Thetownend.com

Will it be on? Will we get a result?
I'm say, yes and no. Orange ball will be used.

No and no from me :)

 I don't think it will be on.... it stops snowing around tea time but is cold all tomorrow.   Given we haven't had a postponement yet, and it's v our nearest neighbours,  makes sense to call it off.

No chance, not in this day and age.

Midweek job now..

Fair play to them but ....


https://twitter.com/Official_STFC/status/1091291741876031489?s=20

done that a few times before. can't get the car out this time
.

just can't see how this will be on

They used to make them of harder stuff back the the 70s :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XarZj2eehc

I wonder if you can help PV, I'm thinking of a game I think v Darlo, would have been some time in the early 80's, there was a bit of snow about, but in my opinion not enough for a postponment by old skool standards, I trotted down the CG, but it was off.

The recall is a bit vague however, so I'm wondering if I imagined it.

If its off it wont be because of the pitch, it will be icy pavements and steps in the ground

I do remember a game being called off late but then again there wasn't so much social media to get word around back then so it happened a couple of times IIRC, for the life of me I don't remember who it was against though I am afraid.

I know a lot of games were postponed back then because of severe frost and icing down in front of the Shrivenham Road stand which was probably to blame for 80% of all postponements back then.

No sorry not sure about the opponents at all but I do remember a few of very late call offs, less than 2 hours pre kick off was on occassions.

I'm now thinking it may have been 85/86, when we had that spell of postponements at the CG, due to the infamous straw on the pitch, as frost protection  ;)

That was when we ended up playing 6 away games in a row and winning the lot.

I remember the straw on the pitch, we did that for a couple of seasons! mind you our pitch was pretty awful back then they could have played with it still on the pitch with little difference!

The straw was a cover, not for frost. Can't quite remember the details, but it came from a director who had a farm and allegedly charged way over the odds.  When the tractor spread it around the tyres fucked the pitch.

Remember in the late sixties used to travel up with a mate and his father driving,  transistor radio on the lap struggling to get any reception,  when weather was dodgy once we got past Devizes it was our job to watch all the traffic going in the opposite direction to see if anyone was wearing red and white scarves aiming back towards home.  
Saved us a full journey a couple of times spotting cars on their way back.   Mind you also remember getting as far as the magic roundabout before seeing the blackboard chalked with 'GAME OFF' on it.
All different now with mobile phones and internet technology !!!.
  But either way,  can't see it going ahead tomorrow somehow.

I like that story..... yep I remember going to away games and seeing people going back t'other way and thinking.... oh.

Didn't always work though.... sometimes you'd get through, to find an empty ground.

The Bolton League Cup saga included a postponed game. Sat in a pub in Bolton when the news came through.

That was due to rain though, I think. Town fans didn’t cover themselves in glory, either with one local pub smashed up.

I expect to see a response from last week.

snowman competition?
controlled aggression snowball fight?

I spent NYE 2001 in deepest, darkest Norfolk with a girlfriend visiting her family.  It was like stepping back in to the 1970s.  Middle of nowhere.  Lots of snow, but I thought nothing of it.

Left early the next morning to head back to London with a plan to take in the Colchester game on the way.  It was only 30 mins before kick off when we started walking to the ground after a pub lunch - and realising that there was no-one else doing the same that the penny dropped.  The game had been called off the previous day.  Pre-smartphone era.  Embarrassing, to say the least.

The Walsall away debacle a few seasons ago still makes my piss boil.

I was in the KFC by Ikea, drove down to the ground to be told it was off...total bollocks...dusting at best!

I don't know why, but that comment reminded me of the halftime entertainment during the Crawley game.

So, the competition is that you start with the ball on the half way line and dribble the ball into the box where you have to beat the keeper, who just happens to be an ambling Rockin Robin. The key is to get the ball into the goal in the quickest time possible.

Last week was a father and son combo. The dad went first and took a bit of time to get into the box where he skipped around RR and coolly slotted home. The kid when asked if he fancied his chances stated "yeah, this is going to be easy". Raced forward showing excellent pace, picked his spot past RR and shanked it wide! Cue ironic cheers :)

We were sat in the Burnden park car park, burger van fella told us it was off. We went to the nearest pub, they had viz cartoons on the tv and it was like walking into the Rovers Return from corrie

Very similar for me too..  I remember sitting next to PaulD when we travelled back up for the replay..  One of the coldest games I have ever been to that..  We lost 2-1, with our goal coming in the 94th minute when I was walking past the stand outside...

Looks like a great effort from far too few volunteers. Can't see it ending well.

https://twitter.com/GWReds/status/1091357005023973376?s=20

There was some truly pathetic efforts at shovelling going on in that clip.... applaud them for their efforts like! Its chilly but gloriously sunny in the grim and frozen north west today!  :D

As the sun dips beneath the horizon, we've had but a mere smattering of snow. More cold frost. In fact a think the settled freeze was more than the snow fallen here. Strange seeing as we're right by the peaks. Possibly protected a bit and get micro climates/mini temperature inversions. Thrilling stuff, if you like that kind of knowledge  :pint:

More snow settling here now (about an hour east of Swindon).  I'd be surprised if the game goes ahead having seen the depth of the snow on the pitch.  No realistic prospect of getting all that cleared.

Well done people...top effort.

It's been constantly snowing here since the early hours. Probably 6" now.

This game won't be on.

Everyone knows we always exaggerate.

Well, if it was coming from you I suppose I wouldn't believe it ;)
 
So I just got the tape measure out and measured in my back garden. 6.5".

Isn't using a decimal to describe an imperial measure outlawed?

Will be after 29 March.  No snow or even frost in Leicester.  Just a dull winter's day.

Remember that one well, got as far as Knutsford - and swore about it all the way home.     Have a funny feeling it was fog but not 100%.

Nope, it was monsoon like downpour around staffordshire and northwards

6.5" isn't a measurement.  ;) 6 1/2" or 16.5cm (165mm will do too) would be recognised.

That's a fair chunk of snow to shift off the CG though.

0.165m x 100m x 64m = 1072.5m³
or
0.18yd x 110yd x 71yd = 1405.8yd³

Not in my book.

You are thinking of Darlington home 1986/87, the second promotion season with Macari. Called off quite late. I seem to remember it was later played, unusually, on a Thursday night

As it’s the 21st century, it seems strange that we’re still relying on people with shovels and wheelbarrows. Aren’t there push-along snowblower machines these days that would clear the stuff quicker and more easily? Probably none available in this part of the country, though.

https://twitter.com/official_stfc/status/1091424758204416001?s=21


https://hsstoolshop.co.uk/snow-clearance-blower-for-hire-4852-p.asp

you may have forgotten, but this is a country that measures distance in miles and petrol in litres

Ooh. This could be the one... bet the handful, of Darlo fans who made the journey were well pissed off.

How snowy in Swindon this morning?  We had folk abandoning cars yesterday evening up this way.  Is there a realistic prospect of game being on?

None of the snow in my bit of north Swindon has melted, but it has turned into blocks of ice

Zero chance this game gets played

Little birdie tells me that Lee Power and Steve Anderson are currently out on the pitch crawling along with a hairdryer trying to melt the snow

Centre of Swindon is like a fucking ice rink.  Think it'll be postponed on H&S grounds irrespective of pitch conditions.
Good news really, gives the new boys a chance to bed in (and for me to stay in the warm).

Oh well.  Might have to be a Six Nations day instead, then.  Just when I was getting my Swindon mojo back.

Off

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2019/february/forest-green-game-postponed/

Off

I was doing that anyway. The game last night was good. The wife is Irish so going to be a tough one for me when they wallop us today! (Sorry all for the egg chasing chat on the match day Fred)

One of them tricky ones to call i reckon....sun's out so it might of been ok by 3pm.

Fuck it...

Pitch is fine but you can't expect people to travel and navigate surrounding areas when officials are advising no non-neccessary traveling.

It's off.  Just when I was planning a boycott in protest at last week's Crawley surrender  >:(

Can't say I surprised, if its like we have here in Somerset theres still about 8 inches of snow sitting on the ground and very icy on the roads.

FGR fans not happy about the call off, just sounds a lot like moaning for the sake of it because they are currently on a fairly good run of form, one even thinks Swindon is run by Stroud Council :D

They can all fuck off!

Tree huggers

soapy tit wank, you'd think they be happy to have some extra banjo/squeal like a pig time

 Assuming they go ahead, there are a number of important games.... Newport at Grimsby, a win or draw for Newport takes them above us, a win for Grimsby takes them above us, they both can't go above us... Should Oldham gain a point or better at Boundary Park v Morecambe they go above us.

 For those still harbouring belief in our PO destiny, then Exeter v Frachise is crucial.... although I'm wondering if it will be postponed at the last minute, just to piss Franchise off greatly.

 Basically if Grecians win then the PO gap goes out to 10 effectively 11, due to GD... with 30 games played.  This is why last week was a must win in order to stay in touch.

Macc could reduce their gap to us to 10, but unlikey as at Mansfield.....even if we drop 2 places to 14th, we still look ok for a finish somewhere between 12th and 16th.

