Thetownend.com

My dislike of Crawley stems solely from when Fatty Evans was there, but it's not gone away.

 Wonder if Matty Taylor will be on the bench?

[Reg mode] This will say a lot about how our season will pan out, although I'm liable to forget I said that if we do win. Really need strong home form if we're to get anything out of this season. [/Reg mode]

n.b. The above may also be my actual thoughts. 2-0 Town.

3 points and no injuries, please.

Ta!

Hopefully we fucking twat them.

I dislike Crawley too.

I have a distaste for Crawley too, a dreary little club with barely any supporters imo.

I appreciate people being cautious about the "wounded animal" that is Crawley, but realistically we should be on a different level.

I think if Mullin and Woolery get plenty of service this game it will be no contest, I would say a 3 - 0 win with goals from Mullin, Woolery and Taylor, with us still top by 5PM.

Dislike Crawley, but quite like Kewell so hope he does start to get the hang of it. AFTER we destroy them today.

Dislike Crawley too so a win would be good. On way home from a week wandering Dartmoor so out of the news loop re squad. Any in and outs ?

Connor Thomas out, Matt Taylor in

I'm reassured by the fact that Accy have knocked us off our perch, although somewhat surprised that no-one mentioned it last night, I guess all out having a good time.

Anyway, my feelings were, we're top they're bottom, I think we know how this pans out..... but now  we're not top  :beers:

2-0 Mullin, Woolery - Steady on Reg, that's borderline optimism 8)

We're about due a home win... in 2017, so far it's 2 in 14 attempts, including 2 winless games this term. If Flitters is progressing the team, today would be a good time to show it.

My first game of the season so we'll lose.

Home to bottom of the league and I foolishly stuck us in my acca in a dreary 1am haze as I re watched the 5-5 with Sheffield United.

Oh dear.

Crawley have played 4 and lost 4, scored 2 and conceded 10. They haven't won in the league in 10 games.

Should be a foregone conclusion but obviously it won't be, they will come to defend and hit us on the break, if we can score early we should easily win, the longer they hold out the more chance they will get at least a draw.

3-0 to Swindon with goals from Woollery, Mullin and Taylor coming off the bench to score with a free kick.

6,875 there with 183 from Creepy.

Looking forward to my football again. 2 1 town win and a few more green shoots of progress.

We're at home. We're scoring about 2 per game, they let in more than that.

We're at the top and in form. They're at the bottom and on a losing streak.

They're going to nick it, 0-1.

4-1 town norris x2 wolleryx2 att 6436 and kewell gets sacked afterwards. :clap:

Can't see passed a comfortable win - 4-0.

7102

Vigouroux, Purkiss, Conroy, Lancashire (C), Hussey, Dunne, Linganzi, McDermott, Mullin, Norris, Woolery

Subs: Henry, Robertson, T Smith, H Smith, Taylor, Brophy, Iandolo #STFC

Josh Lelan in the Crawley side. Vague memories of him not being very good in a loan spell. Dean Cox will be a threat for them.

Nice. Thanx
2 nil win in that case

2-1 win.  6124.

Only 3 turnstiles open in the DRS, never seen that few doesn't bode well for crowd size

I think a lot of fans still are waiting for their "mojo" to come back.

A win today and next Saturday vs Barnet and I think that will change for many of the undecided fans.

Phew....Matty Taylor has never supported the Pox but a lot of his family do. :D

I agree, first time on here for ages. I've drowned in a tidal wave of apathy, not to mention watching Chippenham Town last season was more rewarding. Let's hope that all changes in the coming weeks. 3-1 Town.

Nice to know iFollow is as stable as iPlayer has been, no commentary at all now just the "we apologise" message.

No fucking way is that ref going to run for 90 minutes

Miss by Lancashire from 8 yards.

Very close by Conroy, wide.

My video stream keeps stopping

We have no commentary either now.

Why the fuck should we get ads when we're paying?

Fuckwits

Thank god for twatter updates.

Glad I didn't pay 100 quid for this so far

Should be 2 up. People around me complaining

Although I subscribed weeks ago, all I get is "Please choose your subscription".  It was ok last week...

At least you have a way of watching it mate, still waiting for a decent stream to appear somewhere for it.

Sounds like its all Town so far.

