Thetownend.com

oh the irony. i applied for a job as a sports journalist and the bloke is asking me to write a swindon town season preview to test me. can you give me a hand?

1. hopes and aspirations - predicted finish? how do you think the side will do compared to last seasons' lot? are any areas weaker/stronger?

2. new players - do any stand out? have you filled the places of any departed players?

3. key players - who will be the key men to your season? who do you expect to perform well, and who do you hope will?

4. management - at club and board level - are you confident in the manager and his tactical/man management/transfer market skills? does the board provide the means by which a manager can succeed? what do they do good/bad? does the manager have any money to spend?

any help would be much appreciated, I'll be writing it this evening

Heh! heh!

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Irony indeed 8)

Just my initial thoughts OF,


1. hopes and aspirations - predicted finish? how do you think the side will do compared to last seasons' lot? are any areas weaker/stronger?

Mid table consolidation, if we get a good start maybe outside chance of play offs, but it all depends on how the new players will gel.  should be ok though as Sturrock has bought  a few players that he has managed at previous clubs.

2. new players - do any stand out? have you filled the places of any departed players?

As we haven't had any pre season friendlies yet (we came back a week later than other clubs) hard to say at present.  Akinfenwa may have been alright but his transfer fell through due to broken leg.  We now await a new striker to pin our goal hopes on, as Peacock/Roberts couldn't finish their breakfast and Corr is still relatively unproven.

3. key players - who will be the key men to your season? who do you expect to perform well, and who do you hope will?  

A new striker?  Whoever he will be.  Craig Easton and Steve Adams (if he signs) will be important as at times our midfield was a  little lightweight last season.

4. management - at club and board level - are you confident in the manager and his tactical/man management/transfer market skills? does the board provide the means by which a manager can succeed? what do they do good/bad? does the manager have any money to spend?

No worries on the manager, Sturrock is a proven success at this level.  As things stand off the pitch though we'll be lucky to start on "0 points" next season as the CVA payment has not been met.  The board have been talking of a proposed takeover for months now but still nothing has been signed.  Fan discontent continues to be wide spread.  It didn't effect the team last year and it won't this, but we really could do with this takeover being the real deal.

investigative journalism at its best eh OF

In all honesty OF, there is enough material on this forum alone that you can get your teeth into. It does involve you doing a bit of reading though, and frankly its better than asking someone else to effectively do it for you.

janaage has given you a start, so deep dive into some of those areas/topics in this forum and I think you could put together a pretty good piece of work.

Be interested if you could post it here idc.

cheers janaage, am writing it tonight in a mad rush will post it on here if i remember

I meant to go back to that and give a little more info last night but it slipped my mind mate.

Glad to have been of some help, hope the end product nails you the job!!  Good luck.

i was so short on time that i asked for an extension, he granted me one and made my task a bit easier by asking for a preview for OUFC instead, knowing that i was a fan. had to do a chimbonda profile too.

got the job, am just waiting for some more details from him before i say yes. and also waiting to hear back from another interview for a music/itunes firm

Congrats on the job.