam Rooney gets another chance today you can generally get 6/1 on him to score the 1st goal.

The Son Says – If Paolo is still our manager by kick off we will win 2-1, allegedly.

The Prediction -  Colchester have had an upturn in fortunes recently. Had this game been played on the original scheduled date The U’s were in the middle of a very poor run of form and we were dishing out hidings left, right and centre, so form has changed. We will still have too much for them though. A 3-1 away win, goals from Williams (2) and A. Rooney, my guess would be around 4’040 in attendance with a very respectable 349 travelling to the Far East.

And Finally –   Colchester is the most widely credited source of the rhyme Humpty Dumpty. During the siege of Colchester in the Civil War, a Royalist sniper known as One-Eyed Thompson sat in the belfry of the church of St Mary-at-the-Walls (Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall) and was given the nickname Humpty Dumpty, most likely because of his size, Humpty Dumpty being a common insult for the overweight. Thompson was shot down (Humpty Dumpty had a great fall) and, shortly after, the town was lost to the Parliamentarians (all the king's horses and all the king's men / couldn't put Humpty together again.)

COYR COYR COYR

I think I love you, Shaw Rosso.

0-0. Good write up, one slight annoyance that always crops up is 'A Warm Welcome Too', should be 'To'.

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

 :gay:

I do it just too piss you off  :)

Still annoyed this game wasn't played last time round but can't see why we still can't get something up there. After a couple of draws a win would give everyone a boost. Head says a score draw but I'm going with my heart. 2-1 win. Ferry & Williams with our goals. Enjoyed the read as always SR.

3-1. Adam Rooney (2), Williams

2-0 Williams, Ritchie Rooney

We will thrash them 2 -1.

0 - 0 battling point

3-0 to Colchester because Paolo is really going out on a limb to prove a point








probably 1-1 again

Top write up SR ( as always )
 A scrappy 2-1 on yet another shite pitch

We've got to win if only because Dermot O'Leary is from there.

Another draw though on a ploughed field, 2-2. De Vita and Williams.

1-0 defeat

Sorry but I think we might be on the end of a walloping tonight. 3-0 defeat.

To add to the what they are saying about us I found some nice little quotes on the CUFC forum

Says the team with a new 10,000 capacity ground, can be increased to 18,000 and just achieve over a 1/4 of the current capacity on match days.

We will get a dicking tonight. 5-1.

Paolo will explode in his interview with rage.

True story.

Backs to the wall stuff tonight but i still think we are good enough to come back with a 2-1 win.Ward and Flint with 2 set piece goals

If we lose tonight there will be blood. 2-0 win. Please god. I am going to a church today to study the history, so will light a candle for us...

Oh and Flashheart, sex with Madonna would be terrible.

Shaw Rosso, I note you mentioned Damon Albarn in both Orient's and Colchester's match day threads. Is he the match day thread equivalent of Steve Lomas and the transfers thread? :)

Defeat written all over it, so I'm hoping for some of the spirit we showed at Stevenage.

I wonder if Paolo will opt for Navarro ahead of Ferry, if we're playing long ball on a bog of a pitch. Rooney will probably start ahead of Collins.

I just hope this virus hasn't infected too many senior players.

Thanks for that JJ.

Taking the red tinted specs off there seem to be some some decent intelligent comments in that.

There are some intelligent comments mixed with the usual fascist stuff but thats only to be expected really.

I bet she'd give a blinding blowie

Be worth it to make her shut the fuck up!

Good intro. SR and BR. Perhaps we could have Dostoyevsky's Dysentery in the next write up?  ;)

If she took her dentures out first.

Once she's taken her teeth out, probably.

Edit: DAMN YOU SAMDY

Yes and no -

An idiotic admirer of Mussolini , or even the inexcusable Adar salut when playing for Lazio doesn't necessarily make him an out and out fascist and I don't believe him to be a racist - any more than Gasgoine playing a mock flute in an 'Old Firm' match makes him an Orange Order bigot. It just makes them both tossers to greater or lesser degree. In Di Canio's case to the greater degree.

At least this is better than the usual 'he's a big racist' nonsense that you see more often than not.

It is indeed, it does beat the usual fascist stuff thats for sure.

If Colchester play anything like they did here they will beat us. I remember them playing very wide all through the game. from goal kicks and passing out they always had their wide players right on the touchlines. That game we didnt know what to do.
2-1 defeat.

