Thetownend.com

Yeah, I know.
(Thread timing and the possibility of upsetting the gods of good fortune is probably not an issue on this occasion!)

Rather than use up valuable drinking time tomorrow morning, thought it might be better to post this shit at a time nearer to when the game should be kicking off.

12.00 o’clock on a Sunday is when most people are getting home from church, thinking about preparing Sunday lunch and then gathering the family around the piano for an afternoon sing song.

Will be glad to see the back of a truly dreadful season.
An uncertain looking seventh visit to the bottom tier looms on the horizon.

The Tim Sherwood “you fucking mug” award for services to lost causes, goes to all of the travelling army who bother to turn up tomorrow. Sadly the great man has declined the opportunity to say a few words and present the signed gilets.

The “spare some change please?” award for away player of the season, sponsored by all of the unfortunate beggars encountered everywhere since August, goes to the outstanding Vigouroux.
Lawrence gets to keep the replica empty white coffee cup trophy and is welcome to use it to store some shrapnel as a reminder of his time at the club.
Will probably be sold in the summer to whoever offers most cash up front, hopefully to be used to bolster a shrinking budget.

Away day highlights.
Fleetwood & Bolton plus the satisfaction of finally seeing a win at Oldham.

Hall of Shame.
First half at Scunthorpe, second half at Sheffield. Could add numerous other displays to that as well.
Just as well that we haven’t had more media exposure over the season, as the Tit ‘na Trance* could have become a new, if challenging, alternative dance craze.
*Ability to convey a sense of uncertainty while remaining stationary and waving the arms about.

Best pre-match drinking session.
Coventry.

Worst journey.
Anything involving a CrossCountry train.
Birmingham New Street station. Still not worked out how it works but I’m getting there.
Arriving in Cheltenham on the way back from some Northern outpost and realising that there is still another hour of the journey to go.

Home highlight.
Trudging down the steps of the DRS to join the exit scrum after yet another disappointment, and witnessing what may well have been Batch Jnr delivering a sly wanker sign in the direction of the departing players.
(Shocking behaviour, for which the parents (or one of them) should take some responsibility for).

For what it’s worth, think it will be a draw tomorrow with most of the entertainment coming from the stands.
Wouldn’t mind getting hold of a plastic flying pig as a souvenir for the mantelpiece.

If things don’t go well next season then could we see lumps of Emmentaler launched from the CG stands.
(Would have to be plastic though as the real stuff is pretty dense and could do some damage).

Hopefully Swiss Lee will come to the realisation that owning a football club is indeed like making love to a beautiful woman. By all means give her a squeeze now and again, but not too hard or too long.

A football free summer to look forward too, but with the best will in the world, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and The Open always end up as just markers in the countdown to a new season.

No doubt over 3,000 good reasons will be crying out for me to stay at home on away days from next August to April, only to be ignored as usual…….Fuck Yeah.

There is no game.
There is no football.
There was no relegation.
Everything is fine.

I take full responsibility. I spotted him, told him off and told him if he doesn't change his ways he'll end up like me. that Seemed to do the trick!

good write up, we'll excuse the timing :)

going for ASD's job?

I live in Charlton, and The Valley is at the end of my garden. If any fellow masochists want to join me, the Antigallican pub opens at 10am.

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Surprising number of town fans on the 08:26

Will be good to wish the class of 2016-17 a fond farewell. >:(

One of the better away days when you think of some of the dross we will have to go to next season.
We will probably win today, 3-1, giving Power all the more reason to keep our top level coaching duo of Williams and Embleton.

Nevertheless, come on you reds

I'm really not sure why I am going to this. Hopefully we will see some promising youth teamers

it's ok if you don't, we'll ignore them next season and bring in youth teamers from other clubs who are no better instead.

Isn't that what we have on loan from Chelsea at the moment?

Apparently so

I hope we get hammered today, not being unpatronising but I don't want Power having an excuse to keep the present management team!  If we were to win I can see Williams on his knees in front of the chairman after the game exclaiming "one more season to piss everybody off please Mr Power, I have shown you I can do it"!

