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Now have a combined 41 goals for the season in all competitions and 38 for the league.

Parkin & Mooney got 43 in all competitions, with 39 in the league.

The thing is, Austin's only been here half a season!

Before that, you have to go back to 89/90 when Shearer & White got 54 in all competitions with 41 in the league.

Thank fuck we didn't sign Lee Trundle in August....

Think Austin and Paynter are a genuine partnership. Sat close to the pitch yesterday than usual, I noticed how much physical stick that Billy takes and the workrate him and Charlie get through. Nice cameo from Nouble as well when the game was opening up at the end for us and really put the wind up Leeds.

 Chalky and Deadly Dunc worked independently of each other in a side that created so many chances they scored goals for fun. Parkin and Mooney were big, robust strikers and I felt that Mooney played a great role at the start of 2003/4 in creating a promotion mentality but he faded badly after Christmas. Parkin's record has to be respected as he had 4 consectutive 20 goal seasons.

if we dont go up i think we'll lose them both

Although I agree, your cup is never half full is it mate?

I have never seen them play of course but see them as the ideal partnership:

A physically strong, intelligent player who is a fantastic team player along side a another hard worker who is a predator with a natural instinct.

Either way.

I fucking love them both.

eh? i just think they will get snapped up if we fail to go up.fuck all to do with glass half full or empty.
just how football is.
they are both ace, so like it or not will be sought after

if we dont go up i think paynter may leave but i cant see them letting austin go for any less than 3m and whos says they want to leave anyway there having a great season and enjoying there time here surely they dont want to break up the partnership.

paynter knows what its like to go to another club and do fuck all, i think hes going to be thinking long and hard about what he wants to do.

If we dont go up, I can see the club cashing in on Austin tbh. Why shouldn't they.
We received a great price for Coxy, certainly wouldn't be worth the same money at the end of this season, he has not moved on as a player unfortunately
I've said before and shot down in flames, but I honestly think Paynter is a good Division One striker, not sure he would benefit any club in a higher division.

We need to keep hold of Austin. He is key to getting us into the Championship be it this season or next.

We need to keep both if at all possible. As I keep saying, you break that partnership up at your peril

Because when we sold Cox we struggled for goals...until Austin, of course. Sell him and we are back to square 1, surely?

If we dont go up, we need to balance our books, what is the most saleable item at the club? Austin, what was the most saleable item last season? Cox.

 If a Championship club offer say 2 mill for Austin, he'll be sold.

We could make a tidy profit on Austin, i agree! But he would need replacing and i cant see us finding another one like him. Would we really need the cash that badly if we were to stay in League 1?

Not if we're a Championship club. That's our best hope of ensuring the partnership stays together, so another reason to hope for a top two finish, a play-off hangover next season could be painful

and square 1 before led to Austin, so it's not impossible that we could do the same again. If the club are given an offer they can't refuse, they will sell him. It's the inevitable truth of a club in our position

I think the contingency plans for not going up will be coming together already.  Even after our recent run, our chances of promotion are still probably no more than 1 in 3 (whether via automatic promotion or the play offs).  As we learned when Parkin moved on, and Cox...the club moved on.  I'm not concerned.  I'm not even convinced either player would move on anyway.

Surely it will come down to whether someone offers what Fitton thinks is a fair price for Austin, I'm not convinced that £2m will be enough this summer. Austin isn't near his best yet and we've got him under contract for at least two more seasons so we can wait for the right money.

Hopefully it won't matter though, if we're in the Championship then Austin will be going nowhere. If he has a decent 20 goal plus season in the Championship he'll be worth a shit load more than £2m.

Exactly right jonny, which is why I'd be disappointed to see him let go even if we don't go up, at least until we'd had another decent tilt at promotion next season

We shouldn't be getting rid of any of our first team sqaud.

They are doing fantastic right now.

We won't cash in on Austin. Part of the reason we cashed in on Cox was the fact he only had a year left on his contract so his value was always likely to decrease.

Austins value hasn't peaked yet.

