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Would be my priority in Danny Wilsons boots...only my opinion and there too be shot down but Corr isnt the answer for various obvious fitness reasons and Paynter for me isnt good enough...i know he gets is fair shair of assists,but we need a bully who will dish it out...JPM put some great crosses in early yesterday that were waiting for a big front man to nod in..we had some decent build up  play v Brighton but no end product,Coxy works hard but is always having to drop deep especially at home,with JPM,Mcmanee,Timlin and Jack Smith we have players who can put decent balls into the box...but theres never anyone there to use them...Peacock our best header of the ball is wasted chasing chickens in midfield...wouldve liked Grant Holt here,we need someone in the Henderson mould up front alongside Cox...in my opinion we really do need a front man with presence(and i dont mean Santa!).

Then im glad you're not in Danny Wilsons boots.

I didnt really read past the first sentence. A quick look at the League One table shows only Bristol Rovers have scored more than us in the bottom half of the table. Infact a few of the teams in the top half havnt scored as many as us. Millwall have scored less than us and are in 3rd.

Simon Cox is the leagues 4th top scorer.

On the flip side only Crewe and Cheltenham have conceded more than us. Hereford have conceded 6 less than us and the other side in the bottom four Leyton Orient have conceded 13 less than us.

That stats dont like and its clearly the defensive side of things that are letting us down.

As for Paynter, last few games hes played he has been shit I'm not going to disagree but overally he has been one of our better performancers and I dont get why so many people think he isnt good enough. We were sooo fucking toothless without him against Brighton we didnt even get a shot on target.

Defend from the front danial san. If the front two dont hold it up its puttin the defence under more pressure

If you didnt read past the first sentence DV you wouldnt have seen my reference to Paynter...i didnt see him register a shot v Crewe..fucking toothless with him,his temperament is shit and whines contstantly with his own players...not for me ime afraid....and why mention Cox?...i didnt slag him i just stated that i feel if we got a decent front man to play alongside him we would be better off.....fair enough if you like Paynter,but can you remind me of more than one match this season ware hes earned his money,may be at Pool ware he set up Coxys 3.....oh and he cant jump.
He has his moments i grant you...but thats not good enough..we need a quality big front man  and for me he isnt that.

Provided we hang on to Cox then a front man is the least of our worries, its the defence that needs sorting.

 I'd have thought up front was the least of our concerns...we need a new goalkeeeper, a new, old head, centre half, a left back and someone with energy and pace in central midfield.

...and my point was as a team we are scoring enough goals but conceeding too many and I fail to see how getting another front man would change that.

Its our defence that is letting the team down. A striker is no way our top priority.

Paynter has earnt his money in all of the games he has played apart from Crewe, Peterborough and Carlisle. Compare that to Barry Corr who hasnt earnt his money since League Two.

Our strikers are fine and before we look at new front men we needed goal keepers, defenders, midfielders and wingers.

Nil v Brighton,nil v Histon,nil v Crewe...its not just the defence.

I agree with Leefer, but I'm not going to pretend it's for any footballing reason.

Signing attacking players is just more exciting, especially if they're foreign and have silly names.

Cash or cheque Ben!....dont agree with Reg about a keeper though,for me we have two decent keepers.

 I'd generally agree that signing players with foreign, silly names has much to commend it...we've gone backwards since leaving the Cocks without the Boob and Minge.

Peacock cannot head a football, well not accurately anyway.

Edit:

Oh and I think the reason Cox has dropped deep recently is because he's come to look for the ball i.e. we're playing too deep. Another striker won't change that. You could even see Ifil telling the team to push up against Brighton. Unfortunately everyone else looked half asleep.

I will agree we do need another striker though. As much as Sturrock can work the channels or run in behind the defence, he's too easy to defend against because he has the touch of a rapist. At least with Paynter he takes others out of the game, leaving others free. I've written off Corr because every time he looks like he's getting back into form he breaks.

I think we need a new striker. Cox and Paynter are our best two and clearly i would keep them both. But for that reason they need some competition. Cox is always the first name on the teamsheet which is fair enough given his goals but he may be starting to get a little too cosey. I don't rate Corr much. Think his time here is up. It just hasn't worked out. If he had managed to stay fit it could have been different. Sturrock is OK but if we are looking to progress in future years we need better quality strikers (no disrespect to Blair there).

Anyone know what Cox's goal ratio is without Paynter as his partner?

signing strikers is one of my favourite things ever.

I've heard a rumour that we're in for Chris Iwelumo. but keep it under your hats eh.

I hear Jay Simpson has just been offered a new long term contract strood, i was well surprised by that.

because im a sad bastard

Opposition - striker parnter - goals scored by Cox

Brentford - Arrieta - 1
Yeovil - Peacock - 0
Hartlepool - Paynter - 0
Bournemouth - Paynter - 1
Millwall - Paynter - 1
Swansea - Paynter - 0
Gillingham - Paynter - 2
Tranmere - Paynter - 0
Port Vale - Paynter - 0
Doncaster Rovers - Paynter - 1
Leyton Orient - Paynter - 0
Leeds United - Paynter - 0
Bristol Rovers - Paynter - 0
Carlisle - Paynter - 0
Southend - Sturrock - 1
Brighton - Sturrock - 0
Hartlepool - Corr - 1
Yeovil - Corr - 0
Bournemouth - Corr - 0
Swansea - Paynter - 1
Huddersfield - Ashikodi - 0
Cheltenham - Paynter - 1
Walsall - Paynter - 0
Oldham - Paynter - 1
Leeds - Paynter - 0
Huddersfield - Paynter - 0
Leyton Orient - Sturrock - 0
Carlisle - Sturrock - 1
Brighton - Sturrock - 0
Southend - Corr - 0
Tranmere - Paynter - 0
Oldham - Peacock - 2
Doncaster - Peacock - 0
Port Vale - Peacock - 0
Bristol Rovers - Peacock - 1
Gillingham - Peacock - 0
Millwall - Paynter - 1
Tranmere - Paynter - 1
QPR - Paynter - 1
Cheltenham - Paynter - 0
Colchester - Paynter - 1
Franchise - Paynter - 1
Aldershot - Peacock - 1
Hereford - Paynter - 0
Leeds - Paynter - 1
Stockport - Paynter - 0
Millwall - Paynter - 0
Hartlepool - Paynter - 3
Hereford - Paynter - 1
Huddersfield - Paynter - 0
Southend - Paynter - 0
Northampton - Paynter - 1
Oldham - Paynter - 0
Scunthorpe - Paynter - 3
Histon - Paynter - 0
Brighton - Corr - 0
Leicester - Paynter - 1
Peterborough - Paynter - 1
Walsall - Paynter - 0
Carlisle - Paynter - 0
Crewe - Paynter - 0
Yeovil - Peacock - 0
Leyton Orient - Sturrock - 0
Brighton - Sturrock - 0

Cox with Arrieta - 1 game 1 goal
 - goal every 1 game
Cox with Peacock - 8 games 4 goals
 - goal every 2 games
Cox with Sturrock - 7 games 2 goals
 - goal every 3.5 games
Cox with Ashikodi - 1 games 0 goals
 - no goal every game!!
Cox with Corr - 5 games 1 goal
 - goal every 5 games
Cox with Paynter - 43 games 24 goals
 - goal every 1.79 games

doesnt include what the other strikes score just goals Cox scores.

Cox without Paynter 22 games 8 goals
- goal every 2.75 games

Cox with Paynter - 43 games 24 goals
 - goal every 1.79 games

Cheers DV, proves the point Paynter is one of the most underated players at the club, both the team and Cox are must better with him up front.

yeah, when ive got a few minutes I'll factor in the strike parnters goals as well.

For example, Corr and Cox on those stats look pretty naff as a partnership as Cox only scored once but Corr got one against Hartlepool, one against Tranmere and two against Bournemouth which would make better reading. Cox and Corr upfront 5 games 5 goals in total.

I think between this season and last Paynter has chipped in with at least 15 so as well. At a guess id say all of those were with Coxy as well.

I love a good stat me....

A Swindon team of "jobbers";

Judge
Butler
Potter
Tanner
Taylor
Gardener
Tiler
Shearer
Paynter
Weaver
Porter

I have to say that at Bournemouth Cox and Corr looked a bloody good combination

Thanks for reminding me about Tanner - made Richard Dryden look like Maldini

I hate the twats around me abusing Paynter all the time. I feel like I'm the only one who likes him. His range of passing is really good, some of the link-up play he does with Cox is sublime. The only problem I have with him is his tendency to be really good one match, then a lazy fuck the next game. And his shot accuracy can be a bit off sometimes.

We look a much better team with him in the squad IMO.

He's a good player but he won't make it at Arsenal. i see him as a top of the Championship and pushing for the bottom of the Prem type striker, see Jason Roberts/Leon Mackenzie/maybe even  Nathan Ellington.

Is going to WBA on loan in January. That should show what he's really made of.

I expect three starts, 11 sub apps and two goals. I'm going to miss him at the reserves that's for sure.

Smith,
King,
Duke,
Cook?

Cox & Arrieta - 1 game 2 goal (Cox 1, Arrieta 1)
 - 2 goals every game
Cox with Peacock - 8 games 6 goals (Cox 4, Peacock 2)
 - goal every 1.33 games
Cox with Sturrock - 7 games 3 goals (Cox 2, Sturrock 1)
 - goal every 2.33 games
Cox with Ashikodi - 1 games 0 goals (Cox 0, Ashikodi fucking wank)
 - no goal every game!!
Cox with Corr - 5 games 5 goal (Cox 1, Corr 4)
 - goal every game
Cox with Paynter - 43 games 38 goals (Cox 24, Paynter 14)
 - goal every 1.13 games


So, Cox most lethal strike partnership was with Ibon Arrieta as they average 2 goals every time they play together.

After that its Cox and Corr who manage on average a goal every time they play together although Corr gets most of them.