Update..... Oldham gone, so we only drop one spot, which is good....

To be fair to those in Nailsworth, there probably isn't any snow there. Looking out my window I can see that everything has melted and gone. Was talking to a friend who has been working in Stratton for the last few days and he said there difference was stark.

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

To be honest, who cares what they think anyway?  We all know how this ends.  This year's Rushden & Diamonds.  Enjoy the Football League holiday while it lasts.

I know its not Swindon but here in Chard we are still under about 8 inches of snow even though the suns been out all day its bitterly cold outside.

Greetings from a balmy Barbados 🏖 No surprise the game is off it was effing freezing Thursday night when I checked into the purple palace @ Gatwick though slightly warmer tracking to the terminal Friday morning. At that time there was hardly any snow in the area. Once airborne we were into the clouds very quickly and didn’t get to peer down onto the carnage as we crossed southern England out to the south west. On the flip side this was probably one of the few games i’d Have liked to see before the seasons end so it is likely that I can get to the rearranged fixture. Wrap up warm everyone.

A few have gone before and ended up back down again, Rushden, as you state, Crawley too have all come from non league, chucked money at it and got some success but fallen by the wayside and heading either towards extinction or there already. Even established sides like Orient (and Notts County this season) have over spent  and fallen down to the brink.

Salford and Fylde are aiming to replicate the rise too by throwing shitloads of money at the team.

I guess they have all been "inspired" by the way that clubs higher in the food chain who have spunked millions on the rise through the leagues from lowest league to the highest, Bolton, Cardiff, Wigan and to a lesser extent Brentford and Bristol City, et al,

All trying hard to emulate the Bournemouth "dream" of staying in the top division after spending £167 million on transfer fees (only recieving £40 million in tranfers out over the same time) since 2012 to get there and stay there.

If you can afford to waste it then you can get to the highest and stay there so you can see why Vance is doing it, massive risk but he can afford it at the moment.

Brilliant post.  There's little else in football that irritates me more than a purchased League place.  I know not a lot about FGR and whether they fall in to this category, but Wigan & Fulham in particular wound me up in the past.

For all the mediocrity of STFC, having someone dump a load of cash on the squad and then say 'there you are, up the league you go' would be a complete turn off for me.

FGR had easily the biggest budget in the league when they came out of the National League and apparently are a top 2 or 3 budget this season and with crowds of about 1/3 of ours that must tell you all you need to know about funding.

Although I totally agree about it feeling wrong if that happened, the thought of actually having that sort of backing must be a pretty good feeling, albeit temporarily but to have a financially stable and self sufficient club is by far the best option.

Can’t agree. Unfortunately, without a good injection of cash we’ll be forever in the bottom 2 leagues. Some may well be happy with that, but not me.

That Red Bull fiasco a few years back would have been great as far as I’m concerned. It’s not a given even with a big budget - ask Notts County fans. Surely nobody really disliked the PdC era even with all the cash making it possible.

Almost anything is better than the stupefying position we’ve been in for a while now.

What red bull fiasco?  The unsubstantiated rumours of red bull investment which culminated in Power buying a 6 pack of red bull?

Not really a fiasco.

Football as is often the case mirrors our wider society..... back in the Thatcherite 80's when many of the seeds which now infect our body politic were sown.  Namely a move away from more social forms of ownership of key services and institutions, to placing them into private hands, so that wealth generated would go upwards rather than outwards.

Included in this were our football clubs.. so STFC had a change of Articles of Association, as it was felt that the old Co-op model of the club being owned by small shareholders inhibited progress as potential wealthy investors were put off, by the fact their vote had no more weight than my vote.

Many fans accepted the logic of this argument... in much the same way they accepted the Thatcherite argument or Tory Brexit.  However, what they hoped for at STFC was a Dale Vince type, someone prepared to come in and spend money above what the club itself could generate.

What we've got atm is Power who has happily stated his mission is to make money and run the club on what it can generate.  I suspect there wouldn't be too many fans who if offered a vote on the matter wouldn't take Vince over Power.

This.

 Not looking good for the PO optimists, Exeter 2-0 up on Franchise, which at least means they'e imploding at the wrong time, which could be good news for us next Saturday.

So you'd have been happy becoming RB Swindon or something shit like that? Do me a favour.

many successful clubs have 'bought their place'.

Bournemouth for example. wouldn't have a problem if the same happened to us. Would probably draw the line at a RB rebrand.

Pretty much. Who wants a life languishing down here.

Think you're in the minority there, that would be the end for me.

And the shit we’ve had to put up with these last few years hasn’t? It’s done for me more or less.

I’d hazard a guess you’ve a bit more time than me to witness a revival!

10 points away from playoffs now, 11 realistically due to goal difference.

Any slim chance we might have had has now fucked off.

I am probably in the minority too, I would rather have Power in charge than Vance who I think obtrudes his opinions on fans and comes accross as narcissistic.

Power may get a spawny season out of us and limp into L1, but he cannot progress the club beyond that. Not saying it’s his fault, but hasn’t  got, or won’t use, whatever spondooliks he has.

The life of a bottom feeder club.

I wouldn't go that far. Football tends to be fun under sugar daddies. It depends, of course, on things.

I'd still prefer the other option, though. There's more satisfaction to be had in being successful after having done it properly.

At no point since Flitcroft left have we really looked like a club capable of reaching the PO's.... personally I think PO's in Div 4 should be regarded as failure... we should be aiming for automatic promotion, there are 3 slots available.

Wellens now needs to get a handle on the home form and start to show that we might have something about us for next season.... which must include building a squad of our own players in key positions and not the Power policy of relying on loan kids.

TBF in our 140 years as a club at least 95% of those years we could be classed as a bottom feeder club.

Of course I would want better for the club positionally but who is to say that Wellens won't take us there with the budget constraints of Power, whether this season or next? and then maybe further up the pyramid.

Yes if a genuine Town fan came forward with near unlimited funding that would be great, but again who is to say that if they aren't a fan then they won't do what Andrew Black did and get fed up and withdraw ALL funding as he did. This has happened at many many other clubs in the past and you can count the lucky ones who have not had the funding removed when they got bored on the fingers of one hand.

Also there is no new buyer around willing to buy us. A point we have gone over a hundred times, nobody wants to buy us because if they did then Power would have no hesitation in selling of that I am 100% sure he will sell - but there arent any.

We wouldnt be in the position of having Power as an owner if there were ANY other interested parties, let alone rich ones. We have Power because NOBODY with any financial backing wanted to own us and still don't.

Some fans say nobody will buy because the club is not up for sale.

They analogize that you only sell your car when you advertise it for sale, thats absolute rubbish!

If somebody wants your car enough then they will stop you and make you an offer for it whether the car is up for sale or not and advertising the car as being for sale tells people you are fed up with it and invite tyre kickers without the full funds to buy it for what you want (look at Jed previously at the club).

Then you sell for a lot less than you originally wanted more often than not or you end up with everyone knowing you now have a car that you don't want and nobody else wants or you sell it to someone that says they will restore it as long as you sell it to them and more often than not it ends up on the scrapheap.

I guess I am just more tolerant of our current position and ownership than many Town fans seem to be.

It seems we're stuck with Power, but I don't think most Town fans are being unrealistic when they think we ought to be hanging about mid table in Div 3 as a sort of default.... not the 20 odd places lower that Power has taken us.

We all want better than where we are but to single out as being solely Powers fault is wrong IMO, the manager/s and players must take more responsibility than the owner.

I'm with you Audrey. 4 or 5 years ago I'd probably have been dead against the idea. Football has changed so much now though. The fans are very much secondary. It if took being called Red Bull Swindon Town to push through the leagues then I think I'd take it.

I'd include the fans in that group.

We've been let down badly by the last couple of managers. A lot of the blame goes there as well.

The constant in our decline is Power.... he makes the key decisions he sets the tone and mostly gets it wrong.

If I may respond in the fashion of a facebook bellend...

HAPPY CLAPPER!   POWER OUT!

Etc etc.

I surprisingly agree with you. I feel as do others that relying on a dearth of loans since flogging off the crown jewels has also contributed to our decline. It cannot in anyway help the club to keep having a mass exodus and clearout of staff every season and start all over again.

Agreed.

Yeah think on that answer. You agree with Reg who has encyclopedic knowledge of the last 60 years and decides we've been pretty much crap for just the last couple of years?  Pfft. Bollocks i call

If you look at our historic position as a middling Div 3 club....you'll find usurping our perch.... Donny, Blackpool, Wycombe, Fleetwood, Cov, Sarfend, Burton. Atm. 2 of those are basket case clubs of the first order, 2 of those are arriviste clubs from non league with small crowds..... another is Trust run, one more came from non league after a previous owner had burned down the old ground, and Sarfend who you might consider a historic opponent, about where they should be.

 I would say there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to compete with these clubs, other than the decisions on how the club is run means atm we're unable to.  By all means call it bollocks, but for me Power has to up his game, if as seems the case he retains ownership of the club.

At least yesterday was much better than last Saturday.