I think that Austin will stay and Paynter would be the one to go. Paynter may be thinking that he is better than he is where as Austin might still be quite level headed and understand that he could do with another season at this level to improve.

But what do i know

If Paynter goes, i wonder whether we could get Cox on loan for the season if we made the Championship? Imagine a cox and Austin Partnership... Dreamy. :)

I don't think either will leave.

I doubt Paynter really wants to leave, he just wants a pay day. With the season he's having and being out of contract in the summer there will be other League One clubs lining up to give him what he wants and make him their highest paid player. So it's just a question of whether Fitton can come up with a number big enough to keep him here.

Wouldn't suprise me at all

Fuck off

austin aint worth 2 mill.infact not even half that(yet)
paynter i think is worth around £750,000.remember clubs aint paying top dollar at the moment.

that said,we all know strikers are the most sought after players, and those 2 score goals.
if someone dangles a big enough carrot they'll both fuck off.
getting promoted would mean neither would need to move, as both are championship players at best.

Singing don't worry, about a Ting..............

Austin has more potential than Cox in my opinion and i don't think Fitton would sell for less than £2.5m at the very least, Still don't think we will sell him for at least another year anyway.

As for Paynter i'm not sure, Hopefully he will sign, If we go up he will definitely stay and hopefully we might get Ferry, Ward and Sheehan too.

It would make total sense for Austin to stay with Swindon for at least one more season, he is learning his trade with an excellent coaching staff, and getting national recognition at the same time.  Anyway, as pointed out, who's got the dosh these days?

Billy Paynter has shown a lot of promise in the past, but has never shone before like he has done this season.  Would Cox have got all those goals without Billy's unselfish play, I doubt it.  Could he repeat this season's form in an average Championship team I am not so sure.  Strikers need to be provided with the ball.  The signing of Pericard suggested to me that Billy wasn't a dead cert to sign on again, but if we do manage promotion, I expect Billy not to go anywhere but Swindon. 

Paynter is out of contract...we'll get zip, he'll get a fat signing on fee. Austin has 2 years left, so any buying club would have to pay big in order for us to sell...hence I'd have thought 2 mill would be about right....Cox 1.9 mill.

Not asking for much are you, P O W.  What would you estimate the fee for those 3?

I watched Paynter at Exeter and Walsall away..he looked awfull,the enforced break and him and scoring two along with Austin at Reading for the reserves seemed to be the turning point.
Paynter looked a real quality player yesterday..i salute the pair of them but lets give Wilson alot of credit as i remember he took alot of stick for dropping Paynter.

Ferry 250K - 8/10 he'll move on a permie this summer

Sheehan 100k max - 9/10 Leeds don't want him (Personally wouldnt sign him if we go up)

Ward ?? - not a chance in hell we'll get him on a permie, but season-long loan would be realistic

Sheehan's either out of contract or only has a year left and they want rid so around £100,000 at the very most for him i would imagine.

Maybe we could get Ferry for around £250,000-£350,000? Maybe slightly more? Depends if Celtic want to sell they might want him back.

As for Ward he's class and i'm not confident of getting him i think we would have to pay a good £400,000-£500,000 to get him at the very least.

If we go up maybe we have a chance of getting all 3? It would be fantastic but who knows what might happen.

I don't think Sheehan's worth a fee. He's ok, but he's got nowhere near the quality of Manky in my opinion. I feel sure we could get a player as good for free. If we got him for free i wouldn't be unhappy, but i really don't think he's worth paying for.

Ferry on the other hand, if we got him for £300k or less, he'd be ace, otherwise i'd say it'd be a fee we might not recoup, so therefore could be silly.

With Ward, unless Owen Coyle feels he's rubbish, i can't see us getting him unless Fitton starts acting like Niall Quinn and Wilson like Keane.

That Reading reserves game was a turning point.

Behave, Austin's done brilliantly but he's really just tapping them in atm, some of Cox's creativity was unreal.

If I had to pick one to play for us it would be Cox every time at this stage in their careers.

Why not?Gets  on well with Fitton and if we are in the championship and west brom in the prem the chances of him being loaned out are going to be very likely.Not saying we would get him but would hazard a guess we would attempt to

Errrr isn't that what was needed?

