Thetownend.com

Three points, please, Martin.

They have had a good start. Lunch yesterday at the avenue hotel Jct10 M6 at Walsall.

Draw. 1-1

We are out of the bottom four, courtesy of a, sometime gutsy, sometime lucky win last Saturday.
All we've got to do is stay there.
Important to get a positive result from this six pointer.
Draw 2 - 2

That's almost cheerful coming from you!

Thankyou

I've been waiting all season for this one! Fleetwood's twin town is Fleetwood, Pennsylvania which is in the United States of America.

2-0 win to STFC today. A clean sheet at last to keep Captain Pugwash idle.

3-1 defeat

1-3 nailed on

As an aside, at least there is now a thread on here about football. The bollocks quotient has been very high lately.

Hopefully Thomas starts. Thought he did well when he came on last week.
Hope for the win but I'd take a point.

yeah I'd be happy for a point, but can't help thinking there are 3 for the taking

Agree.

Strangely optimistic about today. We have the personnel to grind out a result. Wonder what the chances of Bodgers and  Bradley Bariatric starting are?

Thomas status, Louis omitted

Town starting XI: Vigouroux, Branco (C), El-Abd, Turnbull, Barry, Kasim, Rodgers, Gladwin, Ormonde-Ottewill, Thomas, Ajose #STFC

subs:Belford, Brophy, Iandolo, Robert, Ojamaa, Obika, Hylton #STFC

Rodgers. Eugh.

FFS why is Robert on the bench?!

Ross Embleton coming across very well on the radio.

Just how shit does Rodgers have to be before he gets dropped?

This

And me!  Serious weak link!

He is shit but their by default. Thompson would have exceeded loans and Troare injured

Your old man would be fuming!

Comms talking about David Lucas, the game must be thrilling.

This is dull as hell so far. I bet we will score (or concede) three in the second half.

the level of excitement in this thread is almost too much to handle.

I just cleaned my desk. Wild!

I just updated my drivers and wrote an invoice. I'm considering going downstairs and putting the kettle on, but I'm not quite excited enough yet.

super 1-0 down. at least they have better goal music than us

1-0 Fleetwood.

Eugh!

My god. We can't lose to Fleetwood... Surely.

El-abd own goal. Fab.

I think we can.

Just watch this sad load of shit do just that.

crunch game against fellow strugglers, of course we can lose.

but we haven't yet.

Sounds like we will do well to survive without conceding another before HT.

Pikeys are 4-0 down before HT at Coventry

Inverness were winning ;)

'All over the place' at the moment.

h/t 1-0

boooooooooo

Bright in patches and shady at the back apparently.

Get Robert on and at least try and win for once.

The weather or the game?

So has anything changed in the last two months?

Probably best to wait until ft for this discussion.

Hopefully Ling will send them out fired up and we can turn it around. I personally don't hold out much hope but happy to be proved very wrong.

No changes at HT

Game over....

Penalty. To them. Wow.

Penalty.

Oh fuck off. Another 2 goals conceded. Absolute bollocks.

Listening to this has ruined Captain Pugwash for me...

We are fucked :doh:

We are trop merde aren't we.

My reaction is to just laugh.

I think I would rather have Belford in goal so that we can have louis in midfield. Vigs makes good saves but how many goals has he been accountable for? We are and always will be shit at the back so would rather have louis in for rodgers so the attacking/midfield side can actually function better

Rodgers only playing cus daddy down to watch!

Haven't got the injury excuse now.

Surprised Vig wasn't sent off for the pen

No pride, no fight, no organisation and no fucking hope!

I'd rather we looked for another keeper than play Belford, he is shite

Fucking pathetic.  Looks like last week wasn't the catalyst we hoped for.

Is Robert still not fully fit?  If not, why the hell is he on the bench when Rodgers is on the pitch?

I've also heard that Thompson is unlikely to be back until January.  Anyone know if this is true?

Obika and Robert coming on.

I would maybe give it more than the one game to say that. We struggled and scraped a draw at fleetwood last year when we were in a much better position, they are a decentish side at this level, why is everyone acting like this is a huge shock? We havent won away for ages and have 1 win in 11or so

Wouldn't be surprised, they were talking about it being 'longer term' a week or two ago.

Sadly I don't think NT will solve many of our problems.

The town fans cheer Rodgers off in place of Robert!

They were below us before today, so hardly.


Its not a huge surprise. Its sucking the hope that last week's win gave us that having the players back would see us right. We are losing convincingly to relegation rivals, you aren't going to get a positive reaction to that.

3-0 now. Yippee

Oh dear....

USELESS BUNCH OF CUNTS

Stick a fork in us...we're done.

Ling out . . .

I think we should adopt the Man City song about never winning at home or away, and not caring because we're all pissed up.

Back down to second bottom. Thank goodness Crewe are so bad.

This is awful.  I honestly can't see us anywhere but League 2 next season.  Utter shit.

Embarrassment!  Thought we would have got a lift after last week, but we look like relegation fodder now.

No backbone in the team, concede a goal & they fall apart

Not enough players with the bottle for a scrap, especially in midfield

Fuck me, this is really worrying now.

Totally agree. Bunch of pussies. I've seen u8's tackle more often and harder than those lightweight cunts.