A draw with no further injuries would be more than acceptable in my eyes

I'm am in a "who cares" mood about this one, would rather know what the fuck is going on.  What I've heard and what I know are 2 different things at the moment and it is getting tedius.

So what do you know then Berniman?

share and share alike

Not what hes heard :D

I have a bad feeling about tonight, 1-0 defeat. Lets hope I'm wrong.

Scrappy 1 - 0 win (De Vita)

Feeling inexplicably bullish about tonight.

4-0 (Collins 2, De Vita, Ferry)

Paolo to name himself on the bench,come on and grab a late winner with an overhead kick in the 90th minute.

Going to be a struggle for us tonight. Would be very happy with a draw.

Now that would be the stuff of legends.....

Just had to look this up.  Ossie came on twice for us as a sub, and Hoddle turned out an impressive 75 times.  Surely Paolo could manage it the once?   ;D

It will come down to how many problems Williams can cause them in my opinion

I think we'll get beat 2-0 tonight  :(

an early goal would be really nice tonight. Then try and hold on to what we've got and hit them on the break - depending on just how bad the pitch is up there. Can't be as bad as Crawley's surely?

...or Orient's.

I feel it will hinge on how well Williams plays

do you think Williams' performance tonight is integral to our chances?

Sheffield v Crawley been snowed off tonight.

Who do you think will be the key player in this game Si?

Same as everyone else, usual rumours, nothing exciting I'm afraid.

 :D

Top spot Barry, I will have a word with the researcher  :)

If its anything like I have heard then PdC is off Friday/Monday  ::)

Haha, when I posted the original message it gave me an error message and I typed something similar up again.

If Williams has a good game and we win, I guess it means I was right twice.

3 points tonite and a nice dollop of luck at the weekend and we could be top of the league come 5 o'clock Saturday.

That would lift the doom and gloom, surely

Come on you can't post these sort of messages and not expect a barrage of replies!

Bah, too many doom mongers football wise. We're unbeaten in 3 months, In which time you can count the goals we've let in on one hand, 22 points ahead, and better players. Routine 2-0 win.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it but I think the key man tonight is Williams.  If he plays well we will win.

I'm hoping Williams turns up tonight, on his day he is too good to be true.

I see what you did there.

Ardiles et al who talked about Di Canio being on the bench, I'm sure he could still do it, but wouldn't he have to be registered?

Not that I am gettinng my hopes up or anything, just want to understand the 'legalities' of a player/manager...

We haven't had a naff song in a while:

Williams, Williams he can
Make goals from nothing

The Smiths - William, it was really nothing

2-1 defeat.

Looks like heavy rain/sleet/snow in Colchester in the next hour or two. The pitch will be even more shit.

We have had a lot of snow in South Somerset today and I know a lot of it is up the eastern counties too, I hope its not too bad though because that will not be good for the travelling fans.

Really?? It's not doing anything at the moment. The pitch will still be shit even without any sleet/snow/rain though.

Yup. Just pushing into NW Essex as we speak.

Williams has been loaned out to Bournemouth for the rest of the season!

He might start Rooney and Collins.

Apparently to pay for new double glazing at the County Ground

Jesus NMH my heart stopped for a moment then. Don't do that!!!

expecting a draw , but am gonna go for a 1-2 win with a last minute winner from williams

let's fucking beat these fucking cunts

That was Churchillian.

yeah i really ought to credit benzel as he was the inspiration

( and its actually supposed to be :  let's  fucking  stuff these fucking cunts )

Like it.

Paolo 6/4 for the Notts Forest job, price has shortened significantly with Skybet

[hopeful]
Billy Davis still favourite.
[/hopeful]

He would be mad....if he can't get on with the board here, what chance at Forest where they believe they are entitled to be in the Premier League and if he doesn't achieve in three matches he will be out....

Bloody snowing here !

Hasn't money been an issue ie they didn't spend a penny in the transfer window.  Hardly Di Canio's type of place?

Back to tonight. Three points would be bloody marvellous, but unfortunately I think the stress of the last week and threadbare squad will take.its toll and we'll lose 2-0.

I just hope we don't see another piss performance due to a shitty pitch a la Saturday. Not holding my hopes high for total football this evening.

From twitter

Corriere dello Sport confient Paolo Di Canio will replace Alex McLeish as manager of Nottingham Forest.

I'd give him a week there.

Just lumped £3.80 on at 8/1. The theory being it buys beer if its true.

3 -0 to us tonight. Collins, Williams and Flint.

Just got to Colchester and it is snowing ridiculously hard.

Doesn't seem to be settling though.

