Thetownend.com

Ok, first time doing this. When these threads were started just after midnight, we didn't do too bad. So here's hoping.  Quite honestly I really don't care if the match is totally shit. I just need us to win it.

We're gonna win our remaining games and look good doing it

On other social medias Sonic has confessed to being a bit drunk.  Did the fox tell you we are going to win?

He said Leicester should have won in 93

Im not usually one for fox hunting, but kick the heretic shits face off.

I remember a must win game against mid table Scunthorpe in our 05/06 relegation season under Iffy.

I drove young Tails to Newbury and we went up in the Whitsmobile. I just wanted a photo of a sign that said Cunthorpe really.

We got there and went into his old working mans club that looked like it was put the 1940s, the look of sheer surprise on Whits face when the prices were also from about 1940....and there were three bigger surprises after that!!!

We got chatting to some Scunthorpe fans who said we needed the points more than them so we could win today!

We go into the game and Jerel Ifils wife was sat in front of us with their little'un (who probably isn't so little anymore) they head Keough and Sharp who were pretty lethal upfront we.

We had Trevor Benjamin and I believe a first start for young Lukas Jutkiewicz!

.....and they went 1-0 but we played alright. Jutkiewicz despite being a 16 year old kid gave their defence a physical battle they probably never forgot.

We got a penalty and Trevor fucking Benjamin scored it down the other end.

No one wanted to join in with my one cunt in Scunthorpe chant.

.....then Ricky Shakes scored to put 2-1 about 5 minutes before half time.....

.....imagine the look on EVERYONES face when we won 2-1 with goals from Trevor fucking Benjamin and Ricky Shakes - you had to see it to believe it!!

That win kept slim hopes alive. We were 3 from safety with 3 to play. We had 46 points, our current total of 44 would have seen us bottom after 43 games let alone 44.

So, we'll probably win to keep the hope alive and then bottle it in spectacular fashion last game

A good performance but only a 1-1 draw, leaving us 3 points from safety going into the last match of the season

I'm going today. Really hope we give it a go. Would much rather we lose 3-2 than a feeble 1-0 loss.

Over 2.5 goals looks a stick on bet.

Unfortunately I feel today will confirm our relegation.

i want us to win.
I want us to stay up.
I can't see it, and so if someone said the could see 100% we are to go down, I hope it's over today in spectacular style.

But we know what will happen.
Town will draw.
Everyone else will lose.
PV will blow their game in hand.
we'll go in to the game against Charlton 2 points behind.
everyone will lose.
we'll draw in a whimper with 2 shots on  target at the valley.

Must win game, so we won't.

However results will go our way so we won't be down today.

Have a feeling the scum will lose in midweek to send us down

We will then win at Charlton

Oh, yeah, that's a goer in keeping with the misery of the season too.

We will win 5-0 and stay up on goal difference.

Oxford don't have a game in mid week?

 Excellent analyses from Batch, Posh and DV.

I know it's wrong but I'm struggling to give a shit. This lot have really knocked the stuffing out of me.

we'll take the lead, then give up four goals with a whimper.

4-0 win.

Even as the eternal optimist I can't see past a meek surrender of our L1 status today.
When we looked done for a couple of weeks ago they managed to string some results together only to bottle it. Hey... maybe now they're written off they'll play with some freedom and we'll win both games and stay up!



Nah.

Sent from my SM-G930F

I'm sad to say I agree with this. Just get it over with  :(

I'm just going to avoid all news until 5pm and hope for the best.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-BMmJeXkAAUEfI.png:large)

Why does everything have to be a fancy graphic nowadays on club twitters? Anyway..
I dreamt about Branco last night. That means he's either going to score or get sent off.

3-0 Scunthorpe, 1 penalty..

If (or when...) this lot go down, will they make it into the Hall of Shame?

If so, will it be the management, the team, the setup, Sherwood's involvement or the whole damn season which goes in?

Come on Swindon (& Northampton for that matter)

bollox

and berry winning :doh:

And it starts :(

And Bury are winning!

We go again next season

Its all over!!!!

so , er , Lincoln then.

utter gash this far

Without a fight...?

Please let this be the end of Williams & Embleton

We can't even pass the ball sideways successfully now :doh:

20 mins into a match we have to win, we're 1-0 down and haven't had a single shot at goal yet.

Good to see we're giving it s go! Fucking pathetic. It's a complete insult to the supporters. We can barely string a pass together.

I have said it before but Brad barry is one of the worst players i have had the misfortune to watch 

proper shit this.

close between him and Thomas

I said at the start that I don't mind if we're shit as long as we win. So far, I'm half right!

This is sickening. Just let it fucking end.

  :(

"we want power out" from all sides of the ground and part of the exec box...

something kicked off in the Arkellls. lots of stewards down front..

Have tactics and Power shown up?

Stewards having to stop fans getting at the Swindon dug out.

HT Town 0 SU 1

This is going to get nasty.  The stewards tried to eject a couple of the instigators who were shouting at Williams and Embleton but were quickly surrounded by a fairly large group.

All sides of the ground voicing their feelings. Power and Sherwood in attendance.  Wouldn't surprise me if they don't reappear second half.

ajose just jumped over the ball from a cross, clear and unmarked.

what the fuck

It appears we could be going down with little more than a whimper :(

What's less than a whimper as we are bossing it

I reckon Williams thinks he's coaching one of tgose over 50s teams, walking football

Bye bye League 1.

I reitierate....whimper.

I hope Forest Green go up. Be a new ground for me to visit and it's local

Town 0 - SU 2. Bye League One

Forest Green Rovers v Swindon Town...that's a fixture to make you fucking weep

Luckily that won't happen as FGR will choke in the play offs, Tranmere will come up....refreshing old rivalries.

I used to laugh at my old man going to watch them. What a shit standard, come with me to Swindon instead. Sigh

It could be worse. We could be Leyton Orient.

That's for next year...

Especially as we'd lose it.

Counting down the minutes until relegation.

What a shit season. Long summer ahead.

Dare we?

No.

What a strike that was.

He's too good for us

Ince swings a leg and scores from 25 yards!

Then, 2 mins later, does the same again and it goes wide!

1-2

Well it's the fucking Rohan Ince show atm. The only player in a town shirt who has seemed to give a shit since he's been here. On loan, so it says it all...  :bye: :bye: :bye: :pint: :pint: :pint: >:( >:( >:(

They think it's all over ...

Relegation confirmed.

The whining, shivering , shitting dog has been put down... It's over.

It still hurts even though I knew it was coming. Fucking bollox

Parkin:
- Feels sorry for Thompson bowing out in that way
- Team haven't been good enough
- Quality in the squad has been less than in last seasons
- Bit of sympathy for Williams. If he'd had this squad all season we might not have been in this position
- Can't see the taking kids out of U18 and U23 sides to cope in L2
- What the recruitment strategy will be next year is anyones guess
- Just don't know what will happen
- Tactics and selection: You've got to be able to roll the dice on occasions. There were 3 or 4 permutations tried today but none worked.