4-0 - farcical.

4-0. Rank rank rotten.

And we play one who can't be arsed (Kasim), and another who cannot tackle (Rodgers).

All the optimism from last week has very quickly been destroyed this afternoon

"We're fucking shit, we're fucking shit, we're fucking shiiiiit!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpIlLqfd_xI

Well, when you have a quarter of your team nowhere near league standard you'll be in trouble.

Yes, that's you Rodgers, Barry and BOO

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

At least we a debt free though eh..

We should have music for when we concede at home, just start playing the circus clown music

The midfield is woeful this team are completely gutless and more worryingly useless

If only that were true.

This season is not quite as fun as last season really is it?

after 2 successive visits to the sponsors dinner I did question how they would work it if we were shit. I said imagine if they had a sponsors dinner when we went down with paul hart. they definitely wouldnt give a refund to the sponsors and if it went ahead it would be awkward as fuck

Kasim has gone from a £1m player to a liability in 6 months...

Wonder what excuse will be given for the latest shambles?  How have we ended up with such shit players?

Even in 2010/11 when we were doing badly, I didn't feel as dillusioned as I do now.  I fear we will drop into League 2 and be stuck there or worse.

Or on the Kasim time scale, one transfer window.

Yes, 4-1. Fucking comeback.

Ajose is scoring. Shame we're so fucking shambolic at the other end.

We should run out to the muppet theme...then everyone can join in with the 'I don't why we come here, I'll guess we'll never know, it's like some kind of torture to have to watch the show.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOuDRViTGw

5 -1

Ha, close.

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

Toothless...

Can we wave the white flag?

We are going down and oxford are going up. The shadow not looking so good now.

No pride in the shirt these days. Just going through the motions this season.

Poxford normally blow up after Christmas...

Williams should have fucked off as well

(http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/not-sure-if-serious-or-just-trolling.jpg)

But he's an excellent coach...

Not defensively. Time and time again we are a bombscare at the back in matches and we've done nothing about it. As DV says, shut up shop at the back and fight and scrap for 0-0 and 1-0 wins. Losing 5-1 at Fleetwood is really not the way to climb up the league.

Agree but there's no fight in our toothless side for a scrap

2,018 there today. How do Fleetwood survive and compete with crowds like that?

I was being sarcastic...Agreed, Williams has a big hand in our problems. I, and most fans, cannot understand why Rodgers is anywhere near the side...

 We need to send back the lightweight loans and get some players with some fight or we are down and out.

I know, it's fucking irritating isn't it?

Well that went well, who do we play next?

The problem isn't the back 3 or the front 2

When you have a middle 5 of a trio of absolute dross (Rodgers BOO and Barry), a disinterested Kasim and just Gladwin offering something it is hardly a surprise.

The blame lies fairly and squarely at Power's feet, recruiting on the cheap.

Jesus...fell asleep when it was 1-0...wake up to it being 4-0...we are in deep trouble.

Same as Crewe.  We're fighting them for that bottom place.

Robert surely has to play. Traore should be the defensive lynchpin also. I don't think I've ever seen Rodgers make a tackle in a red shirt.

Does it matter, we will play ok for 20-30 mins, fail to score, then concede a goal and then fall apart & lose by a few.

Home to Warsaw Tuesday.

Yay

I know this, just trying to ascertain by how much we'll get spanked. I think it's Walsall at home.

How many goals were Barry's fault?

Power, you skinflint, you need to refund the fans who went to Fleetwood.

See you all in League Two  :bye:

Spot on.

Sign El Abd permanently, sign a central midfielder permanently and another one on loan in January and we'll be alright.

Drop Kasim and Rodgers, both a waste of time. Would prefer youngsters in there

I wonder what Power thinks now of some of the dross he's bought in or does he even care?

Carry on like this and he'll be lucky to have 3,000 season ticket holders next season.

Win on Tuesday then out of the bottom 4. Slightly optimistic.

Bet the season ticket prices go up next season ;)

No fight in midfield and we leave out louis t? Has to start on Tuesday as does Robert.

I can take a 2 goal defeat against a side around us in the table, a 5-1 thrashing away at anyone in this division is fucking disgraceful

Bloody hell. Went for a bath at half time to this. Wow.
Well even in victory last week it was apparent that there are issues with the team. I'll go with what I think are the most important faults....
 The insistence on playing out from the back is ridiculous. Didn't look to me like Ling has had a stamp on the team much apart from an extra body up top. The excuses for wing backs are a fucking joke. Two players offering very little and going through the motions there. Awful!
 If you're playing a 3,5,2 then your wide players have to be bang at it. Even at home and with Scunthorpe's left back being all right foot he wasn't tested as a casing point.

 That's a fucking hiding today make no mistake, only saving grace is that the division is dog shit so at least we might survive if ling can make drastic changes. Just.

😩 Good idea but somehow I don't see it happening!

LING:

That's not good enough.

Got to compete for the ball, second best all over the pitch.

Quite embarrassed to sit and watch that performance.

Didn't see it coming, good win last week, look sharp in training...the 14 that played - it ain't good enough.

There is "a way of playing/passing", but you have to get the ball, get the ball back.

All 11 had a bad day, noone exempt for criticism.

There was (chances before they scored), but that' a cop out, too easy to say taking them would have made a different game.

They were below us, now they aren't. One team looked like they are fighting for their lives, one didn't. We got to learn that quickly.

Got to look forward now. Its gone. Got to look at how to sort it for Tuesday.

6 into 5 loan issue, Louis would possibly be starter if I could play all 6, have to have a think.

Branco - outstanding last week. Like a defender as captain. Will be sticking with that decision.

Traore may be available for Tuesday. Thompson Christmas time. Kev S - 3 weeks, Jordan has has setback so not available for some time.

Blah blah, Angry in changing room, blah blah feels sorry for Luke Williams as he puts it in on the training ground and is on the floor, I'll have to lift him, blah blah

I heard power lumped all the profit from the player sales on us to get relegated to make a few quid 😉

How long before this is posted as FACT on Twitter 😄

Sounds like a few players need a rocket up their ass.

It was only 2-0 at that stage.

I've been pretty optimistic about us staying up and putting together a decent run over the last few weeks, I'm not anymore. This is going to be a real fucking struggle with some of the dross that we have to put out on the pitch.

Kasim, Rodgers, barry, BOO, vigs shouldn't be in the starting eleven on current form. If Robert doesn't start ahead of Rodgers on Tuesday then whoever selects the team has lost the fucking plot

Come on Jo, that's not fair - Power doesn't deserve that.

Just got in and checked the score. Fuck me. This is all looking a bit grim, isn't it.

Get paddy kenny in once his calf sorted which hopefully won't be too late

Yup, The good news is based off the post match interviews  I think Ling will be more likely to do it than Cooper did .

Using the tried and tested DV format:

Played:   18
Points:   16
Points Per Game:   0.89
Points available:   84
Points needed for 52:   36
Points Per Game required:   1.29

Yes, ridiculous thing to say IMO. You can speculate about *why* he might care, but to question whether he cares at all is just silly.

Still clinging to the hope that sometime things do turn around in a blink of an eye, and sometimes without reason.

Nothing I've seen suggests this will happen. But you have to hope.

My only glimmer of hope at the minute is that despite having been fucking useless for 11/12 games, we are 2 points (goal difference included) away from safety. The league is so poor this year, anyone upto 12th could well be in the mix for relegation as none of those sides are that good.

Fans and players arguing. Ling getting stick from the stand already.  :suicide:

I'm not sure why people are being so defensive of Power?  I like the bloke, but it's pretty obvious that replacing decent players with dross was never going to work.  He has to take some responsibility for where we are.

What has happened to another of Power's money-making cheapies Bangoura?

He doesn't seem to mind handing out contracts to useless waifs and strays.

Yes he does have to take some responsibility and I'm sure he's prepared to do that, but you questioned whether he even cared. I'm pretty sure he does and I think it's ridiculous to suggest he doesn't.

Forgot all about him. Sub-sub standard if he can't get into the squad.

Also paddy-o-homsick, where is he. Appreciate it takes time to adjust (if he's still here), surprised we've not seen him yet though,

Having read through this thread, there's been no mention of travelling fans.
Anybody got a clue?

Problem is we have sold good players and replaced them with absolute dross.

Coupled with players that should be good enough not looking like they can be assed.

Power is to blame -Ling ain't allowed to manage. Powers business model is floored.

Remember what happened the season after out last play off appearance?
Sold key players and look where we ended up. Looking all to familiar

Unarguably so.


Bit early to say that. We've already gone 2 up top. Its obvious the "style" thing has been drilled into him but I think its a bit early to say he's not allowed to manage.

Its really difficult to know if he has limited influence (as most of us suspect), or whether change is limited by the the players available


Yes and no.

Last year, if what we were told was true was in fact true, we must have made a profit. I am sure we were told/could derive that Louis going to Norwich made us hit break even. Subsequent sales must have made us profitable, though we owed Power money so that's probably why we didn't see the investment we thought we might.

This year is a disaster. I am not sure where the player sales will come from to plug any financial gaps-- maybe Kasim but his stock is decreasing every game. So we have to hope we really are running at break-even. I have my doubts given the Ajose signing and Thomas loan.

Power needs to give the finances in a full and transparent manner before I'm convinced mind.

As a business its working thus far, as far as we know. As a playing model the jury is very much out.

Commentators estimated about 300

Its sad to say but I know where the town are heading at the moment and it will be back to back relegations. Oh yes the next 2 managers are already at the club, nice and cheap promote from within. Sad for the fans & club but that's what we get for Black bailing and selling us to people with no money to run a club.

Good work Mystic Meg I'll get money on it.

The model is get some players with potential and add them into a squad with good loan players and hope that one or two of your players with potential turn out to be decent (like Gladwin).

Our problem has been that the good loan players have been injured & we have had to play too many of the others together too early and they aren't good enough, and now any confidence that they might have had is shot.

Reg?

Who do you think the players with potential are? I'm not going to slate them, just struggling to see them. Well aware it may just be too early for some.

I'm not sure who are injured good loan players are? Gladwin and El-Abd have been available, Vigs too. Louis and Thomas were a blow. Not convinced by the Liverpool lads, or at least not convinced they are better than we now have.

That tells the story...

