Thetownend.com

Fixtures are out at 9am this morning, to kick it all off. Let's have a round of who we want/will get on the opening day.

I predict an uninspiring home game against Colchester. Over to you...

Orient away

Barnsley away

Fleetwood away
Should be some decent weather  :pint:

Fleetwood, Bristol or Yeovil away please

Yeovil away please.

I'd like Bristol away, seeing as I've gone to the trouble of moving there.

More importantly, who do we want on MDT duties? Has Shaw Rosso got anything left to say? Is anyone else good enough to follow him? Will a dark horse emerge with a new slant? It's just too exciting for words.

Shaw Rosso ran out of things to say at Christmas

Will we be away on Boxing Day for the 8th straight season?

That sounds like a bid.

That would mean we'll probably be at home boxing day, no chance! Crewe or Chesterfield at home, something dull like that.

That seems to be the only worthwhile question....not sure I can remember such an uninspiring potential fixture list. We should be due a home game for first up, so most likely some norvern monkeys.

I'd like Fleetwood away.

I swear to god i'm going to kick off with a strongly worded email if we are sweat to orient in boxing day.

Strongly worded.

They wont understand it ;)

Scunny home first day then.

...missing out on Boxing Day, again.

Away Boxing day yet a fucking gain.

Other than the holiday season, it's a good spread at first glance.

Beyond a joke....a lot of STFC fans think the FL have it in for us....

Where's the entire list?

Shitty away on Easter Monday will be fun.

Fleetwood away 3rd Jan - if either of us make it to the 3rd round of the FA Cup that'll be moved to a Tuesday which would be a shame

A decent start for us. Now we just need a decent team to put out!

We haven't had a home Boxing Day game now since 2006-7 home to Wycombe. Must be some sort of unwanted record.

On the OS

Swindon Town's 2014-15 fixture list

Sat, Aug 9: Scunthorpe United (H)
w/c Aug 11: Luton Town (A) (Capital One Cup 1)
Sat, Aug 16: Crawley Town (A)
Tue, Aug 19: Gillingham (A)
Sat, Aug 23: Crewe Alexandra (H)
Sat, Aug 30: Coventry City (H)
Sat, Sep 6: Chesterfield (A)
Sat, Sep 13: Bradford City (A)
Tue, Sep 16: Oldham Athletic (H)
Sat, Sep 20: Sheffield United (H)
Sat, Sep 27: Barnsley (A)
Sat, Oct 4: Leyton Orient (A)
Sat, Oct 11: Preston North End (H)
Sat, Oct 18: Yeovil Town (A)
Tue, Oct 21: Rochdale (H)
Sat, Oct 25: Colchester United (H)
Sat, Nov 15: Bristol City (H)
Sat, Nov 22: Peterborough United (A)
Sat, Nov 29: Fleetwood Town (H)
Sat, Dec 13: Notts County (A)
Sat, Dec 20: Doncaster Rovers (H)
Fri, Dec 26: Walsall (A)
Sun, Dec 28: Port Vale (H)
Sat, Jan 3: Fleetwood Town (A)
Sat, Jan 10: Coventry City (A)
Sat, Jan 17: Chesterfield (H)
Sat, Jan 24: Bradford City (H)
Sat, Jan 31: Sheffield United (A)
Sat, Feb 7: Barnsley (H)
Tue, Feb 10: Oldham Athletic (A)
Sat, Feb 14: Scunthorpe United (A)
Sat, Feb 21: Crawley Town (H)
Sat, Feb 28: Crewe Alexandra (A)
Tue, Mar 3: Gillingham (H)
Sat, Mar 7: Notts County (H)
Sat, Mar 14: Port Vale (A)
Tue, Mar 17: Doncaster Rovers (A)
Sat, Mar 21: Walsall (H)
Sat, Mar 28: Colchester United (A)
Sat, Apr 4: Franchise (H)
Mon, Apr 6: Bristol City (A)
Sat, Apr 11: Peterborough United (H)
Tue, Apr 14: Rochdale (A)
Sat, Apr 18: Yeovil Town (H)
Sat, Apr 25: Preston North End (A)
Sat, May 2: Leyton Orient (H)

At least, it's Walsall away, which is easy enough to get to....and not fucking East London.  The other plus, the second festive fixture is not NYD, which I hate, but a Saturday.

There's really very little in there to get the juices going.....Chesterfield away, in September maybe, a new ground, but sure it can't be a patch on Saltergate, which was classic.

I like a trip to Spotland, but a Tuesday night  :(     Fleetwood away could have been fun, but 3rd Jan, maybe not.

That's a tough looking end to the season.

With so many Norvern teams maybe there will be extra STFC support at those that are relatively close

Easter Monday, Bristol Shitty away is the stand out for me.  Overtime for the police for that one...

August is good, 3 home games and local matches at Crawley and Luton.

September is bobbins, might book a holiday for the month!

Really all we can do atm, is take baby steps.  What looked like a reasonably promising position a back in Feb/March, was torpedoed by the Court case.

It's been spookily quiet through the close season....maybe nothing to worry about, but given our history, you have to.. :(

No franchise away?

Gills home and away on Tuesday evenings?   :sherlock:

I think the end of season run in looks good:

Sat, Apr 4: Franchise (H) - Draw
Mon, Apr 6: Bristol City (A) - 3pts
Sat, Apr 11: Peterborough United (H) - half decent stab at 3pts.
Tue, Apr 14: Rochdale (A) - 3pts.
Sat, Apr 18: Yeovil Town (H) - Piss easy 3 pts.
Sat, Apr 25: Preston North End (A) - Draw/Loss
Sat, May 2: Leyton Orient (H) - Draw

Obviously this all depends on many factors but it looks a half decent chance at sneaking into the playoffs/autos at the end of next season.

Most of the quietness I put down to the court case, there is no way Power will invest in manpower or signings if he is no longer deemed to be in control of the club come the 26th June.

If Jed is (however unlikely it seems) said to have a stake/full ownership of the club then there are many rumours he will oust Cooper from his role (cue Cooper haters joy) so it is entirely understandable that there is a deafening silence from the CG at the moment.

I don't like it either but I fully appreciate that nothing can be done until that date.

At least most players arent even out of contract until the 1st July so I doubt we have missed out on any potential signings yet, even though PdC would have probably signed 12 players by now :D

More importantly, where's Si Pie's iCal app?

All good points...

this

Yeah Si, pull your finger out. It's been 2 hours since the fixtures came out!

That's because bar a couple of brief flirtations with the basement division, we've been stuck in Division Three for nearly 15 years now.  All these Chesterfields, Colchesters, Tranmeres and Orients are starting to blend in to an indistinguishable mass of sameness.

I can see our away support plumetting with the Slave Traders being the only decent one. Heres hoping for a good cup run.

Not just that. Over the recent past, there's been a Wolves, Forest, Leeds, Leicester, Norwich, Soton down here, to leaven the dough a bit, some seasons even a couple of them.

Then, sometimes locals like Rovers, Cheltnumb to add a bit of spice.   A seaside trip, like a Bormuff, Plymuff, Pompey, Brighton or even a Torquay, is always welcome....but now all somewhere else.

No, however you want to look at it, aside from Bristol City, there's not much to excite.

Coventry is Ok, though.

It's like the old Division 3 (North) has be resurrected just for us!

Coventry, playing at Sixfields in front of 1500, doesn't quite cut it.

A very good summary Reg.

It's pretty bloody dull this season, isn't it?

 :badmood:

Why no Jan 1st fixtures?  That is surely a first.

I was only thinking of ease of travel, really, in comparison to the multitude of Norvern outposts

CUE: Yippeeeee!

Not bothered now....just need this board thing dusted.

Barnsley away is one of my last 6 to do.

City on Easter Monday looks good.

Prem playing that day  :hmmm:

Nothing other than a guess but, with New Year's Day falling on a Thursday, you really have to choose between having a game on Jan 1st or Jan 3rd.  Otherwise, you would have 4 games in 9 days (Dec 26th to Jan 3rd incl), which would be pushing it a little.

Faced with the choice of having a game on Jan 1st or Jan 3rd, Jan 3rd is probably the more sensible option given that the following day (a Sunday) is going to be a day off for more people.  Just a guess.