DMR hasn't even seen Austin play so I wouldn't take him seriously.

Austin is by far a superior finisher to Cox.

Cox regardless of his great season, maybe, just maybe, he had his best season at 22!

Austin, will play in the Premier League regularly one day.

Personally I cannot see Billy Paynter leaving.  He's been in football for about 10 years and his previous best goal scoring in a season yielded 16 goals or so but this season he's been fitter, more confident & almost the first name on the team sheet and he's scoring goals & formed a brilliant partnership with Charlie. His ability on the deck has always been very good but he's now being encouraged/coached to play in a way that suits his game.  He is making his name in a side that looks as if it is going to be in with a really strong chance of promotion.  I would be very surprised to see him leave in the summer - and it would only be for an huge salary increase.

That is exactly what i was going to say, Cox was a very good player but Austin is a natural finisher who just seems to have that nack of scoring, He doesn't miss many chances and i stand by what i said, He will be better than Cox.

Absolutely.  Cox is finished, over the hill and past it.

My fingers are in my ears and I am saying la-la-la-la-la.

Fuck off with all of your speculation.

Paynter and Austin are ours for the rest of the season. THAT is what is important at the moment, not what they might be worth any time in the future. Their goals will most likely do the business this season and get us up.

So shut the fuck up.

What is apparent about Charlie is that he is a natural finisher and compared with some of the shite in the Premiership who don't know where the goal is (Bentner at Arsenal is an example) then Charlie has huge potential. The only question mark would be would he have the time and space higher up the leagues to slot the chances away that he does now.

I think that at some stage that Charlie will have a dip in form, the second season syndrome, and surely the best place for that would be at Swindon. As for Sheehan, I remember a left back/left midfielder who we weren't sure what his best position was and would he fit in the long term. His name was Paul Bodin and he did quite well for us

In two spells.

They've now equalled Parkin & Mooney's record and surpassed their league goals.

We went VIP to the match today for my dads birthday and we were sat with Charlies family they are lovely and his mum reminds me a bit of Pamela from Gavin & Stacey (in a nice way!)

I think Paynter will walk away, and we'll possibly cash in on Cuthbert as well.

alls i can say is quality strike force - hopefully we got a few more years of this duo together - longer the better - bring it on !

You're just making up random stuff - you haven't got a clue ;D ::)

So much is dependent on whether we go up or not. I reckon even Danny Wilson doesn't really know what's going to happen at this point in time.

Hence the words 'think', and 'possibly'.

I think if Austin had have started the season, he would be the league's top scorer by a country mile

In the good old days you could claim the goals from your old team regardless of league- I remember Keith Scott being at the top in the Premier league thanks to 14 goals at Wycombe.

Stat time.

Based on actual minutes played, Austin scores every 110 minutes and Paynter every 135.

Together they score 1.49 goals every game.

If Austin had played every minute of every game we've played this season and maintained his current scoring rate, he'd have scored 38 goals with 32 in the league.

How many penalties has Paynter scored this season ?

8

I think it's possibly the case that Neville has made 4 consecutive posts without a pun, thereby creating a new record.

It's been that kind of a season Reg.

I love Austin. Yesterday i noticed the seriously angry side of him. Any player that shows real anger is a class act. On 1 occasion the ball was passed for him with about 5 minutes left. He chased after it and as it went out of play he screamed, with real anger in his face, "FOR FUCKS SAKE."

Then when he had the ball by the corner flag, that didn't go out of play, when the lino said it did, he went mental at the lino with abuse to please any fan. There was fuck all time left and still giving a fuck at that stage of an already won game is ace. :)

Was it the same assistant referee that had given the penalty?

Surely a season where Paynter has been worth his salt and Austin has peppered the goal?

I'm worried about you Nev.

May I also wish you the condiments of the season, and get well soon.

chive not been at my best Reg, an dill take thyme to recover. It's a cruet world out there

Don't be such a baybe.

It's his sage

He's known as Rosemary at the weekends.

I'm putting a tenner on Austin to play for England in the next 5 years.