This is a very damaging result....back in September, when the alarm bells started ringing, I said this side although in trouble, didn't yet quite have the stench of an inevitable relegation side....starting to whiff a bit now.

You need to be taking a point from this sort of game...to be so badly exposed, tells us that the squad and management just isn't of Div 3 standard. 

P 18 F 23 A 33

That tells why.

That's a bit naughty Punching a business model.

The problem is that Power cares so little that he willingly puts his own money into the club.

In the league in 2015 to date we have played 41 games and won 12, drawn 11 and lost 18. This excludes the play offs.

Is it definitely his own money then ?

Your guess is as good as mine. Even if it isn't his own money and he's only in it to rip us off, he cares about that.

If we could get to 41 games gone with 47 points gained we'd give ourselves a chance of staying up....we'll soon be entering  PO form needed to stay up territory.

Fair point.

Unless... he's already made all his money off player sales, and is taking us down so he can make another £1 from Jed.

That's it.

Fact.

Power's money or not it ain't working is it?
Fair enough the books need to balance but you don't get the same results as a promotion charge on a shoestring budget.
Getting close to promotion then offloading the top earners and prize assets will only make success all the more difficult. Looking like league 1 survival will be an achievement now.

With out rumoured budget cannot believe on 7000 average we are losing money.

Put into perspective that Fleetwood got 2000 today.

Be interesting to see the next set of accounts

don't disagree arriba, we are all frustrated.

oh, welcome back

I'm so glad Bart's back!

The Liverpool players and Wes Thomas should be our equivalent of the good loan players from last season, I guess we don't know if they are or not because they got injured too quickly after arriving

I'd assume the rest of them are those with potential (remember many people thought Byrne & Gladwin were shit when they first arrived), but they need to settle into the club & get the odd 10-15 mins a game to get some confidence & improve.

The problem is they have ended up playing too many of them and from the start when they are simply not good enough yet (and some probably never will be)

Sorry....but we are fucked.

Today was massive IMO.

Getting fucked and your arse handed to you on a plate by a side so shit that they started the day below you says it all.

You can do some things on the cheap but not everything.

I can see us getting butt fucked again on Tuesday night.

The fish was pretty spot on with his 'embarrassment' quotes but I can't understand how he's picked players that you can see are shit from space.

Forget investment in January as we need a whole fucking team and all Power has is magic beans.

I was angry for a bit on the M5 as the debacle texts came through thick and fast but I think Ivengine through the pain barrier now. It's dog shit and get used to it.

In the smoke on a corporate piss up on Tuesday, I dunno if I can be bothered to get back in time.

A warm applause for all the poor fuckers that went. One text me to say: 'Four words: div 2 fucking shit'... I don't think they were that good today...but he was there.

any set of accounts will do.

Something tells me its not  :sherlock:

Total  transparency needed.

Not been his MO thus far, so not holding any hope.

I promise never to start another one of these threads for the rest of the season.  Or ever.

What happened with this?

Funny you should say that.

must ask question for the next phone in. been here a couple of years now and we havent see anything at all.

Why's that.

I wondered if he had it ('million(s)') himself, and whether we witnessed a firesale to pay it back to whoever.

Not fact, not even rumour, just wondered.

Funny you should say that.

I'm sure one of the site nerds could do a rough estimate regarding fees in, expenditure ect.

Anyone buying a club like stfc should expect to lose money, in fact they should want to lose money if they buy a club like ours. If not why do it? Can't expect to make money surely?

I think Power likes the er power of running a football club. We've all seen how he meddles with team matters, some would argue that is his right of course. Personally I don't trust the bloke. We've been down this road many a time and it will inevitably end in tears I fear.

They asked my "are we paying interest on the money he's put in" and he basically said "I don't know, my accountant deals with that" . Which sounds like BS.

He did say he wouldn't see a return unless the club is sold mind. Which is fine by me. Assuming he hasn't charged us 1000% interest.

Regardless of all things Lee Power
The team need to show some bollocks. You can be shit, on minimum wage but still at least fucking try. At least play like you want it.

We are rolling over and dying.

This club as a whole - does not have a pair of bollocks.

h

Best post tonight and there have been some gooduns.

The fish has to try everything.

Hands on the shoulders.

Dressing room lock ins.

Tea cups against the wall and hair dryers.

We're shit and we're sick of it!

ok, I submit, why 'the fish'?

haha im sat here trying to work it out :hmmm:

Ling is a fish

I agree, but confidence and experience plays a big part in this too. a mixture of not wanting to fuck up and not having been in this position before.

The manager needs to earn his crust with this side.

oh ffs, is it, as simple as that then

I also think the fact we accept it doesn't help.
Are the players being dragged in tomorrow for a double session, are they fuck.
We all know who wouldn't have accepted a 5-1 defeat....

How did we do today?

Really well.

brilliant, we came second

Yes mate.

Cooper was chuckles.

Ling is the fish.

Isn"t Fish the manager of Highworth Town fc.

Congratulations on finding something even worse than 'Chuckles'.

Power fucked up his recuitment and it shows more and more each week. First injuries were the excuse then Cooper. Now there is no hiding behind it. Its obvious the team isnt good enough. The keeper is a liability most weeks, defence is a shambles, midfield is a mixed bag but mostly bad and the only striker who looks like scoring is Ajose.

We need a lot of luck and a lot of new players in January to get out of this. We have relied way too much on loans this time. I know we had some last year but they werent as vital as the permanent core. This years crop of perms is shit. And the worst thing is the better players arent even getting a game. Louis T not even making the squad when he is our best midfielder is an absolute joke.

Actually, before the game I could see where he was coming from.

I think Vigs will be a good keeper. And from what I've seen of Balfour he doesn't look as promising. But there is no doubt Vigs is costing us goals if not results. So on that basis Louis may well get a game Tuesday.

How many is that for Ajose now? 7/8? Very good goalscoring record in the amount of games he's played considering he joined very late on.

One crumb of positivity going forward

I guess dropping Vigs leaves a risk of  not having a keeper on the bench. Then again Turnball has been wank since September and El Abd isnt much better. At least you know you will get 100% commitment from LT which is more that can be said for any of the other loan players or indeed 95% of the whole squad.

Vigs is shite though. Beleford isnt great but he didnt have any real calamaties when he played earlier on in the season.

Just this second seen the goals on Sky. Well done The Cod.

How many great saves has vigs made though to keep scores down?

a January sale for sure

Accepted.

odd that Ling says he feels sorry for Williams as he puts in the work on the training ground. I suggest he does something different, because whatever he is doing is clearly shite

If they aren't in training now, Lings a pussy!!!

If they aren't in training now, Ling has some understanding of how injuries occur.

It was unfortunate that Traore was injured. He is the only central midfielder currently available who is prepared, or able, to protect the back line by tackling and chasing back, and this made the difference against Scunthorpe to give some hope.  Rodgers and Kasim are the worst I can remember seeing at STFC for tracking back, tackling effectively, and generally supporting the defence.  I don't count Louis in this.

Rodgers and Kasim have to be dropped. Both are shite. Get Louis back in even if it means dropping Vigs. If Traore is fit then start him with Robert and Gladwin. I dont understand how Rodgers and Kasi keep getting games.

There is no pace in our midfield with Rodgers and kasim and gladwin. We can't press teams as by time our players get near the ball its long gone. As said darrissa is the only one who looks to protect the back line. With Nathan injured none of the other full backs can actually defend. I think this pulls our centre backs out to try to cover and that doesn't help. We will now see if Ling has anything about him to say to power , him, him and him are simple not good enough and should never be in the team. He needs to kick some up the arse. I fear the worst as it looks like us and Crewe are in free fall. Time for some honesty. May as well let the Liverpool duo stay there and cancel their loans. We need strenght and desire, and to be up for a battle. Tippy tappy is getting us no where with players who are not good enough to do it.

Why are we insisting on playing 3-5-2 when we don't have the personnel to carry it out?

That system requires wingbacks that can carry the ball forward and track back to defend. Our 2 do neither. They are the weak links that provide no defensive cover or offensive crosses.

The reason why the back 3 look so ragged at times is they are trying to cover for the wingbacks as well as doing their own jobs.

This philosophy bollocks is taking us down.

Black may have bailed but he left the club in a state where people with no money could, if they made the necessary cuts, at least have a chance of sustaining it.  I cannot recall anyone other than Black (since the lovely but ineffective Sir Seton) who put real money into the club, so not sure what Black bailing has to do with this?

Power, unlike the creepy lifestyle-taker Jed, at least had access to some funds for the club's cashflow purposes which he will ultimately have introduced by way of loan rather than equity. Power deserves credit for having taken some personal financial risk.  Power also had a plan and a knowledge of the business of football.  

My expectation is that Power will have eliminated his personal exposure by having the club repay to him at the first opportunity and in full (using the surplus transfer fees the existence of which some seem keen to deny).

Rather than show faith in his model for STFC by balancing repaying himself with funding replacement assets on the playing front for the club, Power has maxed the elimination of personal risk at the first opportunity and that has contributed to our predicament.

Warning: this theory may be bollox

I don't understand why Robert does not get a start!

Assuming we have the same set of players available I would like to see us line up

Belford (only because of loan player situation)
              el abd, branco, turnbull
Brophy                                            boo
                     Louis    Robert
                           Gladwin
                      Obika, ajose

Were crap at the back regardless of what we do but at least with that midfield 3 we will create chances and Louis has that bit of pace in the middle we really lacked at Fleetwood.

There's nothing wrong with the philosophy, just the personnel. At least the players and staff have a chance to show some bottle quickly, on Tuesday.

I've been trying to think of such a damaging defeat in recent years, losing 7-1 at Forest, I suppose in 05/06, after we'd managed to climb out of the drop zone after a longish run of steady results.

That day Forest had 2 caretaker managers in charge....but it was Forest, 2 time European champions. Yesterday, with all due respect to Fleetwood, was v a side below us in the league, who've only been a league club for a few short years, and that may well be their record win.

Iffy's side never really recovered from that Forest game....if this side is to recover from yesterday it must happen on Tuesday.

I've decided the best course of action is to deny that this season is actually happening.

At least next season will see a few more local matches. Shame the Pox don't look as though they are going to fuck up.



See you Tuesday.

I've only ever written off seasons in higher leagues this early previously....73/74, 93/94, 99/00.