A bit of devils advocate here, from last summer onwards it could be said that Power has done a decent job as chairman.

Stayed in the background.
Managers given full control of recruitment.
Put a structure in place to manage the above and the general football side of things.
Brought the Trust on board with regard to the ground purchase.

If, say within the next 2 - 4 years the builders are in at the CG and a shiny new training facility is in place, would people start to look at Power's time in charge a bit more favourably than they do now?

Power might turn out to be the most progressive owner this clubs has had in a generation, or two. This could well be the case if alleged stadium and training ground plans come to fruition.

It's all 'jam tomorrow', though.  Quite rightly, fans are impatient.  Just how long does he need?  Maybe if LP spent a little more time in the country, these things would be moving on a little faster.

Booo.....urns.

Perhaps he needs as long as it takes? Surely he can't be blamed for red tape etc?
And would things be moving any faster even if he was in the country permanently? What more could he do if he was here?

How long did it take for SBC to get a library for the town? And let's not forget that the trust are involved as well now, at least where the ground purchase is concerned. If we're to go blaming people then they should not be overlooked either.

Power will be judged on results.... Chesterfield have a nice new community stadium etc, seemed to be doing OK when like us got to the Div 3 PO's in 2015, and are now in a battle to keep Conference status.

Power is culpable for getting us to our current position, namely only one other season since the formation of Div 4 in 1958, where we've had fewer points whilst in the bottom tier 2/3rds through.

Righting the wrong of 16/17, and getting us back to Div 3 is a minimum requirement. 

Yes but hasn't he appointed Clem Morfuni to deal with the day to day running, an Aussie who still lives in Australia and only comes to the country occassionally......oh wait :)

Of course the fans are impatient, thats a fans right, it seems a God given right to most Town fans.

I still look at the table and see Notts County, easily the biggest budget in this division apparently languishing in bottom place 5 points adrift, I see Chesterfield near the bottom of the National in relegation places, I see Orient nearly slip out of that league last season both after some massive investment in the team.

I don't want Swindon in that position and I don't see us slipping down there either.

If you ask the fans of Orient....when they were taken over by the Italian a few years ago, he said he would invest shedloads of money, get in players way better than L1 (at the time) they paid a couple of players a rumoured £20k pw wages see here...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2941681/Cristiano-Ronaldo-filthy-rich-hungry-success.html

Yet they slipped through the division below with barely a whimper and then almost the division below that and only now are they near debt free after the over spending and possibly on the way back into the league under new tenure a team built not on the whim of a rich owner as they were previously up to the point he pulled the plug.

What I am trying to say is that no matter what the budget is it does not guarantee success, especially lower down the leagues, so I would rather we have a squad thats (fairly) competitive and well within budget constraints rather than splashing the cash on has beens who drain the club of vital funding in the quest for promotion.

We are, it seems, living well within our means and I think looking better than we have done in the last 3 seasons on a 1/3 of that budget given to Williams who in my opinion started the rot.

Of all the decisions made by Power aftecting things on the pitch the only true criticism of him was appointing Williams in the first place.

He then appoints Ling who is unfortunately mentally not able to cope with the role (not Powers fault).

He then appointed Flipflop...a proven manager not everyones cup of tea but you cant fault Power for employing someone with experience in this league. He then leaves because hes a twat (not Powers fault).

He then appointed Brown, again a proven manager not everyones cup of tea but you cant fault Power for employing someone with experience in this league. He is sacked because Power sees he isn't doing the job well enough (not Powers fault).

Now he appoints Wellens, a man almost nobody wanted as a prefered choice of manager but at the moment hes been doing ok, sometimes great sometimes poor but hes learning his job and Power then appoints Jewell to aid him, a proven manager with bags of experience...etc etc.

So I don't get where fans are moaning about Power not investing and getting in the right people?

Of course we are impatient for success, Swindon since 1985 have been fortunate to see a rise from this divison to the very top league inside 5 years, then to be demoted then rise again, then yo yo between the Championship, L1 and L2 ever since including a couple of flaunts with administration in that time too.

Its been a tough but exciting 30 odd years, challenging, troubling, exciting, frustrating, entertaining but rarely boring (except sometimes on the pitch especially under Williams!).

We have had media circusses when we had first Macari, then Ardiles, then Hoddle, then MacMahon, then Ruddock and Evans, then Wise & Poyet, then PdC....

Now there is no circus, no fanfare, no elation of fans when Wellens was appointed, it was just...oh him....what on paper appears to be a mediocre cheap appointment, but hes instilled me with more confidence on the pitch already in his 15 matches than any of his 5 or 6 predecessors ever did at any point.

He is being backed as much as he should be so far, hes got ina lot of players, some untried and untested but a few very experienced, a nice blend.

He has us playing far more attractive football on the pitch than Flipflop or Brown ever did, yes we still have holes in positions but I think hes done OK with a couple of blips but he is still learning, the players are still learning his way of doing things too, they need to blend,

But nowadays teams are not given the time to blend, fans want instant results all the time, we are no different but it takes time and it takes players willing to buy into his plans too and commit themselves to being here for another couple of seasons.

Some Town fans need to realise we do not have a God given right to be at a higher level than we are now, you have to earn that, for several seasons we haven't earned that, the management of the team, the players and sometimes the fans have contributed to our failings, we as fans are not blameless, we don't always back the players and manager at home especially.

Sometimes the players don't perform well, thats why they are L2 players and not in a higher league, but we are all too eager to jump on their back and moan at them, like last week, yet the week before they were excellent. We do lack patience but we have had to put up with a lot of shit recently. A lot.

We have no God given right to be in a higher league and we all need to pull together as a team, owner, manager, players and fans to bring that about, in the way that Lincoln have done in the last few years. But we need that spark to set the blue touch paper off, I am hoping Wellens could be that spark.

I am always hoping and never giving up saying things like "thats it, I will never go again" thats not a fan, thats not a supporter, thats a fair weather fan, the sort who will come back when we get a little bit of success or a Wembley visit.

I won't ever give up supporting Swindon no matter how good or bad it gets and if you feel this is as bad as it gets then go, we need fans that are behind the club fully to get us back, we need to pull together and back the team.

Boo if you want, if its that bad you feel the need but be aware this carries over to the players, they are fully aware of the booing and abuse and who would give 100% under those circumstances? nobody I expect, I know if I was booed I wouldnt want to give my all for those booing.

Sorry if some consider that a bit happy clapper, I feel its just being a realist and tolerant.

Hopefully next season will see an upturn.
Wellens is doing ok at the moment. Admitting to mistakes is good. If he learns from them, even better.
A good run at home for the remaining games should at least give us some confidence over the summer.
But Power will need to support RW's efforts as best he can.
Might not stop a further erosion of the 6,000 in the meantime.
If results pick up next season then some of those who are not too far gone might be tempted to return.

Many even complained about that. 'Jobs for the boys'

Or a total cunt who has used transfer funds to buy the highworth land to build houses at a great profit. He then forgets to build the training ground and years later more houses go up. He also buys the ground outbidding the trust, sells up to a housing company and moves us to j16. He buys out the Goddard covenant as whoever now has the rights probably doesn't give a fuck and it's unexpected money in their pocket. Alternatively rebuild the CG with other activities, plenty of money to be had.
In the meantime just string the fans along as the football is relatively unimportant other than finding a rough diamond to polish and sell. As long as crowds stay around the 6k mark.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle but who knows. He hardly does himself any favours.

Let's see what Jewell brings... he had been out of the game, at a visible level for a while, apart from a short stint at Oldham with Wellens which rapidly went pear shaped.   No idea why that should be the case.... but it's fully understandable after the Sherwood fiasco, that fans are wary of Power appointing his mates.

I remain unconvinced that the present staff and player recruitment, is part of a coherent strategy rather than being done on a wing and a prayer.

I guess we'll need to wait a minimum of 6 months before we may get some clarity from the fog.

I'll agree with some of that PV.

We are where we deserve to be, and don't have a god given right to promotion.
Budget is no guarantee of success or failure. I will say obviously a big budget makes things a lot easier - but we don't have the cash so..

However.


Well, we haven't gone into admin/had winding up orders. God knows what we owe Power though, so cautiously optimistic.


I really don't think that is true. Continual late signings in the windows, Sherwood, youth loans when in desperate need of experience, etc. I can't prove it but its happened too often in my eyes to be down to the manager.

I'm relieved it seems to be changing the recruitment approach now.

Totally agree Brown and Flitcroft were the type of managers you'd want in. I would say that Flitcroft and Cooper are doing OK with a bigger budget though.


Meh, frustration is going to boil over after 3 years of shite at home. It happens at 90% of other clubs too. We aren't that 'special'. I'm not talking about booing players in the 15th minute at 0-0 (Lancashire), but you have to expect it after a shit performance at home to Crawley.


Power has brought this on himself to a large extent. Hopefully Wellens can bring back some feelgood and repair some of the damage

This is what matters to me most now. Get some good performances, especially at home in front of the bulk of our fans and that will win many back I am sure.