Gotta be worth a go.

The odds must be about 500/1

Good luck with that one mate - me and a few mates tried the same thing a few years back with lee holmes (the reasoning at the time being he was english, young, left footed, and quality)

I ended up emailing all the major bookies got replies from a few, none were interested, probably our £50 combined stake wasn't enough to make it worth their while!!

I guess they didn't want another 'chris kirkland'!!!

i know we've had enough talk about lids during this past week, however, we can adopt one of their songs for our current strike force....years ago as some of you may remember they had lee chapman and bobby davison up front and they used to sing to the batman tune......chapman and bobby......

lets do it at col u game for nananananananananananananananana paynter and austin  :D

Beeb gossip column says Grayson will move for Paynter in the summer.  Wonder if Grayson will still be around to sign him..?

Can't see Paynter leaving us for Leeds.  Here he is playing regular 1st team football.  He won't get that at Leeds as soon as he goes through a dry patch of scoring.

Plus who'd want a bunch of 30,000 + miserable northern gravy drinking wankers on his back moaning all the time?

WACCOE will say he's not good enough for Leeds FACT!!

Why would Paynter go to Leeds?

Closer to his family and £££££

Would it be more £££££ though? I assume we must have offered Douglas more money than Leeds did.

Mrs Paynter was on our table Sat - there new baby is SOooo cute!
She would not be drawn on any speculation no matter how much my dad flirted with her!

Leeds are a super massive club. They are much too big for this division and have a divine right to be in the Premier League....

Haven't you heard? It's officially called Wanko on here now.

I can understand why Billy would go to Leeds but i'd be dissapointed if he went to them and we were playing at a higher level next season.

you're all speculating this on a 30-word story from the sun? The fact he hasn't signed an extension yet means nothing.

The fact that it was the Sun probably makes it less likely than before, no?

Paynter will go. Someone in the championship (or Leeds) will offer him the same or better wages than us, and he'll pick up a signing on bonus as well. Good luck to the bloke - he's had his 'golden' season, and needs to cash in while the going's good.

I'd be astounded if he was still with us next season.

 

I thought it was now WACCOFA

(We Are the Champions, Champions Of Fuck All !!)

 i always thought it stood for "we are cunts, cunts of elland road

Paynter will be a Swindon player next season playing in the Championship.

Why would he want to play in the 3rd Division for Leeds?

I think that if we lose Paynter we'll have Cox on loan next season. I know i said that earlier in the thread, but that would be seriously sweet. I also think Austin and Cox would be seriously prolific as they'd compliment each other so well.

And this is the thing Ralph. Until it's known what league we're going to be in it's too early to even speculate on such things. If we do go up, I think there's a very good chance that none of our players will be going anywhere.

If I remember rightly, Mr Fitton was on the radio and said that he prefered to come to us as we offered him longer terms than Lidls Utd did, but I would imagine that we didn't offer as much as they were offering him for a 1 year deal.

I know I've just said it's to early to speculate until we know what division we're going to be in next season......BUT what the hell here goes.....who is to say we couldn't get Cox back permanently if we went up? I don't know how much we've received from WBA to date but it's probably not that much. Say for argument's sake we've received 500k cash for him. We could 'buy' him back for £1.4 million. It's the same principle as when Chopra went from Cardiff to Sunderland for £5 million and Cardiff eventually 'bought' him back for £4 million.

Having said all that, I'm not sure how they would work as a partnership. I suppose it would be like the old 'Deadly Dunc' and Stevie White partnership (which was not really a partnership, just two great goal scorers)..which would not be a bad thing.

Stranger things have happened :hmmm:

Sadly I doubt Cox sees his next step as coming back to us, even if we get promoted.

I hope I'm wrong.

I think Cox's period at Swindon has finished and hes moved on, it will be a backward step for him to return to us.

Personally I woul dlove him back but I can't see it.

please let this happen.

Yeah. Altho we all know playing for Swindon is the peak of any players career, they don't necessarily see it that way.

He openly said that his dream was to play for Liverpool. He has gone from Swindon to West Brom. I don't think his next step towards that dream would be to come back to Swindon.