In all 3 of those it was obvious we were out of our depth....the Prem season of course was still fun.  The two Div 2 relegations were painful to have to watch.....but the thought of getting back to our natural home in Div 3 provided some comfort.

I don't think we're quite there yet, get something other than a defeat on Tuesday and we've still a chance.

The wing backs in a 3,5,2 are arguably your most important players. They have to provide for the forwards and protect the defenders who can be exposed. It's patently obvious that the current lads in those roles are not fit for purpose. Extra training on a Sunday won't make a blind bit of difference.
The personnel ain't good enough, it's as simple as that imo

I honestly think I could do better than Rodgers

That's nice, how about he tries to get some understanding into the player of how to try and what is and what is not acceptable.

Do you honestly believe that the players will fail to understand that losing 5-1 away at Fleetwood is unacceptable without having to come into training on a Sunday?

Clearly the term training, can now cover such things as video analysis, working on shape and systems, and studying the opposition.  No longer a Kingy style....do some sit ups, get Walshy to chuck some cones down and have a 5 a side.

They should be doing something....

The dicking from Cheltenham last season was bad

Cup game...key player sent off earlyish, goal difference not a factor, so not really comparable to a league game.

When you've just got out of the bottom 4 on goal difference, the last thing you want is to get stuffed by a direct opponent in the bottom 4.  OK you may lose say 2-1, not great but not as damaging.

He can try all he wants but it's not something you can teach. If the players haven't got that in their character then they'll never have it.

the 'defending 101' DVD would be a start

Totally correct Arriba on all counts.  Have them in training today and everybody will be complaining they look tired on Tuesday!

I'd say the current crop could. The likes of Kasim, for example, don't seem to give a shit.

What annoys me about players nowadays is that when they lose, and especially when they play shit, they "tweet" some crap about the result being unacceptable or they've been unlucky or the decisions against them were unfair.....like they want the fans to show them some sympathy and give them a pat on the back. Fuck that. Give them a kick up the arse. I really hope Power proves all the doubters wrong in January and buys a few players - players with a bit of give-a-shit about them - capable of fighting their way out of the shit we're in. And get rid of Kasim, Rodgers and Barry for goodness sake. Apart from the Thompsons, the last player I saw playing for Swindon who looked like he gave a shit was McEveley.

excluding the thompsons bros, we have two types of players.

1.talented players that dont give a flying fuck.

2.non league players well out of their depth.

Think that's a bit harsh on Ajose....we know he's just a goalscorer, rather than an all round forward, and he has scored goals at an acceptable rate.

Yes, footballers are thick and our lot don't give a fuck.
They need to be told. They need to punished.

I also think it's a bit unfair to say that none of the players try. Turnbull, Branco and Obika all look like they care when they play.

At this stage last season how many players had been suspended for 5 bookings? Obviously you don't want players to be suspended but at least it shows they give/gave a shit

Yea and everyone was fucking moaning about that all the time, quite rightly as we were clearly undisciplined

Agreed, I don't think us being shit is due to majority of players not caring, the only one I think that doesn't atm is Kasim. Rodgers, Barry, Boo and some of the others just arent good enough. Barry's redeeming thing about him for me personally is that he does put a shift in, he's just not ready/good enough.

With everyone fit, this should be a play off side minimum and after a few beers last night I feel a tad more positive and still think we should be good enough to avoid relegation.
                     Vigs
Thompson Branco El Abd Turnbull
                    Kasim
          Louis        Robert
                    Gladwin
           Obika       Ajose.

Dropping the 'keeper for Thompson seems a no-brainer... He's a liability and only marginally better than Ty (if at all)

I went to Cheltenham v Forest Green yesterday. They refused to move the game to a Thursday for BT Sports purposes. It was pay on the gate & there were 5,500 there. Good call.

Trouble with that strategy is that we then have no sub goalkeeper....Belford likes a bit of a rush, and isn't the quickest, so a risk of playing a game v a decent team like Walsall with no keeper. Whether there's anyone oin the squad who fancies themselves, as a bit of a keeper I've no idea.

Also can't understand why Jordan Stewart isn't anywhere near the match day squad. If Iandolo can get on the bench . . .

Stick a youth teamer gk on the bench, doesn't take up a loan spot and be good experience for him to be in the squad

I guess that would work....

Johns been doing pretty well in the Youth team apparently

What standard do the youth team actually play at though? I watched them play at Cleeve a few weeks ago when we lost 5-1 to Cheltenham and well I'd be terrified at even risking the remote possibility of having him in goal. He's not ready for adult football yet alone the football league.
I've come to the conclusion we need to sign our own keeper in the window to take this whole situation out of the equation. In an inexperienced team I think you nee a keeper with a bit of experience. If you've got an experienced back 4 you can get away with the learning curve as we did with Wes in the early days. We don't unfortunately have that luxury anymore....

Paddy Kenny

probably a harsh comment from me, out of frustration.

main bugbears-
rodgers- shit and doesnt try hard enough to win the ball.
kasim-fucking uninterested, arrogant cunt.
BOO & Barry- shoddy shoddy players, but at least they try. as a few people have alluded to the wing backs are very important in a 3 5 2 system- compare these guys with byrne and toffolo  :no:
vigs- good shot stopper, shocking decision maker.

back three are fairly solid tbf, cant really moan at the strikers when they have that behind them.

traroe and LT must play.