Sky Sports News ‏@Skyspoortsnews
BREAKING: #SSN understands that Franchise manager Karl Robinson is in the frame for the managerial vacancy at Nottingham Forest. #nffc #Franchise

If Sky Spoots say its true then it must be ;)

A joint management team!  Just like Charlton had all those years ago.

I think a few franchise fans would drive him their at the moment

No talk of it being called off at the moment is there?

Mwahahaha

Hope this goes ahead for all those who have made the trip. Think we will 2-1 with Rooney and Roberts scoring

I think the worst of it has passed. Hopefully the game will be on.

It's stopped now.

Think we will see an improved performance from town tonight, hopefully rooney will get a start and continue looking sharp and grab acouple of goals, this is a game we should be winning despite all what's gone on.   1-3 two from Rooney and one from Collins 3points and on to Saturday another 3points and things should be looking a lot better with new owners 3 new loans and edging closer to the top of the table. Coyr

just had a bit of Darren Ward 1st scorer 33/1

Money well spent
 :headhurts: :no:

I don't see lots of goals in our team at the moment, so I'll go for 0-0 or 1-0 either way.

2-0 up half time. nervy second half, ending up winning 2-1

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA

TOWN v Colchester: Foderingham; Thompson N, Flint, Ward, McEveley; Roberts, Navarro, Miller, De Vita; Rooney A, Williams.

Subs: Bedwell, McCormack, Ferry, Collins
----
No Ferry or Collins or McCormack starting

Decent team. Bringing on Ferry, Macca and Collins late on could swing it for us imo

Looks like I got midfield right then.

Morshead put a picture of the pitch taken half hour ago on Twitter, a thin covering of snow but like Langers said its stopped now so don't see it being a problem.

I never have, and probably never will like a central midfield that includes both Navarro and Miller... other than that, pretty much as expected (although maybe McCormack and McEveley could have been swapped).

It's shocking that we have a squad so small we only have 4 subs. Should never get to that, and it might have been nice to give some youth the experience of a first team matchday.

Suspect Ferry is left out because of the pitch more than anything.

He is obviously doing it to make a point but its a bit silly not putting Cox or Rooney on the bench.

There are no disadvantages having them on the bench, but potentially there is by not having them sitting there.

i honestly don't understand the Cox thing

Pack is on the bench for Cheltenham tonight

If he's expecting a more physical, less technical game that's probably the midfield to go with.

Also there might only be 4 of them, that still looks a decent bench though!

When we played Colchester at home they were piss poor but well organised and battled. So I see sense, however who is going to break them down?

Who is that scoring
Andy Williams

The got myself a gun bit at the end of the sopranos opening credits

If Williams has found his running boots it could be a case of getting balls into channels and AW/RDV/GR getting it on Rooney's head.

A win for my birthday would be lovely. Would take a point though.

Happy Birthday Nemo.......mine on Friday ;D

Reckon there will be goals in this.......3-2 Town.

Don't care about the performance, just want those 3 points tonight.

Hope Rooney carries on where he left off.

This

COYR

"You're supposed to be at home"

"We've brought more fans than you"

"My garden shed..."

Good effort from the away end.

Weird ground Colcheter. Old mental asylum next to it.

Town fans sounding ace!

 :toocool:

Hope they don't cart Paolo away!

happy birthday Nemo!

[url width=236 height=177]http://i.imgur.com/N4PKPop.gif[/url]

He already said he wouldn't take them for the sake of it, has no intention of playing them anyway.

Plus they haven't trained with the squad for quite a while, apparently...

Come on Swindon

Evening chaps!

Quiet tonight.

For some stupid reason I'm optimistic tonight.

Doesn't sound like a classic game, on another shit pitch though.

Off the line from Rooney's shot

Rooney misses from Wards cross.

Sounds like we just picked up :)

Come on lads grind out a win!

Sounds better. Come on Town.

Sounds worse. Come on Town.

Fodders-another good save

sounds as though Roberts is giving it a go

We sound as wasteful as we were pre-Tranmere game.

It sounds to me like a repeat of the Crawley performance.

it sounds to me like i'm going to need a coffee for the second half.

Severalls Mental Hospital, Mile End. think it closed in the late 90s and was left to rack and ruin.

I have beer, may have to switch to some form of caffeine.

there is beer in the fridge...although one is called Oxford Gold, not sure i should touch it

Correct. I walked past it on the way to the pub there. Very eerie

Despite its dodgy name, its a nice beer. Safer not to touch it tonight though.