Seeing that team, I think you may get your wish

if we are playing youth, why the fuck are loanee crap playing ahead of our own contacted players.

feruz.. fuck off. colkett not Goddard, fuck off.

just fuck off Williams

Islam Feruz. Cant even get in a development team.

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Why?

cause he's shit

It was a general question in response to the team selection

oh sorry sonic !!

Thomas captain!!!! Why the fuck would you play the Chelsea 3 when its a dead rubber looking towards next season. Put the young uns in - our young uns that is not ones on £20k a week that you have no hope of signing.

Glad I didn't go now..

I'd completely forgotten there was a match.... quite an unpleasant shock, finding out there is one.

I'd imagine we might sign Feruz, assuming he's out of contract, as no one else will, so should be cheap.

Beyond that, I'm giving this season no further thought. ( I might when it finishes at 3 ish, pig protests permitting)

Feruz is on £21k a week apparently and I believe his contract still has a bit to run. Can't see us signing him although he does tick a few boxes, young, shit, lightweight, doesn't give a fuck but a big cross against cheap thankfully

Don't mind Dabo playing, I hope we pick him up as I think his contract expires next month?
Can't be bothered with Colkett and the reappearance of Feruz is baffling and concerning in equal measure.
Hope Starkey gives it a good go and presumably that's the last we've seen of Branco, which is a bit of a shame imo.

Sent from my SM-G930F

branco is injured so can't read much about new contact or not from team selection

Respect to all that are there today.

I was up for it but interest waned amongst the lads after last week. So radio it is.

Just seen the team...I was expecting a team change by putting in loanees in front of contracted players isn't logical to me. Why?
The result doesn't matter but let the fans see some green shoots.
Feruz? Fucking hell!

Anyway....Let's get this dog shit season over with.

Could this be our only double if we win!?

Williams now droning on that a good performance will lift the fans today...Fuck off you clueless prick..

I wouldn't bother even trying to read anything into that selection.

Ince doesn't fancy it.... Hamstring just gone tight!

Rodgers now in..... Has anybody walked out yet?!

Hopefully he's still under contract.

Luke Norris will need to score 4 today, in order to equal our lowest ever individual league goals top scorer for a season... can he do it :hmmm:  I'm ruling out Islam scoring 8.

I'd imagine today's XI to be the worst we've ever fielded in our history, managed by the most inept duo in our history.

The idea that this is all with next season in mind is frightening.

Oh didn't know that. Kinda feel like he might be worth keeping for next season. Although I'd rather we offered the contract to JSW if it is one or the other.

Unsurprising, when I saw the line up, I felt sorry for the fella, as he seems to be a proper footballer.

Christ Rodgers looks like he has gained a few pounds!

We are losing.

Always puzzles me that a few people always take satisfaction and enjoyment out of our shitness.

I suppose you need to see the funny side. We are so dreadful that it's difficult to see any positives. Do you think Henry should have saved the shot? Last time I was at the Valley was playoff 2nd leg where we won on pens. How things have changed. Conroy and Brophy have at least looked like they are trying.

Hiding shit does not unfortunately make it go away

Are we shit or are we shit ??

2-0

Well, hopefully in this case it's Williams final 45 minutes as our manager.

Just heard this line on the commentary "Feruz having periodic moments of mobility" (or words to that effect, think he put it slightly better). Superb work, Mr Hawes, made me laugh nearly as much as the teamsheet

3-0!

That's enough pig.

Stevie White was trying not to laugh...

It's over..

Norris did sound as if he gave a shit.

Hoping i hear Williams departure asap. Just hoping....Not expecting...

Good to hear the ownership made the effort to attend today

NT on players in positions without contracts "..I've been there myself so I know what it's like." I think he fully well knows he's got a contract elsewhere. Cheers. Thanks for the memories but you need to fly from the nest.

I'd like to think it's because they're scouting potential new players or talking to a potential new manager. However, it's more likely to be that they don't give a shit!

A shit end to a shit season.

Power, only has a certain number of days in Blighty, so the sad reality is that this was one he might just as well miss.

Presumably TT is already out of the building. 

Rohan Ince was having a post match snack in the Caribbean food shop behind the ground. Got swarmed by Town fans.