Fixed it now, I dropped the image quality. Still crappy audio though, but that's the Beeb's fault.

would ask how we are playing, but it sounds like ifollowers wouldn't know.

oh ffs

FFS

Started well, Crawley got into the game and now we're 1 down. Not a lot of quality on show but their keeper made two excellent reaction saves.

Bollocks. 0-1. Lancashire og

thanks SY

Suddenly Crawley have stepped it up a gear and we're a bit shambolic.

Just signed up for this game. How do you get audio commentary on the video then?

Lots of chances for us but poor finishing, they are beyond terrible and some how we are losing.

I think others have said it before but Dunne and Linganzi in midfield at home is overkill. There's no creativity at all and we feel a man light going forward.

Woolery has made some good runs that haven't been picked out - a Gladwin or Doughty would have been ideal to feed him.

Unconvincing at the back but 100% no nonsense.

League 2 really sucks.

Should be winning this but we aren't

Unfortunately looks like one of those we won't score games.

Hopefully we can convert our chances in the second half

Ummmm, that was odd.  We should have had about 4 by now, which keeps me optimistic for the 2nd half.  Front four look threatening, back 7 have no interest in being involved in building anything, much like previous games.  Think that is how it will be for the season.  Vigs is getting me in two minds.  No doubting he has ability but even poor balls in seem to create indecision.  Overall, they look pretty without being threatening most of the time and we look ugly while being threatening most of the time.

I need two separate tabs. One for video, the other for audio

Wouldn't get h
Do not get your hopes up about that midfield, seems very much by design to me.  They don't even look for the ball when defenders have it, default is to turn and move forwards.  That is tactical because even shit players fancy themselves from time to time.  It is clear we have two units, we are going to get it to the front four quickly and let them create in the final third.

Ah good thinking Flashheart. Suitably tinpot solution. Imagine synchronising will be a challenge.

Ironically that is what caused the goal. Vigs launched it long quick, they got the ball, our centre mids were out of position and Crawley scored.  

Woolery and Linganzi off.
Brophy and Taylor on.

Couldn't see why Woolery came off. He looked useful.

Well this is shite.

Especially having been replaced by Brophy

How is Brophy a professional footballer, he's an absolute liability yet still gets on the pitch!

I've heard my first "why don't we try and play out from the back rather than hit it long all the time" of the season:)

This has become truly awful, incompetence all over.

Substitutions have gone spectacularly wrong.

Harry Smith on for Dunne.

Cornwall is nice and sunny. hth

Awful awful awful

2-0 on the counter

Flitcroft out

Not good enough. Too many players have been poor individually. I think they're nervous.

I have to be honest, I've seen very little in the two home games to suggest we'll be pushing for promotion.  Today has been utter dogshit.

Oh fucking hell. Outclassed.

Unbelievable. 0-3. Wtf

Humiliating

We were ok up to the subs, since we have been crap

Here we go again . ::)

Flitcroft needs a few more new players it seems before the deadline this week.

Disappointing to say the least, room for much improvement.

Disappointing but hopefully this is a real kick up the arse the side needs.

My first game of the season and frankly bloody awful

Too many players similar, wrong subs

Will hold our own but he on the going for promotion based in this performance

Hope he is man enough to admit he fucked up. We at least controlling the game before the subs, to effectively just remove our midfield and let them control the game was bizarre.

We lose and Bart makes an appearance. Fancy that!

for a solid team that is going to nick games by a goal we sure don't actually sound solid.

I've only watched the Carlisle game though.

Definitely seemed to be the turning point.  We haven't remotely looked like scoring second half.  Clueless and out fought.
Not going to entice supporters back serving up rubbish like this.

Well, that was grim. 2 trains, 2 taxis and a rail replacement bus to watch that shite.

Genuinely thought the first Crawley goal was such an anomaly that we'd still get a win but I couldn't have expected such woeful defending in the second half. Hussey's kicks were consistently awful, the referee was consistently awful but at the end of the day couldn't have lost us the game.

I usually find positives but I think I thought we'd improved a lot more than we actually have. There's a lot to do.

Thing is they scored a fortunate own goal but we were relatively solid. Then he effectively removed our defensive midfield after 55 minutes and soon after put 35 year old Taylor in their on his own.  I'm just not sure what he was trying to do, almost felt like he wanted to go direct but forgot we need to defend and with few in numbers back there and no pace it was a recipe for disaster.

Yep, don't understand why we took the pace out of the attack and the middle out of the midfield. After that, they ran through us at will.