If Louis is to play Tuesday, I reckon Wes Thomas will drop out.

Vigs
Turnbull Branco El And
Brophy Louis Gladwin Traore Robert
Obika Ajose

Unfortunately, as we want to offload Kasim in January I think he will play - who wants to buy a player who can't get in our shitstream

ACardboard cut out would be better than Vigouroux, worst keeper since nicky hammond.

It's a shame that then cardboard cut outs that used to grace the Bank are no more...used to make me laugh. Let's face it when you're as shit as us, humour is all that's left.

Our problems for me lay in two areas. One, an inconsistent team selection (can't be helped due to injuries) and two, a terrible midfield.

I don't think the back (in regards to personnel) are that bad. Vigs, Turnball, EL-abd and Branco are all pretty decent, although Branco couldn't get in the team last year.

Up top, with Obika, Thomas and Ajose that is a very good three and score goals.

The midfield is a joke. Rodgers shouldn't be anywhere near this team and Kasim should have gone long ago, not interested. A couple of passengers. Barry is a poor player who is conference standard, BOO the same although the latter has flashes of ok-ness.

If you look at some of our first-team midfield and some of those individuals around the edges it is a poor, poor standard.

Don't disagree, and it has been noticed. That's why Louis and Gladwin were brought in.

Kasim has been dogshit, but keeping him didn't seem like a bad idea going into the season. Presumably nobody put in a decent bid for him at the end of the window. Firmly blame the player rather than management on this one.

Agree with most of this. I bet that both Bodgers and Barry will play on Tues though. I'm going but looking forward to it a lot less after Saturday's result. I can't see anything other than a loss. Brad Barry needs a few more non-serious head injuries that result in a few weeks out at a time if we are to stand any chance this season. I don't know what has happened to Kasim. The whole debacle with the Iraqi FA seems to have affected him and he is not the player he was. BOO is very much a Nicky Nicolau... left sided player with pace and the odd moment of creativity but overall not good enough to be a consistent first team player.

Really?!
Did you miss Jimmy Glass, Bart, Lanzano and the likes. hell even Tom Heaton was utter garbage for us as was Andy Lonegan. I'd even say Rhys Evans is down there, lived off his Swindon connection and Chelsea time when in fact he was pretty shit and the worst kicker of the ball that I've seen in the professional game.

We've had some woeful keepers over the last 10 years....

Don't get too upset about it, I've heard how this is the worst team some fans have ever seen at least once every season. Our fans aren't the brightest bunch, bless em.

From a Fleetwood fan

Undoubtably Pressley has been making strides recently to turn us into a much more attacking unit. The 2 loanees he’s brought in in Henen and Fosu certainly looked the part yesterday, proving speed and composure, and we were very good value for the victory after an excellent performance! That said, Swindon were appalling, by far the worst team I’ve seen at Highbury this season, if I were a Swindon fan I’d be very worried. Ling has a big job on his hands, their defence was shockingly bad!
Read more at http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/3-things-we-learned-from-fleetwood-towns-5-1-thrashing-of-swindon-town/?#KaLpfdZDyFvW95WK.99

Apparently, bears shit in the woods also.

I think people are getting carried away after a couple of unfortunate results.  Couple of wins, get the confidence back and we could be back pushing for a playoff spot by the new year.

 :clap:

This is why Power's insistence on possession football is so frustrating. If you're going to keep the ball you need your quality concentrated in the midfield, as we did last year.

Cooper at least was able to recognise the style wasn't working with the personnel he had available, even if he wasn't the right man to implement the changes.

The worrying thing is Power gave him the boot as soon as he saw signs he was trying to abandon the philosophy, which suggests we're in it for the long-haul, no matter how bad the results.

True. I think it a possiblity, that Lingy could be gone by January unless there's a major improvement, and that would provide Power with the excuse to do the job himself, with Williams and Embleton doing the daily stuff.

Not going to happen as Power would need to start paying his taxes unless he is going to manage from afar by e-mail or twitter (whatever that is!)

do you not think he's already had the opportunity do it himself?

Let's just imagine that Lingy gets the Christmas period and perhaps a couple of weeks into Jan, which may include a blank weekend due to 3rd round FA cup. That would take us to about 24 games gone, 22 to go.  Tax year starts April 1st, so roughly 13 games of the old tax year and 9 of the new. Power may well have that in his allowance....comes in for match days, Williams and Embleton do the daily work of training etc.  Power does recruitment anyway, through agents.

Yippee   we are saved after all.    :clap:

Up until now I was still optimistic we'd get out of trouble easily but it smells like relegation now.

I look at clubs like Luton Bristol Rovers and Oxford and I can see us falling out of the league like them.

There's a real stench about us at the moment

At least the players should get their golf handicaps down now we own a golf club ;)

Looking at the highlights, Kasim got beat too easily for the first three goals. No fight determination or passion.

Fucking hell do you ever say anything positive?! We're not even relegated from league 1 and your already talking about non-league football!

