Thetownend.com

Dear Mark, now that our long suffering season is all but over perhaps you would kindly share with us the clubs plans/ambitions for next season in League 2. My questions are simple and would apply to many Swindon fans I believe.

1/ Will the club consider appointing an experianced manager so that we have a more realistic chance of promotion next season? If not, why?

2/Can we get rid of the under-performing players who have no desire or passion other than being regulary seen drinking in Town. You know who they are.

3/ Can we sign players on permanent contracts and build some sort of squad rather than relying on 6-8 loan players over the season?

4/ If the club had not wasted so much time/effort/money on chasing a dream for a new stadium would there have been more money available for Andy King/Iffy to spend on players over the season?

5/ Can you honestly say the club as a whole is in a much better position now than what it was when the current board took control from Donegan/Blatchley and Co? Because the view of many Town fans is the whole club is a complete shambles from top to bottom.

I hope you are able to answer at least some of the questions or have some sort of positive, constructive feedback for this one disgrunted season ticket holder. On a positive note I DO approve of the new ticketing prices for next season and congratulate you for attempting to make the prices at least more in line with the rest of the league. Shame its about 3 seasons to late though.

The Grim Reaper.

some good points there grim although i think question 4 is a bit harsh.it was sbc who fucked up the shaw move.

1. a) No.
    b) We like him

2. Do you want us to keep the under performing players who aren't regularly seen drinking in town?
Do you want us to keep the performing players who are regularly seen drinkingin town?

We will make them all live away from Swindon so you can't see them going out.

3. Good idea.

4. Probably, but not a lot

5. Hope so.

As far as I know the new stadium plans haven't cost us anything, Paul D would know if he's about, as the development partners been doing all the design work. And as far as time and effort is concerned ....... what better use of the CE's tiem would you recommend other than seeking to develop alternative income streams for a business that currently only earns money on 27 days a years and is always fucking skint...  perhaps he should be helping Iffy drill the team for set piece routines?

I don't think it is fair to address Mark D directly on here and to expect an answer.  However, I agree with the sentiments and am bloody worried about this club.  Everything smacks of unprofessionalism and shodiness.  For example, why should I have to, as an exiled student, prebook tickets and be forced to pay a £1 booking fee every time I go to watch Swindon play?  I've never seen such a system employed by other clubs.  This sort of thing is what drives fans away.

Thanks for the questions. I should start by saying that we expect the club to be challenging for a swift return to League One next season (on the basis that the footballing miracle we all hope for doesn't materialise). A club with the history and heritage of Swindon Town, and the potential fanbase, given the catchment area should be aiming to compete amongst the top 30 clubs in England. That is my belief and that is what I would like to try and make happen.

As for your questions, I would answer them as follows:-

1. It is very unfair to expect me to comment on Iffy's position publicly, before our planned end of season meeting. In my opinion we made very good progress under his management, until the wheels came off at the Rotherham game and since then, with a couple of exceptions, things have not gone well. Iffy took over in difficult circumstances, and has not shirked from the challenge. That said I understand your comment about experience, and this will all be discussed very soon after the season ends.

2.Again, I hear your comments about some of the reported habits of certain players. What we will need from every player next season is a temperament and commitment to get Swindon out of League Two, showing passion for the club and pride in wearing the shirt. If players can't give us these characteristics then we will not want them at the club.

3.I would hope that we have more full time contracted players at the start of next season compared to last August. In my opinion this was a major factor in our poor start and ultimate relegation struggle. However, we still need to be smart and cute in the loans market to use it to our advantage when necessary.

4.Honestly no. I can only comment on the situation since October when I came back to the club but, pretty much the players we have been asked to bring into the club have been brought in. Barring the situation with the two players on transfer deadline day. We have wasted time over the plans, but I believe, with the help of supporters, we are now back on track to come up with workable proposals in the not too distant future. A new stadium remains a major fundamental if the club is to try to generate the additional funds required to compete.

5.I understand that the club was near to extinction under the previous ownership. The club was saddled with contracts it couldn't afford and was defaulting on payments to many local and national contractors. We failed to pay rent to the council for something like a year, and this has been used to hit the club over the head on many occasions since. At least now the club is operating on something approaching an even keel. Have mistakes been made, yes. But they have been made with the right intentions I believe, an overriding intention to try to keep the club afloat. We are working hard to bring in some additional financial help into the club.