So, first things first, playing ugly has a downside, when you lose it is just plain ugly!

For those that haven't seen many of the games, that was about the same level of performance as the rest.  The difference being we went behind and then made a tactical mistake by bringing on Taylor.  However, anyone thinking we were shit, this is how we looked in all four previous league games.

Taylor in that formation won't work, ever.  We turned it into a basketball game in that 2nd half, so while we carried on as before looking for direct balls, Crawley now found a big whole between the two different parts of our team.  They exploited it to be fair to them.

No change in my opinion on the team, they'll still win more than they lose in this league.  If one of the early chances we had goes in then it is a similar game to Carlisle and Morecambe.

As per my comments on previous games, this is not going to be pretty.

On the players, Lancashire was annoying.  He was a constant foul walking.  Play the ref, he should have learned quicker in the game to avoid little pulls and niggles.

Dreadful fare in the 2nd half. Why on earth sub Woolery for Brophy - bizarre. If we are going to lump it up top then Smith should have been on way before 80 minutes. Yet again the lack in midfield was apparent. Taylor was dire.

Thought McDermott looked decent, but that's about it. Flitcroft doesn't need more players - he needs to have brought in some different ones. All too similar.

Shocking

No, he has brought in players to play a set way, so they are going to largely be the same in each position.  Taylor might be ok in a midfield three but not in a two where both wide players are forwards.

You probably need to prep, you will have 42 more games like this, it is hopefully just that more turn out to be like Carlisle.  It is very clear you should expect exactly the same approach in every game, get it forward quickly, work off the front four, no fancy build-up.  Get in front, stay solid.  Today it unravelled a bit because Linganzi was taken off, it doesn't look anywhere near as effective whiteout two holding in the middle.

Garbage. Taylor looked fucked after 5 minutes.

Onto the next one. Still been a decent start with two away wins.

Let's see what next week brings.

I honestly didn't think Brophy actually touched the ball in the time he was on the pitch.

 I'm confused, it was pretty obvious with us top and them bottom, we'd lose.  However I thought Accy taking top spot might have changed it.

 I said this game would be a good indicator as to whether we're making progress, and clearly we're not, as regard home form which has been wretched for a long time.

 To put some context on how damaging this is... none of our 3 sides promoted from Div 4 have ever lost a home game by 3 goals. Notts County game now becomes massive.

 

What a total disappointment, there are a few players who should take a long hard look at themselves!  Too many half-hearted performances for me, too many players hiding at times.  Management must also take a look at themselves, the substitutions were bizarre to say the least.  Once we effectively gave up the midfield there was only going to be one conclusion to this game.  There is a lack of creativity in the midfield and I don't think Norris and Woolery can play together.  In the first half there were a few times where Norris cold have easily played Woollery in but didn't.  Vigs is one player who can hold his head up high tonight! 

Reg, you of all people should know that the 5th league game of the season is not massive. [await stats on how the 5th game of each season has foretold the season's ending. ;)]

Strange game. 1st half we missed 3 clear cut chances and should have put the game to bedby half time.
I praised Flircroft for his second half substitutions against Exeter but today he got it completely wrong. Brophy for Woolery was baffling because if it was anyone who liked like scoring it was him.
As for Taylor he looked completely out of his depth when he came on.  I'm not sure how he's ever gonna fit in to the team unless we play a 3 man midfield.

Hopefully today's result will remove complacency and I'm glad we are no longer top as we go to shit when we are, rather we sneaked in at the end of the season

did Flitcroft not do a post match?

oh and reg, you're going to have to explain the notts county being massive to me. I'd have thought Barnet was massive in terms of undoing today's damage at home.

Disagree with anyone saying players didn't try.  They did, no different to the other games.  What today shows is that when we win playing this was it feels ok, when we lose it strips the style bare and it looks like a Saturday night kebabs leftovers the next morning.

Heaviest div 4 defeat since when please Reg?

I was surprised that he came on at all, he must be massively unfit. It also appeared that he was told to sit deep and knock it forward and nothing else.

I'm sure we'll play better in other games and probably win games playing just as poorly.

I'm going to guess at Hereford 4 Swindon 1 in 85/86. As we know, that season didn't turn out too badly :hmmm:

My mistake... think I had Notts on my mind due to their Friday game v Accy.  So yes, correction the Barnet game becomes massive.