My wife's grandad spent some time in there, she got lost in the corridors whilst visiting him and never went back  :eek:

I'm drinking Italian whine.

how the fuck did that get in your fridge - don't touch it without full chemical warfare suit or throw your whole fridge out, its contaminated.

Think I'll put the kettle on and make a nice cup of tea!

wife bought it. she likes proper beer and there's not much choice over here, everything is lager.

i'd divorce the bitch if my wife brought anything with that name into my house - she knows better. Surely, you've got the translation issues sorted.

Collins for RDV, Williams out to the wing then?

337 away fans is a very decent effort

Come on Town

I love this:

[url width=570 height=428]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/jamiethon/monkey-orchid-2_zps0dc1ddc1.jpg[/url]

It's a monkey orchid, it even has eyebrows.

More likely Rooney to the wing I'd have thought, given past form.

I have a cup of tea.

After the Carlisle game, I thought we could push on and win the league.
I wasn't anticipating that things would fall apart quite so spectacularly; I should've known, having been a Town fan since 1984.

I'm just amazed that last year went as well as it did! Right now, I'd take the play-offs if offered. The real annoyance is that there's no team taking things by storm at the top; it could've been us! Now it looks like it could be Bournemouth but everyone else seems to be stuttering.

oh hi, is this your fire? don't mind if i piss all over it do you?

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/naturalwonders/ss/Monkey-Orchid-Photo.htm

(sorry, i googled it cos i thought it looked awesome)

I thought Williams went wing against Crawley? (memory is shocking)

gol

1-0

Woohoo

Super sub.

YESSSSSSS.

YES JIM

get in there!!!

Yesssss Collins!!!

We score first. Yes.

Shabba.

Get in, come on Town!

fucking yaaaaaaaaaaaay

COME OOOOON!!!

GET INNN!

Could be a massive 3 points tonight now.

Strength in the face of adversity  :clap:

Fucking get in.

Got back just in time to hear the goal! Yippee!

I actually haven't got a fucking clue, now I think about it. Just seems Paolo has a penchant for putting Rooney out there when Williams would seem the more logical choice.

My STFC player is about a minute behind !!!

BAZINGA !!!

As usual then.

Your real says it's a real photo though:


Just the name was wrong.

Oh and yeah. GET THE FUCK IN COLLINS

we have our very own "Steve Heighwey"

Yeessssssssssss

1-0?

[url width=288 height=199]http://i.imgur.com/Agxi7Ln.gif[/url]

Normal.

Thought mine was more on the ball tonight.

Colchester having the ball as twitter say's we scored says it isn't...

I rely on Twitter for up to date commentary

PDC.....his tactics just lately have been spot on.

Pure Gold.

If I give another blast of negativity, can we get a second?

Back up to 3rd as it stands and within 2 points of the top.

Fezza on for Navv.

say we are going up, well maybe anyway

I just went for a crap and we go a goal up. I'll have to keep them brewing for use on matchdays in future.

No surprise, first start since October.

And he's just been booked.

Its lucky for you that the games are coming thick and fast at the moment then isn't it, you'd better hope that we don't get many more called off

Try refreshing the page! Did the trick here

As it stands we're 2 points off 2nd and 1st with a game in hand on 2nd and over 10 goals in hand. :)

Sets up a beauty of game at Tranmere assuming we do business on Saturday and see the game out tonight

We'd have played the same number of games as Tranmere, and Donny would have a game over us.

Still looking good though

On another note-can someone please remove that fat twat Ruddock's face from the OS?

Excellent.  I thought I'd try the old trick of not having the radio on tonight for a bit of luck. So far, so good and my prediction of Colchester to win 2-0 also goes out the window.

Swindon fans sound outstanding for only 300 odd there

WE ARE PAOLO'S RED AND WHITE ARMY

i can't see his mug on there?

just got in and have seen us 1.o up.

how does it sound like we've been playing? Fans sound in good voice

BetButler advert

You're lucky! Keeps popping up on some advert!

Pilin' it on now!

Fair play to the 300 odd who went, they are creating all the noise.

Hanging on to this lead would be a superb result.

great singing from Town

We are Paolo's red and white army

if you use Chrome or Firefox get AdBlock.

if you don't use Chrome or Firefox, use Chrome!

i've got that on my mac. works a treat

I would like a second goal please town.

I use Firefox but wouldnt have a clue how to activate it

Rooney's name being chanted. Sounds like he had a good game.

Sounds like Rooney has put a good shift in, Pleased for him.