The summer will be interesting, cannot see too many of the current squad being here next season - major overhaul needed and big decisions on the coaching side of things to be taken

Yep, interesting summer ahead on a lot of fronts. League Two stays have gone well for us in the past but hard to compare the purse strings available in the Wray/Black days with now.

this was all said at the end of last season, next season is going to be hell :suicide:

Well done mr power you well and truly fucked our club over. :clap:

gutless fucknuggets with no fight or guts whatsoever. sub standard to the core

Williams isn't a poison. He's a good COACH and therein it lies. Williams needs to be put back as a coach only and we need to go get a right cunt of a manager who won't be scared of giving Power a clobbering. Someone like Martin Allen....but it won't happen :( :pint:

Fuck me Martin Allen is not the answer

Well I hate to think what sort of side we will put out next season , there won't be any premier players for sure, and if Power is still here, no recruitment until 3 weeks before the season starts . If Williams is still manager , I'm sorry to say we could be another Leyton Orient, and heading to the National League .
How can a man like Power get a fit and proper rating from the FL is beyond me , with his track record. Feeling really low, and worried over what is going to happen to our club over the next couple of years :cry: :

Williams:
- Result was correct.
- First goals was punched in with an arm
- Going 1-0 aown and not being able to respond is why we are where we are
- We tried lots of changes but none of them worked
- Wont talk about anything other than himself
- Williams should have done better. Better selection. Should have been able to motivate players better. 'I needed to have done better'. 'I have tried to do what I believed was right.'
- If you are ambitious you have to question yourself
- Williams didn't want to talk about others shortcomings only his own
- Have done the best he could for Swindon
- Only the players know whether they did their best
- Everyone makes mistakes, but if you have learned from it that is how people become successful
- Players have given the best at times but have come up short
- People say about getting it forward, but if you analyse it, we dont retain the ball enough.
- We were stronger and better armed last year which is why the style worked
- If you go into L2 with young and inexperienced players you have to go in with a plan to combat the physicality
- Tactics Tim: Williams has tried to do the best he can in the many different roles hes been given. He does his best, doesnt winge and gets on to do the best he can
- If people want Williams to work here next year he will do his best. Swindon has been a huge part of his life in the last 4 years. He lives in the middle of the town. He understands when people try to attack him verbally and physically in the dugout. These people are weaker than him. He wishes he could explain how much effort he has put in to trying to make things work.
- Affairs in the club: Obviously there have been problems in the club
- Nathans future is unclear. Williams imagines that he will be offered something by the club but its up to him what he does with his career

I'm talking about someone willing to belt Lee Power and tell him to fuck off now and again....

I'll do it

Oh and here is the lying bollock face now....Eff Off!

We've all moaned about post match platitudes in the past but that's a very revealing post match interview. We don't go again...

Cheers for writing them up all season NMH

Power:
- Feeling of devastation
- Didnt expect to be here at the beginning of the year
- ]My fault]
- Obviously players havent been good enough
- Coaching: Not sure. Decided to stick with things, but obviously it didnt work out. Making a change in management probably wouldnt have changed the outcome
- Needs a complete clean out at the club. Everything will be looked at - coaching as well
- Sherwood: Trying to identify players to get us out of trouble. Will talk to Tim about what he wants to do in future
- We havent done well enough with loan market. Everyone uses it but we have made mistakes
- Clean canvas for L2. Dont know about style for next years
- Thompson: Will sit down and discuss. Think he and Obika deserve to play higher than LK2
- Vigs: Will talk to his reps
- Next year: Need a strong squad to bounce back quickly
- Support have paid good money to watch. Understand they are unhappy.
- Needed to get finances under control and get players in. Power has got that wrong
- Power wont leave. Is here for the long haul
- This club shouldnt be in L2
- Devastating for Power. Doesnt like losing. Difficult time but its happened.
- Time for reflection on what we have done wrong
- Recruitment: Change in transfer policy didnt help. Reason we went down was recruitment wasnt good enough.
- Power looking at all positions across the club from tomorrow
- Need to make sure we dont make the same mistakes again
- Genuine concerns after Oxford games
- MK and Wimbledon games writing was on the wall. Whole season has been poor
- Hasn't been able to be here due to only being in country for 90 days.

No probs! Apologies for the typos :-)

It's all well and good, as long as he actaully changes it and not just says it.

I'd also like to extend a thanks to NMH for the post match interview write-ups all season.

Hodgetts, we should be a big fish next season :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Just back.

Bottle job of a game that an early dodgy goal set the tone for. Honestly looked like an end of season mid table clash where not a fuck was given to the result. Hard to pick twat of the match, Colket, Ajose , Thomas or Barry. Oh wait the incredible shrinking Gladwin, he was well up there (or down there)

Thank fuck the season is over. I can spend the Charlton money on the Joshua fight. I'mmmm freee, freeeeeee.

PS. Has Williams been sacked yet?

Parkin:
- Power suggested Obika and Thompson might go
- Thompson deserves to go
- Thought Obika would become a fans favourite for years but injury has ravaged him and he's likely to go
- Vigs deserves to go
- Interesting to hear Power say he will still be here.
- Hope we come back from pre-season with a spine that can challenge for promotion
- Instinct says there has to be a change in coach or the style he employs. Something has to give in L2. Thinks Luke is a talented coach. But there has to be a change in the coach or the philosophy
- No divine right to get out of L2
- Sure that we will see players like Dion Conroy come to the fore

Williams has to be out of a job tomorrow?
This has got to be the worst Town team in my life time.

The background to the next few months will now be is Power able/willing to make the necessary changes required to keep our league status.

I'd like to see a win at Whaddon Road.....

I was just thinking the same thing

It just seems altogether more hopeless than the last time we went down.i think mainly because it has been a really poor division and also the main thought is not about coming back up but going down again

The cheer when the tannoy woman said the players wouldn't be coming back out on the pitch spoke volumes. Personally I'd like a guarantee that that applies permanently for most of them.

What fucking change in transfer policy? The first Scum game was early enough in the season and you did fuck all. The second game saw your mate go on the piss, miss the game and then afterwards we found out Williams was back in charge.
Why the fuck would anyone believe a word this cunt says. We've heard it all before.
As for todays game a total bottle job. Ince, yet again was our midfield. Colkett, Gladwin and Thomas yet again were total wank and weve got two more years of that cunt Thomas.
I am sick and fucking tired of STFC. I love the instititution but I hate just about everyone connected at the club.

I know opinions are like arseholes but I thought after a shaky start that Colkett was excellent today. His passing was pinpoint and he was always looking to make things happen. I was staggered he was taken off.

Ince is like a limousine footballer. Shame we won't see him again. Gladwin and Ajose were useless today and Obika wasn't a lot better.

Can see why Scunthorpe are so high up. Organised, strong and incisive. Their tactic of getting into the box with 4 passes was much more effective than ours with 20.

National League here we come.  
I will return once powers gone.  
So glad i saved the 600 on season tickets this year

Reg was right. That is all.

More than a little surprised that Williams still appears to be Manager.

By the sounds of it, so is he. Doubt that situation will persist much into May.

What the fuck does Hodgetts know about football . . . or fishing!