Absolute garbage today. Headless chicken syndrome springs to mind.  If that's the team we've got to look forward to next season we're fooked!

Here's Captain interesting... :suicide:

LW on Islam Feruz "it was a chance for him to impress...he may be here next season."  Well fuck me. I'm done.

Good god

Jesus wept, Feruz the future. fucking hell

you might want to listen again

Why ??

For those who missed the 2016-17 season, here's a 12 second summary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p50tguJxA4

That interview said to me that LW will be here next season, along with Feruz on loan again..

I'm going full Reg if that happens

Well just got home.Conroy Brophy decent and Goddard when he came on. The rest (including Obika im afraid) were a total embarrassment.Now seen a worse footballer than Rodgers,namely Feruz.Side had a distinctly conference look about it,no exaggeration.Stayed til the end and was horrified to discover most our team wear bras

Don't say that some on here think this isn't the worst squad ever.

I think it's a squad with some of the worst players we've ever had but with some good players who would have got into our better squads. If that makes sense?

Out of that whole team today I would only keep Conroy & Norris.  Norris is definitely not league 1 standard but think he will do well next season.

Dabo & Colkett have something about them else Chelsea wouldn't have offered them contracts. Unfortunately they never really shined due to how dire our squad was and how tactically naive Williams is. Furuz I just don't get, too lightweight and to me either has lost interest in football in which case why the fuck is he playing? or he's a fooking good actor and has managed to pull the wool over chelseas eyes and successfully passed himself off as a footballer.

Can't really judge Starkey as he's not long signed but he looked completely out of his depth playing Ince's role today if they was what he was meant to be doing.

Thought Byrne was a cunt today with his pathetic simulation after a tussle with Dabo.showed a lack of respect to the club that made him a first team player.Then our fans applauded him when he went off.

We know that one or two of our players have on occasions shown themselves to be good enough for Div 3 football, but have steadliy got worse as the season has gone on.

As a collective, these are probably not as a bad as 10/11, but that squad did have a few decent players, who for whatever reason just clocked off. There's nothing in this squad remotely near say a Ritchie or Caddis etc.  NSSJO has the unique distinction of having been in both.

Or....Austin
       Morrison
       Flint
       Douglas
       Ferry
       Mcgovern
       Prutton
They may have not performed for us but i would swap these for what we had this season anyday.

 Austin and Morrison both left in the Jan window, Flint had only just signed form non league... Prutton was terrible.

 This squad has got 44 points, and finished 3rd bottom. 10/11 got 41 points and finished bottom, that included a Plymuff side docked 10 points. Therefore collectively worse, despite having some useful individuals.

Who in the current squad do you rate?
Were Austin and Morrison in the squad that season or not?
Do the January loans this season count as squad members?
Apart from the goalie can you see anyone from our current squad playing at championship level?
As much as we dislike the players 10/11 season they have proved their quality elsewhere,there was some reason in the background why they didn't perform for us but they were on paper a much better squad.

Wilson's squad much better on paper, worse on the pitch. As Reg said they only got 41 points.

Iffy's side was probably just as bad as the current lot on paper but amassed more points than the other two but that side played to its limited strengths

I'd rather Anton fucking Rodgers than Prutton.

None.

As mentioned until January.

Yes.

No, and Vigs will only bench warm somewhere at best. Of the players who've left since Fitton/Black era, only Luongo has managed to get a reasonbly regular game at Championship level.

It was rumoured, a poisonous dressing room caused by cliques.

difficult one. The Wilson relegation team had talent but turned into disinterested lazy shits.

this squad are unfit, largely crap and deploying dubious tactics.

a motivated Wilson team pisses over this one. as shown the year before relegation.

You won't be alone.......

Can you believe that Feruz is contracted to Chelsea for two more seasons!?!

Celtic and his agent really whipped up a storm.

Jayohaitchenn.                                                                                                                                                              Over the whole playing career of Rodgers and Prutton would you still pick Rodgers,i know he was shit for us but i can't see Anton playing any better for any other team.
Or did you mean you'd rather Anton fuck his dad and not Prutton?
He won't end up on easy street talking bollocks on sky like Prutton.