With Taylor I think it was a calculated gamble.  Crawley were not controlling the midfield so he probably thinks we can add some creativity to try getting the front four away, but it was clear very early on that it had vacated the midfield and turned the game into one where both teams just played 40 yard balls into the forwards or space and we opened ourselves up.  Crawley gamely played along and did it more effectively.  He probably should have then taken a front player off and filled in with another central midfield player, but as you are chasing the game I guess that seems counter intuitive.

We lost 3-0 at Stockport in 06/07. They're now in Conference North.

However it's home games I'm referring to... the last time we lost 3-0 at the CG in Div 4 was 84/85, very early Macari. Lou used it as a way to rectify matters....we lost 2 of the next 43.

Add in 4 home defeats in the subsequent 46 home games in Div 4 and since we last lost 3-0  at the CG, it's been 6 defeats in 89 Div 4 games.

That was fucking wank.

That is all.

What I would give to see Brophy shipped out before the window closes. In a summer we have lost Barry, Boo, Rodgers  and Thomas, he is the last of the real rubbish we had last season to be moved on.

Please Flitcroft....

I'm not sure Purkiss is any better than Barry or BOO tbh

Purkiss looks like when a centre back is pushed out to full back.

You'd think a right back would know what an overlap is.

He's a full back though isn't he? Surprised to see he's 33.

I'm guessing Knoyle will get a go there once fit as we are desperately slow at the back.

We were well warned re. Purkiss by fans of his previous clubs. He certainly doesn't fit your modern day full back mould - he is incredibly awkward in possession. Based on what I have seen of him he is more defensively sound than those above.

Hopefully the lad from West Ham will be decent and dislodge Purkiss when fully fit.

Edit: Thank you Theakston, Knoyle is the player I mean.

Flitcroft has already stated he fancies Purkiss as a right sided centre half.

Whilst we may not have won I still think we'd be talking about a completely different game without the subs we made. Hey ho though all if, buts and maybes.

A reality check that hope fully won't do is any harm. Crawley total crap for 25. We had a warning though when their bloke skied it when free on the edge of the box. Their first goal looked to me like an excellent cross. I still wasn't worried at this stage. Then fuck me what a shambles of a 2nd half. Not too much point dissecting it. Luke could have been in charge.lots of work to do next week. Maybe it's early days and both sides are in exaggerated positions.
Oh and McDermott mom for me.

I've hopes for Knoyle, based on nothing more than East Knoyle and West Knoyle being good solid Wiltshire place-names. I like it down in that corner of the county... 

I actually concur with the mighty Chang!  Brophy was - and usually is for me - a waste of a sub.  Nice pace but turns into blind alleys, plenty of intent, no end product!  Yes ship him out!

Liked one of the people behind great western reds directly tweeting taylor telling him to piss off and that he was 'not welcome  here" despite a stated goal of the vanity project group being to 'get behind the team'

Directly aiming abuse at footballers on twitter always bemuses me (I'll criticise players but won't @ them to do so - it's pathetic and cowardly). To do so while trying to work closer with the club to generate more fan displays in the future is fucking stupid

Had a feeling that something like that would happen today. The outcome against Exeter might have been similar.
Fine margins as always, take one of the early chances and it's a different result entirely.
Quite liked the way Crawley played, ahem, played it out from the back quite nicely at times. They won't finish bottom two.
We have limitations.
Setup looks ok for away games, maybe a change of plan needed for playing at home.
Mullin looks a better bet than Woolery playing in a central attacking position.
Difficult to see where Taylor is going to fit in.
Brophy needs to try and get in the game when coming on as sub.
McDermott is our most creative player.
Goddard, when fit, must play.
Sitting quite high up in the DRS at least means that the ball is at eye level for a lot of the time so less chance of neck strain than if sat at pitch level.

was going to make a point about Purkiss looking excellent in preseason with his overlaps and crosses.

then I realised I was thinking of hussey.

how's hussey doing?

We assumed that was because Woolery hasn't had a proper pre-season and so isn't fully match fit

I am unsurprised.

What has Taylor done wrong anyway? Is it because he was born in Oxford?

More likely his tweet that showed him as a "fan" of Oxford, which would look lovely on a wall next to his photo of him kissing the Swindon badge if he scores a winner in a crucial game no doubt.

