Swindon v Crewe - matchday thread traditionally created on the match day

[Sir red ken]

Yes it was terrible, but was it any worse than most home games earlier in the season such as Cambridge, Crawley, Exeter, Bury and Carlisle? did the fans of MKD and Mansfield have the same reaction when beaten by Crewe at home?

I think the answer is no to all of that.

Yes you are right it was fucking terrible but its not the first time this season or last season for that matter that we have been terrible at home.

MKD and Mansfield are still up for promotion so their fans aren't that bothered in the great scheme of things. Defeats happen but for stfc there's only a slow continued slide, where its OK to be beaten at home far too often against teams we should beat. This seasons been poor with only a slight chance of joining the party. Taxi for Wellens,Taxi for Jewell and a super fast bike to take LP to Ireland,Switzerland or anywhere else he'd like to be.

[Bob's Orange]

God this feels like Deja Vu. Last season we ended the season so feebly when in with a shot of the play offs. But it was ok as Phil Brown was going to cull the deadwood, bring in his own trusty steeds and we would be pushing towards automatic promotion. Alas, that went south with some truly awful home performances and just general malaise. So he was given his marching orders and in comes Mr Wellens.......

Things begin well, but home form is generally as bad as it has been and with the play offs in sight the team shows they have zero bottle but it’s ok, Wellens is going to cull the deadwood and bring in his own trusty..... can’t be bothered going on, we all know how it ends.

[THE FLASH]

Haven't read back.

Disgraceful performance...the first under Wellons for me.

Time to drop some players and throw in the kids now...

[Bob's Orange]

I do like what Wellens has said about not taking any shit from players dithering about contract extensions though. If players don’t want to be here then ship them out.

[Peter Venkman]

You're right.

Cumulative frustrations of another year in division 4 and a few years now of generally being crap at home

I know its a Town fan (and football fans in general) right for a knee jerk reaction but we are 14th, yes we have made big strides forward under Wellens, despite what some fans will have you think, but is it really a massive shock to be beaten at home by a comparitively struggling side?

It doesn't shock me, it doesnt mean the players that were heroes a few weeks back have suddenly become shite. It shows me that we are where we deserve to be with the players we have, some good some bad some middling. We will get better, we will also get worse, thats football, thats what being a fan is all about.

But in your mind you think and hope and pray that it will get better and when it gets a bit better we hope for it to continue improving which it does and then you get one poor performance and we are back to square one.

The players we have are playing in Div 4 for a reason...because they aren't good enough regularly to play at a higher level. We as fans have to see that. Wellens made a mistake in his team selection but the players are Div 4 average in the main, which is why we are currently say half way up/down the table.

We can only hope that the right signings are made next season so we can get some better quaility players on a more consitant basis.

Almost every player at the club is a decent Div 4 player who at times show glimpses of being better than Div 4 but all too often every layer on show has also shown us they have the capability of being worse than Div 4. Pretty much as every oither team in the division, and I include Lincoln in that, all they have is a team spirit, they have a style of play that works for them where every player knows his role and can play it at a solid level.

When we won the league in 85/86 we had quite frankly an average team but they all played for each other and knew their roles on the pitch and the fitness level was amazing, we had no stars, no great players, we just had a side that performed to a decent level week in week out as Lincoln did this year.

[pauld]

Yes it was terrible, but was it any worse than most home games earlier in the season such as Cambridge, Crawley, Exeter, Bury and Carlisle? did the fans of MKD and Mansfield have the same reaction when beaten by Crewe at home?

I think the answer is no to all of that.

Yes you are right it was fucking terrible but its not the first time this season or last season for that matter that we have been terrible at home.

The fact that it wasn't anomalous makes it worse not better

[DiV]

Burn it down & start from scratch.

[Peter Venkman]

The fact that it wasn't anomalous makes it worse not better

Its not about being better or not, I am shocked that fans are still shocked by it.

[Flashheart]

Burn it down & start from scratch.

You might get your wish going by Wellens' comments today.

[RobertT]

I get the being frustrated bit - this season, in it's entirety is an utter failure.  Brown was given the keys to a car with a pretty full tank in comparison to many Managers in this division but we seemed to burn all that fuel standing still confused by a crossroads.  Wellens has, by and large, managed to get us performing (over his stretch) about where I think we should be (you can live with a game like today if you win more than you get these).  He looked like he might be able to eek a little more than that out of the squad but he and they have let it slip a little in recent weeks.  It's shown up some of the weaknesses we still have, that's for sure.

I don;t understand the point in going on about Power - we know what we have, he's not going to vanish because we want a better owner though.  The questions are:

a) is Wellens a Manager that could get a team promoted from this division with a suitable if not extravagant budget?

b) is our budget sufficient to be challenging?

I'm more in than out on the first.

I certainly think the budget afforded a Manager for this division is enough to be challenging for play offs and the right person should squeeze a little more.  We have limited info to go on, but we are certainly not spending less than 2 million based on the limited accounts we can see.  It may not be the biggest budget, but it shouldn't be a budget that hampers being in the mix.

Power does have a decision to make this summer though - can he find a way to get, through him or otherwise, extra investment into the club?  It feels a bit like his lance chance saloon now.  Another poor season will see him reaching a point where the ongoing commitment is being increased to the point where any resale is eroded.

[Peter Venkman]

Power does have a decision to make this summer though - can he find a way to get, through him or otherwise, extra investment into the club?  It feels a bit like his lance chance saloon now.  Another poor season will see him reaching a point where the ongoing commitment is being increased to the point where any resale is eroded.

Sounds an awful lot like the situation with Vigs, hold on and hold on until the value rises then when it doesn't he walks.

Would anyone be interested in buying the club if it came up for offer? I personally doubt there would be much if any interest.

[Reg Smeeton]

When we won the league in 85/86 we had quite frankly an average team but they all played for each other and knew their roles on the pitch and the fitness level was amazing, we had no stars, no great players, we just had a side that performed to a decent level week in week out as Lincoln did this year.

Colin Calderwood was a great player.... went through divs with us played in the Prem and did OK v Brazil in the WC.

Chris Kamara, was another who was much better than journeyman and eventually played in the top flight

Dave Bamber was above normal Div 4 standard, playing much of his career in Div 2

That was the sort of spine you need to do something in Div 4

Similarly when Div 4 was won under PdC the spine of Fods, Flint and Ritchie was way better than Div 4 average.

Get a strong spine, then have some hard workers around and you're onto something.

Atm we've nothing approaching the quality required and difficult to make much of a case for any making the necessary step up for next season.

[RedRag]

Probably wiser not to comment given we have finally today thrown away a play off opportunity that the shite standard of this league persisted in keeping open for us.  A tenacity of sorts.

We are lucky to have Reg's historical perspectives.  We cannot finish lower than the historic 17th spot. Let's see how we feel about that after the next two games.

[Flashheart]

For the last 10 games or so we've been good but not quite good enough. I know plenty will decide that all is bad based on today's single poor performance rather than the previous run, but I'm not one of them.

Add the 'enough' to the 'good' and we could be in for a good season next.

[Batch]

Who would you retain for next season then to give us a platform?

Me:

Done: McCormick,  Broadbent
Keep: Knoyle, Conroy, Bennett, Rose, Woolery or Anderson, Doughty
Undecided: Dunne

I'm assuming Wolfenden will be playing for Ipswich.

I think that's about it for me. An on form and fit TD should be useful if such a thing is possible.