Sad days. Our club is surely better than this?

We are definitely entering uncharted territory as club, the question being can we at least arrrest the decline next season?

It's not easy to say yes with any great confidence, given the available evidence.

This for me.

Forget all this bounce back bollocks.

Let's stay in the league.

we are relegation fodder as things stand. things won't stand still though.

most interesting/worrying post season for ages. last year was similar but the safety net is gone now. hopefully this is obvious to a Power

If Wiliams is seriously considering signing Feruz up for next year they can go fuck themselves. Thats all.

I think both you and I know that Williams isn't seriously considering signing Feruz....

True things won't stand still, but the worry is that all evidence points to a deterioration... at this point in time, it just isn't possible to gauge where that might end up taking us.

Consider the case of neighbours Oxford, next season will be the first for 30 years that they'll be playing in a higher Div than us, however when they got on a slide, it bottomed out somewhere about 18th in the Conference, when they were losing to the likes of Droylsden, Hayes & Yeading and Salisbury.  It took the appointment of Wilder to sort it out. 
 

Oxford were top 10 in all four of their modern Non-League seasons but apart from that I agree.

Then why play him

When Wilder took over they were flirting with the relegation places to Conference South, he turned them around rapidly. One season they were fucked by getting docked points for playing an ineligible player Eddie Hutchinson, who incidentally they gave a three year deal to, as we wanted him. He was terrible.

I can't believe i'm reading posts about Williams signing players,WAKE UP  has no say they get players in and he has  to work with the shit that's picked for him.
The big problem is he usually he spouts out crap like " I'm happy with the squad i got".I don't know of any real manager who wouldn't want to sign more players,
I'n a nutshell we haven't had a real manager for ages.

Because he has to? See also, Mark Cooper with Harry Agombar.

It's a mess at the moment.

As I was walking out of The Valley yesterday, a steward said to me "Never mind, mate.  Lots of easy wins for you next season in League Two". 

I took no pleasure in quickly putting him straight on the likelihood of that happening.   :badmood:

exactly, there are some people I know that are under the impression we are going to walk league 2 ::)

Were there any signs of optimism from the Charlton performance?

I wasn't there but Dion Conroy perhaps?

Adver didn't seem think our future prospects were up to much...

(http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/RWDP1983/Reviews_zpshiwwy7n0.png)

Conroy looked decent and Goddard appeared quite fired up; he and Brophy were trying to run at people. No one else stood out.

Rossi Branco,Kasim,Barker, El Abd, Ince, Starkey, Barry,Rodgers are all players with links to Brighton who presumably have been recommended by Williams so he probably has some input into signings

Point well made but he wasn't manager when most of those signed.
Looking at the list he better not have any more input.

No.  None whatsoever.

How does anyone think we'll walk League 2, or be relegation fodder? None of us have a clue what the playing side of this club is going to look like in 8-12 weeks.

OH MY GOD YOU POWER LOVER

As I said earlier Conroy and Brophy were decent and Goddard could well be a gem in League 2.ALL the others were embarrassingly bad

Conroy was by some distance our best player on Saturday. First name on the team sheet for me next year, hopefully alongside JSW. Goddard, Norris should do well in L2. Brophy and Barry are fine to have around (but Dabo back would be good). Vigs is off, by the looks of things.  Pretty much every other senior player can go.

No real idea about Starkey or the other young'uns. Henry is absolutely nowhere near being ready for first team football. Keep forgetting Jordan Young.... assuming he's fit for next season?

Power has recruited well before. He's also recruited terribly. None us have a clue what this summer holds, but it is going to be massively important, and the single biggest indicator of Power's desire to run this football club.

Of course, nothing is definite, but what we do know is that Power and his side kicks, failed to assemble a squad fit for purpose in Div 3. Further this squad, failed to win a game against any of the Div  4 or Conference sides we came up against in Cups.

We know that only a handful of players from this squad will be left for next season, so major recruitment wil be required. The last recruitment in Jan, suggested that nothing will change and we'll have another squad not fit for purpose in Div 4.