Vigs - best 3 passes of the 1st half and stunning save in 2nd.
Purkiss - looks v uncomfortable with the ball. Didn't close Cox enough.
Hussey - interesting that Taylor had the first free kick after he came on...struggled without someone in front of him who would play him on the overlap.
Lancashire and Conroy - won lots in the air (including the o.g sadly). Positionally pulled all over after the midfield was overrun.
Linganzi and Dunne - both worked hard, but were effectively in a two man midfield with Mullin and McDermott pushed up so much. Knife through butter. Biggest tactical weakness for me.
McDermott - I liked him. Didn't always come off but he's desperate to create something each time he gets the ball. Far too one footed though.
Mullin - worked hard, nothing really happened. Again, he's going to be a favourite because he never gives up. But if he's to stay out wide, he and McDermott need to get back behind the ball when we're defending - we often had 5 or 6 men the wrong side of the ball.
Woolery - looked dangerous early on, faded. With Crawley so deep, I could understand the logic in taking him off because he couldn't use his pace - but we went downhill after the subs.
Norris - started well - on another day he would have had two early on but for good saves from their keeper. The guy in row H of the DRS, about seat 190, slaggging him off with every touch from the 70th minute has issues.
Brophy - same old. Still not sure what his position is.
Taylor - could be a new Ian Woan if played in a 3. Not a CM in a 4-4-2. Not fair on him.

I have little time for that lot. Full credit to them for their work with the flags and what not, other than that, they have a habit of revealing themselves as a bunch of bellends. This is not an isolated case.

Some are calling for Flitcroft/power out on that FB page, and I do not think they are all being tongue in cheek with it.

They love the attention. From what I gather, they tweet players a lot.

Heaviest home defeat in Div 4 since Sept 1984.

Equal 2nd worst home defeat we have ever had in Div 4 begind when Northampton beat us 5-1 at the end of 1983.

Very disappointing, sort it out Flickers.

PdC had a poor start with 5 defeats in the first 9 games, but we didn't ship that many goals at home losing only 1 at the CG all season, still its early doors.

I dislike that they appear to think that they represent - and talk for - our entire fanbase, that and the fawning after players on twitter (seems that every player is a legend according to them)
Just seem like people trying to massage their own egos

This. This is what grates me the most about them. There are other things, but that they seem to think they speak for the rest of us really gets under my skin at times.

"Swindon fans think" - I've seen sentences begin with that a few times. Fuck off. You make flags. Good flags, but they're just fucking flags and they do not make you the fans' ambassadors. Wind your fucking necks in, lads.

The more I saw of Crawley and the football they played the more impressed I was with them and I assume that is what Kewell is about. As said elsewhere shades of what we were trying to do under Williams, getting the ball on the ground then passing their way through our inept midfield and back four. Prior to their third goal which was well worked, it was down to Vigs again to stop a lovely bit of football by them and you could see that was what they were trying to achieve.

Our reply in the main was hoofball (which was laughed at last season when opposition teams did it here) and if that is the way for us to progress I need to be convinced. Of the three home games I have seen I am not sure that getting in a load of journeymen players is going to get us out of this Division as a lack of pace and skill is all to evident.

May 84.  Jimmy Allan went off early and Andy Rowland went in goal. Last home game of that season.

It was always going to be difficult for Flitters to sort out the shit he was left with... he's done well so far. The response on Saturday to this game v Barnet is going to tell us a lot.

My first game back...

Looked v good for 20 minutes or so.

Crawley goal looked like a push (somebody confirm) but even then I wasn't too worried, refs are shit at this level and I still thought we would prove too good for them....alas.

Missed chances proved costly.

Subs were baffling....we went to rat shit and a mediocre side ran through us at will, Vigs heroics kept it decent.

Nice reality check....I'm pleased with points return thus far but pissing the league is not going to happen.... Mid table will do me this year and anything else is a cherry...IMO.

Like that 'refugees welcome' bollocks they tried to pedal.

Jaybox was getting upset the other week that Flitcroft didn't mention the flag display in his interview before the Exeter game. I mean come on a) he hadn't seen it yet and b) he probably had more important things on his mind like preparing for the game.

Just looked up the tweet. So so sensitive. Bless 'em.

The refugees thing is what started turning me, I was defensive of Jaybox up until then. (He was already getting stick before then). I would not even have been against the flag, and would have been inclined to agree with it in principle but the sanctimonious way it was handled turned me right off.

More or less what I said to Mr Brown yesterday after the match.  Not enjoyable in the slightest.