McCormack on for Rooney

Coventry fucking it up in front of 30,000+ hopefully knock them back in the league.

Looks like Micheal Timlin has just got a very nasty injury, the defender just full on kicked him the leg.

Save from Roberts header

Thought that was in from Roberts, good save from the keeper.

Four mins of added time.

Come on Town

4 mins added

4 mins added time

Come on town

goal set up by Roberts and had a good chance now, sounds positive. if he can continue to improve then it'll help fill the Ritchie shaped void

Save from Flint header

Tick tock, tick tock...

blow the fucking whistle

FULL TIME,   Great result for Town.

Get in!!!

ft

great result

Excellent result

Great result and now in a great position in the league, well done Town.

fucking yes

Next few days will be key to this season.

Massive win

Fucking great win!!!!

Yesssssss. Loving that result !!

Booooooooooooooooom! Massive win!!!

Marvellous tonic after a traumatic week. Well done Paolo and the lads

Bloody well done Town!

Fantastic support from those that went by the sounds of it.

YES!! Great result. 5 points from the last 3 games, and just 1 conceded. Not bad at all under the circumstances. Looking forward to Tranmere (A) now, provided we stay in touch between now and then.

Well done to all those who went. Great effort - such a long way, and they sang all night.

A brilliant 3 points.

Nice one...great result

Massive win

Roll on Saturday and a very winnable game

4 points from last two away games under difficult conditions within the club. fucking ace

Job done on the pitch.  Now get it done off the field.

Well done to everyone tonight.  Staying focused cannot have been easy.

fabulous

[url width=400 height=224]http://i.imgur.com/XfdhaKY.gif[/url]

Great result. Sounded far better once we got ourselves in front. Can't wait for Saturday, it feels like it's been so long.

Was just going to ask how long left.  Get in - Brilliant 3 points under the circumstances.  Well done all!!

Great win, fantastic noise from the away fans. Marvellous.

Brilliant result!

YEs!!!

Brilliant result - Town fans sounded amazing tonight. Suprised the 300 odd could sound so loud! Well done to the all that went...

we only need 14.

My Player is about a minute or so behind. I wont change it until after the Paolo interview. So please be patient.

Huge win.

I am in the conspiracy camp regarding them calling off the original fixture so this result feels even sweeter  :)

Fantastic result tonight at a hard place to get a result, excellent all round.

Well done Swindon and very well done to all the fans that went tonight, you did us proud.

BOOM! Really really good win on its own in those conditions let alone with all the off field shenanigans  :clap:

And this is why Paolo Di Canio is the best in the business :clap:

Very pleased with that - when a lot of factors were against us we came through.

Sounds like Paolo's post-match celebration with the fans was back to its usual routine

2 awkward away games, 4 points and no Matt Ritchie.

There is life after MR and this side has bollocks

Delighted to see Gary Roberts respond so positively as well.  After his horror show at Orient, this is just what we needed to see.  Very happy.

Sometimes I do wonder if all this PdC kerfuffle has been engineered by the man himself to get the club to close ranks and get through an awkward period.

The fella is a fucking magician

That was a brief cameo though, he had been steadily improving previously - and thankfully, since.

10 games unbeaten and 2 points off top of the league. Not a bad place to be all things considered.

A Champions League Claaaaaaab, A Champions League Claaaaab

Hilarious

What are we meant to take from that interview??

NMH not required.

Wow

That was quick,very strange....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/The_Simpsons-Jeff_Albertson.png
shortest interview ever

The PDC post match rant :

- Only to say something about players
- This was their victory not mine. My players
- If someone would have committed even 10% as much as they did we could be a Champions League club!
- We had many problems, but the players are fantastic
- Thanks to the fans
- If someone puts in only 10% of the effort of my players then the club will have a very good future
- For once I wanted to only say a few words and then stop.

You fallen in the guiness vat? He's good he's not omnipotent though :)  Great result well done all, players , staff and fans who went.

Motivator extraordinaire.

"PAOLO DI CANIO, PAOLO DI CANIO"

Harrumph!

Bloody odd interview from PDC. Not sure what that was about:

- Wanted just to say "fantastic, this victory was the players" and something about if someone did 10% of that effort we would be a champions league club.

Erm..

Very worrying interview

No idea what to make of that. Perhaps he just wanted to avoid difficult questions? Let's hope so.

I think this is absolutely the case. I know some think he's got the intelligence of piss and just blows his top for no reason, but I like to think he's got a touch of Jose Mourinho genius about him.

i think it's safe to assume that the "someone" in this equation is Black & Patey.