People will come back, it's all down to what happens on the pitch. It'll take a while to convince people to return, though.

It will especially after the last few years of poor performances on the pitch.

I think we could still easily get 8k+ if we string some good results together but I fully understand some not wanting to come back yet too.

I accept that Power has "rescued" STFC from Jed and for that he deserves our everlasting gratitude.

We can only know at the end of his reign how successful he has been.

Meanwhile however, we are about 24 places below where we should, historically, EXPECT to be AND Power has until recently done NOTHING to generate enthusiasm for the club.  Power has fallen out with the Adver, refused to engage with the Trust, failed to really support the fans' away trip initiatives for Cov and so on and generally sat on his hands in terms of promoting the club.  I see some signs of improvement now.  

He has never really espoused much ambition for STFC except in terms of "living within our means" which is private and, conveniently, unable to be judged. There are all sorts of reasons why Jam tomorrow may be blown off course.

We can see that not a square meter of artificial turf has been laid and we can above all see the League table. STFC appears about to be embarking on its lowest sustained League ranking since there were 4 National Divisions over 60 years ago.  That is failure.  That STFC struggles through adversity is one thing but if making it a sustainable League 2 club is regarded as success then "glory hunters" like me can still hope but we still have nothing to cheer Power for beyond "Jed-stinction".

Tuesday 12th Feb rearranged date

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2019/february/new-date-for-forest-green-fixture-released/

cheers.

Can we watch midweek games on ifollow?

yup

Yup.

I like the way they announced it with a picturw of a burger van

Very quickly rearranged, well done to the club for sorting so soon.

 ;D

When we had that horrible run of away games last season involving Stevenage, Accy and Lincoln, I did question how such a run could be allowed if the club as seemed to use to be the case had a say in the rearrangement.  You'll prob recall that rearranged games were often stuck oin the end of the campign when conditions were generally more clement.  We ended up with 3 away games Tues-Sat-Tues, roughly exactly a year ago when weather can as we've seen this week be dodgy.

Bambi came up with the answer..... clubs now have little discretion it has to be the first available mid-week free from cup games etc. FL diktat.

That’s interesting. I didn’t know that. Do we know the source for that change? The current regulation says:

“ Regulation 28

Postponements, Abandonments and Re-Arrangements

28.1

In the event of any League Match not being played owing to Football Association Cup Matches, weather or other causes over which neither Club has any control or being ordered to be replayed it shall be played on a date to be mutually arranged, but at the earliest reasonable opportunity and in any event prior to the last scheduled round of fixtures in the Normal Playing Season. Both Clubs shall notify The League of such arrangements within seven days of the postponement being identified, for the approval of The League. Any League Match not so arranged shall have its date fixed by The League.

28.2

Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 28.1, The League reserves the right at any time to reschedule a League Match after consultation with and consideration of representations from the Clubs involved.”

Earliest reasonable opportunity.... therefore both clubs are midweek free next week, it's our nearest rival.... so that's the earliest opportunity... personally I'd have preferred late April, when you could get a nice spring evening.

Me too. That would have been my idea of “reasonable”.  :)

Just seen the rearranged fixture, bugger. That means out of three of us who could go none of us will go. Well done STFC, FGR & the EFL.

Tripling the attendance. Awesome.

Watch out for Great Whites  :fishing:

I've always been dubious about the "earliest reasonable opportunity" point. To take the Accrington away game last season, it was played about 2 months after the postponement. And our one at home to Yeovil, which was postponed in early March, wasn't played for another 5-6 weeks. There would have been alternative dates for both in the meantime.

My recall of the Yeovil situation, was that they had a few to catch up and also were still involved in the Boycott.  With Accy it could have been with the busy festive porgramme and Jan being potentially dodgy weather wise, the FL take that as reasonable not to play.

Speaking of Yeovil they've a massive game tonight at Numb.... very much a must win for them. I suppose a draw would be best all round as with a win Numb who might be considered in the relegation mix get to within 5 points of us.

Cobblers go to Tranny, and Cobblers could do with a point as they're starting to creak.... be interesting to see if Nelson can prop up the Tranny defence which has struggled a bit of late.

Newport beating Boro 2.0, another weekend off

Looking like a blank Saturday on the 16th.

 So Yeovil in all sorts of trouble and Numb just 5 points adrift of us... that could be the win whcih sees them safe.  Finishing below them for the first time in the same league would be best avoided.

 Sid didn't do much for Tranny, whose wheels seem to have fallen off... Cobblers needed that.

This makes me happy as I am in Birmingham that day anyway so couldn't have watched it. lovely.

Drew 2-2 with Bristol City in a friendly yesterday

If we are doing early threads then I guess this was really early. Feels weird having a match tomorrow night seems like we only played yesterday.

I have decided to miss this one and let the radio carry on the win record.

League Position: 12th v 7th
Last 8 form table: 9th v 8th
Home Form & Away Form: 19th v 1st
Goalscoring: 18th v 7th
Defence: 16th v 2nd

FGR beat us on every stat. Impressive defence and fantastic away form against a team with a terrible home record and one that struggles for goals and clean sheets.

Just like Saturday they should be beat us. We have to get an early goal, that's the only way I can see anything out of this game. Goals change games and we struggle at home to get the break through 

Depends which of our teams show up. We've shown we can be near best, or near worst. Although I expect us to be the former of the 2 in this.

Will it be another case of after the lord mayor's show? After the win at Tranmere, I was really looking forward to the Crawley game and we were absolute garbage.

FGR probably won't set up as defensively as Crawley and like to play out from the back, so our pressing game and pace could kill them. Dare I say it, but if we win, we are 5 behind FGR. We play Colchester soon as well so if we can beat them in another 6 pointer, maybe, just maybe the play off dream could be reignited.

We need to shake the home form monkey off our back at some point.

Is it the way we are afforded space away from home that gives us a good away record.

If it is the way teams tend to sit back that causes us the issue at home, maybe FGR will be more adventerous given their away form. 

TBH I don't know if they are so effective because, like us, they are effective on the counter attack.  They were fairly crap against us in the cup, in the first half anyway. But that's no indicator.

1-1

Big test. Another false dawn or finally, a hint of consistency? Three home games in a row, against sides above us, but who we should not be daunted by. 7-9 points and the table looks very different on the way up to Carlisle the first weekend of March. By then, we'll certainly know what the back end of this season looks like.

Will this combination of RW and the new players finally give us some confidence and ability at home?

It's the hope that kills you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfnhmuZ27eQ

In the games that we have had shit results at home, I would love to see a montage of the attempts on goals and close misses. Clutching at straws? Yh maybe. But that ball just will not go in on a ridiculous amount of occasions. Against crawly we hit the post in the first half, that would have been a win all day long.

We have to score first thats the only way we can win at home.

Exactly this, on our day, which is rare, we can surpass skill wise any side in this division, when its not our day we can surpass even the worst for shitness.

Very much this, which is why I and a few others have been crying out for a poacher all season, yet we go out and get one in on loan in Robinson and we don't create half as many chances inside the box as we had done all season! Ironic.

The number of chances we have in games this season has been in the main quite high, we hit the post, get deflections etc but rarely make the keeper make any save unless its straight at them as we did a few times on Saturday.

It's amazing how much the head has to do with the performance of players.  I remember as a kid being very confident when one on one with a keeper - I always thought I'd score and remained quite calm.  Give me a penalty and I'd walk up assuming the keeper would save it!

You can see in a few players that they like the ball at feet, but do not look at all natural in front of goal - we have a mix of players who snatch at chances (worried they'll miss so panic to make sure they get a shot away) and others who must just have zero personal confidence that they see a way to score, so hang on for far too long.  Richards and Doughty are the two exceptions - Richards is a poacher, he has an instinct about where he will need to be to get a chance, has confidence it is then just about getting something on it (unfortunately he's probably a season beyond his ability now and he can't get into those positions as often and is so poor at the hold-up game that he's struggle to make an impression).  Doughty is about ability - he knows he has it, he thinks he will score every time he shoots.  It means you get selfish play at times and he shoots when it really isn't on, but you get what he did Saturday as well.  Without being able to get into the mind of a footballer, I'd swear he really does think he is too good for the keeper to get a hand on it.  So long as your actual ability backs that up, you are on to a winner.  He also can't play with his back to goal, he isn't interested in that.  Early signs Saturday indicate Robinson may be a better player to have around our other forward thinking players as he seemed ok with holding play as well as turning defenders with runs behind them to the channel - unselfish play.  It will work if someone can convince Anderson he can score goals if he shoots when the time is right - like Saturday, no thinking, no trying to beat the man several times, the shot was on, he took it, it flew in.  He won't get those every game but he gets into the box with ball at feet a lot in games.

Was having a read of the FGR forum (yes I know some fans dont care about other teans etc etc) and some of their fans are moaning about Coopers style, always blames everyone except himself for any losses, blaming the players and the fans and anything but himself(sounds familiar!).

Some also saying that Doidge has upset the rhythm of the side and does not seem the same player since he returned from Bolton after the debacle of his transfer. Fair play to FGR for holding out and not buckling under the bigger clubs pressure.