Yet,frustratingly,we beat 4 of the top 6

This is a fair point, the two things we must do if we are to be competitive though are

1) Get a proper Manager, when that has man management & motivational skills
2) Recruit a damn site better than we have the last couple of years.

If we fail to do those then it is likely to be a struggle

The last time I attempted a prediction was after the Wilson/Hart season. I thought we'd challenge for promotion that year. Oh, how wrong I was.

I know some will be convinced that they are correct in whichever prediction they are making but the reality is that nobody really knows. Nobody can know.

Ridiculous post. GL5 knows everything and can predict the future, im not going to make any guesses on where we will finish until the squad has been built and GL5 gives his review

Well, at the moment I'm going to say we're relegation fodder based on the below facts.

1. Luke Williams is still our manager
2. Our team is garbage

Now, there is time for both of those facts to change naturally but if Williams is still in a job tomorrow the he'll still be in job in August.

Season is done now, should have been sacked today.

Should have been sacked last night

Can't think anyone can disagree with that, other than the fluke factor of getting a few premier rejects that actually give a shit and have the ability to back it up. I suppose that's "better recruitment" in some eyes, blind luck I say. Better recruitment will be getting the squad together in the first week of pre-season.

Conroy falls into that category. Maybe Dabo. Not the greatest success rate.

Should have gone straight after the relegation. Its not happening is it.

He should have gone last year....however, he didn't.

There was no point sacking him right after relegation, with one game left. Everything was said and done might as well let him finish the season.

He shouldn't have lasted 24 hours after the Charlton game. Should have either been given the boot right after the match or if Power wanted to let it settle a bit then today.

The fact he is still here indicates he will stay here.

The squad in place is key.

We fucked about in the Summer (again) points went begging and then again in January (yet again) more points pissed away.

FFS learn...get the players lined up and in place.

Shrewsbury brought a raft of players in straight away in january., It saved them.

Need a different manager though...that's obvious.

I live in hope.

It was more of the same, so no.

Some ok effort and some ok individual performances. However, collectively not good enough.

There's a piece in today's Telegraph (behind a paywall) with reference to Swindon. It can be found here for free

https://behindthepaywallblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/from-barry-chuckle-and-jay-z-to-swindon-town-the-news-is-thick-with-wishful-thinking/

Good little article that. Also highlights the seriousness associated with "fake news" too. Media has changed massively in a short period of time and many outlets either refuse to catch up or don't know how to. In fact in the modern day and all the "social media", we (the average man on the street) are the media more than ever before.

Will we be the only team next season wanting our manager sacked on day 1 of the new season

If Williams does stay in place (it is odd it is taking time to sack him) then I really hate to think what the attendances will be like, as even if we sign a few decent looking players fans will not have the confidence in Williams to get them playing correctly.

If we sign the correct players, and have a good pre-season who knows...

I can't see either of those things happening Sippo. I imagine our business won't be done until the end of August, when we'll probably see a few kids in on loan from Chelsea (or any other Prem team) who will be technically good, but the opposite of what we'll need after (probably) a shaky start to League Two.

Power has realised his mistakes, so hopefully he will have something in the pipeline..

Like I have said previously, the January signings were pretty good apart for Feruz.

The attention the match report on the club website has received continues to confound me. Its not fake news, it didn't say we stayed up. The only people who head to the club website to read the match report know full well what transpired at the end of the game. I've sometimes read opposition club matchday reports but only to see the game through a completely opposite and 100% bias view point, each club is as bad as each other in this regard. If you want more neutral reporting then read a report from a source you trust. It was at best an oversight and at worst misguided spin to exclude the repercussion of the loss but it was not fake news. Comparing it to an entirely fake picture is complete nonsense.

It is a massive over-reaction to what was probably nothing more than an honest oversight. Do people really think they deliberately excluded it in the hope that nobody would notice? Actually, I bet some people think exactly that.

Still, it's another stick and all that.

And Colkett, Gladwin (1) and Starkey (2) and Jones (3)

Conroy Dabo and Ince were good and Ajose should have been good (4)

1. Not what we needed for a relegation battle. Goes missing/inexperienced/technical and lazy/technical types in a relegation battle, brilliant. I could see the logic in Gladwin (with Doughty off) to be fair - until the other loans came in, then it made no sense
2. Not used in the relegation battle
3. Jones was OK but got himself excluded
4. Not utilised correctly positionally or tactically
--

If Power changes and it gets better then great. But you can see why people are a little concerned given his MO of buy late and shite punts in summer/hope to turn it around in January.