Says you!

2 'n's in Guinness!!! (pedant)

PDC only spoke to local media and not the national media.

+1

Not like him to not milk a good win though.... Worrying

Nothing to worry about, probably just left the gas on at home and needs to get on.

Surely there would be massive unfinished business if he were to go at this stage? Look how far we've come and where we are right now in the space of less than 2 seasons! There is a job to be finished and come what may I hope Di Canio sees it through until at least the end of the season...who know where we could be or where the STFC Rollercoaster will take us by the end of the season!  :sherlock:

If that was a goodbye, it was very un-PDC.  More his style to have said a little more?

i really would not be suprised if forest have been in contact

Or he wanted to avoid forest based questioning..

Don't know what to make of it.

But either way, the man is a motivational genius.

Whatever 'game' he's playing, seems to be working. Let's hope it's just a game

Maybe he wants to say goodbye after a home game ?

The new lot are never going to get a hearing from the fans (or will have to work very hard to get one) if Paolo leaves now, with the team just 2 points off the top.

this is where we have the upper hand - nobody knows who is in charge, so who would they contact to ask permission from?

Collins:
- Massive 3 points as it was game in hand on Tranmere
- Went his way tonight. Wasn't at his best over last 2 games so understood why he was on the bench
- Every striker wants to play every game. Just came on and tried to work hard
- Commented that Roberts had a great game tonight
- Few of lads had virus before the Crawley game. Whether we are ill or not we want to pull together
- Getting a victory with travelling with only 14 was great
- 3 terrible pitches in 3 games. Looking forward to playing at County Ground
- Going into Saturday full of confidence.

Whatever he's up to, none of us can change what will be.

If this week turns out to be the end, so be it. He'll always get a hero's welcome in SN1 - and rightly so.

He'll go with my best wishes - but he's a hard, if not impossible, act to follow

agreed!

Navarro just suggested PDC brought him off. snigger!

Well the emergency loan window opens on Thursday, so I'd be very surprised if details of the new owners and how Paolo's position is affected do not start to emerge tomorrow.

How to put a dampener on a great away win...

So we can't even bask in the win, now we're all concerned by Di Canio's interview or lack of.  When will this end?  I'm tired of the uncertainty, unsettlement and worry :(

Fucks Sake. Paolo does something different from the usual and he's off. Bollocks.
He will still be here Saturday where the chants of "Paolo We Want You To stay" will ring out around the entire ground.
Great win tonight and really looking forward to Saturday.

Navarro:
- Nice to get pitch time
- Biding time before getting back on
- Have been working hard on fitness since Xmas. Difficult to do in training
- Legs started going after 30 mins so it was right for PDC to bring him off
- Tricky game. Massive result after 2 draws
- Keeps promotion push going
- Would have liked more than 5 points from last 3 games, but they weren't easy
- Imbalance time at club: A lot happening. PDC reassured them to concentrate on their own performance. What goes on behind the scenes is not the players business

By the weekend I would have thought.

Hodgetts went through a time warp to ask us to tune in to BBC Wiltshire Sound!

i think i need a kneejerk reaction gif.

Rather than needlessly speculate i'll take Morshead view, who was presumably stood right there

"PDC's message post-match was simply praising his players. Nothing more, nothing less. Didn't sound like a farewell speech."

Pretty sure Nottm Forest fans are saying the owners are targetting Billy Davies

 :D

Great time to get a full CG on saturday I feel...

Why when Swindon are on the cusp of something great do we always fuck it up ??

Are we going to this time?

yeah, i definitely need to find a gif for this

We'll see. It's certainly gone a bit shit. Take last season for example, yeah we won the league but we lost twice to Oxford and didn't show up at Wembley, again. Does my head in.

great win by the lads , picking up points nicely away from home the losses we were getting are turning to draws and the draws into wins  . If we  keep up the recent great home form then  top 2 is well within our grasp . As seen on saturday, other teams will drop points  . Lets bask in a great victory tonight and worry about tomorrow , er.. tomorrow. And well done all who went  , incredible noise .

'WE WANT YOU TO STAY , WE WANT YOU TO STAAAY
PAOLO DI CANIO , WE WANT YOU TO STAY '

To be honest I think he didn't want to answer the same questions over & over about what his future is, because I really don't think he has an idea what the answer is at the moment.

It still seems to me that he will talk to the new owners, and make his decision based on those discussions.