Power has let the club down, Williams (and Embleton) have let the club down, the players have let the club down.  Today's display summed up the season and is why we've been relegated to League 2. Clueless and wasteful with the ball and a number of the players looking decidedly uninterested.  The fact that Ince got mom yet again sums it up. Massively disappointing, but not surprised we slid out of League 1 without a real fight.

Bollocks of a season.

It's all very well Power being devastated, but if he had genuine concerns after the Oxford game, why not act then? The only way next season won't be a repeat of this is if he has learned from his mistakes and changes his approach completely.

Exactly the same for me I will not give that man another penny of my money I might go to the odd away game, sad day having been a ST holder for 15 years.

I think he will still be here next season. Embleton is a gonner as is the physio, I hear.

This may sound obscene but I was quite entertained today. Yes we were clearly second best but the last 15 minutes we gave it a go. Not that I am defending the players for that. We should have been playing like that in recent matches, not the last 15 minutes of a must win game.

Sorry but we need a new management team and style of football. It's too slow, no urgency, no movement. At times it's like we are playing musical fucking statues.

Amen

Devastated after that, first goal shouldn't have stood but we didn't start playing until the Supercoach took the shackles off and threw Norris on!  We had a go then, super goal from Ince but not enough and we were once again beaten by a team that was fitter and better organised than us.  Painfully slow in the build-up allowing them to get 10 or 11 people behind the ball and all we can do is little flicks or hit and hope passes.  It has not been good enough all season - the table does not lie.  Power will still be here next season but I hope for the club's sake that an experienced manager comes in and Williams and his sidekick fuck off - or are fucked off.

It was yet another game where 11 strangers meet for the first time for a leisurely kick around. We play when we're 2 down and the game is gone. If it wasn't for Ince and Vigs we'd be bottom. Total fucking bottle job. Scunthorpe looked a decent unit. Williams is a clueless delusional useless cunt and I haven't seen anytihng to justify his rating as a good coach. Just more PR hype shit from the club.

Worst run Swindon Town FC ever...FACT !!!!

Why?

If he's made it this far why will that change now?
If he was going to go, he would (and should) have gone months ago

What on earth did the physio do?

If he had an ounce of self esteem he would fall on his own sword today.

Giving a rookie manager a 5 year contract was more than a little idiotic.

It's been so much worse than this in the last 15 years, so if is all it takes.... good riddance.

Spot on, I know Colkett is a lot of peoples scapegoat but I thought he was a class above any of our other players bar Ince, I think he will turn into a great player.  Unfortunately he is just not the kind of player we need in the position that we are in.

So true.

Although I'm pretty gutted right now, and I always think following a loss (especially one with such ramifications) everyone should be given a 24 hour leeway to talk utter shit. It's part of the healing process.

Oh do Fuck off you righteous cunt enjoy an empty stadium happy clapping Williams and Power. I have been going for nearly forty years and was there with our lowest attendance ever against Darlington in Div4  but this Cunt power is taking us out of the League and if you are blind enough not to see it then keep giving him money.

:)

Pointing out this isn't the most dire situation we've ever been in isn't the same as saying you fucking love Power and wish Williams was given a 15 year contract instead. That's some thisis level bullshit.

Ghanimah senior had it right, living near Harrogate, that he wouldn't attend the Bradford away game as why spend money attending a match where players clearly couldn't care less. Relegation sometimes happens but when it happens in such an abject way questions inevitably lead to the top. A fish rots from its head.

Try telling people that this time next year when we are looking forward to National League, let me ask you do you honestly see Power changing anything or actually investing anything.

That wasn't the point I was making. We could get relegated 8 times, I just don't think Panda Paws was saying he couldn't wait for it. You've just made that up.

Ta ta then. Anyone that uses the term 'happy clapper' when confronted with a rational response doesn't really deserve a response but PP is right it's been much worst.
The only thing worst than things on the pitch is the posts from some people on here and Facebook where the seems a genuine sense of satisfaction and smugness from the 'I told you so' brigade. The like of 'Newmarket Red' that only post on here when we lose sums up some of our support....

Yet LW took him off! The season summed up in one ridiculous substitution!

From a purely footballing perspective it's not our worst season in the last 15.
Wilson/Hart had us bottom with only 41 points (yet oddly, the better of our three recent relegation teams)
However, 06 under Iffy we finished the season with 48 points, more than this shower of shite will get.

Going down has happened.
The reaction is the important bit - we need the huge club changing galvanising reaction like 06 and 11.

If thst doesn't happen, then I'd say on the pitch we are at our lowest ebb since I've been going.

Power has invested though, just made poor decisions, he has put the money in just not in the places where it was needed, the majority of our problems come from midfield and it took till January to try and fix that, if we had ince from the start then we wouldn't be in this mess as our defence has been much better with him in front of them.

Put an Ince and a Doughty in midfield and this team would have finished a lot higher as when we had Doughty we had more chances for the forwards but we struggled to defend, now we can defend but can't score.

Best you don't come back.

We have at least 3000 fans on the waiting list for STs and we sell out every week....you will not be missed!😊

Premier League or Western League, I'll support them.

It's done, it's not been acceptable and big problems need to be addressed but it'll take a lot more than this shit season to put me off this clusterfuck of a football club.

See you at the inevitable Supermarine friendly.

I said it before and i'll say it again " This is the worst squad ever" not helped by a style of play and a rudderiess owner/manager
 not willing to change.

Adver (and Bernie) agree with you. I must have been watching a different game. The boy can pass, but that offered us nothing imo.

i think that's what Bernie was getting at, will be a good player but this team doesn't have the ability to get most out his passing range. I don't disagree if it was.

Self esteem doesn't pay the bills....he will wait for the axe.

Also the bad teams from years ago didn't play in such a weak league,most teams are shite at best.I can't remember saying at the end of a game "that was a good  team" all of them have been poor......and we still fucked it up.
 :headhurts:

So,despite many of the best players in the world now playing in the premier league, the standard of league one has gone down? Utter bollocks.

Given the total lack of movement up front I guess Colkett's only real option was to spray the ball about. Yes he did try flicks and back heels a few times too many but I actually thought he looked to put a lot of effort in today.

Completely the wrong player for us this season. Toffolo reckons he is too fancy flicks for the Championship and will likely end up back in league 1 next season.

i don't think the talent has filtered down. How we managed to only get relagated in the penultimate game is an indicator.

i think the premier league is overrated anyway, but that's another argument.

There are a few useful players in the Prem, but as can be seen by the last 4 in the Euro comps, the Prem only has one of the 8 clubs.

Further only 6/30 players in the Prem were shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or, and of those Pogba and Zlatan, got in becasue of what they'd done the previous season in France and Italy.

The Prem clubs hoard young talent, and thereby hinder the players' progress, any promising young players will get hoovered up from the lower leagues... I'd say it is difficult to think of say a Dele Alli type in Div 3 atm.

The Prem clubs largely look to French/Spanish football, for ready made players where it is easier to develop young talent.

German clubs to an extent are good at player developmant, but Bayern now seem to have distorted the Bundesliga as a Comp, the knock on effect of which is that no German team are involved in the Euro last 8.

Exactamundo. Roll on the summer transfer rumours.

The physio left about 6 weeks ago to head up a medical team at Cardiff City (?).

That's bollocks. It may well be one of the worst teams ever, but to say the club as a whole is the worst run ever just demonstrates a total lack of perspective. It's been far worse run than this in the last few years, never mind ever.

Should definitely sack him for that, that has to be breach of contract :)

Exactly. 

Power probably got a fat wedge in a transfer fee for him!

It's all very well saying things have been worse than this in the last 15 years, but it's now that matters.

It's understandable that supporters are going to be  upset that we've been relegated and fundamentally the buck stops with Power whatever people's thoughts on him are.

I heard today that less than 2,000 season tickets have been sold.  That along with long term supporters (and I'm talking 30/40 years plus who've seen it all) giving up clearly shows the way feeling is.  It's incredibly sad.

Power is responsible for the poor recruitment, the failure to change the managerial situation with a couple of rookie coaches clearly way out of their depth, a deliberate policy of alienating local media, the ludicrous involvement of his mate Tactics Tim, and the fact that large sector of the supporter base won't put money into stfc when they think the money is going straight into his pocket. All of that has led to a completely avoidable relegation from the weakest League 1 in years.
His transformation of what could have been a Championship team into a Division 4 team, who a significant proportion of the supporter base think, could be dropping like a stone into non league should be making him ashamed. Sadly as long as his bank balance is boosted by flogging off Vigoroux it is hard to see he is more worried about our relegation than by the fact that Millwall got dicked at home by the Pox.

That was terrible. No passion. No fight. Down with a whimper. Only thing i am happy about is the fact it's all done and dusted and we can all look forward to a summer without shitty football.

Good post, sums the whole situation up perfectly.

http://truststfc.tv/sam-morshead-after-a-season-of-neglect-what-is-there-to-look-forward-to/

Now, I am no Power happy clapper, don't like the man or his methods but some people need to stop and think where we might be right now if Jed and his cohorts were still running the show!

Probably where were going to end up with Power,,,who knows.?

Well said Sam!

As an aside from today's actual game, why did they revert back to reading the names out of those that had passed away during the applause? Last season they read the names followed by applause after people said they couldn't hear the names through the applause. Why not do it like that again?

Did I really read that the bloke who posts the embarrassing nonsense on the clubs twitter account, cut short Williams' interview?!

What a muppet, probably needed to upload a throwback video of Bolton away so couldn't stay there any longer.

Although I really dislike the official Twitter feed, I'm sure Andrew Steele-Davis was instructed to cut it short as soon as the word 'resign' was uttered.

Shambles really. Says it all.

What really fucked me off was the constant tweeting of stuff like:

ON THIS DAY: Town get Promoted to league One

Are they taking the fucking piss???

While I remember what was the kerfuffle in the Arkells about 5 mins before half time that led to a line of coppers and stewards blocking the front off?

all i read was a couple of fans were being vocal towards the dynamic duo on the bench, some stewards tried to frogmarch them out, and a larger group of fans didn't think it was on.. whether said two fans were physically threatening as well i don't know.

also read some were removed from some sponsors suit for voicing an opinion...

oh yeah, read it here

That wouldn't surprise me. A fair few in the directors box openly joined in with the 'We want Power out' chants towards the end of the 1st half.

At last something to read that makes sense well done Sam Morsehead.
The sorry few who say fuck off to fans who have had enough,lost the passion,got bored,say your not real fans can you all do one.
Personally i have watched the town since 1979,been to around 65 away grounds,been up and down like a yo-yo but have kept up interest in supporting my local team.I go with my dad and son both of whom are in the same frame of mind as me,this isn't our club anymore it's just a farm the owner uses to sell this years crop.This years crop is rotten,worthless and most of all useless.
Sad,angry feel used the feelings are draining.
It would take a major change in direction for Power to keep us from falling out of the league,if he does it why didn't he do it in January?

i like the crop analogy.

he's even got a couple of fields now, so are we going to be left fallow next season??

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You wont see many of these next season.

It occurs that perhaps because a relegation struggle is ultimately binary, black or white, it shouldn't be too surprising that so much opinion is likewise.  And that when the result is indeed confirmed as black, that Power out, Williams out, players out, Embleton out, physio out (oh) is a natural and understandable reaction.  However, even without the benefit of reflection, even staring at the dismal evidence of two and a bit years, I still think reality is somewhat greyer.

Anyway, after 44 mainly miserable league games, here we are at the GWR barbeque, nodding at longstanding half acquaintances, part watching the cricket and kids playing football, all seeking the last knockings of hope in glasses considerably less than half full.  It's my first visit here, and all because of the efforts of the few who've tried valiantly to improve the matchday experience of the many.  Thank you.

There's a decent crowd inside the ground, and whilst there's some initial encouragement, absolutely gone is the actual expectation and even excitement that filled the air just a couple of long, long weeks ago.  As mentioned above, the reading of the roll of honour is so bungled, so rushed, so obscured by applause, that I barely heard a name.  Sometimes it's the small things.  A loyal, humbling list of supporters who can never come back; I can't help but wonder how long the list will be of those who won't come back.

My heart sank yesterday when I realised Scunthorpe were still in with an automatic shout  - there would be no resting of players,  and no minds wandering absently to the summer in Skegness.  Thus they started brightly and efficiently, without necessarily giving the impression that they'd be leading us on a merry dance. But we could do that ourselves!  Vigs didn't come for a harmless through ball, which resulted in Branco then hoofing off for the softest of corners.  I know what you're saying - it was only a corner, and they're not even going to score for two minutes.  But like I said, it's the small things.  So when they work the same short corner routine that they scored from up there, ending up in another corner, I am already unreasonably apoplectic. Fear not, I'm won't analyse every passage of play like this, but this limp, half-arsed minute or two somehow sums up the whole sorry season.  The next corner is woefully over hit yet hunted down by their centre half who turns Connor Thomas (more soon) this way and that before delivering a cross for someone else to bundle home, probably using his hand.

Now I don't think Luke Williams (or anyone really) deserves abuse or ridicule, but all of that, like this most sleepwalked into of relegations, was totally preventable.  And whilst individual mistakes will happen, the likelihood of making them is (from a coaching perspective) easy enough to reduce.  Which is why I tend to take a sharp intake of breath and beg to differ when I hear that Luke is a good coach but a bad manager.  Yes, he's a progressive, developmental coach, the type quite rightly beloved by the FA, and I genuinely enjoy listening to his rationale and explanations and knowledge.  In time, who knows, but right here right now, at best the approach has been hopelessly naive.  Whatever, the philosophy, the implementation, the result, Luke's coaching - they are all rotten.

With my ire drawn, the game seems to meander along, Scunthorpe content to sit in whilst we huff and puff: Obika receives everything, turns then loses it.  Ajose is invisible - coaching point again - Williams eulogised his quality when given that one opportunity from a Colkett ball at Fleetwood, clearly tried to repeat it in the first 20 at Walsall...so where did that intent go?  Of hitting space early and behind the line? Ajose missed that sitter in the first minute against Oxford, and has barely had a shot at the CG since.

The atmosphere turned nasty, stewards pouring to the Arkells from all directions, and a seething mass of dissent all around the ground that we've not previously heard.  As much as anything, it felt sad, that here we were, collectively giving up, one goal down with an hour to go.  Some of the players visibly shrunk, and we all limped to half time for a cup of tea and a calm down.

The second half brought a change in shape, a modicum of urgency yet no tremendous sense that this was our time.  i could pick out Barry or Gladwin or the referee, but Connor Thomas.  Really.  A player so completely insipid, so incredibly inconsequential that I don't know where to start.  However he plays in the way I do my supermarket shopping with a hangover without wearing glasses: wandering aimlessly and indecisively this way and that whilst nothing around me makes sense, avoiding bumping into other people, desperate to be somewhere, anywhere else.

Both teams scored a goal each, Ince's summing up his splendid contribution which sadly will only be a footnote to the sorry season, although minds were already on the final whistle and beyond.  Eventually the referee gave us a comedy moment, hurtling for the sanctuary of the tunnel in fear of the imaginary hostile invading mob.  Many were already drifting away, others waiting to pour scorn, whether the players came back out or perhaps thankfully, not.

Christy's match reports have been by far the best part of this season.

I think reading Christy's write up was the most enjoyable part of today.

The vermin who think we will play their part in this sad charade will answer to us

Do you realise that the reasons behind our demise are as a result of the sort of economic changes actively brought about by Morsheads employers? It's where we are, happily you still retain the right to do something about it...

Well said Reg,

We're very fucking annoyed

Division 2?

Humiliated

Reg your fucking deluded,say good night to Power will you.

A guy and his son were in suits for the second half in the DRS. They told us that they were chucked out of hospitality for starting a 'we want Power out' chant. I did find it an odd choice of clothing for the DRS!

Sherwood on Goals on Sunday basically blaming the players and the council for the mess we are in, taking no responsibility whatsoever. Shrugged his shoulders when asked if he was staying, and said 'it wasnt a job, i was there for four weeks to put some deals together'

Bottler

Biggest appointment in the club's history

don't you mean disappointment :bye:

There's a lot of people at the club who have tarnished reputations now. Wonder coach Williams and his sidekick Embleton, Sherwood (Who did fuck all anyway) not to mention a long list of players who either weren't up to the job, or just didn't want to put the effort in. I don't agree that loan players don't care though, try telling that to Ince, it's the permanent signings we made that were more disappointing.

The person who shoulders 100% of the blame though is Power. Giving a youth team coach a 5 year contract to manage the first team? I hope he's as good as his word and changes things for next season, as if we prepare for league 2 in the same way as we have for the last 2 seasons in league 1 we're going to see another relegation fight.

spot on

Power will try and say all the right things about rebuilding and massive changes to appease the disappearing fan base then cobble together a squad of misfits less than two weeks before the start of the season.

I'm really hoping he doesn't, but given his form over the last 2 summers.... The big concern for him, if he wants to continue with his model, is how many premier league clubs will want to send their players to a basement club on loan? Especially one that is as shit as ours.

I'll still be there next season, Town being a basket case is nothing new...

you just have to keep going, hope that it stays cyclic and we'll one day be good again.

but everyone has a breaking point.

That's amazingly optimistic. Power, Sherwood and wiiams cobbling a team together by end of September when the loan window closes is more realistic. By which time we're in catch up and gates have gone.

Summed it up superbly  :clap:

I'd still like to see the 83/84 retro shirt come back.

That season there was a very real concern about the future of the club as gates plummeted and a general sense of apathy prevailed amongst the 3,000 hardcore.

By the end of that lowest ever finish season, we were getting gates of <2000.

The club is presently in a far worse state than then however. Power has some difficult decisions to make.

 Luke should be clearing his desk in the morning, out of the club altogether, he has no good will with the fans. Had he resigned he'd have at least kept his dignity.

The subject of replacement though is extremely difficult, we know it will be a cheap option. We know it will have to a coach, willing to put up with Power, so it very much limits the field.  In 83/84 we signed Dave Hockaday.... in the circumstances, he might be an option for trying to keep us up.

Yes definitely,  and so have we.

Some good posts on here and I wonder if Mr. Power ever reads them or is really bothered about what we think. I turned the radio off on the way home as could not stand listening anymore to the interview with Luke Williams and missed Mr Powers' "acceptance" of the total fiasco this season has turned out to be.

It does all rest with Mr. Power as he is the Chairman and the buck stops with him, but his wearing of the two hats, one the financial guru and the second as the ex-professional player who knows how to "spot a player" has patently not worked. Financially, we are in a far better place than we were apparently, which is great, player wise we are in a dire situation of his making. This all points to his meddling in the transfer/loan system failing drastically and surely cannot be the parameters for next season as a team that does not work hard and is prepared to compete for every ball in Divvy 4 will see us in serious trouble.

I renewed my season ticket in the hopeful wish we would get out of the mire and wonder whether I was being rather naïve, I want to be proved wrong.

I'm surprised by how little I'm annoyed/bothered by this. Disappointed but almost apathetic about it which is the biggest concern for the future of the club - happy clappers or doom mongers, at least the passion is still there. It's vanished for many.

I don't support Power, I recognise the work he has done to keep the club on an even keel but this has been outweighed by countless atrocious decisions, not lest keeping Williams at the club and trying to con the fanbase with the 'appointment' of Sherwood. I realise there is no viable alternative so I can only hope that Power accepts that we need to get out of L2 at the first time of asking and acts accordingly. I doubt this will happen.

I'll probably attend fewer Swindon games next season and become a footballing nomad whilst I have a number of clubs on my doorstep. Football really is not important, I'd prefer to attend a game as a neutral than spend 90 minutes seething with rage. Life's too short.

i thought I'd be the same as sonic, i thought I'd accepted it and relagation would be a blessed relief in a way because it was inevitable.

But I'm still angry and hurt. And looking at the teams in Division 4 has made it worse.

At best, unlikely as it is, we go up next season. That's another wasted year... Best case scenario. The worst case I'm blotting out..

I fully expect we will try and get a couple of loan players next year, but they are likely to be late.

The key thing is surely to get the majority of the squad together for pre season, and that means our players.

The problem is I don't see it happening unless Power has a complete change of approach

For me, in terms of footballing quality this team not nearly as bad as the dreadful two seasons under Trollope and Beamish.  I believe that it is, however, the most soulless, boring and utterly dispiriting team we have had since I started watching in '73.

In the same vein, I don't see how people can maintain that the club is in its worst ever state.  Unless there is some financial black hole that we don't know about then the club has been in a far worse position on more than one occasion.  But there is a case for saying that the direction in which we are heading is as bad as it has ever been.  As has been said earlier in this thread, will Power's fine words be followed by inaction over the summer and then once again a patched-up assortment of young loanees with no nucleus of experienced professionals to support them is thrown together in the last few weeks of pre-season and then tossed to Williams to manage?