Equally aren't 'holiday' games supposed to be local to help the fans travel, Fleetwood away? I live in Lancaster which is only about 20 mile up the road and its a ball ache to get to on public transport even from here!

Oh and my other local game Preston away is on the wifes birthday....  thanks fixture computer...

Well that's her present sorted then.

Judging by the fixtures can only see myself getting to 5 away games next season - As mentioned Shitty away Easter Monday looks like the stand out in what is a very Northern league!

Also, what is it with the FLs computer? Away again on a boxing day ffs!

Orient away is always a great day out and going to do it again this year but I wont waste money and go to the game this time.
Ruined a good day out that did.

Like a few others, am rather pissed off that we are away on Boxing Day for the 8th yr running so I emailed the Football League asking them to explain how this can be fair. 

This is the response I received, don't know why I expected to get a decent answer! sorry it's a bit long winded.  :hmmm:

Thank you for your email.
 
We have raised your query with our fixtures and competitions department who have advised the following.
 
Swindon Town are one of three teams in League 1 who do not have a natural pairing, others are Crewe Alexandra and Gillingham. Pairing are when clubs are linked together, usually due to proximity and thus avoid fixture clashes, assisting with club and local authority requests. You will note that all of these three teams are away on Boxing Day so it was difficult to force a Swindon change to be at home in any of the available slots in the pairing grid.  There are a number of potential knock-on effects of pairings. One such example may be knocking all South Yorkshire clubs to be at home and all permutations have to be considered. However the fixture officer was aware of the frequency of away games you note and will certainly look at this for next season.
 
By way of some background, The Football League works with the clubs themselves in attempting to shape fixture lists that meet the majority of clubs’ approval. This is due to the complex methodology involved in the compilation of the fixture lists. The fixtures are worked on for many months by The Football League’s competitions department and our fixture scheduling partners. During this time all considerations and requests from all clubs are considered by The Football League, to get to a position where most are satisfied with the final list.
 
Along with certain basic competition rules on home and away frequencies, often there are several circumstances which dictate when fixtures will fall and many are specific to individual clubs (such as when near neighbours are home/away or whether there is a local public event/activity taking place on a certain date). Once the fixture lists have been compiled, Clubs will consult the Football League’s competitions department to attempt to mould their fixture list in their favour but it is extremely difficult to meet all clubs’ requests.
 
There may be specific reasons why a club has indicated they might wish to play a certain fixture at home or away so it might be worth consulting with the Club regarding a specific date/change.
 
A couple of historical online resources may provide further insight into the process for you.
 
Football League FAQ – Fixtures Explained http://www.football-league.co.uk/features/20120618/behind-the-scenes-compiling-the-fixture-list_2293307_2813098   
 
News story on The Guardian from 2013 regarding the compilation process http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/15/fixtures-premier-league-football-league-compiled  
 
Thank you for contacting The Football League.
 
Kind Regards,

Least you got a reply!

So would shitty not be a pairing? Or did they get yeovil in the FL game of snap

Would've thought so wouldn't you, but I guess The Gas Heads  still have to be taken into the equation even if they are non league (stiffles snigger) Was going to say the Police overtime bill would probably scupper any chance of us playing them on a bank holiday, but we are at Trashton  Gate Easter Monday, so god knows!

If Crewe is not a natural pairing with Port Vale at a distance of about 12 miles, then their argument falls flat on it's face.

That's a fact....FACT

Us being at home on the same day as Bristol City is hardly the same as City and Rovers being at home on the same day.

I thought I got the whole natural pairings thing and then thought wouldn't not having one make us be more likely to be at home and not away?!

At this point I gave up trying to understand and went back to my mildly irritated state.

Peterborough have had 4/24 home boxing day matches apparently.

That's an average of 1 every 6 years. Lucky bastards.

Samdy, did you do one of your rather excellent calender spreadsheet thingys that I can import into google calendar?

Not yet, no. If I get a chance, I'll do it tomorrow.

Thanks Sam!

I'm looking forward to the club putting the pricing structure to the fixtures. No standouts for £27.

Link for various OS to add calendar of fixtures.

http://www1.skysports.com/calendars