That should Tern things around

Paolo once again deflecting fans attention away from the win. How else could we be 2 points off the top and not be discussing that? He's helped keep our feet on the ground and the pressure off the players. There's more talk about off the pitch matters, so why not use that to your advantage?

Well done Paolo.

I do hope so.  Assuming it's not bad news of course.

Come on FL pull your finger out in time for the opening of the emergency loan window.  This could be the difference as to whether Paolo is still manager this time next week.

[url width=360 height=270]http://i.imgur.com/0hW4UDS.gif[/url]

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Ralphy, take your valium and calm down!!

[url width=500 height=197]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8th5gzOK21qkiv4h.gif[/url]

I think he just wanted to talk about the players. At the moment the majority of singing and questions is all about pdc yet the boys are still doing it on the pitch. I think on this occasion he wants the players to be in the limelight more so than him. I think he would hav said more if he was going, he has too much respect for the fans.

I didn't hear the post match interview but FWIW I don't think there's any point people trying to de-cypher and break down every last syllable that Di Canio utters. I personally don't think he has anything to gain by walking away now so I'm just hanging on to that thought.

First half was very frustrating tonight, with the final ball being over-hit, under-hit or mis-hit. Enjoyed the second half though, thought Collins made a big difference coming on at half time, Williams ran his socks off, as did Roberts. Wes pulled off a world class save  in the first half (as did their keeper from Roberts right at the end). Could easily have ended up with 3 or 4. I have to say, in the last two games, I've not seen Flint miss a tackle or header - outstanding. Very very solid team performance.

If Di Canio can keep his head we will finish in the top two.

Edit: Oh yeah, the table looks pretty damned good right now - we ain't fucked it up yet Ralphy!

BBC.com match report finishes with "And it remains to be seen whether the victory, which would have been more comfortable had Roberts and Aden Flint beat Sam Walker with late headers, will be enough to convince the former West Ham striker that his future lies at the County Ground." I hope they're wrong

I don't think today's result will make much difference either way. Just a journalistic cliche being trawled out.

Well, to be fair, it does remain to be seen. Pointless trying to work out what Paolo's interview meant. We'll find out pretty soon I guess.

Extra money in the Kittywake too

Firstly, well done Flashheart. I feel the power of poetry may have contributed to this fantastic away win.

The performance came across as very workman-like and our 337 fans sounded great.

The Di Canio interview? Is anyone really surprised?

As difficult as it may prove to do, with the greatest of respect to Hartlepool, we need to create a cauldron of noise on Saturday, if there is any hope of keeping Paolo, a near 10k crowd can make a lot of noise. For what he has achieved with our club in such a short space of time I truly believe he deserves this. He commands 110% from his players, now is the time for the fans to return the same passion and effort he has put in to getting us to 3rd in League 1, 2 points off the top, with a massive +31 goal difference.

Who knows, the circus may well have came to an end by then and Banbury United's Under 12's coach may well be caretaker manager, but lets assume Saturday arrives, 2 or 3 new loan signings have arrived and some form of clarity regarding the ownership of the club is in the public domain. I for one will be singing "Stand Up For Di Canio".

kittiwake.

If not, it could get Auk-ward

I think you could put Paolo in a room with 3 psychiatrists and you will get 3 answers – “he’s nuts”, “he’s a genius”, and “I have no idea what the fuck was that all about”.  The same goes for that interview.

I’m sure the new owners of the club know how much Paolo means not just to the team and the fans, but dare I say it to the town as a whole, however singing his name loud and proud for 90-minutes on Saturday would leave them totally clear that we are right behind him and they need to get behind him too.

Billy Davies now in at 4/11 to be next Forest boss, Paolo out to 5/1 (Skybet)

Decent win. Not so long ago, you wouldn't fancy our chances at Colchester on a [cliché alert] cold Tuesday night.

A reasonably important 48 hours ahead for Swindon Town.

From the BBC Website, re. the Forest vacancy:

"McLeish was understood to be angered by the club's failure to sign players during the January transfer window"

Can't see DiCanio being an ideal fit there.

Great result ! well done the lads, PDC, and the fans that made the trip. Unbelievable effort paticularly over the last few weeks with the shit stirring that has been going on.

Forest have had three managers this season, do you really think Paolo would to to an unstable club like that. Fuck me there would be blood on the carpet in the directors lounge within the first week.

He knows the situation at Swindon, he also knows that under the new owners he'll have the run of the place. Paolo would not take a job where he was not top dog making all the decisions. Also there are not to many chairman who would want our manager running rings around them.