Yeah good point. We'd be lying to ourselves if we thought Cox would be clamouring for a move back here. It's not like he's short of confidence or ambition.

I would be amazed if he left us for anyone in Div 1 if we go up. We would likely offer him wages more in line with championship football, & he would have the benefit of playing in the championship without taking the risk of having to bed in to another club. Another season with Charlie in the championship & scoring goals will do him a lot more good career wise than moving to Leeds & tryting to establish himself again at a Div 1 club. A risk that Coxy took & seems to have backfired on him. Of course it may be that we don't go up, & Leeds do, or that we both go up, in which case he may move, but I think we are a better bet at present than Leeds

It would be a total disaster if we didn't go up and we lost Paynter & Austin in the summer, I hope they both stay but i think Paynter will leave either way.

Pericard could be our only striker in the summer, Cox is history now, No point going on about him anymore!

Cox has not exactly done a lot this season though has he? Who exactly would be clamouring for his services? He's not much more than a bench warmer at WBA and that's hardly likely to change in the Prem. It will be basically the same situation he was in at Reading:

Competition    Apps (as sub)    Goals    

League               13  (11)        8       
FA Cup                 3  (0)       0        
League Cup         3  (0)            1

Don't think Liverpool will be in for him just yet do you? (not a bad goal ratio though)

Having said all of that, at the end of the day, the best possible scenario for me would be for us to get promoted and hold on to Billy and for him and Charlie to be our starting strikers for the first game of next season in the Championship (that sounds sooooooo good 8))

I think I am just saying that with the current Board, you should never rule anything out.

       

They won't both leave. Paynter might go but Austin will be a Town player next year.

the whole discussion is pointless, really. The reason Paynter hasn't extended his contract is partly him wanting to wait and see what division we're in – as anyone would – and partly because - and quite rightly - players and management are busy and focused trying to sort out promotion. if we stay down, then yeah - he may go. If we go up, I don't really think there's a discussion to be had. Without question, he would stay. He'd be playing footie at a highler level, would be on more money and wouldn't have to move.

For now it's all bollocks and pointless speculation.

Of course it is. But that's never stopped us in the past has it?

We do have to keep up the '80% bollocks' quota don't we? 8)

bollocks to me involves talking about facebook, elections - this discussion really is just pointless until we know what league we're in.

As west brom look dert certs for promotion it wouldnt surprise me at all to see Coxy move to another championship club to get regular football again and try to prove himself.  His record at WBA isnt too bad when he's actually played but they have a lot of good players.

I might be being cynical here, but any chance there maybe a payment trigger if he plays 20 full games?

I think that the extra 400k was dependant on WBA going up, I recall Fitton saying that, and that looks pretty likely right now.

I dont think he'll go.

Grayson will be sacked if they dont go up anyway.

Northern cunts.

Good point, well made 8)

In my view I can see both Paynter and Austin staying on next season. As has already been said Austin is still making his way in professional football and seems like a level headed chap who is grateful for everything Swindon have done for him. I'm sure he sees his second season as enough of a challange as it is. Therefore I think the only reason he'd leave is if Fitton recieved a 'crazy' offer that was too good to turn down. My opinion of the Paynter situation is that he might be waiting to see if he can get Championship or League 1 wages at Swindon first. I'm sure other offers and having a young family will also have an effect on his decision.
If someone does have to be sacrificed to balance the books, I think it's more likely Cuthbert would recieve a good offer from someone like Nottingham Forest (if they stay in the Championship) or Preston.
That's just my ramblings, which will be largely effected by which league Swindon are in next season, I'd imagine. Here's hoping they all stay given this seasons performances.

I think Paynter has not signed as if we go up to the championship he can demand more money as he will be a champioship player and would have proved himself by becoming top goal scorer, if for some readon we don;t get promotion I still think he will stay.

His spell at Port Vale is probably fresh in his mind, he is here getting 1st team football scoring goals and loved by the fan's

No player is worth breaking the bank for. The board are running the Club in a proper manner, to ensure we don't return to the 'Bad Old Days', breaking the wage structure, no matter what player it is, would set a dangerous precedent.