We have some real drama queens in our fanbase.  This is why I quite enjoy the odd season where we struggle as there aren't so many mongs sat around spouting their shit during games. Unfortunately they don't vacate the Internet in quite the same manner....

He's probably never even got a single scoreline prediction right but he already knows we're relegated next season. Seems legit.

Quite encouraging for the rest of us though, means we have decent chance of staying up based on the 2 Chang's track record

Didn't have us down as champions last season?

Just watched the extended highlights - seems like we started well and with Thomas and Ajose ahead of Gladwin we look better going forward. The two holding midfielders both need fucking off though, immediately, and if Thompson ever returns to replace Barry, we might have a chance of not completely fucking up defensively so often. It really does seem that most of the issues come through the inability of our midfield to move, run, tackle or in any way prtect the back three.

For me, I reckon we'll just about survive, purely because there's some shit in this league, but it's going to tight and we'll need Thomas and/or Ajose to be in decent knick for most of campaign.

Notice you didn't quote the bit of my post saying I was optimistic of staying up before Fleetwood.

If you would would like to quote any of my previous posts regarding this season where I was dooming and glooming please do so.

Otherwise, shut the fuck up

Think the bottom part could be crucial. Ajose's scoring record despite the fact we've been a bit useless is decent. If he keeps scoring we're in with a shout of staying up.

Thomas is only here until January as things stand Panda.

This may be splitting hairs, but it wasn't a pen.

In defence of Kasim, I remember him being half arsed and mugged for pace when chasing back last year too - at least the end of last year.

In fact our defensive strategy in general seems to be step back, let them cross it in and let the central defenders deal with it. The approach seems somewhat floored (sic).

My knowledge is limited due to the fact that I've not seen a lot of the team this season. But from what I have seen I'm struggling to remember a worse side donning the shirt.
The side that got relegated last time had more about them than this lot.

Surviving the drop will be some feat this season. The division being so poor is a plus.
 Ling having a reasonable amount of time to turn it around another.
He needs the tools to do it though and that costs money.

In defence of Kasim, why the fuck did Turnbull head a straight lob form their goalkeeper right to our corner flag? The errors seem to go much further than a few seconds of highlights show...

Having watched ten minutes of highlights I also thought we started ok 1st goal was unfortunate 2nd never a penalty 3rd Kasim chickened out of the tackle which he should have won 4th Vigouroux had it covered until it deflected off of Turnbull 5th good goal.
We had good chances prior to them scoring which we failed to take and had a couple of other chances later on . When your confidence is low and you lose goals like 1st and2nd it does not help.
Like others have said we need press opposition more and the Midfield needs sorting

It's a bit early to be writing off next season just yet....Div 4 is an easier league as only 2 down, as regards Luton, don't think they'd have gone but for a massive points deduction.

Yes Oxford and more so Rovers, are a warning that you can't take anything for granted, and when you slide it can have it's own momentum....look at Yeovil.

Our 3 previous promos out of Div 4, all came about because money was thrown at it...after financial restraint had got us into the shit.

We'll need to see what Power will do...but all the evidence points to a continuation of the model of austerity.

You've just proved my point. You've gone from thinking we'll stay up to talking about falling into non-league after one match. Overdramatic no?

OKay.  Just back from a lovely weekend away in that London.  It was nil nil when I lost signal on the radiogram. 

Anything interesting happen?

My point, regarding the 3 clubs I mentioned, was that I'd imagine the clubs and their fans couldn't contemplate falling out of the football league. We are a similar club to them so it's a distinct possibility.

We are incredibly shite, you know - more than I thought only a short time ago

I can't get the captain pugwash theme out my head. hth.

Just seen the 'highlights' and Branco's unwillingness to be at all bothered about the defending for their 5th.

We looked like we had a few chances early on but what is clear is the free run they had from midfield with no fucker near them.

Harsh. He didn't get that right but it didn't cause the goal. Turnbull was one of the few players to come out of Saturday with anything close to credit.

My thoughts are up on the Washbag for anyone who cares http://thewashbag.com/2015/11/22/fleetwood-5-1-swindon-warning-contains-prolonged-periods-of-dejection/

Forgive my dodgy memory, but I can think of two of the promotions coming with new management starting the season - Wise (+ Sturrock) and PDC. I think this fresh start approach helps. Having Ling in charge of a failed side, albeit with a fresh-ish squad, would have an air of failure around it from the start. Negative momentum/form from one season to the next isn't good. Would Power get rid of Ling if he led us to relegation?

Anyway, this season is far from over and we can still get out of the mire. However, from what I've seen so far we're not competitive enough to avoid relegation.

Yes, and before that second season Lou.  But these were backed up by funds, in the first two...cash from the nice friendly money tree....in the most recent instance a large wedge courtesy of Andrew Black.

I have my doubts that Lingy will last past January, unless there is tangible evidence of progress....Saturday looked like players who've already tossed the towel in.

I didn't think that Ling was the right kind of guy to get us out of the brown stuff and so far there's nothing to convince me differently. His record has been patchy at best and were just falling apart as a team. I still feel that where the club have blown promotion from this shitty league we will now pay the ultimate price, which barring a minor miracle will be back to back relegations. It would have been better to put my best mate Arriba in charge of the team, now there's a man who can crack some skulls.

Good write up, enjoyed reading about our misery.