Thetownend.com

!979,the year i really started to get the buzz of football.The league cup home game v stoke,the home game v Arsenal and the away robbery v Wolves.I then left school and with my wages started watching the town every home game get shitter and shitter culminating in a loss to Newport and relegation to the old 4th division.But no the buzz was still there,hero's left Ken Beamish came in but i still had hope,i got angry,embarressed and frustrated,the crowds were poor but still with life and then we appointed my god Lou Macari,there was hope,interest,pride and a name not a nobody.After the sham of his sacking and rightful re-appointment the town kicked on.These were the best times for me,promotions,cup runs,successful play-off campaigns,interest crowd increases and an atmosphere only compared with the DiCanio period,I wish my boy could have experienced it.Then came Ossie with his diamond midfield and our travesty of demotion with a play-off winning  team which would have easily stayed in the old Div 1.On to Hoddle great times again with the unforgettable play-off final,it was such a blast.The premiereship was for me The best,being beat by the best is bearable compared with being beat by third rate crap.Then the freefall,with a few brightlights it's mostly been hard work watching the town.The bobble at Wembley could have changed our history,Black pulling out when in my opinion we would have won L1 and the worst performance in a big game ever against Preston left us in the boring third tier.
The brief season of the Spurs youth team playing the right way was pleasing on the eye but still way off getting out of the shit pit.But they have long gone but the club insist on playing the same way with non league rejects who are so far out of their comfort zones.Opposition know how to combat the little threat we have and wait for us to implode on our pass sideways pass back football.
then there's England,just like watching the town,boring,slow and kamikaze
At least there's the premiership but i can't be bothered to watch every team play like the think they are Barcelona from 5 years ago.Even the champions league is unavailable unless you have Bt
In conclusion...Football is shit.

Paragraphs man

Content woman

That is it,the answer to better football...paragraphs.

Perhaps that would translate into a better formation Johnny?

Ells might have something here...

 STFC are shit. But shit happens. We've a relegation battle in front of us, how good will it feel if we avoid the drop?

Apparently it's 25 years ago that Jack Walker, took on Blackburn having made £300 mill from his local steel company, and in his dotage resolved to return Rovers to their pre WWI eminience.

This set off a chain of events whereby Tim Sherwood could captain a Prem winning side, yet sit alongside Lee Power, who appears in the same crap club owners article as the Venkys.

I don't want to watch anything at the minute..

Town are dreadful, England are shite..... Premier is overrated...

Bah...

Everything was better in my day  :cry:

'Let's Kick Romanticism Out of Football'

A cause we can all get behind.

It is Sky's fault

Football is shit.

Jayo is shit. And so is Sky. I blame Reg.

Shit in Reg's day used to exclusively come from rather nice eastern European birds..

Football isn't shit, it's just going through a rough patch.

We arent talking 2 girls 1 cup type of nice eastern european girls are we? ;)

Excuse me, I've still got my day.  :)

the Macari days were superb, but for me it has to be the Hoddle era, the football we played was IMO the best, We always seemed in control never flapped, Mickey Hazzard  was the dogs bollocks, I know its been dragged up many times , but  Birmingham away was a great day to be a town fan :cry:

In both the Macari & Hoddle eras the possibility of making it to the top flight was real for teams like us.

Now, Billionaire investment aside, there is no chance, in fact surviving in the Championship is getting to the point where it would be out of reach.

SO yes, football is now shit.

Yes it is, and has been for a while.

The first year with Ozzie at the helm was great, as he introduced good football to a team who were fit from the Macari days.

When the fitness went, unfortunately so did the football.

Sent from my SM-G935F

They were all great times, creating atmosphere that todays fans could only dream off.
I was lucky enough to watch a couple of seasons of Don Rogers at his best.
Todays mediocrity is underwhelming to say the least.
Special trains to Leeds, Wrexham and Carlisle still stick in my mind.

Money has ruined the game imo.

He did ok at Luton I thought?

 ;D

Football isn't shit. Far to much importance is placed on it though. I was guilty of doing that myself and in hindsight realise how stupid I was in doing so. It's a game for fucks sake. Nothing more.

Scrabble's a game.

Football is theatre. STFC is the Rocky Horror Show.

The Rocky Horror Show is good though. Matter of opinion I guess

Wrong.

It's not a matter of opinion. It's a FACT!

Jumpers for goalposts

An excellent reply, fair play :D stuff is just so hard to read when it's just a wall of text!

Everything is shit though, right? By and large. War and terrorism, poverty, the economy, clowns. It's little things that take you away from how shit everything is that make life worth living, and that's what football is to me. It manages to be important whilst there are still more important things, nonsensical and yet hyper analysed, laughably predictable but still often intoxicating. It is shit, but in an embraceable way.. For a) it isn't life and death, b) the joy and agony is collectively shared and c) you can do it whilst drinking with your mates on a Saturday.

That said, I didn't encounter the pre-Sky days, the times when Town won things and you could get a season ticket for the cost of a biscuit. But then no one has punched me at a game (not really), or pissed on my shoes (definitely not.) I couldn't comment on how much romantification there is of that period, but I imagine there's some. If anything I just have to hope there is, to allow the fact that one of the best players my Dad's ever seen in the flesh is Bobby Charlton, and one of mine is Jermaine Defoe.

Great post.

I daresay there are people trying to have a kickabout in downtown Aleppo as we speak. Probably mostly men, but I think the growth of the women's game important.

Alfred Williams...local hero, learned languages by chalking up daily vocabulary on his steamhammer (BO, prob not available to you)  However he despised the lads who would, as far as he was concerned,  waste their time, having a kickabout in the breaks they got from labouring. That when getting Saturday afternoon off, they went to watch the Town even more incomprehensible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7MwXniOD44

Summed up perfectly. Escapism. Dive into it when the good times come round. Paddle in shallower waters when things are not so good.
Being a football fan is as much about looking into the past as it is about the present or future.

What time do the pubs open.

I think the feelings of escapism and joy are prone to fade as you get older. not for everyone, but at some point some of us lose a bit of it.

the real tragedy is that one of the best players you've ever seen is Jermaine Defoe. Mind you I've only seen him live once, early on, and Sol Davis kept him quiet.

I get the theory behind your post, and I agree, it is a great one.

For me, however, I've fallen out of love with it over the last few years.. I really hope that passion returns because I do miss it, but I miss what I used to think it was... not what it is now. On the odd occasion that I attend a game, it's usually with my son who loves it, and that's enough for me. Although, those days where I attend alone (or with friends) I find myself playing with my phone more than I do watching the game.. I used to know the names of all of the players, something which I don't anymore, because I just don't pay much attention nowadays.

That said, I still can't help myself keeping up to date with the scores and following twitter/radio commentary of the games! I suppose there's something still there for me, which is great.

It's been said before, it's the hope that gets you. I've been away for 10 years now but still keep up to date as much as possible. I just try to avoid the obsessive negativity... and keep hoping.

I think it's shit.

I completely lost the bug, some enthusiasm returned briefly but I reckon I've been to about 4 games in the last 5 years. Where as 10 years ago I'd not miss many more than 3 through out an entire season.

I remember sitting down to watch the play off final against Preston, as kick off approached I started thinking why the fuck aren't i there? I used to live for days like that. Two minutes later and that feeling had gone and I was glad I hadn't wasted my time, effort and money going.

Don't miss it all. Check the scores but sometimes forget we are playing mid week till someone mentions it.

Also, as someone said, it's the hope that gets you, now I don't know if it's a me thing or the way football has changed in general with all the money but I have no hope. I don't think we'll ever get above the third tier again. We are destined to bounce around the 3rd and 4th divisions.

We will still be playing at the County Ground as it crumbles around us.

I think the feeling is shared. It doesn't make it necessarily true, we might get lucky.

The real trouble is when you get there, the championship, financially it's tough. Getting there and staying  is almost approaching the difficulty of  what it was to get and stay in the premier league.

Lack of any kind of plan to address getting there and staying there is a bit of an enthusiasm killer. bumbling along is a hard sell.

We might get lucky but even the rich billionaire takeover is pot luck.
For ever Chelsea and Manchester City there is a Leeds, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Villa so on and so forth.

Our stadium really holds us back. I dread to think how many teams have had new stadiums or redeveloped their current stadiums since we did any proper work to ours.

I have spells of going to games, I never missed a home game from 77 to 81 then went to every game home and away from 82 to 99 (part of that while working at the club) and then I moved 90 miles away.