A lot of it is down to an age thing, I reckon. The majority on here are of an age where a shit result/performance is met with a shrug, seen-it-all-before reaction and then think of what's for dinner and have a bit of a rant on here.

When I was their age I suppose I felt more of a feeling of ownership regarding the club but had no outlet to moan and groan about things.

Old farts v shiny new things

I hate flags and banners at football nearly as much as I hate drums and other musical instruments but their self-appointed ownership of 'atmosphere' makes me cringe.

However, at least they try to be positive which is something lacking in general.

Much more impressed McDermott today. Even Lingzani and Dunne looked marginally better. Unfortunately we had Norris of last season up front - really should have taken 1 of his 3 decent chances. Woolery unlucky not to equalise straight away. As others have said wrong decision to sub him - particularly as even sat on subs bench he contributed just as much as his replacement. Massive gaps between defence and midfield remain a big issue, allowing even a neat but limited team like Crawley 18 shots on our goal

I admire our young fan's commitment. Can't be easy in these corporate times. So many of their contemporaries just take the lobotomised route and support Chelsea etc.

As I was entering the ground the Crawley "drummer" had obviously been denied entry with it as he was heading away moaning to one of his compatriots. Good move as far as I am concerned,

One of our fans was turned away from the DRS - because he had an umbrella!!!  had a right run-in with a "customer care" steward!!  what the fuck was he doing with an umbrella on a day like yesterday?

that's as maybe, but it's a bit overkill for a fucking umbrella.

drums should be rejected by inserting the item into the anus at 90 degrees

I believe that was what the guy with the umbrella threatened to do to the steward!!  soapy tit wank

Made I laugh, did that. He looked about as threatening as a custard pie - albeit an angry one!

 Interestingly, we have more or less the same record as last season at the same stage, 7 points from 4 games, and are 9th. Also only 4 goals scored, but we've conceded one more this year.  Last season it was the historic shitness up front which cost.

Quite right Reg. I think any millennial who's resisted a lifetime's onslaught of consumer-oriented marketing and does something positive to support their local side deserves credit. Good on the little tykes, bless 'em.

Did nobody tell the silly buggers to stop at 3 or 4 points after 4 games, as per 85-86 / 11-12? If so, we'd clearly have been on for a runaway title.

This is exactly the same for me.

No drums, no trumpets, no flags and no banners.

'Refugee's welcome' banner.  What a joke 😂

Introducing politics into a sports club is pointless. Every person will have a different opinion. It will only encourage those who disagree to make a 'refugee's NOT welcome' banner.

From memory after all the fuss said banner turned out to be size of a bloody tea towel!

Fully agree, although it didn't stop a few on here throwing their dummies out the pram when PdC took over.

That's not the same thing, is it? An individual making an individual choice, based on their own views?

As a young fan who tends to sit with the GWReds guys, I would say that it's being overly passionate in our support. It's like a crazy love.

This is our town, this is our team, this is who we are etc. It probably just looks like youthful bravado to the older fans who've seen and done it all before, but it's very much part of the match day experience for the younger group, experiencing the ups and downs with much more intensity.

The flags and banners are our way of emulating "ultra" culture, and showing our extreme love and dedication to the club.

Some may see it as cringe, but it's quite a gripping feeling when you're not yet filled with the apathy of 30+ seasons of 3rd tier football.

I'm more of an older fan than a younger one and I thought the banner at the Exeter game was superb, FWIW

I'm an old fit and I enjoy the stuff the gw reds do. They get behind the team in their own way. At least they are trying to create an atmosphere. Good luck to them.
If you've got one of them on twitter giving it some then a little bit of youthful hubris is not surprising and yes they may think they are more important than they are, again a bit of hubris.
The refugee flag was a grade a fuck up though but maybe they're allowed one in a while.
Overall I enjoy their stuff.

The banners are fine, it's the direct abuse to Taylor that was out of order

I hadn't heard this, why did he get abuse?

Cos he's a fan of the piss stains

Hes not though, he said in an interview pre game that he has never supported the Pox but his wife's family do which was why he was at Wembley.


I guess the abuse does show an utter stupidity from a section of our fans without knowing the facts, I do despair sometimes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05cfw1j

47.00 mins into the programme.