Better the devil you know.

Jimmy floyd hasslebank ( spelling ?) has been approached by forest regarding a position at the club, not sure in what capacity though.

Just seen our goal on Sky sports, great lay off by Roberts and cracking finish by Collins.

Pitch looked crap...did they have the floodlights on or was it just the camera? Either way a great finish and a great 3 points!

Collins celebrating by cupping his ear  :) what was that all about? If he was getting any stick from their fans we would of heard them  ;)Sssshhhhhhh

I wish Roberts turned in performances like that at home so more fans would get off his back. If he's not quite the Gary Roberts superstar winger he was in his heyday, he's making up for it with his workrate now, a bit like McGovern did in his good season with us.

Poor first half but good second half and enjoyable away day. Ferry and Collins changed the game. Felt like an important win. Town fans in great voice in empty stadium. Longest 'We are Paolo's Red and White Army' i've ever heard!

He looked totally pumped at the end! Grabbing his players and hugging them. Didn't look like a man that wanted away.

Did he do the scarf above the head thing?

Nope, but he was 10x more enthusiastic than he was at Crawley.

Just got back to my hotel room.

Text came through.....fucking get in.....revenge for that shit earlier in the season.

Hope he stays.

Well done to those hardy fuckers who went!

@SamMorshead_SA: Just got off a half hour phone call which gave me no reason to believe an ounce of that Mirror story. #stfc

I wouldn't have much faith in  that. Last time I sang my guts out I had two 20 plus year of age guys titter in my direction. There are so many people in the town end so embarrassed about what might people think if they raise their voices. Fucking cowards. It is embarrassing. We are in the end game of the most joyful period in our history, with possibly the most charismatic figure in footballing history, and they are mute!!! Fuck 'em, go laugh at yourselves when we are back in the doldrums, you wretched scumbags.

Titter, titter, get on with your little lives.


*Not directed at those who bother to make a noise*


They deserve the club they fail to cheer into existence.

It's all very well not being confident because you're shy, but to point at others, well, no wonder our home atmosphere is so shite. That's right, meet up with Leefer, have a few drinks in the pub and then lose your voice, you know who you are! We are undergoing an upheaval that will rip apart the most exuberant chapter in our club's history, and yet no voice?

Mike Newell and Brian Stein. Shudder. Let's hope Moorshead is right!!

No, but he was well, well up for it though, as Bruce said.


I thought that was a bit odd as well.

Maybe he was mocking their complete lack of atmosphere and attendance.

He does play in front of 8k every other week after all :D

I thought we were brilliant last night.

Small squad, illness in the camp, another horrendous pitch and yet we showed great character and we should have won by more in the end. The change to 3 up front in the second half really mad a difference. Wes made a couple of good saves in the first half, but after that they never looked like scoring.

Rooney looked good, as did Collins when he came on. Roberts had another decent game and I thought Ward and Thompson were brilliant as well.

Town fans were a credit to the club again, great turnout and a decent atmosphere, especially in the second half.

I can safely say I don't want to be heading back to Colchester any time soon. Awful location for a ground, no atmosphere from the home fans and a ridiculous amount of empty seats. Although the buses to and from the station that they put on are quite good.

Fantastic 3 points in in difficult circumstances!

Highlights are up on player now. Though the sound doesn't work for me. Anyone else?

no sound for me

You need to upgrade to the Platinum package for sound.

does that update the video to something that looks like it wasn't filmed on a mobile phone from about 5 years ago  ???

No, that's the Titanium Package.  ;)

Works for me if you change the quality to med or high. On low there is no sound.

a usual Colchester home game then

Rooney looks a completely different player from those highlights. Fair play to him.

great result
Should be a good attendance on saturday with the reduction in prices

possibly roberts best 90 minutes in a town shirt. Very unlucky not to score at the end having already played his part in setting up Collins goal

Hopefully he will get some confidence back with game time and we see what we know he was/is capable of.

Rooney and Roberts seem to have turned the corner.

Where are the highlights.

Agree, Roberts was very unlucky not to score yesterday, their keeper made a great save from his header.

The quality of those highlights is truly shocking!

I presume this is actually a question. They're on the OS.

Cheers

The Goal or Calne?

Fully expect Roberts to be played on the right if we can still get Green (who I believe is right footed & would therefore play on the left given PDC's tendency to utilise wingers on their less favoured flank). Expect to see him getting far more opportunities on goal if this is the case.