Several of their fans are asking how to improve the atmosphere at home games, easy, get more than 2,200 home fans, not being funny but its difficult to create any atmosphere when the ground has so few people. Oh and they have a drum.

Their fans on the forum are very very confident of claiming a win tomorrow and yes they have good away form...

FGR overall away form is P15 W8 D5 L2 F29 A16 Pts29

Swindon by comparison away is P16 W7 D4 L5 F20 A19 Pts25

Swindon home form is P15 W4 D6 L5 F16 A22 Pts 18

But FGR current form is DWDLWWDL so they have claimed only 8 points from their last 6 games.

We are slightly better with Swindon current form is DDLWDWLW we have claimed 10 points from the last 6 games.

On paper it looks an away banker, but we have been so hit and miss at home all season who knows if you get good Swindon or bad Swindon.

FGR have never beaten Swindon in a league game (or FA cup for that matter) in our 3 previous league meetings, Town winning 2 and one being a draw. Add to that a win for Town in the FA cup and FGR have only beaten us in the mickey mouse paintpot cup we fielded a half strength team and in the 1st round of the League Cup when we were beaten by a very poor FGR side.

We average 6000 and the atmosphere for home games is crap at the moment.

Absolutely, if we can't get one going with nearly 3 times their average they have no hope.

I was at Supermarine Saturday where a very loud Hereford scout said that FGR players were on £5k a week on average. Apparently they have top budget for this division, followed by Notts County and Mansfield.
Will Henry looked good. They do like him at Supermarine.

Yes that was the rumour that they were certainly top 5 budget, well ahead of Swindon.

Nice to hear about Will Henry, if he keeps on improving he will be a decent back up in a season or 2.

No doubt the scout was of the “look at me I’m a scout, and I’m a massive deal, even though I’m doing this for free” category. £5k - I don’t buy it. That puts each player on £240k per year, and a squad of 25 on £6m. Behave!

That's a top end L1 budget.

I certainly wouldn't put it past FGR to be getting close to £5k a week average for their first team though.

I doubt they are all on 5k but I have heard a fair few of the first team are fairly high earners so that figure I don't doubt at all. Doidge being one of the £5k+ pw players.

When they say £5k I expect that to be several of the top earners but not the whole squad.

Dale Vance is underpinning their whole squad with his sponsorship of the club thats obvious as no club could pay anywhere near those sort of wages without his huge funding.

Mansfield too are said to be paying all of Walkers £6k per week during his loan from Forest and Rose refused to leave them for Posh as Posh could not match his current wages.

FGR signed a new extention of the EESI sponsorship deal (Vances company) in December which works out as £4m per year, also recently signed new deals with Nissan Leaf and Quorn said to be worth a decent (£200k per year) deals too.

Their matchday revenue was only a little over £1m last year according to their accounts for last year.

He was a loud mouth, look I'm important tool.

Robinson isn't a poacher... he may bring something else to the side at the CG... we'll see.

The problem at the CG is 2 fold.... firstly we don't have enough variety in the goalscoring, which means it's too easy for sides to sit in and defend. Secondly, we give away goals at key times, through defensive including keeper error. This means sides can be fairly confident of scoring and then hold on... Crawley being a classic example.

By variety I mean scorers as well as type... we've 16 at the CG only Yeovil, who are in grave danger of Conference next season have fewer. When you consider 6 came in the first 2 games that's 10 in the next 13, nowhere near good enough.

Keshi hasnt scored at the CG, Kaiyne has 1. Woolf got one as did Joe Romanski, from an air shot, probably not a reliable method. Matty Taylor has one free kick.  A way needs to be found to increase the goals around the side.... once you have the lead then sides have to come out and then it's more like the away formula.

If we're doing x amount of hours on set pieces and dead ball situations in training.... up it to 2x, or 3x if that dosn't work

Some of our corners have suggested work has been done on the Training ground, but they are still not quite working out yet.  I'm surprised we haven't tried to see what comes of a few McCourt long throws yet though.

Not allowed to throw it when its a corner.

I'm trying to think of a goal at the CG this season from a corner, Woolf v Bury, Joe R v Tranny then I'm struggling. Free kicks not a whole heap better, Taylor v Cobblers can't think of many more.

Had we been able to find a scrappy goal, from a set piece v say Numb, Oldham and Mansfield, then six points better off and in the PO mix, even better if they're late on.

Last season's win v FGR had the classic Luke Norris winning goal, where he sort of fell over in a heap but managed to get some body part on the ball, which squirmed apologetically over the line.  We need more of those....

We are going to crush the hippy gobshites tonight 3-1. I can feel it in my bones.

A draw is no good to us, but I fear that that at 9.45 tonight we'd gladly take one.

A team that averages 1 goal per game at home is always going to struggle.  FGR have presumably built their away record on taking out teams like us.

0-3.  I'm usually completely wrong so here's hoping.

I predict a defeat but there's some new blood = unknown variables. 2-1 to the tree-huggers but with hope of something better. 

Fortress County Ground. 3-0 to Eat Your Greens Rovers.

4-1 Swindon

Time to start manning the fuck up and playing well at home. 2-0 Swindon.

Not sure but I feel a home win tonight 2-1 -

if you read the other teams forums Southend fans consider him as a poacher, Derby fans also say he is a poacher, I trust them as they have seen him more than any of us have. Even if he doesn't have the goal stats his style is said to be that of poacher, if you watch the YouTube videos of his goals almost all have come inside 12 yards.

2-1 defeat with Anderson scoring in front of 6,696 with 682 vegan fans there.

I can feel a home win in my bones if Woolf is back, but realistically, a 2-2 draw.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/17425558.luke-woolfenden-not-ready-to-return-for-forest-green-rovers-clash-as-swindon-town-wait-on-matt-taylors-fitness/

Doesn't look likely he will play.

Derby fans last saw Theo have a little goal scoring run of 9 in half a season more than 6 years ago since then he's played near on 200 league games for  25 goals.   I can't imagine too many gaffers would pick him as a poacher on those figures, he must bring other qualities.

He often played this season with Simon Cox a player who has poaching qualities as well as many others.  Coxy has had a couple of those "batch" runs sought after by Wellens this season, and I'm sure Theo helped out in his early season trot of 5 in 6, but it would be a very unusual gaffer in the modern game to play 2 poachers.

On Saturday Theo impressed me with his pace and strength and looks a more natural fit for a lone striker than Richards, hes not a target man but played the role asked of him far better than Richards has done in any of his games for Town.

He plays the channels well too and looks more of a complete forward than anyone else at the club.

A few goals will help his confidence greatly, he had one header knocked off his head from a corner and then one free header that flew off his head at a weird angle but otherwise he played a solid debut  and I convinced he will get a few goals for us this season. If Wellens decides against starting House tonight.

In the previous 2 games against FGR one thing they lacked was pace in defence, something Theo has over House and Richards.

This will be my 3rd home game I’ll watch via iFollow.

The previous 2 were the terrible Cambridge and Bury defeats. Sorry, guys.

Before the postponement, Wellens mentioned that they had been working on a new formation for the FGR game.

I wonder if that will still be the case or will he stick with the same team as Saturday?
The front three are very mobile with the addition of Robinson, who along with Rose looks to be a good upgrade.

Should be an interesting game.

Worked last time so 3-1 Town please football gods !

On Saturday Wellens spoke about the change of formation he was going to play vs FGR, he said they tried it in the behind closed doors game vs Bristol Cty and it didn't work so he changed it at half time when we were a couple of goals down and came back to draw that game. He said the experiment did not seem to work well enough to be tried in a game.

I have watched 2 also. Crewe away and Cambridge at home. Both were meek defeats. Sorry also.

The header Robinson missed was very weird, I reckon he initially thought about heading it back across goal (someone as at the far post) and then instinct took over, or the other way around.  It ended up being a good solid clearance.

He looked totally undecided, I think he was also waiting for the offside flag to go up, ended up coming off him at the most unusual angle like he had a square head!

FGR like a slow approach to the game, sussing out the opposition, not sure that will favour us with how Wellens has us playing the pressing game with pace as we often struggle to break down teams set up defensively.

FGR attack a lot with both wingbacks so if we keep them quiet and crowd out midfield I think we will easily contain them. I personally don't rate Doidge much, every time I have seen him hes been pretty poor but you can't argue with his goal stats.

If we play against them as we did vs MK on Saturday we will beat them, if we labour our build ups and don't play to the strengths of Anderson, Robinson and Woolery then we will struggle.

Woolery should have a point to prove against his old employers and Cooper still has a massive chip on his shoulder when it comes to Swindon, some fans will agree he was badly treated, I personally think he was always moaning, played some awful tactics and blamed the fans for the players being shit.

If we turn up at last for a home fixture then if we pressure them they will concede, if we sit back as we did vs Crawley and don't play Wellens style then we will lose. I do have a feeling that with us pressing and them much more cagey the game could peter out into a bore draw with few chances.