I've renewed my season ticket for sentimental/loyalty reasons.  I wonder if I will come to more than the 6 games I could be bothered to attend this season.  Apart from the beers beforehand, I didn't enjoy one of them.

This would contradict power who said he'd see what time wanted to do for next season. I don't believe a word either of those cunts say. For 4 weeks casual work there was certainly a big fanfare about it and the deals he did other than once were shite.

When we are top of Div4, let's see what people's thoughts are then...

All this will be forgotten.

Jan Aage Fjortoft‏Verified account @JanAageFjortoft · 5h5 hours ago 
It's a disgrace how Swindon Town have been run this season. So disrespectful to the great fans of the club. Arrogance and lack of knowledge

of course it will, because Power will have had to change his
approach for that to happen

A good summation. I agree. Only thing I'd add is the one thing that has hindered my enjoyment of watching us this year is our own support, or sections of. I've gone to some games with neutrals this year and they've been really surprised at the constant negativity and infighting, sometimes right from the first whistle.

I go to watch Town to enjoy it.  Not to rant and moan at other fans or hurl abuse at young lads playing a sport. I also don't go to watch the other team, so Oldham at home or Morecambe at home makes shit all difference to whether I go or not.

This summer is going to be very interesting - does Power fight back and learn his lessons, or does he carry on regardless? Lots of people can pretend to know the answer, but let's see shall we?

The football played in Div 4 in the early 80's was traditional... and therefore not sophisticated. It was still the days of terrible pitches, footballers with weedy legs, and defenders like Nigel Gray and Simon Gibson, who would kick the shit out of opponents if they could get close enough.

So yes, the stuff today is more pretty, played on a lovely pitch, by lads who spend time in the gym rather than bookies.

But there's the disconnect, the 80's Div 4 lads had to make up for their limitations by a bit of graft... a quality mostly sadly lacking in today's lot.

As to the state of the club, the danger is not solely Power, but SBC.

Being stuck between these two is definitely Scylla and Charybdis as far as the club is concerned. 

According to tans, Sherwood stated the problems were not only the players but Tory controlled SBC. Maybe he knows something we don't about future plans.

I'm not a serial moaner, but I've got sympathy for those that have vented this season. Watching the tripe we've been served up week in, week out, I understand their frustration.

He may get some decent loans in...

he may not.

To be fair to him and Sherwood, the January transfers weren't too bad. Yes it would have been better to get them in July, but obviously that was not possible.

they were a day late and a dollar short.

conroy, dabo, Ince and (should have been) Ajose were good. however Conroy only got in once Jones didn't ;) and Ince could have gone inside.

the rest were absolutely not the type of player we needed. Bring them in for September and add to them in January, fair enough. But bring them in at the end of January when it was bloody obvious we were in deep shit from November was unacceptable and never enough.

In short either Sherwood didn't do anything, or cocked up the window. That's if you believe he actually set the deals up. Brighton and Chelsea youths... bet we'd have got them anyway.

January was always going to be a struggle to get in every player they wanted / needed and in realistic terms they did as best as they would have hoped, unfortunately a couple haven't done shit so wasted their space (Feruz, Gladwin) but you never know how a player is going to perform until they are on the pitch. January would have had to been spectacluar to really get us out of the shit as you have limited time and limited players to pick from, you can't expect someone to rebuild a squad in January when the summer transactions were poor.

I am optimistic there will be a massive influx of players in the next 4 months, quite a few are out of contract and won't be retained and that means a lot of work needed to replace them. Power has said he knows the team was poor so it's time to see if he can put actions to the words.

seriously? the January excuse? he had from November to work on something proper and ended up signing a load of kid punts at the last minute. again.

fuck me, think i need a TEF holiday, think I'll come back when Williams is sacked or in a week or so..

The hugely annoying thing about the window, was that it was obvious what was required and next to nothing was done to achieve this.  As I said at the time.... a sticking plaster was applied and soon fell off. Power reckons relegation will cost us at least a £mill, a bit of investment in experience in Jan, could have kept us up, and saved that money.

There will need to be new players, just in order to put out a team and fill the bench....but all the evidence suggests more of the same, loans and trialists, just a lower quality.  The only saving grace is that most of the other clubs in Div 4 will be in the same boat.

That's pretty inevitable going by what Power said, I don't want to see him sacked though just moved back to coaching and let someone else doing the management.

Luke needs to be out of the club altogether. He has no credibilty with the fans.

I'm not sure about that. I could see him being accepted if he moved down to coach or assistant manager (whether he'd want to or not would be another issue). It's quite noticeable the lack of any huge chants for him to get the sack despite the shit show of the last season

I think LW needs to move on for the sake of his career and own well being. That post match interview on Saturday showed a man feeling the pressure. I am sure a Prem/Champ academy would welcome him back into their cosy world.

Are you for real? If you honestly believe Powers business model of loans and leftover players that no other club wants managed and coached by cheap yes men who have no idea what they are doing then you are simply delusional. I fully expect us to be fighting the drop next season too playing the same shite football. At least I will have the foresight to stick a large bet on it happening.

Our record since the end of January reads P16 W4 D3 L9 - so hardly made the world of difference?

Just for comparison our 16 games before the window slammed shut reads as P16 W4 D3 L9 ironically

So, the January signings made our team as equally shit as it was before. Not what I'd call a successful window

Agree with all that apart from he had from November. The writing was on the wall well before November, did he come back out from his suite for the second half or did he know what was coming? I left early because i couldn't watch anymore, gutted to be going down but fucking furious at the nature of it. Saying that I'm still going to Chastill!!

Course it will. I will guarantee though if we are it will be because he changes his philosophy,changes manager etc so in effect doing what people have cried out for all season.

It's almost as though one of the variables remained exactly the same throughout the season...

For me it isn't the relegation that bothers me as much as the state of the club and the fact that we are spiralling downward.

Things won't change, Power has just had his temporary Xmas Calendar shop moved to a different street

Sherwood - Moron who all but took over managing the team for a couple of months, was crap and backed away very quietly and left Williams holding the reins again. Regarding his comments about SBC. Its certainly not their fault for relegation this season but they have to share an element of responsibility for the lack of progress the club has made off the pitch. The assertion that the ground is much as was when Kamara played there is fair lets be honest. Unfortunately though Power doesn't seem interested in improving the ground, though the training area will be good if/when that ever happens.

Williams - I blame the bloke very little. He is a good coach, too many people/players have said that as well for me to doubt it. Fans wanting a new manager at the club forget that who ever it is that replaces him will be a coach, they will not be in charge of recruitment. He was given shit players and did the best he could. Would someone else have kept this team up? I doubt it. When he is involved in recruitment he knows what he is doing, Ince for example was down to Williams. I think Power will sack him, partly to appease the fan base (most of who are idiots anyway) and partly for business reasons to try and re-energise it all ahead of next season. Unless the structure changes though i doubt we will get a better coach in to replace him.

Power - Listened to his post match interview and i understand his decision making process. He's right most of the blame is his for recruitment. He must learn from this and set the club up to get promoted next season. Continuing to run the club so it doesn't lose money is the correct and responsible way to run the club. Anyone who thinks he has made money from the club so far needs their head examined! If he learns from what has gone wrong then fingers crossed for a prosperous future.

People wanting Power out - Who the hell is going to take over, there is no alternative i can see.

Hate this argument. There are never alternatives until it becomes apparent the club is up for sale.

You know what pissed me off more on Saturday? Scunthorpe's persistent fucking diving!

Then you might get Jed or BEST holdings... or, if we're really lucky, another Fitton type. Clearly, the ideal situation would be to have a buyer waiting in the wings who would clearly be an improvement. Years ago that might have been the Trust/Bill Power but they're not really set up to run the club at the moment.

Any new owner might be better, might be worse (yes, that very much is possible). They might not exist at all and then we'd really be in trouble. You can see why people might be a bit risk averse at least?

And on the flip side, the club might not be put up for sale until the owner is aware that a party is interested.

It's not an aguement, it's reality.  You can shout for Power to leave as much as you like, but:
1.) He's not going to just walk away and write off the money
2.) He's not going to openly come out and say the club is up for sale, that reduces the amount he is likely to get for it
3.) Unless there is an identified buyer, we are better off with Power, otherwise we could just cease to exist.  I know we are all pissed off with things but surely it's not worth gambling the clubs future existence on whether there is somebody out there that will step in and take it on.

I would prefer him gone as much as the next guy, but I only want him gone when we have a suitable replacement, not another Jed and not the liquidation route..

 Power has said he's not going anywhere.

 All we can hope is that he has learned something from this season.  From what he has said, he does appear to accept that he shoulders much of the blame, now I suppose that should mean Luke is of the hook, but that would be a very brave decision.

 What should happen, is that we have to take a fresh approach, with a new head coach, preferably someone with a bit of knowhow.  Even a return to the earlier model, where we had Darren Ward as a sort of organiser on the pitch to help the kids, would be acceptable, I'd prefer the old head to be a midfield man myself.

 

When Cooper was here, LW was given all of the credit for our style of play and results. Is it now safe to say Cooper was better than most thought?

Either way LW is clearly out of his depth and I feel a different manager like a Martin Ling type would of got more out of this inadequate squad. Whether that would of been enough to avoid relegation, who knows?

The appointment of Tactics Tim I thought appeared to be a good idea at the time although I did have some reservations, has turned us into a National media laughing stock. It reminds me of a Laurel & Hardy sketch, it beggars belief. LP & TS just spout so much shit it's difficult to keep up with. Neither has any credibility left with me and the quicker they are out of the club the better. If I was offered a double relegation to the Conference to gain a credible trust worthy owner I'd take it in an instance.

Nah think it's simpler than that.

Cooper had better players
Williams is a good coach
The players this year are worse

Cannot argue with that. I do feel for LW, the team he's had to work with have clearly been below par.

The good old Adver has had a field day!!  On their centre page spread on the game they gave the result as 1-1 (although they did credit the two Scunthorpe goalscorers!), claimed the attendance was 3,346 including 1,106 visiting supporters, and weather was crisp (!) and the pitch muddy!!  Their journalist is as shoddy as our team - on the plus side there is a nice picture of Sir Ian Botham smiling away in the sun!!

I'm no expert on this sort of thing, but if (as I believe is the case) Power has stated that we are near enough breaking even, how the hell could his departure result in the club going bust? Surely if we just remained independent / self sufficient, with a handful of Directors overseeing things, there wouldn't be an issue?

Near enough breaking even on 7k gates in Legaue One =/= near enough breaking even on 2k season ticket holders in League Two

We could have been lucky and had Andrew fitton spend millions of pounds on being relegated, rather than tuppence

Right, so then we just budget accordingly. We'll be above average L2 crowds whatever happens. And we must only have a handful of players under contract, none of whom would be on silly money anyway.

Ahh but Ferret. Even if the club is breaking even we don't know what the shortfall is that Power may be fulfilling. Although we'll lose £1mil (Powers est.) for relegation, the Gates aren't massively different for ourselves whether in L1 or L2 bar the local matches which will always be elevated. The harder thing is, getting unrefined assets and making them good (Gladwin, honest he was good but rose too quick imo) or being loaned a nearly refined asset and buffing it up to then either elevate your position or make a slightly above market offer to parent club (ala, Luongo, Pritchard, Mason, Byrne, Wes, Vigs...etc). Even in this poor season we have managed to still do this with Vigs. Granted the skill is not so much in the development, I think the skill is in the talent identification, without a true scouting network Power does rely on "friends" to offer him players. Now even your best mate isn't going to give you his best Pokemon cards is he. He'll give you Grade B or C, because that's still sharing...a true scouting network or just a Head scout and an assistant would bring about more knowledge of an upcoming player than any sports scientist will do. I'm all for these things in football but at a smaller club the core basics are needed and needed to be good.

I've digressed a little so apologies...but back to the "Break even" point. As far as we know, the club is stable under Powers tenureship. I'm not one for saying Power should go right now because that would be an action based on emotion and we all know a certain US President who just loves to act on impulse.

I think at this moment in time, Power is stabilising us off the field. That in no way means that I want our league status to be put at risk, however without a viable option in place and/or Power willing to sell, it is Power who will remain.

To conclude, the Waterford experiment may work in our favour, strangely. The lads who went there have done ok-well as I understand and the level is similar to L2 so they should be League ready and toughened up a little. There are players already at that club who could come here too. Which Power will undoubtedly get on the cheap and probably factor them in a sell on clause  so both concerns (both his clubs) do ok out of it in the future. e.g 50k for one of their "Gems" or "Failed stars" with a 20% SoC we sell for just 500k they get 100k which in turn builds them up and they can bring through even more development. Or as some may say...Power will pocket the lot. Tbf if he did turn 50k into 500k I'd be happy if he made 100k for himself and 150k into Waterford that still leaves 250k for us to spend on a decent player at L2 level.

Atm, I'll say we must wait with baited breath because until the Waterford project gets rolling to our benefit we can't jump away too soon. This is all really difficult to see too positively in light of our recent relegation, I understand. However i'm giving it until August to see what has been done. If things haven't been put in place or we don't see any progress in the sense of recruitment/management/sponsor acquisition/progress on ground buying by the Trust etc,  then I will be more concerned.  

Final note. Right now, Power should stay. Williams should return to the role of head coach. A new manager should be in position or in negotiation no later than the day after the Charlton match (even being interviewed at SN1 while everyone else is at The Valley). Talking of Charlton...I'd love Chris Powell. He may not drop down as a L2 manager but it'll be a while since he took up a role. Possibly enjoying his TV work for the BBC but the game always pulls them back in. Would he work under the conditions though (or is that a bit of a myth as Power isn't really around that much). A half decent manager can get what he/she wants out of the players and even more so if the owner isn't sniffing around too much. Maybe we should be pioneering and be the first club to employ a female manager? There are some very good coaches and managers out there it's just the male chauvinist stigma that is stopping them from coming through.

*ALL* Come and attack me with your constructive criticism ya rascals!