I found I went to less games but was still interested, then you manage to ge to less and less games so you drift away a bit but still keep an eye on results but it is not as major a part of your life as it once was but you still listen to the occassional game and go to a few, more away than home in my case but it never fully leaves you.

In recent years the only time I felt the club wanted me to attend and that I felt part of it was under PdC.

Yes with hindsight (and a little idea at the time) we can see he was over stretching our finances and his politics leave a lot to be desired but he galvanzied the club from the players and staff down to all (99%) the fans.

There was a feeling we were going to achieve great things, he could speak to the press and fans and make us feel part of the club, our support was wanted and needed in this rollercoaster ride that we were on, at that time it was almost all upwards and could have gone a lot lot higher.

He was nuttier than a Snickers and the fans in the main adored him despite the negatives.

I have mates that support other clubs and they often came with me to matches just for the "Paolo effect" he had on fans, and they totally loved coming along as we were fun to watch and support then.

Now I don't feel as much a wanted part of the club, the manager, the owner, the players even don't make the fans feel part of things, and thats is disappointing as it is the fans that make a club.

In the past we have had some great, some good and some awful managers but the best ones engage with the fans and make you feel part of whats going on, part of their dream, Hoddle, Ardiles, Macari, PdC and even at the start Muckmahon all were great at getting the fans on their side and fans feel loved and part of the club.

Currently I feel less part of the club than I have ever felt, or at least since the bad old days anyway.

We need a galvanizing manager who can interact with the board, players and fans and get a feel good factor back to the club, something thats been missing IMO since PdC left under the cloud a few years back.

Several personality less managers (Ling excluded) in MacDonald, Cooper, Williams etc have slowly chipped the feel god factor of PdC until it has gone totally.

I totally agree with how Powers business model  is for the club, buy for free or very cheap, improve with coaching and play football that will attract scouts from higher leagues that can see how a player can fit into their existing system etc.

Make us a club that is not on the brink of extinction all the time as we have been in the past too.

But please please Mr Power invest a little extra money and get in a manager who has charisma and can engage fans and get us all back on the clubs side again before too many fans have drifted away forever which is a danger I can see happening.

(PS sorry for the length of this post!)

fair points.

What I loved about PdC was that he gave a fuck.

If we won and the performance wasn't up to standard, he was still pissed.

If we lost, IT MATTERED!

He led a team of players who seemed to give a fuck too!

(PS sorry for the length of this post!)

It's not the size that matters JJ. Stop boasting.

 I'm struck by the ageing demographic at the CG.....maybe I just notice it being an old fart myself, but I do worry for the future of our great club. 

The flavour of many of these posts reflects what I said back in the summer that the current regime has more or less completely finished the job of alienating the fan base away from the club. 

People lament that we're not able to mount a shot at going higher, but my concern is that we need to be capable of maintaining our Div 3 status, we've seen examples of clubs traditionally on our level like Rovers, Tranny and Stockport who've slipped into non league football, others like the Varsity derby clubs, returned to their traditional non league status, and found it difficult to get back.

If we continue to slide, is there any spirit left in the fan base to resist? 

We go today to a perfect example of a club, where everything is based on the bond between fans and club, it's something which has been the case at STFC at certain times in the past but gradually eroded until now.

The likes of DV may regret the continued use of the CG these last 120 years, but it shouldn't be taken for granted, as its owners are the malign SBC, who've repeatedly shown no interest in the heritage of the town if there's money to be made.

Its not the length of the post its the post in your length!

I think JJ sums it up perfectly. I am sure that feeling will come back but not under Power's regime.

Haha absolutely.

90% of you would be rosy if we were winning. The same topic comes up every single time we go on a losing run, and is never talked about when we're winning

I toyed with the idea of getting a season ticket both last year and this and then decided against it. Part of the reason for that is that when I do go to home games I sit there frustrated as much by our fans as anything on the football pitch. I don't want to go and 'waste' a Saturday sitting in a mild rage fucked off by some cunt who has decided Rogers/BOO/Barry/Obika/Doughty/Norris is the worst player ever to grace a Swindon shirt and so spends 50-75% of the match either complaining about them, moaning at them when they have the ball, or taking a minor mistake or slip as the worst thing ever to grace a football pitch, whilst speaking loudly about how everything was better back in their day blah blah blah.

Some of the old cunts who go are just that. I'm not saying it's all of them, in the same way all the younger people who go are but it's pretty obvious some of the old rosy tinted tossers wouldn't be happy if we were playing in the Premiership and winning Champions League Matches. They'd doubtless find something to moan about.

TL:DR - I don't want to spend my weekends sat within earshot of some moany cunt who wouldn't be happy unless Don Rogers still played for us.

Any win at the moment just papers over the cracks. Defensive issues have been with us for a long time. For me the demise started in the play off season.
We coasted into them on the back of dismal form.
The drubbing by Preston was overdue and deserved and aside from the upturn when ling was appointed it's been much of the same.

Can understand Powers model but it's shit seeing teams with much smaller attendances put out competitive teams.

Can't be assed at the moment well at home anyway.

At least the moany old cunts still go and thereby keep the club running.  Back in my youth the moany old cunts used to moan about The Don, because he didn't tackle, head the ball or roll around in mud. This was anathema to fellas who'd spent the week rivetting boilers, raking clinker out of King classes and pressing sub frames. You didn't argue with them.

I did say one of.. I have seen Gareth Bale more than once, to be fair, who is quite good (although I draw the line at 750k personally.)

In terms of Swindon players though, the "greats" of my era are the averages of a previous one. Someone like Ritchie, for example, was a joy to watch in his prime and is clearly a talented man, but is probably not as good as someone like Hoddle/Rogers etc.

I understand the falling out of love with it perspective. I expect by the time I'm 35 (looking 50 cos of all the stress) the buzz may well have gone for me too. It just hasn't yet.

aah I see. fwiw, if you got past Paolo being a cock/facist that time  was a high point watching town in recent seasons. Ritchie was a good part of that. we've had parkin, cox and Austin. they aren't miles away from shearer, white and fjortoft in bring memorable stfc players, albeit at a lower level.

I think I had a point somewhere, it's gone now

We have more or less always had some players worthy of being put into the pantheon of heroes, if not the rarer legend. I would put Nathan Thompson in the heroes category.

I have inferred my own point :D

Which is that I think "legends" aren't immediately identified at the time. I unfortunately don't know how good Digby was, but I know there was often a "is Fods as good as Digby" debate at the time Wes was here, and I do think that time makes a difference. Perhaps because it sounds almost blasphemous to compare current players to those of the past, but I'm sure, as you say, there must be some that have been on a par. There's a romantic nostalgia I guess, coupled with the fact that if you say "Fjortoft was the best striker ever" in 2016 he's not suddenly going to go on a barren run and prove you wrong!

I prefer the division into legend and hero. So for example Fjortoft might make it to hero but not legend, a place reserved for very few.

Hmm, I think Fjortoft may edge into Legend status even if it was short lived.  Football has always been shit.  The problem with all sports is that very few spectators manage to have any prolonged period of watching their teams be anything other than average to shit (outside of the USA where they balance the equation through the draft system, but even then you can't bank on the team sticking in your town).

I've watched Swindon play in the top league for what will surely be the one and only time for my generation.
England's football team seems destined to be average for many years to come.

Essentially, in footballing terms, I've seen the best I will see in my lifetime in all likelihood and it's the same for millions of fans across the country.  You simply cant get promoted every year, not without having plenty of relegations to balance it out.  It's just shit.

But surely being a player that Reg approves of is worthy of even a third category  :hmmm:

I've been a fan for 15 years, at a total guess, and I reckon I could go for:
Legend, very good, Average, Always tried hard, Drank too much beer, Shite.

So
Wesley, Ritchie, McNamee, McCormack, Michael Pook, Thomas Dossevi.

Solid system.

Pook qualified for the last classification as well.

If Mark Robinson can make the hall of fame then Fjortoft is most certainly a legend.

Probably because of the former though.
He improved when he bulked up a bit, he might have been half decent if he kept it up I think. I don't think L2 would have been impossible.

The Hall of Fame is a club thing, and so bound to be dodgy.

The problem with achieving legendary status is that it does require longevity. Hence Digby would be legend whereas Foderingham hero.

To show that it is rare for a player to be around long enough these days to get legendary status, Wes comes in at number 71 on the all time all games list.

The highest placed player who's career is entirely in the 21 st century comes in at  number 54......and may surprise some people......Daisy Duke  :)

I didn't really mean that re. Mark Robinson, I know his inclusion wasn't a fan opinion.

I think for fans in my age group will have no choice but to consider players such as Fjortoft as legends, we will also have Shaun Taylor, as you say Digby, you could argue that Summerbee Jnr. and Moncur would be in there too.  Moncur was fans' player of the year in our only season in the top flight, Hoddle was outrageous the season previous.

I think out of the triumvirate of Parkin, Cox and Austin I'd consider Parkin as as close to legend as possible, the other two not far behind.  I may have been a fraction too late to the party for big Dunc so I can't really comment where he's concerned.

Hmm, I'm not even sure Fods would go down as a hero personally, in fact, very few could claim that status in the past 20 years, if any.  Austin, Cox and then I am struggling.  Luongo probably deservees something for being the most expensive player we have sold, but given transfer fee inflation, was his fee worth more than £1.5m for Horlock?

edit: Parkin probably a hero, forgot him!

Yes

Does SSP actually work for BBC Wilts now?

Time can help with legendary status...there's certainly none alive now who saw Harold Fleming, but I've always regarded him as a legend, in much the same way as Jock Walker, who I never saw play but used to chat to in his chip shop. Harry Morris, you just need to look at the numbers....legend.

That cannot be argued obviously.

Parkin is definitely up there for me, three superb seasons and has subsequently returned to the club albeit in an unofficial capacity. Clearly cares about the club.

Fjortoft also follows our results but seems to do so for every club he played for, Boro fans love him as well.

men som ville elsker en norsk?

Parkin also gets credit for signing a new contract, so when we sold him he still had a lengthy contract and therefore was worth more ££££

I always enjoy this type of debate. Fods is one of the best we've ever had. Not as good as Digby, older fans than me will tell me he's not as good as Downsborough, which I can believe. But I think he's surely top five in our history.

I loved Jan, really loved Jan, but he's not legend status for me. That's breathing rarified air. I would keep the status of legend for very few players. Colin Calderwood can breathe the rarified air easily. I would say a legend is someone that we don't need debate. He just is, and we all know it.

 :pint:
Has done for around a year, works for Chelsea TV too

I'm not sure about Calderwood.
Captain the same side in all four divisions then yes a club legend.
Still feel a sense of disappointment from when he jumped ship before the start of the PL season. So for me, he's very near the top of the pile in terms of club greats but just falls short of legend status.

There are probably 4 or 5 that would fall into the true legend category e.g. Flemming, Morris, Owen, Rogers & Trollope.
Going on length of service, statistics, holding club records, overall quality of performance etc here.
For me "Legend" is label that should be used sparingly, but isn't, particularly in this day and age.

Then there are probably 50 or 60 club greats e.g. Wembley winners, part of promotion winning teams, solid service over a few years coupled with quality for example. So people like Hunt, Summerbee, Digby, Calderwood, Noble etc.

There are plenty of what have been described as heroes, players who shone brightly for maybe a lesser period of time or who are fondly remembered for one defining moment e.g. Fjortoft, Invincible.

Agree with you Donkey, these are always fun debates and nobody ever has the right or wrong of it.

Spot on, Calderwood alongside Shaun Taylor of course. Takes a LOT to become a true legend, you have to hang around for more than 3 or 4 seasons and constantly give everything you have.

Colin definitely has legendary status. 10th on the all time appeasrances list, and captain for 2 Wembley winning sides as well as promotions from Div 4 and Div 3, my second favourite Town player of my time since the 50's.

Maybe we should have semi-legendary, a status a bit above hero, but not quite full legend.

Hero, Idol and Legend in that order? :)

There have been plenty who would fall into the "Idle" category over the years.

Normally even in a struggling team there have always been one or two players who would still have an expectation of doing something to excite the crowd.

Football becomes really shit when there isn't even that small sense of anticipation to provide some cheer.

Very true.  Of our current lot I'd put James Brophy into "an expectation of doing something" category.  It's just so far, he hasn't really done anything.

A bit like Anthony McNamee.

I'd like to explore yesterday's formation further in the coming weeks and try to get the best out of him by letting him loose as a winger, he's got the beating of most full backs in the division, time to exploit that more.

I like Brophy he has pace, can cross a ball fairly well, his shooting leave a little to be desried but thats not an issue for a winger.

But he needs a defender behind him so he can freely run at defences who he is quite capable of beating consistantly, without worrying about being caught out of position. He is not a wingback.

Might even be worth playing him as an inverted winger on the right like Byrne and Ritchie who both did well in that position.

I hope too that game time will being consistancy for him too.

Good call.

Brophy loves beating his man.

He played their v the scum in the tinpot cup and was incredibly wasteful, his final ball is terrible.

I see why some think he has potential but I am not yet convinced he is League 1 standard. The weakness of our full/wing backs is a big part of the problem in terms of our overall struggle. Him and Boo are both capable of the odd decent performance but neither are good enough to start consistently currently.

Got to disagree on Brophy there Chang. Needs a run of games in an attacking role to expect any sort of consistency from him. Has loads of potential & always causes the full back problems, particularly in one one situations. Boo on the other hand........

Agree he warrants a run in a more advanced position. He certainly needs to work on his crossing but I would much rather persevere with him over Boo. Jury's out on both of them in a defensive role.

I think the jury has sat on them both defensively, a unanimous verdict of not being good enough.

Attacking wise though I see lots more potential in Brophy than BOO.

Watched Devizes Town res v Cricklade Town yesterday and the footy was quite good imo.
Really enjoyed the game, not even close to shit.

1st round draw of the FA Cup tomorrow, we may be able to acquaint ourselves with an outfit not too far above these in the the pyramid.....Westfields FC of Herefordshire are the equivalent of Div 9.  They'd be fun.

Surely though the football gods have got to give us Solihull Moors, so that we can get Jed back in town  :)

Taunton away will suit me down to the ground! as long as they win their replay!

We had Taunton back in 81/82, technically an away game but switched to the CG. We struggled to beat them and went down.

Given our recent FA cup form, I wouldn't feel confident about beating any non league side....so a Div 4 side would do, say Pompey away.

We did indeed I was there, it was between the CG and Trashton Gate to be the ground it was moved to, ended up 2-1 IIRC on a wet afternoon. That was 20 years before I moved down here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fXKjya6hck

Yes 2-1 indeed but I don't remember it being such a late winner.

EDIT: I love Howard Pritchard so unpredictable, brilliant one game shit the next!

Mind you that was a shit season.

Great clip. A different world.  One where Town wore yellow shirts at the CG  :)

One of my fave games at the CG in the FA cup was against March Town Utd in 78 we beat them 2-0 but their chairman (in the matchday programme) promised them £20 in beef steaks for each player for every goal they scored against us, yes he was a butcher by trade in March town.

Those were the days. :)

"Tight Mikes Tyres"
That's a blast from the past  ;)

Cheers, I don't live in Swindon and even if I would I probably wouldn't listen to BBC Wilts  :D good for him though

So much so he'll go back and do it again.

To be fair to him he was playing on his weaker foot.

I rate Brophy. You normally get a good half out of him and when he plays well, we play well. He's not the finished product yet and I'd agree he needs to be utilised in an attacking role more and encouraged to take players on

Another Brophy fan.

In recent games he has taken on his man a lot more, he is deceptively quick. Once he gets a final ball adapted into his game he'll be a real asset.

Similar to Byrne in his 2/3rd seasons with us, improve the final ball and he will be a major asset to us.

On Saturday Doughty said there is nobody at the club that can get anywhere near him in a 50 yard sprint.

Well fucking lob the ball over the top and let him chase it.
Just an idea   :bye:

Given that Kasim appears to have given up, Brophy is the only one that gets me excited when he gets the ball. It is just so boring at the moment. As others have said, stick someone (not BOO) behind Brophy and let him loose. Basically try 4 at the back and let Brophy go. what have het got to lose, other than matches we look to lose anyway.

We were technically the away side and they played in red so away kit needed. Remember it being a bit feisty afterwards with loads of Slave Traders swelling the away support. Also remember Boreham Wood and Hitchin as well as March Town. Hitchin was called off during the game and replayed - sure I had to pay again.

I remember there being some trouble at the Taunton game, as you say there were some Brizzle fans amongst them

Not as much as away at Kettering - that was lively!

Yep that was Northampton fans that day when my old mate Sid Sellars got glassed in the face playing Pool, great game mind you at a clapped out old stadium.

Yes football is shit.

No, we are shit at football

Depends on which game you are watching.
Cricklade  went a goal down in the first 19 mins but won 4-1 v Calne.
Very enjoyable.