Jones was signed at the start of the season though wasn't he?

oh yeah, you are right.

Getting good players doesnt unfortunately guarantee anything especially when the coach has a tendency to reduce players'effectiveness.

And I would argue that Colkett is a good player, just not what we needed.  We needed battlers that can pass, not passers that can't battle.  A little more Ince, a little less Colkett.

Edit:  I just read your post again, and you do cover this...  My bad!!

yeah, good players and good loans aren't necessarily the same thing.

Agree

Nor do we need battlers that can't pass though. Something it seems at times many of our fans would prefer. The key, and expense in recruiting, is having both.

I would say though that during the couple of years challenging for the playoffs and getting to the final we did have the odd battler, L Thompson springs to mind, but we had more passers than battlers. The difference was the quality of passers we had was probably beyond what we should have had in league one and we got away with it as a result. The last couple of years the quality has been shit and so we have been exposed.

No shit captain obvious. Can say the same thing about any team



Already gone over this, our form in the 16 games pre the January signs and the 16 games post the January signing our form was exactly the same.
So they had no positive impact on results what so ever, so why do you hink they were 'pretty good'

Ince and Conroy improved the team. It wasn't enough to make a difference to the results cos everyone else was shitter.

Colkett is clearly a talented player but will probably not make it as a pro as he's a self important egotistical lazy showboater who doesn't look up when he passes or tries to tackle ever

Colkett would make a great 5 a side player but that's his limit.

Colkett has got something, and in the right balanced side could be an asset. Every time i watched him though he seemed to play too deep. Somebody with that ability should have been playing somewhere between midfield and the forwards, not necessarily number 10, but certainly not between midfield and defense which is too often where he seemed to play and try and hit Hollywood balls all the time.

Colkett looks like he has the potential to be a decent player; he also has the potential to join the ever-growing list of talented "nearly were"s released from Prem Youth teams that are always kicking around non-league. Up to him how he applies himself. Whatever his merits/demerits though, he was clearly the wrong player for us at the time.

fair point DV - but I would surmise that all the players were increasingly undermined by an incremental loss of morale and confidence as the season evolved.  Ince brought a massive improvement and Ajose could have done.  Improved or not, the squad was (just) good enough to avoid relegation.

Imagine a class of average-ability but under-achieving kids.   Their teacher knows his subject but cannot engender order or ambition.  A turnaround needs to be effected before exams even though standards aren't especially high this year.  The head demotes the classroom teacher to classroom assistant and brings in quite a well-known outsider from London to take overall charge of the class, leaving the demoted classroom assistant to carry on with lighter duties suited to his abilities.  The kids fear they may have to work more but are looking forward to the London touch (effin' mugs).

The new class teacher however prefers the golf course and rarely turns up.  The Head explains after a while, other than the new Classroom teacher buying a few books, that it is the demoted classroom assistant who remains in charge as before.  The kids learn that the flash new teacher wasn't actually being paid for his new role anyway.  Although a handful of pupils try their best, class discipline evaporates completely.  They realise their exams are fucked and most of them will be moved to a new school next term anyway where they can "re-sit" with better support.

The Headmaster, who has private means and spends most of his time in Switzerland can only rarely actually visit his  school. He is a tough cookie and he doesn't really care about the moany parents.  There will be a cut in government funding next year.  This will inevitably engender a further fall in standards at this once modest but happy little school and it may have to close.  His only true concern however is that he will not lose out financially and anyway, he has started with a new blank canvas of a school in Ireland so can be out of it easily enough.

The pupils at the UK school next year aren't likely to be even "average".  He will just have to stick with the hapless classroom assistant.  The classroom teacher role at the school has become a bit of a laughing stock in the profession and anyway there is no money and he is buggered if he will seek any investment. If the whinging parents are so unhappy with the lack of management and value the school's history and future as much as they say, they can take it over themselves.