Well, yes and no. First I don't know categorically, but my understanding is that some money was spent (although a comparatively small amount in the scheme of things) on drawing up plans etc for the Shaw debacle, although I don't know how much of the cost of this was borne by the club directly. I would suspect little if any, rather it would have been funded by  the Joint Venture between the holding co and St Modwen. Subsequent to that, there would have been some outlay in terms of putting together the plans which were submitted to the council last August, and professional consultancy on how best to present the club's case for redevelopment. Again, although I have no direct knowledge of any amounts spent, I'd suggest this outlay would have been minimal.

As for the idea that the ground redvelopment has distracted from the football side of things, I'd say that if anything it has been rather the reverse - with a minimal staff running the club, the CEO/board tier have been so tied up with the running of the business that they have not had the time they would have liked to have concentrated on getting the ground redev through.

And as Lumpy rightly says, it's a bit more than a "distraction" as GR seems to imply - the ground redev is about whether or not the club has a medium-long term future at all. Precisely the kind of thing that the CEO/board tier should be looking at.

This just confirms my opinion that Mark Devlin is a class act,he doesn't have to come on here and answer questions but he does,and he is open and honest :) He also seems to give a damn about how we supporters feel,you can't really ask for more.

Well done to Mark D for coming on here. This is what we've been missing for years the interaction between the club and fans.

I made a similar comment last night. It's good to see it happening and I hope the people who are still not happy with the board or Mark D don't disuade him from continuing to try and shed light on the issues that concern the fans.

It is great to see Mark Devlin interacting with the fans in this way.  There aren't too many in his position who would take the time to do so.  A class act indeed.  I feel the club is safe in his hands.

ditto, was as glad as if wed signed a proven player when you came back. great interaction.

Thank you Mark D for answering the questions put to you. As said by others above fair play for having the balls to interact with us fans via this forum. This is something the club has lacked over the last few seasons is good relations with its supporters and I would like to see something like a separate section within this forum where the club, via Mark D, might be able to answer supporters questions. They have something similar on the Bristol City Official Forum.

Once again, thanks Mark for taking the time to respond. Any chance you can boot out Carson and take his role?

Mark D for Chairman!

to the players answer...be nice though if the players this season when they came here were told to have passion and care. no offense, but im sure several agree. I hope the ones that don't are gone as they aren't any good.

Agreed. We need someone with this kind of courage at the helm, not some frigging figurehead who doesn't even show up.

To be honest, if the company I worked for was going down the pan due to some very key workers underperforming and the companies management having no idea and I saw them out having a laugh getting wrecked, it would piss me off.  I'm not saying they'd be in the wrong, but I wouldn't be able to help feeling pissed off with them.

Having said that however, I for one do not begrudge any bloke the chance of going out on a Saturday night and drowning their sorrows.  But they do run the risk of having some supporters giving them some grief.

I think we're only getting relegated because some of the players heard 'down' and 'league', and thought they would get a three mile pub crawl with drinking games if they carried on being shit.

Only a rumour, except that it's 100% correct.

if the player or players in question hadnt of got progressivly worse since they've been here I dont suppose it would be an issue.

It just seems there is some sort of pattern

joins team
plays well
becomes part of team
starts to hang out with the players
gets worse

This has happened plenty over the last couple of years. Brian Howard, Sammy Igoe, Andy Nicholas, Sean O'Hanlon...more recently Michael Pook & Aaron Brown...

Maybe I'm being harsh but each one of those players mentioned had brilliant starts to their Swindon careers (ok pook maybe wasnt brilliant, but he did alright at the start of the season) and have got worse

This could be down to anything and everything really....but they have all got worse...and I wouldnt mind if all of those mentioned (who are still here) never played for us again

Think Mark D should come on the pitch after the Huddersfield game to get a rendition of 'There's only one Mark Devlin' from the fans so we can show our appreciation for all the hard work he is putting into the club.

 :nod:

if only we had a few players with that kind of hard work ethic !

well done Mark D .. i know you are giving it your all .. Power was a major coup ..

And i hope the experienced manager you have in mind (cos as nice as Iffy is .. he really hasnt got that experience we need right now) is Ian Holloway

 :wink:

also....can we sign Kevin Horlock....I believe he is out of contract in the summer and turned down Doncasters offer.....Swindon is his apodted home and his wife is a Swindon girl, plus he is still a good expirenced player... :D

I'd never return to an apodted home...

fuck off

adopted*

Point still stands....bring back Horlock

Horlock coming back would be the best signing ever.

Mark, since Mr Power's arrival at SN1, has there been any change on Iffy's spending budget for the summer?

We as fans don't expect millions of pounds spent, just some fresh faces who want to play for this great football club and get us out of league 2.

Mr Devlin are you out there??!  :soapy tit wank: