Thetownend.com

The club is an absolute shambles.

Why ffs when Ling is manager did Williams pick the team today?

If you're gonna bring a new manager in, at least give him autonomy over coaching, recruitment and tactics. In my opinion nothing whatsoever is likely to change. Poor Ling is onto a loser.

Where has the money gone- I shall be scrutinising the next accounts with interest. The following we have had in receipts in last season:

Gladwin and Loungo (£4m)
Byrne (£1m)
Thompson £800k
Wembley money est £500k

I understand we would not have received all the above due to sell ons and instalments but I feel that we are being taken for mugs here. Also why is the new training ground not in the clubs name?

Trust STFC should be asking serious questions...

Spot on

Calm down have a beer. Worked for me last week. This week I don't give a fuck we lost.

Man up and join in. We're the worst team in the history of football. Live with it Sutton.

Gloom, doom and stuff. (How did I do)?

According to Ling because that's what he (Ling) decided would work best as Williams knows the players and he doesn't yet
Well, you've answered your own point there. We haven't had all that in in the last season, just the initial payments
Because the club isn't paying for it. All of this has been covered (repeatedly and at length) elsewhere

Don't know if you saw it, but my Millwall mate actually said that after our showing there.

good enough flash h, good enough...

now can anyone hire Wallace Hartley's ghost to play a tune for us at the game Saturday

Power's recruitment has been shite this season. Ojamma, Balmy, Barry...FFS these wouldnt even get into some league 2 sides. Need an overhaul in January.

And now your starting with your well reasoned arguments PaulD. For fucks sake man!

Only because you sell a player for £4 million doesn't mean you have £4 million to spend.

The club is debt free remember.

There's a lot more going on at the club than most people see.

They might next season

plus we have a midfielder that's disinterested, another who barely played last season, and traore, who you can add to your list.

dining Thompson and gladwin back was a good attempt, it's not working yet and they can't do it on their own, though gladwin often tries to

Wilson did the same first game and we lost badly to Brighton, then started turning it round, but only once we got Greer in really

Forgot about Traore. He is fucking shite as well.

Getting Louis Thompson and Gladwin back says it all. Desperatly trying to get some technical ability back into the team from last season.

Sorry. FWIW, I share some of the OP's misgivings, but would prefer them to be well-founded.

shame Williams is still here

Bollocks to that.

That Brighton game first game of the season, Greer had already signed for Brighton at the start of the season. I think you are thinking of the season Greer signed when we got humped 5-0 by the pikeys in the first game of the season?

The game that day reminds me totally of this season without us leaking a bucketful...

New manager same old shite, still the plan to take us into the non league is bang on course! That Highworth training ground and sharing the Supermarine pitch for league games will keep us viable. We've got a Cambridge decline written all over us.

Like.

Can you do that on here?

I wish we could play Chelsea.

The money has most likely gone towards covering operating losses over the year.
Could well be wrong though but that's how business works.

Team is crap and I concur I'm not sure Ling will change much but we shall see.

Yep. I agree. If only it were to hurry up and happen. We could then all be happy, pat ourselves on the back and say "I told you so".

I've decided to take on a new career after my Nowegian idol film.

(http://howdoesthemovieend.com/images/jmovies/img_pictures/trollhunterposter.jpg)

TROLLJEGEREN

Sadly, I don't think he's a troll.

I've seen that movie. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Was it supposed to be a serious 'horror', or more of a parody?

Parody I think. I haven't seen it either though.

No it was 08 I think, first game that season we beat Tranny 3-1, we lost to Brighton 2-0 towards the end of the year. and it should have been 10

And you associate yourself with Norge? Shame on you.

Having said that, most of the Norwegians I know haven't seen it either  :(

@FH - it's a documentary mate

I think we've given Ling more than enough time to turn it around. I propose we turn up next Saturday with torches and pitchforks.....

I'm making a banner.

Torches are way too modern. Flaming brands are the way to go Steve.

I'll bring The straw to chew on

I fucking knew it!

It's about me in the fleshpots of Newbury

Outletred is STFC Bart.

I'm not just making a comparison either, I'm quite sure he actually is STFC Bart. (Mods, check out his email address)

You are a mod.

I knew it! I absolutely knew it!

FH is a scooter queen!

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Quadrophenia_(album).jpg)

I know I am. That's how I checked his email myself address and put 2 and 2 together you tool.

Alright, keep your knickers on.

And Sir red ken is flash heart.

I meant to say 'tool' with a wink after it, things don't always come over as you mean in the interweb.  ;)

Quite frankly I could not be more pissed off with the shambolic situation we, as fans, once again, find ourselves in. We lurch from one crisis to another and have to endure one relegation after another. Their is a culture of 'defeat' currently and the appointment of Ling does not encourage me that we are planning to maintain our L1 status and push for a future promotion challenge. I'm sorry, I genuinely like Lingy, but I do not see him as a championship manager - so in my opinion we have taken a 'soft option' which totally suits the Power / Williams stranglehold that we are currently experiencing.

Did anyone really believe we would go to Rochdale, put in an amazing performance and show a reversal of fortune - I know I didn't. I can't be alone in that.

I have supported the town for just over forty years and have seen some dark times, this feels like one of those. I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel. I have consistently been sceptical of our transfer / loan policy and I am of the opinion it's finally caught us out.

Our club is turning away fans due to results, off field negativity is hurting the attendances, performances on the pitch are equally depressing and there is a real split as to supporter / detractors of Lee Power - and therein lies the problem. The club is divided, we are not all pulling in the same direction and this culture of negativity is contributing to our current plight.

Of course I am going to get hammered for being negative but I firmly believe my post relates to realism - we are not together, we are not in good shape, we don't 100% trust our chairman and we have a real battle on our hands to avoid relegation.

That said - I pray I'm wrong...!

 :dito: :dito: :dito:

But, as said before, the club are debt free...

TBF, we don't know for sure the club is debt free. It's a case of believing Power or not as there are no accounts to prove or disprove.

There is a distinct lack of transparency about the club at the moment and Power's phone-ins answering or avoiding mostly inane questions doesn't make things clear

However, I expect that to only be the case as we use transfer fees to plug gaps.
Huge difference between being debt free and running at a profit.

I cant be the only one thay doesnt trust the finances? You have to ask the question, has Power paid back his loans with the player sale money? There is no proof of that. I also dont trust the training ground project either. Im not saying Power is evil and we may well be debt free and in a decent position but history tells me not to trust owners as far as you can throw them.

You're right never to trust owners/chairman.  Unfortunately the way football has developed over the last 30 years, clubs have become increasingly remote from their fan base....this has brought us to where we are today under the Power regime, where the detachment is more or less complete.

The final thread has been cut by being shit on the pitch.....fans were always going to cut some slack as long as we were doing OK on the pitch, but the historic current level of incompetence, is leaving many wondering what is it all about, with many questioning where this fall may end up.   The question may soon need to be asked, should fans just sullenly accept this decline and slope off, or should pressure be applied to try and expedite a change of ownership?

Nope, a healthy scepticism is good.

"debt free" is an interesting one. Power has put "millions" in, and he's taken some back out (his admission on radio) . And he doesn't know if the club are paying him interest or how much because its down to his accountant (bullshit I'd suggest). But he does know he won't get a return until he sells up.

Everything could be fine, but nobody knows one way or the other.

Has there ever been a time when 100% of fans have been fully behind the manager, coach, chairman, board, players, owner? I very much doubt it.

The last time there seemed to be a genuine positive momentum was when PDC was seen to be a leader who connected with the fans because of his dedication and passionate demeanor. Of course, not all of us readily sang his name, and the fact that he produced a winning, committed side was probably the single most important factor.

The culture of negativity you mention is basically down to results. If we started to win a few matches, the 'split' (which has credence) wouldn't be so vociferous. Power obviously has a vision as to how he wants the club to be run. For much of last season it was working and has only really been questioned since the back end of last season, and this questioning has intensified as this bad run has continued. I just don't see how the fans and club can realistically pull in the same direction if the owner's vision splits the fan-base (for, against, wait and see, don't care).

If Power's vision leads to relegation, so be it - it will have been a failure and should not be repeated. However, if it transpires that his vision has included 'dodgy' dealings designed to line his own pockets rather than for the benefit of STFC, then he should be rightly vilified. We'll just have to wait and see.

That is spot on. The only thing is if there has been some pocket-lining to the detriment of the club it will only come to light after Power had sold up.

The fact is, that apart from a very few clubs whose owners also happen to be fans, the majority of owners are in it to make money for themselves first.

If Power leaves with a few million profit and us in the Conference he wont care a shit - but we are no different in that respect to most other clubs.

It's got to the stage now when some of us oldies who have seen it all before really don't care any more.

You can be wary without being cynical. As an exiled fan, it always amuses me how many people become ITK when things are going wrong. There's a difference between reasonable skepticism and believing everything a grumpy taxi driver tells you because he picked up Michael Smith last week and he had a face on him.

Our current set up might be new to us but it's not new to the world of football. There are many clubs being run in the same way. We're annoyed about it because it's not working in terms of getting us points, but the sooner we shake off this
"DERP THE MANAGER'S A PUPPET" stuff the better, because it's not Power's fault that Kasim has suddenly decided to be scared of footballs and Rodgers has feet made of blancmange.

Many just don't get 'the middle way', Ells. If you aren't getting yourself worked up into a rage because of the the bad things that Power is definitely doing to the club, because, yeah, fact, then that means you think people should not be asking questions and should just stay quiet while power strips all assets and sees us go down to non-league and all that jazz.

It's the way things are done around here.

Cynicism becomes harder to avoid the more times you see your club shit on. human nature, once bitten twice as shy.

if power wants to act less transparently than he could do then that's up to him. it's hardly a surprise, or anything unique about Swindon fans to question things when he does.

Nobody is suggesting that people shouldn't ask questions, we keep on coming around to the same strawman again and again.

Football brings out everyones irrational side. We had the exact same model last season and everyone thought it was wonderful. Bar turnover of people, absolutely nothing has changed this season, it's just not working at all in comparison to last year. Thus, it's shit. If you believed some people, Power controls absolutely everything... The training, the tactics, the team that's picked, the subs, how long the teabag is left in, what colour boots Brophy wears, the tunes on Branco's ipod, the amount of toilet roll in the DRS. Whilst it is true he has an input, I can't understand this evil dictator some make him out to be. Fitton interfered with the team just as much and was far less open and honest about it and no one gave a shit!

Simple fact is, if it works nobody moans (well ok some still do)

I keep saying.

It's not defeats.

It was the manner of them for me.

I find it unacceptable when players don't put in a shift.

I witnessed a woeful Jimmy Quinn side hang on to a one nil at Charlton all those years ago, club was skint etc etc.....it meant something to those players....that's all I want...effort and a feeling that they and indeed the manager care.

I was at the Valley that day. After our goal, we might as well have had no outfield players. It was Charlton v Frank Talia!

I think DV mentioned something about Greer and Fitton once.

  A thought which has been niggling me this weekend.....after such an inept display, would a new manager like PdC, have given the players a day off like Lingy, or would he have thought, fuck me there's a lot to work on here, I need them in?

Personally I'd have liked to hear they'd have been in....

I have to agree with the above although I can go back slightly longer and saw some awful teams in the late fifties where if it were not for the old boys act we would have been back in the Southern Division without a doubt. It is not as bad as those days but the longer the mentality of those involved both on and off the pitch is prepared to let things trundle on as we are currently playing then I do fear for our Divvy 1 status. I was hoping that getting the "better" players back would be a turning point but it is not happening, time to be proven wrong Saturday.

I wondered a similar thing actually, we are playing poor why the days off, giving Ling 2 days training with his new team you'd think he'd want them in

Our players need a rocket up their arses, which they are not currently getting. They are having it too easy.

Do you go to training?

Going by the answers it seems that most of the TEF go to training.

No but I know what happens. (And that is not a 'i'm in the know plug).

What does happen?

Despite all these differing, contradicting offerings of FACT there is one thing that we can all be sure of, and that is that we would definitely have scored more goals had we had HIM playing.

That's not for me to say. I'm not being awkward, it's just not my place.

I did put a little bit of info BTRD, but that's it.

Spill or shut the fuck up, imo anyway.

Hence why I haven't said anything before.

What's BTRD?

By the rear door?

This thread is hilarious

Birds That Rub Dogs

Buy that ruddy dashcam?

That sounds like a rather specialised publication...

Or Reg's little black book?

Bert Trautmann's Rubber Duck

With the money we got for the players we sold don't forget we only got 50% as Spurs got the other half and Thompson was sold for 600k with adds ons based on appearances.

Are you saying that selling players is virtually pointless (just like the Town at the moment) as very little comes into our coffers.
Perhaps we should have kept them.

I think he's saying that the 'Power is a crook' brigade are over inflating the amount of money we've received from player sales. It's also common knowledge that most transfer fees are paid by instalment. It's very rare to get the full amount in one go.

Fairy snuff, but surely that would apply to us buying players too.

Apart from the fact we don't get 50% off, yeah.

Lost me there pal.

Only if HIM, was willing to go back, get the ball of the goalie and run it the length of the pitch and have a pop on goal. Otherwise he'd be just another forward, wondering what's it all about?

Blimey. Stopped clock syndrome.

Was referring to our sell on clauses to Tottenham etc, it was a bit oblique though I'll grant you.

We look like we're following the Cambridge format from a few years back, strip what little assets are available and watch the club tumble out the league. I know its easy to be full of doom but we are only going one way now, who's going to sign for us in January? the team needs defensive reinforcements but what prem/championship club is going to loan us players when they're going to experience a tonking each week. If we sign non league players it could be high risk as we may end up with a squad of them, this is going to be a hard season to turn around and I still feel that ML isn't what we needed, I do hope he and the squad prove me wrong.

Not necessarily as with our past track record of financial difficulties teams will be inclined to want much more of the fee up front. And also paying in installments is much more risky for teams like us as it could lead to cashflow issues if the trigger falls in a quiet period.

:suicide:

For someone who's "given up" on the club you do tend to write a lot of crap on here.

Look on the bright side....Cambridge managed to hang about in the Conference and get back in the league, eventually. It's more your Torquays, Stockports and Herefords, you need to worry about.

We're not quite at the trap door yet, but the next 4 games will probably settle it. Should Lingy manage to keep his job into the new year, then at least if he is retained, he's experience of both Div 4 and the Conference.

I agree Reg, we can be the first team in history relegated before Christmas. Why not eh?!

The real issue with this argument is that as a fanbase we were all pretty much unanimously in agreement that the squad looked good when the transfer window closed and that we'd have another good season.

We didn't replace Byrne with a non leaguer, we signed Ajose who was wanted by the vast majority of the fan base. Unless Power is responsible for injuring our players deliberately and poor performances on the pitch it's really difficult to lay the blame at his door at this point in time.

Whether the coaching isn't up to scratch or the players simply aren't as good as we thought, the problem is not Lee Power, in my opinion.

I'm now continually perturbed when I open a forum thread and at the top of the page it insists on saying "Go Down"

 :(

We've been there and done that in 1990....

Ajose was a replacement for Byrne in the sense we signed him using (I assume) money freed up by his departure.

However, on the playing side of things I would consider Ajose a replacement for Andy Williams and would suggest Ojaama was brought in with a view to replacing Byrne.

Ajose is a nothing footballer in that wide right role and I hope we play him in a central position in the future.

One thing I would criticise Lee Power for, and deservedly so, is his failure to draft in a temporary replacement for Nathan Thompson. Brad Barry is the worst player I can recall us fielding regularly at this level for some time - he is completely out of his depth and is costing us big time. Not his fault, the blame lies solely with Power. He hasn't got much wrong since he has been here, but for a 'football man' it staggers me how he thinks Barry is a competent player at football league level.

Ajose replaces Byrne?

This place is full of lunatics.

Would agree about Barry; he looks like a Sunday league player.

Is Nathan Thompson really that good ?

He I s prone to errors and has a heavy first touch but he's also got pace, can tackle well, is a good organiser an always seems to try hard. I think he is good for league one level and he probably wouldn't be a disaster at Championship level.

Yes. Our record without him in the last 3/4 years is horrendous

And the only player in our squad who's stock is on the rise - absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Too many absences though.

We are 23/10 to win Saturday.

According to the bookies we are the least likely home win of all!