Yep this is how I feel.

Moved back ?

So the man that failed as a manager stays at the club and a new manager is forced to work with the bloke that failed, then the new manager has to spend time looking over his shoulder just to ensure he is not being stabbed in the back by the bloke that failed and thought he done his best.

Bollox get rid of him and his staff and start afresh

What I would like see happen is a new manager comes in with experience of the FL, he is allowed to pick his own assistant and team.

Power allows the new manager to pick his own players and tactics and style, the manager does not necessarily have to have final say on players that can be a decision between manager and power but he needs to be involved in everything.

I expect loans but lets have 2 or 3 not 6 or 7.

I'm sure this will cost bit of extra money but speculate to accumulate, and if we have a good season then some of the players will be in demand and 1 or 2 maybe can be sold for profit.
 

Power as we laa know has cocked up appointing Williams and cocked up not replacing him in January or got him to take a step back and bring a proper manager in to keep us safe and then re-evaluate in the summer but he should have bitten the bullet and spent some money to get a proper manager as all the other clubs around us did.

Now with big clubs and good following like Pompey - Plymouth - plus the local derbies and if Birmingham go down Power would have been guaranteed some good money from bigger crowds. The guys a total twat for not getting a proper manager in and now we are going to have a tough job getting out of L2 because I don't believe he will invest properly again in the summer I still think he will dictate how we should play and which players to bring in whereas that will leave him limited if he does change LW as manager because most proper managers will want control of how the team plays etc.
The ideal guy to get us out of this league would be Cotterril and as much as I don't like him he would do the job but he would clash with Power and not sure he would drop to a L2 side as he's currently with Redknapp at Birmingham so if they stay up he will probably stay there next season anyway. But he knows what is required to get out of L2.
I get a feeling it will be youth next season who will get battered in L2 as they are more physical than L1 and a lot of hoofball.

Power has a lot to sort and he doesn't convince me he will do the right thing again he will be worried about his back pocket.

if he was really that keen to keep us in L1 he would have acted in January by replacing Williams or bringing more experienced and better players in but again he wouldn't pay the money to bring them in and that sums it up for me - its all about him and sod the club.

There's one statement that even now, still gets repeated and now annoys me intensely. I think it must be that it's been said so much, by so many different people that everyone now believes it without question: Williams is a good coach.

Really? Honestly? Do people wholeheartedly believe this? Maybe he is, but is "good" good enough? And if he's so good, why are the team so unfit and can't defend for shit?

Luke Williams shouldn't be offered a new role regardless of how good a coach he might be.

I'm always a firm believer of when a manager leaves, they've all got to go - Williams, Embleton and maybe even Thornton.

I've said it several times before and, gosh darn it, I'll say it again that these three coaches have zero experience as footballers in the Football League and that lack of experience has seemingly proved costly, amongst various other things of course.

And if he is that good a coach why is he still here ? Why has he not been poached by a better club ?

Yep.  I said something similar to the people who sit near me before a recent game.  Actually, I asked them if they could tell me which first team players they thought were showing any improvement since the start of the season.  They couldn't think of any. Nor can I.

The only player I can think who may have improved over the season is the one not coached by Williams, namely Vigs.  That's a shocking indictment for a club whose focus has supposedly been on developing young players.

......and Vigs's kicking hasn't improved at all IMO.

It's interesting that the fella who won the league.. Wilder served his apprenticeship for many years in the non league at first Alfreton and then Halifax, when at Halifax he got them in them Conference PO's but then they went bust. 

So a job at Bury assisting before Lenagan the Oxford owner realised he was just the sort of thing they needed to get out of the Conference. 

He was driven from his job at Oxford by the fans who hated his dull Yorkshire persona, and largely negative tactics. He did however manage to get them up to the FL through the Conference PO's but no further.

He then won the league at Cobblers and Sheff U.

Our requirement, right now, is someone with a working knowledge of Conference/Div 4 football, with a bit of ambition who might see STFC as a step up. Power could do worse, than conduct a proper job thing and advertise, see who's interested and pick the best fit by interview

He could even get a fan on the interview panel....

The Lincoln management team or Dave Challinor at AF C Fylde would fit the bill Challinor has steadily moved each team up the non league ladder plus we would have some long throw experts1

On which basis, that explains the disastrous coaching and management careers of both Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas :)

Entire coaching staff, Paul, entire coaching staff.

Ah, fair enough, didn't realise that was the point you were making.

I'd say our senior players have all gone backwards in recent seasons namely Thompson, Kasim & Obika.

In an ideal world the sort of gaffer we should be looking at is Gareth Ainsworth at Wycombe.... saved their bacon from returning to non league on the final day of the season, a couple back and them got them into PO's next year. So decent experience of Div 4. Wycombe are financially in trouble.

So even in the current desperate circumstances, we could be considered an upgrade, just about.

Every Town boss, since Macari who's managed us in Div 4, has gone on to higher clubs. Macari, himself WHU. Wise/Poyet, Leeds. Sturrock, then Championship Plymuff. PdC, Sunderland.

So far, so good, however it couldn't happen. GA has 3 years left of contract, and he gets to manage at WW.

More ridicule in the press, albeit a small paragraph near the bottom of the page.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3413152/marcus-rashford-can-be-the-biggy-in-the-middle-for-man-united-in-the-hunt-for-a-new-central-striker/

"Truth hurts for Swindon

SWINDON banned all outside media from pre-match press conferences two years ago in an attempt to ensure fans could read only sanitised club-approved ‘news’.

And after they were relegated to League Two on Saturday, it took the club’s in-house media team 48 hours to acknowledge that they had, indeed, gone down. It won’t be long until one of these small-time despots running a club tries to sue a     paper for publishing a defamatory league table."

I was told Power, hired people on Saturday to eject anyone who voiced anything negative about him-williams. Any truth to this, anyone see anything?

Sounds like bullshit.

The fella who told me isn't a town fan but named somebody allegedly hired(i don't know the individual and have forgotten the name)

There were a couple of people booted out of the directors box. They were sponsors but ended up in the DRS. At the back towards the Town End.

There's been a big meaty security guard who's been near power in the directors box for the last 5 or so games of the season

There was a fracas in the Arkells before half time.
One report said  those ejected were physically trying to get at the management.
Another said that they were merely voicing disapproval.
Anyone know which is true?

Also, I've personally seen negative banners taken down PDQ - H&S or censorship?

Have to say I don't think censorship works and so unlikely to have been implemented. You can't stop a few thousand making their voices heard. Didn't even edit "Power Out" out the highlights :)

It looked like a lot of aggressive pointing to me. Wouldn't say they were trying to get at Williams physically

Thanks Dave. Bit OTT to eject them then.

(http://i1.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article7703286.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/CD4098288.jpg)

Were they like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRUX9Ouqfss

(http://www.cheesevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Hale-Pace.jpg)

Old School

We'd have had no one left by the end of the game if that was true arriba

Some of the stewards and security staff really do think they are macho men - trying to improve their image?

Ha. Just throwing it out there mate. I ain't got a clue either way

Confirmed, they were up next to us.