Like I think RobertT said (? I apologise if it was someone else) I really doubt many footballers have the time/inclination to actually 'support' a football team, especially not in the same way a lot of us do. They might have a little soft spot, but I don't see how you can actively follow a club when you're playing for one. My guessing is for the moment Taylor is a town fan, and anyone who thinks he's a cunt for that tweet certainly isn't speaking for me as an STFC fan..

Yep.  Even those that don't make it miss the key years for building a "relationship" with a club.  Best case scenario they retain a soft spot for their first club at youth level or a club they play for over a long period.  Beyond that, it's like me saying I am a fan of Atlanta Utd - sure I watch them now, ut if Swindon played them tomorrow I'd want Swindon to steamroller them.

I say fair play to them for trying to get something going. I quite enjoy the flags / banners et al, looks awesome.

I was away all weekend and only saw the score. Wasn't really too surprised as its the type of game we usually lose. Were we just that shit or did Crawley have something to prove?

For then first 25 mins. they looked like a bottom of the league side and we should have been at least 3 goals to the good, they made a slight tactical change after that and the longer the game went on the better they looked.  Their first goal was a bit fortuitous but they easily won the second half, more so after a couple of strange substitutions!  No complaints about the result - Vigs was named man of the match which probably tells you all you need to know!

Could've been a different game then if we'd taken our chances?

To be honest, there has been some problems in the few opening games, if this gives us a chance to address them then could be a decent reality check (trying my best to take a positive out of a shit home defeat here!)

If we take one of the early chances we go on to win that game by 4 or 5.

The problem that we create so little means we can't afford to squander 2 or 3 chances, that's what concerns me

Against Exeter we were much better after a half time Flitcroft team talk. Not Saturday. Playing with 10 men + an invisible Brophy didn't help mind.

This side is utterly impotent

Do you think we'll have enough to stay in Div 4?  HPool last season were set up as hard to beat, but a bit toothless, had 3 defeats in their first 13, but are now heading to Conference North.

I do have a niggling concern about how Flitters' tenure at Bury ended with that horrible run which more or less started after they won at the CG. I'd like to think he'll have learned soething from that... which is why Saturday is so important, really needs a convincing display.

 ???

Must win game!

We've only ever lost back to back home games in Div 4 once, that being when Wise walked out taking Gus Poyet. Tuttle was installed as caretaker took a look at it and thought better of it.

That terribly nice chap Adi Williams stepped up as player boss for a couple of games, got in an old Reading mate Barry Hunter  to assist, it didn't help much.

Tuttle was soon bound for an unsuccessful spell at football hotbed Hartley Wintney, Adi the courts and Barry never to be seen again in a football context.

Incidentally one of the games was v DRS's mates Hereford, in some ways good they're not around, as they cause us Div 4 probs.  One of the two defeats was a consequence of an Andy Williams brace.... the last Div 4 0-3 was at their hands, not to mention the 4-1 at Edgar Street, but most bizarrely they drew 3-3 at the CG in PdC's championship season...thus scoring 3 of the 8 goals conceded at the CG, or 37.5% of the total.

We did have Lanzani in goal though who was presumably PdC's nephew

Was lanzanos debut, i remember thinking what a useless cunt he was after about 5 minutes

Good point Lanzano also let in 2 v Roverum, meaning he was responsible for 62.5% of home league goals conceded. Mattia fans would point to the couple of clean sheets in his 5 or so games.

When Wes came in he kept 5 consecutive clean sheets and only let in 1 in something like 17 games at the CG.

The gulf in class between Lanzano and Wes was incredible.

I think we've been fairly fortunate with goalkeepers over the years, would be surprised if nobody came in for Vigoroux in the next few days.

Keepers are on odd position.  You can be bang average and make a good career for yourself and it's one position where stats probably lie more often than not.  Many keepers could point to clean sheets but have played in teams that meant they could have been on holiday for all the benefit they personally brought.  Tom Heaton looked nothing special when he came here on loan, now look at him, and Hart went from top of the tree to looking like school kid in goal within a season or two.  Given was the only one who payed for us that I could have hung a good bet on making it at the top of his career.  He was the only one who looked like a proper keeper to me, and I'm including Wes and Digby in that analysis - both good, but I never had a sense they'd go on to represent their country.  Schmeichel was a rare breed, but many of today's group of world class keepers still don't really do it for me, maybe De Gea.  Maybe I'm just too critical.

Out of interest, do you think we'll have enough to stay in Div 4?
Where do you think we'll finish?
For the record I'll go with yes and 7th.