I have faith that AF and Danny are perfectly capable of building a squad that will compete next season, whether we're in League One or The Championship.

How many of us thought we'd be where we are now when Coxy left?

7 or so. I got 70/1 for us to be auto promoted, along with 25/1 promoted. So i'll include myself in that somewhere - despite me placing those sort of bets regardless. :)

Very nice odds of auto promotion, hope you had at least a tenner on it mate.

I made a 50 quid bet with a yeovil supporting mate the year before last, that we would be in the Championship within 2 seasons. After last season I thought I'd pissed my money away, but now...

£5 on each. I've also got another bet, which i've not mentioned which is something like 20/1. Beers on me i hope. (That's the first time anyone's said that before!)

Just been to pick my lad up from the FITC course and Billy was handing the prizes out. During the Q&A one of the cheeky little urchins asked him if he was going to Leeds. He laughed and said No. So, straight from the horse's mouth.

And kudos to Billy him for doing it - answered all the questions well and with good humour, waited around after to pose for photos, sign the kids' balls etc. My lad was dead chuffed, his signed Billy Paynter ball will be taking pride of place, erm, somewhere when we've found room for it.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Oh, bugger, should have spotted that :) Filthy boy, dave

Alex will be gutted, his 'player' (whoever it was supposed to be) didn't turn up last week. He did manage to ask Timlin who his favourite Swindon player was  at some point (Bill Paynter). I'll make sure he asks a more cheese related question next time.

One of the kids today asked Billy what type of pants he wore :) Oh, and apparently he likes rooming with JPM cos he runs him a nice bubble bath the night before away games. To be honest, I've not had less welcome nuggets of information about an STFC player since the Mildenhall in leapoard print thong revelations in the programme a few years back. Could never quite look at him the same way after that

That is so fucking bent. I've gone off Billy.

http://bit.ly/dxFke0

Austin's the ninth best signing in the football league this year according to the Daily Mail

Well, 3rd best in the Football League, and 9th best in league football!

Good point

9 Charlie Austin
(Poole Town to Swindon Town, free)
From £80-a-day bricklayer 18 months ago to being touted for a move to the Premier League - to say Austin has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past couple of years would be something of an understatement.
The reason for this rise? Goals. And by the bucket load. He netted 48 in 43 appearances for Poole in the Wessex Premier League - six tiers below League One - and is doing the business for Swindon this year with 18 in 29 outings.
And if the rumours are to be believed, Chris Hughton is considering offering him a chance to join top-flight bound Newcastle this summer.
-------------

There you go. Now no one else needs to give them the hits they crave.

If as seems a possibility, both of these do go in the summer- who would you like as potential replacements?

Danny must be thinking the same- Billy not signed a deal and CCC/Prem clubs linked with Austin

Heffernan at Donny? Out of contract end of season. Maybe even Hayter as well.

Fuck I hope not. That would really show a lack of ambition

I wouldnt mind Heffernan here. Although he has had a few years of being injured alot.

I don't know about a forward but I'd take Ian Harte off of Carlisle.

Theo Robinson?

Hasnt he been shit for Huddersfieild?

He's as good for Huddersfield as you are at recognising irony.

He's also a player pushing 30 that can't get into a middling championship side. NO! I'm confident Wilson and Fitton wouldn't consider him anyway. Not their sort of purchase.

Yeah, but he's been injured and did well for Rovers when he was out on loan...

30 is well old

Getting on a bit, can't get into a championship side. Doesn't sound like Pericard at all.

Pericard wasn't signed as a replacement for one or other of the most promising striking partnerships the clubs had in about 10 years though was he.

He was signed on a free, as a back up player for a League One side. I'm still hoping we'll be in the Championship next season, or at least challenging for it from the start. If we lose either Billy or Charlie and the likes of the Heff is the best we can do as a replacement then I'd be disappointed, and you would be too so why argue about it...

True, I'd want Messi nothing less...

Another two for Super Bill.

25 league goals puts him second behind only Lambert.