Here is a nice little write up by FGR's Swindon born Josepj Mills.

https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/17426148.you-want-to-play-in-these-kind-of-games-says-mills/

We need to let them come onto us, and create space behind. Our main weapon is our pace, with Doughty and Rose pulling the strings for the front 3, so we shouldn’t be scared to let them have the ball. To that extent, Cooper’s style may favour us. I was never a massive fan of his - always got the impression that the world was against him, but you have to hand it to him - he’s done a fantastic job at FGR, good budget or not.

Big STFC flag on display in St.Lucia for the cricket.

Strangely, I didn’t notice a FGR one.

It was probably made from vegan hessian and disintegrated in the heat

:D

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzOepmbXcAEiZzk.jpg:large)

Koiki in for the injured Taylor otherwise unchanged line up from Saturday.

Iandolo on the bench as the LB backup.

RW clearly doesn't fancy Smith or McGlashan. Still no Dave  :hmmm:

Toums is in the club shop signing autographs, Wellens said last week he was still a couple of weeks away from fitness.

After the Tranmere game he made the mistake of not replacing one of Dunne or McCourt, which wasted a midfield slot.  Rose is more creative, so I am ok with the consistency of selection.  Can't find a reason to change anything else from Saturday other than Taylor's absence through injury.  You still have the option in the game to replace one of McCourt or Rose if things need a more attacking edge later on.

McGlashan doesn't fit - not without someone left wing to balance the team.
Smith he mentioned he has some issues with - needs to work on tracking players or something like that.

Still? His fitness levels must be worse than mine

This is a pointless post on my behalf - but I have a distant memory of a player in our past (or maybe not even us) who was similar.  Would take weeks to wind back up after injury.  The fact I cannot remember who is why it is pointless, obviously.

He tore a thigh muscle apparently and his age can't work for him when getting over those sort of injuries. Wellens said hes eager to get back playing though.

Was out with the first team Saturday doing the warm up, so definitely not one of the players training with the youth’s.

The Rolex is broke. Power out!

Yeah when we look how long it took him to get up to first team pace at the start of the season and he wasn't even injured then! its not surprising me hes taking so long now TBH after that was so long.

Oh not seen it not working for many many years, The club couldnt afford to get it fixed last time it broke and was out of action for several games.

PL ref tonight. The game is in safe hands.  ???

Thought I recognised him. Knowing our luck we’ll probably score and he’ll forget to give it as he hasn’t got his fancy vibrating watch.

I don't think Mr Coote will have a difficult job on his hands TBH neither side are very dirty.

Late change - Rose out, Carroll in and Toums comes on to the bench.

Please fuck off out on the lash Flasheart, we always play better when you do.    Thank you.

Doughty Captain, that hopefully could give him some extra confidence after his stroppy few games a few weeks back.

Oh, disappointed for Rose he was classy Saturday.

I dunno we are 20th in the fair play table.

Town attacking the Town end first half.

One Danny Williams

Perfectly observed minutes silence for Danny Williams.

the Rolex is buggered.
it's 12 noon/ midnight

The pitch looks pretty patchy in front of the DRS today.

Mistake by Conroy gives the vegans a corner.

Williams poor shot with just Vigs to beat, well over the bar from 4 yards.

20 yard shot by Veggies well over the bar, Town have started very slowly.

fgr ere current taking the piss.

Koiki poor pass to Doughty puts us under pressure.

Swindon sloppy home passing. (c)

Nice touch but the spelling is dodgier than a vegan pie

https://twitter.com/FGRFC_Official/status/1095397838031388672

Woolery wins a free kick 30 yards out central.

Reece-Brown yellow.

Conroy nice direct free kick deflected wide for corner to Town.

Not a bad delivery but everybody misses it in the box.

got our foot on it a bit more now

Is four in the box enough for a corner?

Lovely move down the left between Koiki and Woolery, lovely cross from Koiki flicked out by the keeper.

Andersons first touch letting him down a lot tonight so far.

Very cagey game so far, proper midfield battle, Town coming back into it more after a poor start.

FGR have a lot of time and space in possession.

something Wellens are arm waving echos.

and saying that we've pressured them into a mistake  :)

We need to put this inexperienced keeper under pressure, he looks shakey when pressed.

Only his 2nd league game.

Timely interception inside our box by Doughty saved us then.

Nice move by Town Anderson then Doughty but can't find a man in the box.

Robinson won the chamce by chasing the ball down.

Gunning elbows Conroy, yellow.

Appears I'm blocked  ::)

Vegans shoot from 20 yards but shoots well over the bar.

Great tackle by Conroy inside the box, saves us.

Town can't quite get the ball up to Robinson yet.

Their keepers kicking is dodgy as fuck.

Doughty giving the ball away cheaply a lot so far.

Lovely move and cross from Koiki to the near post but Robinson has 2 stabs at it but its saved and cleared.

striiiiiike! 1-0 Woolery

Great goal Woolery!

Similar finish as Anderson on Saturday, 20 yards top corner in off the post, superb.

Get in there !

Woolery another shot but at the keeper that time.

Even a good keeper couldnt have stopped that ;)

The pass from Robinson to Woolery to set him up was excellent, a great move and stunning finish by Woolery.

Excellent chasing and commitment in the tackle from McCourt, Robbinson and Doughty then.

2-0. strikers finish. Robinson

Not McCourts best game so far today, hes chasing stuff but not creating much so far when he has it and has given it away a few times.

Robinson 2-0

Great poachers finish from Robinson 2-0.

2 excellent goals for town so far.

Beautifully worked goal that.

weird, I think we've been mediocre, yet 2 bits of quality and 2-0

Yes but you’re wrong.

HT 2-0, C'mon town, let's push on second half.

Two goals at home. I'm rubbing my eyes !

HT 2-0 good first half by Town, good passing game from both sides.

That's all it takes !!.

I think we have been better than average, we started poorly but came into it as the game moved on. We arent playing great but we don't look massively threatened by the vegans at the back.

Marvellous couple of goals. We’ve had to be patient.

Thought he did a lot of quiet stuff on Saturday, blocking passing lines etc. He makes up with effort what he lacks in silky skills - there a place for a player like that in the side

Was Robinson’s goal a poacher’s style goal?

Please be so

Traders are losing too.  A good evening so far.

Robinson up front makes a massive difference to the team, his energy and chasing is top notch, the way he took his goal was like an experienced striker...oh thats right he is experienced!

Not Anderson or McCourts best game, Carroll looking settled in front of the back 4 but I do think we miss Roses tackling and staring breaks.

We haven't looked under much trouble and FGR seem happy to let us play and sit back and invite us on to them, need to not let them hit us on the break.

Over all very happy with that, especially at home!

it's been a lot of discipline, slow build up and letting then have a lot of the ball.

it's been fairly dull to watch live in my opinion.

but you can't argue with either of the goals.

don't think fgr are dead and buried yet

His finish was so cool curling it round the (massive) keeper from 15 yards, a typical experienced strikers finish.

Crewe-Carlisle  1-1,       Newport - Donkeys 0-0,   Oldham 1 Yeovil 0, puts us in 10th spot, nose bleed time !

Decent first half that, we look good going forward and 2 brilliant goals.

the vegans are a strange team, they literally let us just walk with the ball up to the half way line. I'm sure Cooper would claim it's some masterful plan. Also they keep passing it back to their keeper who can't pass a ball.

I’ve enjoyed it. Bit pedestrian, but it’s not your typical L2 fare. Surely it’s about time we won a game, any game, by more than 1 goal

Weird how watching online gives you a very different view thanbeing there, are people around you moaning about how we are playing? just curious mate cos it looks a fairly decent passing game from here.

FGR are by no means dead and buried but another goal early will kill them off.

So, that's how it felt as an opposition fan to watch our Cooper team once people had worked us out!

Very odd game to watch, barley a ball played in the air, apart from their keeper who has his boots on the wrong feet I think.

You can get very frustrated watching us defend but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and it equally frustrates the FGR players when they have 20 passes and end up back at their keeper.  We look far more threatening - several nearly balls.  I'd be inclined to get someone in with more legs than McCourt has in the second half, maybe Dunne, as they will have a lot of the ball.  We could have had three or four, them two, both of which were our mistakes - bad defending in our own box meant they won a header 6 yards out and it drops at their player to dink it over, and then Anderson dallied (as he has done a bit today again), lost the ball and fouled our chasing player!

I can see us getting another two or three without exerting effort here, FGR look likely to make the same mistakes again and again.  We can afford to drop into shape this half and that could really frustrate them - got to remain focused though, Conroy once again switched off and headed straight behind for a corner from nothing.  Trying to be too casual.

I think you’re underestimating us. FGR are decent, and we’re respecting them which made for an intriguing half. This is actually better quality football than this division usually serves up, so to go in two up is credit to our managing their threat well and taking our chances, for once.

just to clarify, I'm enjoying winning :)

I'll reserve judgement in quality. the passing has been good, but 90% of it I'd call safe/possession football

I agree, its weird to watch, I don't feel threatened by them at all they seem happy to sit back and let us play.

The vegan fans are a bit fed up with Coopers lethargic football style on their forum.