My gut instinct is that we should be OK this season, and hopefully avoid a struggle.

It's still too early to say whereabouts that will take us.

A bit back I suggested that the home games v Crawley and Barnet... followed by 2 road trips to Luton and mid week Notts County would start to give us a clue. This was a response to others who felt we had a pasting in us... I suggested that Luton looked a good candidate, wasn't expecting Crawley though :(

We'll stay up and may scrape into the play offs.  But on early viewing we lack flair and creativity and potency, and are highly dependant on a Chris Hussey free kick to create anything.  This may change when Woolery gets up to speed but imagine teams will just drop deep and cut off space in behind for him to exploit.

Don't think we are in any danger of going down.

Broadly speaking I'm happy to see a grindingly dull outfit, it is what a lot wanted. 

It was also predictable that the honeymoon period wouldn't last long, before some folk got dewy eyed for the days of comedy short corner routines, defenders getting caught in possesion after a goalkeeper provided hospital pass, and some futile, short lived, midfield triangles.

Actually Reg, Barry's done alright for himself. Chief scout at Liverpool i think. Ady, slightly less glamorously does the sport on Radio Berkshire these days.

Well done Barry... I took a bit of dislike to him, when he went down under Fallon's elbow at Nene Park, from the far end it looked to me like simulation, I'd expect better from an Ulsterman. I'd just not heard about him... think scouts should have a low profile.

Aside from March 83...

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Results.asp?Season=1982-1983

... December 83 / January 84...

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Results.asp?Season=1983-1984

... and September 84...

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Results.asp?Season=1984-1985

So we've actually lost consecutive home games in each Div 4 season aside from those in which we've breezed to the title.

Fallon got his revenge later in the season, think we beat them 4-2 at home and Fallon shoved him into the net causing Hunter to score and own goal if I remember correctly.

Blimey i had forgotten that incident. I do remember it now you've said though. Barry lived in Reading for quite a few years so bumped into him a couple of times at local football stuff. Seemed a decent enough guy, just not what was needed at the time i guess.

Decent budget, experienced manager, top 4-5 crowds - If we don't go up it's a failure. I can't get my head around people thinking that mid-table is ok.

 Nah. Back to back, means no other game between.

 In your lists there are 11 pairs of back to back home games... no examples of 2 defeats. The only pair as pointed out, being v Lincoln 0-1 28th Oct and Hereford 1-2, 4th Nov 06

Yep, right in front of the TE... proper Nat Lofthouse style.

And then shouted in his face.

Hmm ok, I'm not sure how relevant that is given that it depends entirely on what order the fixtures happen to come in, but let's at least avoid panic on that score until after the Barnet game.

Either way, last time it happened we went on to get promoted  :)

When you've just had a nasty loss, then you need to put it right next game.

If it's away then slightly less pressure, if it's at home, as is next up, the case, then the previous is still fresh in the fans' minds, even more so when it involves a mid week game.

Last season early doors we lost back to back v Bury and Rovers, it was then fairly obvious a season of strife beckoned.

 At 1-0 up v Rovers, we looked to have righted the wrong of Breakspear's Bury show, only to succumb in the most hideous of fashions late on. Not acceptable, exactly as Flitters said about Crawley.

Yes we did.... however at the time it was a signifier of the disarray.  In a sense that was understandable and rapid action was taken by bringing in Sturrock.

I agree, less than play offs would definately be a failure, but we have had to endure so much shit lately for some a mid table season would be a good season.

I still think we need 3 more signings for first team/cover in defence, midfield/wings though.

The shit, has been historical level shit... Power at least seems to have realised we were Conference bound, and done something to stabilise the situation. We look to have a viable Div 4 team.... then it's let's see, crowd size etc count for little.

I'd imagine Chesterfield fans, who get crowds not widely dissimilar to us, would settle for mid table right now.

Budget and crowd actually are more aligned with table position in L2 than most, so again, if we're not up there it's a failure.

Not sure your assertion would stand up to much scrutiny.  Take last season for example... yes Pompey and Plymuff went up with the 2 highest average crowds, but it had taken them a good few years to do it. Luton who were 3rd in that sense, missed out.

Of the 2 relegated sides Orient were 9th on crowds, and HPool 14th. Probably of more importance is what a manager does with the budget.  I reckon if Luke had been given a PdC sized budget for this season, we wouldn't win the league. Flitcroft quite possibly.