Swindon Town Vs Franchise Matchday Thread

[Red Frog]

There is no such thing as resurrection.  

An appropriately Roman message to the TEF for Easter.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

An appropriately Roman message to the TEF for Easter.

[Red and Proud]

As many have said, even if we did go up, next season would involve a massive amount of rebuild. When Wes, Willo, Stephens, Turnbull, Swift have gone and Luongo has gone to QPR then it is always going to be a tough job rebuilding. But if anyone has proved they can do it, it is Power.

Wild assumptions?

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Cooper has done brilliantly this season and I rate him highly. HOWEVER, where he has gone fundamentally wrong (in my humble opinion) is in making too many unforced changes to the starting XI.

The team below played week in, week out over and over again for Ardiles, so much so that it is still etched on my memory now. OK, we got a little bit lucky in terms of injuries and suspensions and I suspect Foley was getting pumped full of Cortisone before every game just to get him through. Even so...

1990 Play Off winning Team
Digby, Kerslake, Bodin, McLouglin, Calderwood, Gittens, Jones, Shearer, White, McLaren, Foley

And look at the '93 play off winning team...
Digby, Kerslake/Summerbee, Bodin, Hoddle, Calderwood, Taylor, Moncur, McLaren, Mitchell, Ling, Maskell

Not quite as settled as the '90 team but not far off. The main change would have been Kerslake going on deadline day and being replaced by Summerbee. Hazard and White played a fair few games as well and McLaren missed a fair bit of the season but once he was fit, he was a fixture in the side. Overall though, it was a pretty settled side.

And the the '10 team (yes we lost in the Final but were easily good enough to have won the play offs. God knows what went wrong)...

Lucas, Amankwah, Sheehan, Greer, Jean-Francois, McGovern, Ferry, Douglas, Ward, Austin, Paynter.

The point is, those teams largely picked themselves and that's what you need for a successful tilt at promotion. We've not been close to that this season.

I agree with all of this. When we were firing back in November/December we had the settled midfield 3 of Louis, Mass and Yasser. When the latter 2 went of the Asian Cup it screwed us over because the lads who stepped in did a good job in covering. This is where Copper then began to get confused by what his best side actually was and chopped and changed too much.

As a result it had an impact on our ability to create chances and dominate from the middle of the park, something we had done well up until that point. These long breaks haven't helped us either.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Wild assumptions?

To be fair, I would say the wildest assumption is Luongo going to QPR and that's not particularly wild. I would be extremely surprised if any of those players are at the Club next season.

Edit: I'm saying that, assuming we don't go up. I'm on a bit of a Debbie Downer at the moment.

[Arriba]

Cooper has done brilliantly this season and I rate him highly. HOWEVER, where he has gone fundamentally wrong (in my humble opinion) is in making too many unforced changes to the starting XI.

The team below played week in, week out over and over again for Ardiles, so much so that it is still etched on my memory now. OK, we got a little bit lucky in terms of injuries and suspensions and I suspect Foley was getting pumped full of Cortisone before every game just to get him through. Even so...

1990 Play Off winning Team
Digby, Kerslake, Bodin, McLouglin, Calderwood, Gittens, Jones, Shearer, White, McLaren, Foley

And look at the '93 play off winning team...
Digby, Kerslake/Summerbee, Bodin, Hoddle, Calderwood, Taylor, Moncur, McLaren, Mitchell, Ling, Maskell

Not quite as settled as the '90 team but not far off. The main change would have been Kerslake going on deadline day and being replaced by Summerbee. Hazard and White played a fair few games as well and McLaren missed a fair bit of the season but once he was fit, he was a fixture in the side. Overall though, it was a pretty settled side.

And the the '10 team (yes we lost in the Final but were easily good enough to have won the play offs. God knows what went wrong)...

Lucas, Amankwah, Sheehan, Greer, Jean-Francois, McGovern, Ferry, Douglas, Ward, Austin, Paynter.

The point is, those teams largely picked themselves and that's what you need for a successful tilt at promotion. We've not been close to that this season.

The days of settled teams seems behind many sides nowadays. It's generally a squad game in the modern day.

[Red and Proud]

To be fair, I would say the wildest assumption is Luongo going to QPR and that's not particularly wild. I would be extremely surprised if any of those players are at the Club next season.

Edit: I'm saying that, assuming we don't go up. I'm on a bit of a Debbie Downer at the moment.

listen, I don't necessarily disagree that players could go. I'm on the side that if we don't go up then some will go. You also have consider whilst we think certain players are the dogs it won't always translate the cheque writers of other clubs think it also.