Their keeper has some of the worst distribution I have ever seen in my 40 odd years of watching the Town, especially when pressured by Robinson.

I concur - I found myself getting annoyed with the time they had, but it's working.

Great chasing down by Woolery to win a throw in.

Must be around 1000 vegans there today.

FGR players look like their heads have dropped so far this half, get that pressure on them.

Carroll needs to settle down and not just hoof the ball forwards when under no pressure, showing his inexperience.

Vigs tips a shot wide from 20 yards. Corner to them.

Another yellow for the vegans.
6,261 crowd.

Robinson pressuring them into problems, wins a corner for Town.

6261. Proper feeble with a decent away attendance. I despair a bit.

Poor corner from McCourt.

Yeah its not great, probably 1000 vegans there.

town looking better this half. pressing better

Lovely interplay between Koiki and Doughty, Koiki cross misses everyone in the box.

That’s your Swindonian Mancs. Am I watching my kids’ team tonight?

I still think McCourt isn't having his best game for us and making a few mistakes under little pressure.

great defending by Koiki saves us.

FGR goal disallowed for offside.

Town struggling a bit the last 5 mins.

,fgr now looking dangerous

Poor finish by the vegans should have done better and hit the target. Town looking a bit loose at the back.

Woolery inches wide, great run by Koiki.

I would take Anderson off and give Bennett his debut, Anderson is not having a great game.

Solid save by Vigs from a far post header.

Agree

Dave stripped

Lovely shoulder challenge by Woolery the ref gives them a free kick!

69th minute applause for Danny Williams, nice touch.

69th minute applause

Vegans long shot well wide.

Dunne coming on for McCourt.

Lovely covering by Conroy.

that was close. cross in, just wide.

Vigs looks troubled injury wise... he's up

Vegans inches wide, Vigs down injured.

Vigs up again.

Bennett coming on for Anderson...called it ;)

Booking for Carroll.

There aint much of Bennett to go round :D

bennett gives the ball away with his first touch in a  Town shirt in a dangerous position.

Richards on for Robinson

Bad mistake by Broadbent gives the ball away but helps win it back in the box.

Good game by Theo.

Wonder who Cooper's gonna blame if they lose?

Clever defending by Knoyle there.

Anyone but himself!

5 added minutes

Woolery gets MoM, I would have given it to Theo Robinson.

5 mins seems a bit generous by the ref.

I bet House is wondering what the fuck he has to do to get on the pitch.

Well done Town,  2-0 , that'll do me.

Richards runs like hes treading water, then he misses the cross from Woolery. Poor.

We did a win again!

a win by more than 1 goal and with a clean sheet! first time this season!

Great result.

Get in. Well done town.  :pint:

The second half was reassuringly dull. I’m beginning to like this Wellens team.

Spot on mate.

Good result.

Not sure what to make of the performance overall. We looked sloppy at times, but that may be to FGR's credit more than anything. Robinson looked good.

5 points adrift.

5 points off the play offs with 14 games to go.

same! Very impressed with Theo, worked bloody hard.

2 good performances from him in 2 games, he seems to be what we have been missing all season.

That was comfortable if not fun watching.  You felt we played well within ourselves on purpose after getting the goals.  A couple of half chances conceded but we could have had four or five today with having much of the ball.  Just like laying us three seasons or so ago I guess.

Robinson showed what we have been missing.  Richards in only five minutes or so made him look even better.  I think he is at the end of his career now - the brain knew what to do, the legs less so.

Hard working and patient defensive display.  FGR look easy enough to suss out if they do that every week.  You'd think a few teams who are more direct would cause them problems as well.

I can well imagine home fans going home with heads well and truly scratched - was it a good performance or not :-)  Those ones are easier to watch if we win more home games I guess.

I think FGR are a good side and we had to play well to keep them out. They do look like we did under Cooper/Williams and have some talented players in Brown, Williams and Doidge.

I felt in midfield we were a touch weak (McCourt especially) but for a work in progress, the side is coming along nicely.

10 points in 5 games, get's you to 74 if we kept that up.  Bloody hope.

Colchester, Carlisle & Stevenage after Grimsby.  Could be a very different looking table after that run - either well in with a shout or cut adrift!

Bennett looked like he had never played football before in his ‘cameo’

Twat.

Sorry. Fully deserved.

Expertly managed game. Pressed when opportunities arose, tidied up at the back when necessary. A couple of cracking goals to boot too.

Happy with that.

Was interesting hearing Wellens' thoughts on the game.  The entire approach was on purpose tonight - good to see some thought about how to get the points and the way we played tonight vs. Franchise.  Even better is the fact the players were willing to do that tonight - it must be against a lot of instincts not to go chasing players all the time ot try and impose yourself on the game.  For them to accept they would press for four or five passes and then run back into position is testament to bunch that seem to be listening and see a method from the Manager.  It may not work out, but under Brown is looked much more like a bunch trying to remember what to do at times.

I’m sure he’ll have a part to play over 15, and hopefully 18 more games this season. If anything, his arrival may have given Anderson and Woolery a bit of pressure, which seems to have paid off.

Twine to waterford

As games go, one for the purists. A disciplined game of chess. We defended well when we needed to and scored two great goals of differing types.

In terms of result, get the fuck in.

that is all

More like a League 1 game. Both teams tried to play the 'right' way. FGR a decent side but they won't go up. Would have their number 10 in a heartbeat. Clever player.

Can't express enough what a difference Theo made. Very intelligent performance and worked as Richards would in 5 games. Suddenly we have focal point and someone to unsettle defences. The type of effort to draw supporters into the game and the rest of the team followed with a very committed display.

Few silly decisions but overall encouraged. Thought both full backs had tremendous games. Conroy and Broadbent did well to shackle Doidge. Didn't get a kick.

Carroll was poor first half but stepped it up second and made some good challenges. McCourt and Doughty had decent games.

Woolery always a threat, Keshi worked had but very frustrating. One one occasion the ball dropped perfectly for the volley and he tried to bring it down, lost the ball and they nearly scored. Needs more confidence to shoot in that sort of area.

Overall, we're going to fucking Wembley  :pint:

lovely job! cracking result. Dab radio has notched again 4/4.

massive win and we just have to keep going now. of all the comments on fgr forum this is the one I loved the most and one that I haven't seen from any home games this season.


Town at home knowing how to finish. get it boys  :beers:

That Theo Robinson is a bit shit for L2  :pint:

Two easy wins on the trot. 5/5 great goals scored. A win AT HOME with a clean sheet to boot. Can't ask for much more than that, at this level. Seems the players that have come in have blended well with our better players here and quite rapidly.

Lovely tribute to managerial legend at Town; Danny Williams. Especially the 69th minute applause "There's only one Dany Williams, one Danny Williams..."


Bring on those play-offs, ya fuckers. Oldham hitting form too!

"... didn't need much persuading, but his dad's a nightmare" -Wellens.

Think this is a good move to be honest. Not quite ready for the first team imo. Wellens said as much about his physicality, hence not going to a conference type team

Really enjoyed that. The big difference that Wellens has brought with him can be summed up in one word: organisation.

Nice to see us playing as a team, it's been a while at home..

cooper not really saying much

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p070pnsk

That was the most assumed and professional performance I have seen from a Swindon side for a long time. I like Wellens more and more each week. Listening to him is superb too, he explains everything and the reasons behind it.

Theo looks a cut above, as everyone has said, he’s exactly what we have missed this season. Carroll good in the middle, Koiki defensively comfortable at left back again.
Wellens could just have saved our season with his signings in January.

It’s a shame we don’t have a game Saturday but they put some work in tonight so could probably do with the rest. A nice 10 day break now, hopefully Wolfenden, Rose and Taylor will get back fit, and great to see Diagouraga in the squad again who spent the whole second half warming up!!

Was it Anderson that just stood there in shock with his hands on his head when Woolery scored?

Right result I missed as away with work.

Get in...

Was it Cooper's fault!?

Not really. Had them playing well like with us, but they invite pressure and cause themselves problems, like with us.

I liked Cooper though. Apparently signed Danny Williams condolence book in the club shop before the game as well which is a nice touch.

The kind of performance you'd expect of a side top of the league, just let them devise their own demise and pick them off. Hopefully more of the same, bar the wastefulness of possession so quickly.

Definitely got a chance with the run-in and there's really not that much pressure on the side to pull it off. Bring on the surge.

Last away game of the season at Numb could be interesting if we’re in the mix.

Probably a more impressive result than on Saturday, in that we dealt with a team with an excellent away record who pass the ball very well, restricting them to very few chances. I thought our tactics were spot on, in denying them space from playing through us. Ok they got a couple of dangerous crosses in late on, but defensively from 1 to 11 we were excellent last night.

The whole team looks completely revitalised from the Brown era, with significant improvement in a number of areas, the most eye-catching being increased workrate, clearly driven by a higher level of fitness. In this respect the front 3 yesterday were absolutely outstanding,  particularly Woolery, with his lung busting runs and Robinson with his closing down. Credit also to Carroll, a last minute replacement for Rose, whose enthusiasm and coverage of the pitch, particularly in the 2nd half, was immense - a right back he isn't, a very capable holding midfielder he most certainly is.

Conroy looks transformed with Broadbent alongside him. The most dominant defender we have had since Aden Flint and much better distribution, at this stage of his career.

We appear to have the basis of a very good side, with a quality keeper,  improving back 4 with pace in both full back positions, good holding midfield options, Doughty back to his best and a very quick and dangerous front 3 - all riches indeed. Early days but the manager deserves praise for his coaching, recruitment in January and motivation of the players in getting the best from the team. Dare I say it,  credit also to Power for backing him in January.

What to expect for the remainder of the season? Well the play offs are still an outside bet, although despite Wellens public comments, I get the feeling that the players genuinely feel they have a reasonable chance and if - and I know it's a big if - we can get 2 wins from our best 2 home games against Grimsby and Colchester, then momentum will be with us and maybe just maybe we can dare to dream.

At the very least we should have a much higher level of optimism going in to next season. I just hope that Wellens stock doesn't rise to an extent where clubs with better budgets come calling in the meantime. I would hope that Power recognises that he has a decent young manager at his disposal who with backing can take the club on an upward trajectory. Reminds me of a certain Lou Macari in his honesty in interviews when talking about players.

Lastly I realise it's the hope that kills - but surely that has to be better than the general apathy that has engulfed the County Ground for a number of seasons!

Coyr.

Reading my post back I was referring to Broadbent and not Conroy as the most dominant defender.

More just nervousness, particularly early on, but it still has a draining effect.  e.g., Koiki's very first pass was awful, the crowd groaned (rather than moaned) but he played very cautiously for the next 15 minutes always looking for the safe  pass until he got his confidence back.

Strange game in a lot of ways.  FGR looked very good early on, really crisp passing, one very good chance and several incisive passes through the middle that nearly came off.  We weren't playing badly, just looked a bit outclassed.  The goal changed everything. Suddenly the FGR passing game started looking like it was pretty but with no end product, a carbon copy of what we experienced under Cooper, brilliant if you score first but....

The second goal was even better, good finish but it was the pass in and Robinson's turn that made it.  And then the flaws in the Cooper model really took over.  Two goals down, but rather than upping the tempo they became even more obsessed with retaining possession, 20 pass moves ending up back at their own keeper who looked very nervous.  And no pressure applied on us whilst we kept the ball in our own half.  Effectively they ran down the clock to half time for us.

As for us, Doughty is such a classy player but his attitude stinks.  The rest of the team seemed to be really playing for each other and the manager.  Robinson looked great even with limited service. 

Disappointing crowd.  As usual we were late leaving pub so game already started and I didn't notice for some time just what an impressive turnout it was from FGR who were genuinely making some noise rather than just banging that stupid drum.  Suddenly you noticed how quiet the Swindon crowd was and how sparse. 

Hopefully those two results and the performances behind them will encourage a few back.  I know it's just two games but there is definitely something there.  We can kick on from here.  Could Wellens be the manager we've been needing for so long?

 
 

How many did FGR bring?

500 odd.

 That was more like it.  Win the next 4 in a row and we'll be back in the hunt.  Shame about Saturday as when you get a bit of form you really want to be playing. 

The table will have a different look Sat evening.... several key fixtures, Exeter v Bury, effectively a game in hand for them, not easy, we could do with a Bury win. FGR at home to Yeovil, Glovers currently sinking like a stone, could they be catching FGR on a bit of a slump? Hope so.

 Had we lost last night we'd have dropped to 14th, as there are Oldham and Crewe just below us who've been doing well of late.... Oldham like Tranny have Sat as a game in hand on us....Oldham are home to Crewe, a scoring draw would see both go above us.  Tranny are at Cambridge who've picked up a bit under Colin, can te Fridge do us a favour?  Of the 2 on 52, ColU are at Macc, so would fancy getting something, and Carlisle entertain Franchise.

It's tight.... Franchise went from out of te PO's to 4th last night, had Newport won they'd have joined us on 46 but with a game in hand.

Looked pretty packed, I would say around 1000.

After the game I was thinking, watching FGR play was so much like watching us under Williams, some nice passing but never really looking threatening, and TBH they never really looked like they would score.

Yet again I see nothing in Doidge at all, he offered nothing all game and was easily kept quiet by Broadbent all game who only handed him back from his pocket as the team coach left the CG.

We managed the game really well, we scored 2 fine goals, Theo is the difference and time for Richards to retire, he came on, he missed one chance and ran like he was running in knee high water.

If we play like that at home we will beat anyone, workmanlike if not thrilling to watch, long may it continue.

Oh and a special mention to Koiki, who I think looks a real raw talent, his attacking play is wonderful and his defending is improving with every game.

As always post game comments from FGR forum.

The goals here.

https://www.skysports.com/football/swindon-vs-forest-grn/report/394018

"Swindon on the other had celebrated like they won the league embarrassing coming from an ex premier league club."

Pretty funny the way tinpot football clubs try and make themselves seem more important.

Celebrating because we've kept our season and the chance to get out of this fucking division alive. Not because we've beaten football juggernauts Forest Green Rovers.

Yeah that was the only comment that I thought...you jumped up twats.

It did as you say basically keep our season alive.

Also our first complete home performance in forever..felt a bit more like the good old days. A long time coming.

I was pretty impressed with FGR last night. I thought that they passed the ball and kept possession well. It didn't help them that their keeper wasn't the best with the ball at his feet, you would think if you want to adopt a 'total football' attitude it is imperative that you have a keeper who is good with his feet (Wes for example was excellent for us, as is Vigs). I thought Brown and Williams were their brightest players and I was relieved when Williams was subbed. However for all their possession they didn't actually create a chance of note in the first half and our patience was rewarded with a great finish from Woollery from a Robinson assist and then good work by Anderson and a lovely finish by Robinson.

Second half we soaked up pressure quite easily. FGR had a goal disallowed for offside and created a couple of chances that we defended brilliantly. Couldn't fault any of the defence, Koiki, Knoyle, Broadbent and Conroy as a unit played well. Broadbent has the ability to play out from the back which is a bonus. The front 3 of Robinson, Woolery and Anderson all worked hard - Robinson more noticeably from watching on Ifollow and was shattered when taken off.

I felt that the midfield was the weakest link. McCourt continually gave the ball away which never helps! Doughty was ok and Carroll seemed to be way more comfortable in central midfield that right back (he does point a lot!!)

As others have said, its a shame we have a break now before 3 tough games against Colchester, Grimsby and Carlisle that will go a long way to telling us if we are going to feature in the play-off lottery come the end of the season.

Forest Green were exactly the same as us under Cooper, particularly during his latter stages. Great on the ball, little substance up front and shakey at the back. Wellens got his tactics spot on. Did help that everyone put a shift in, though.

Pretty much agree with all of that Bob.

Theo looks a very good signing at this level despite many Town fans having big reservations about him.

From that team if we replace McCourt with either Toums or Rose then midfield will be much stronger, too foten McCourt has not played that well, much as Dunne, sometimes they both look ok other times they look awful.

Rose on Saturday looked exactly what we have missed and such a shame he couldn't play last night.

Koiki was a big bonus, he started awfully with the first pass going well astray but then settled in and his defending was way better and his attacking is as good as any winger I have seen in years, his close control and speed and crossing ability is probably the best at the club, Knoyle too looks solid as always.

Broadbent and Conroy seem to have a bit of an understanding already, Conroy will always make 1 fuck up...as Woolf does...but hes getting better at blocking and tackling its just his heading needs work now.

Doughty when his head hasnt dropped is always running round and chasing the ball and is a good outlet and I think will get better, he is still very classy.

Carroll is always niggly in his challenge, he runs and distibutes well and can tackle but he needs to stop leaving the foot in and pushing players, then he will be a good player at this level, I think Toums is better in the DMC position but Carroll is a very good replacement.

Oh and what the hell does House have to do in order to get game time, Richards is past it and I thought House would have offered us more physically than Richards ever could for the last 10 mins.

Its begginning to look a lot brighter at Town and it is a shame we don't have a game this weekend, thanks Newport! or that run could have continued....although Robinson is probably glad of the rest!

I’m beginning to think I’ve got a squeak of my pre season bet coming off.

£20 on Middlesbrough, Luton and Swindon to finish top 4.

You'll be in Greece, do you want me to look after it?  :)

Just about tied up our house sale yesterday - thought it may fall through,so been panicking for a week.

Sent the deposit on our new place today. All seems to be falling into place.

Just need that flag from St Lucia!

you mean a bubble?

As a man who loves a stat or two, I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned that FGR have the leagues best away record and last night was the first time this season they’ve lost by more than a single goal...

Oh well, at least that FL status looks likely to be retained for another year  :D

I did mention about FGR having the best away record, but wasn't aware last night was the first time they'd lost by more than a goal. Interesting.  Perhaps we'll be to FGR what Cheltnumb are to us.

The mystery of the Cotswold Triangle.

"We're forever bursting bubbles".

:D Like that!