Hopefully we go up and keep who coops wants and get what he needs as after yesterday's display we'll have a premier league season in the championship.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

The days of settled teams seems behind many sides nowadays. It's generally a squad game in the modern day.

Why should that be though?

listen, I don't necessarily disagree that players could go. I'm on the side that if we don't go up then some will go. You also have consider whilst we think certain players are the dogs it won't always translate the cheque writers of other clubs think it also.

Hopefully we go up and keep who coops wants and get what he needs as after yesterday's display we'll have a premier league season in the championship.

Of the players mentioned, Southampton will want Stephens and Turnbull playing in the Championship next season and Chelsea will want Swift doing the same. I can't imagine an other scenario with those players.

I'm pretty sure we would all agree to a man that there is not a snowball's chance in hell that Luongo will be playing L1 football for us next season.

Of the two left, we're not going to be able to afford Williams' wages as he was a Di Canio signing. You could say the same of Wes and I'm pretty sure there would be a fair bit of interest in both of those players.
 
So I am essentially in agreement in so much as certain players will stay. The ones mentioned though are dead certs to not be here next season IMO.

[herthab]

The only player who will definitely be gone, whether we go up or not, is Luongo. If we fail to gain promotion, Williams, Fods and the loaners (with the possible exception of Toffolo) will also be gone. That's not speculation, that's straight from Cooper's mouth. Of those remaining it's not beyond reality to think that Kasim, N Thompson and Byrne may be targets for other clubs and, if Power feels the price is right, be also on there way. The only way to have a good chance of retaining the nucleus of the team is to go up.

[corner]

With regards to formation and tactics I'm quite sure we will see our best team Tuesday back to who we were playing before Christmas, bar the thompsons.

[Honkytonk]

Actually if we're talking about facts here, the only player who will DEFINITELY be gone is Louis Thompson. I agree Luongo will most likely be gone too as well, especially as we've already been fending off bids for him. Wes doesn't deserve to play League One football for another season.

[kerry red]

With regards to formation and tactics I'm quite sure we will see our best team Tuesday back to who we were playing before Christmas, bar the thompsons.

Apart from both the Thompsons

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

Cooper has done brilliantly this season and I rate him highly. HOWEVER, where he has gone fundamentally wrong (in my humble opinion) is in making too many unforced changes to the starting XI.

The team below played week in, week out over and over again for Ardiles, so much so that it is still etched on my memory now. OK, we got a little bit lucky in terms of injuries and suspensions and I suspect Foley was getting pumped full of Cortisone before every game just to get him through. Even so...

1990 Play Off winning Team
Digby, Kerslake, Bodin, McLouglin, Calderwood, Gittens, Jones, Shearer, White, McLaren, Foley

And look at the '93 play off winning team...
Digby, Kerslake/Summerbee, Bodin, Hoddle, Calderwood, Taylor, Moncur, McLaren, Mitchell, Ling, Maskell

Not quite as settled as the '90 team but not far off. The main change would have been Kerslake going on deadline day and being replaced by Summerbee. Hazard and White played a fair few games as well and McLaren missed a fair bit of the season but once he was fit, he was a fixture in the side. Overall though, it was a pretty settled side.

And the the '10 team (yes we lost in the Final but were easily good enough to have won the play offs. God knows what went wrong)...

Lucas, Amankwah, Sheehan, Greer, Jean-Francois, McGovern, Ferry, Douglas, Ward, Austin, Paynter.

The point is, those teams largely picked themselves and that's what you need for a successful tilt at promotion. We've not been close to that this season.

Top post and agree far too many changes.
As already stated we had the best midfield trio in Kasim, Luongo and Thompson.
O.K. With Tommo out injured Swift would be a good back up albeit slightly different players.
Thompson has that grit and driving nature to his game that we have missed a little.

[Reg Smeeton]

Top post and agree far too many changes.

In the modern game, making changes is bound to happen....we've had to do it through injury, suspension, international call ups and to a lesser extent loss of form.  To have maintained a sniff of auto up to this late in the season, with a tiny squad has been a major achievement.

In fact I'd say our side has been reasonably settled....at season's end, assuming safe passage with injury, I'll wager you'll find that Foderingham, the Thompson twins, Byrne, Mass, Stephens, Turnbull, Yas, Smith, Williams, will all have at least played 30+ games

[herthab]

Actually if we're talking about facts here, the only player who will DEFINITELY be gone is Louis Thompson. I agree Luongo will most likely be gone too as well, especially as we've already been fending off bids for him. Wes doesn't deserve to play League One football for another season.

Nope. Luongo will definitely be going at the end of the season. That is a fact. Nailed on.