Next is Cox and Paynter who manage on average a goal every 1.13 games. They have played the most games together and scored the most overal. Cox has chipped in with 10 more goals than Paynter.

So Corr plays best with Cox who plays best with Arrieta.

So, Leefer was right we need a quality front man, we need to bring back Ibon Arrieta.

In truth, I dont know how other forwards do but 38 goals in 43 games is pretty good i'd say and more than good enough for this league. What with Corr being a decent additional striker (when bloody fit) I'd say we are doing alright in the striking department.

...and there is no chance in hell im going to work out the back 5 and games played together and goals conceeded!

go on Dan youve done everything else!

Dan you have too much time on your hands.

 WTF is the scummer Judge doing on that list...he never played a game for us. If you want a keeper look no further than the admirable Mike Turner, who was keeper when I first started going.

Well he was named as sub once Reg and the nearest I could get to a keeper was Alan Churchward(en)

 Thankfully he wasn't called upon...I did notice that the BHA sub keeper was Paul Crichton, who must be about 150. I recall Louey signed Crichton on Christmas Eve, in 86/87. We had an injury crisis and Crichton filled in for 4 games. Back in those primitive media times..we pitched up to the game, and it was who the fuck is that in goal...as no-one knew about it.

I remember. Reading away on Boxing Day was his first game wasn't it?

That's the one...we won 1-0 Jimmy Quinn scored.

I remember him-believe he played in the Simod cup V Derby who had Shilton in their goal

 I can still see Dave Hockaday's attempt at a cross spearing into Shilton's top corner.

 Think Reading's DoF played in goal for us. We also had Tim Flowers for a few games.

REF to SWINDON CHAP....you cant have a good player who has a tendency to be good one match....then lazy as fuck the next,it sort of contradicts your points,as for DVyour stats make interesting reading and indeed it is a very good pairing on paper,alot better than i realised so i will eat humble pie.
I still maintain we need a player who will score goals as well as give some physical effort...in my opinion away defences are aloud to stroll around the County Ground and our defence gets knocked pillar to post...ime not a Paynter fan but ive never slagged him during a match..indeed ive never heard Paynter getting stick from Town fans during a match.
Only time will tell if he ever realises his true potential..i mean i he was in an under 21 team a few years back while at Hull.
Weve all got our opinions and mine is i feel we need another quality front man,for me Corr and Paynter only produce occasionly.

Dan, how many goals would Simon Cox have scored if playing up front with Trevor Benjamin?

Reg or anybody...can you tell me the keepers name who left Town in the 50s and went to Pompey...my dad was a pro keeper for a short while and he used to watch him regular and that he was a Top keeper for years after....its bugging me that i cant remember his name!

Roughly 73% less than goals than he would score playing upfront with you Si...

Leefer, I kind of agree that our strikers dont bully the defence enough but strikers bully our defence but I dont know if its just me but I find the away defenders can use Billy Paynter as a ladder and get away with it, where on the other hand if Billy Paynter even dares jump he some how gets a foul given against him. Also seems like our defenders arent allowed to touch the opposition strikers without giving a foul away and their strikers can do what they like to our defenders.

The Pies in the oven ..

 Norman Uprichard?

Cheers Reg...thats him,think we got a few thosand for him which was big money then.

are you saying that Billy Paynter was in England Under 21's?

Also Corr is shit imo, i dont see what the love for him is.

Remember it well. Shilton had recently (the season before I think) visited the Town in Soton colours (with Mick Channon and Kevin Keegan and co) and been outstanding. He was the only thing stopping Town anihiliating Soton in the best ever and most entertaining 0-0 draw I have ever seen. The Derby game followed a similar pattern. They looked dangerous on the break, but we were all over them and in total control. Again though, Shilton was outstanding and the only thing that was going to beat him was a moment of magic or a complete fluke - Hocky managed the latter!

I remember that Teflon Tim had userped Fraser Digby as the England U21 goalkeeper at the time. Couldn't understand why as I thought Flowers was bloody awful!

Flowers was bloody shocking up at Wigan- had us 2-0 down after about 5 minutes.

 I prefer to remember when Fjortoft discovered Flowers had played for STFC. :-*

 [url width=400 height=300]http://www.bbc.co.uk/tees/content/images/2008/01/18/fjortoft400x300.jpg[/url]

Think Leefer must have been sniffing the exhaust fumes with that claim. Next he'll be telling us that Walsall's Michael Ricketts has an England cap.

I believe he played for Norn Iron in the 1958 world cup finals

a new forward would be way down my shopping list.2 defenders and a centre mid are much more needed.

Priority for me is a big slab of centre half who can dominate in the air and organise the defence. Get the defence sorted first and if he one of those maybe Brez / Smith would not be the quivering jellies they are at the moment.
A new Stigger or early Fat Jack would come in handy as well. Someone who can tackle and pass - two things none of our multitude of midfielders are capable of - ie an actual presence in midfield.

We need a left back, a centre back, three midfield players, a striker and a new goalkeeper, apart from that we're fine.

Paynter played for Football League Under 21 side that played against a Serie B side.

The Football League Under 21 team was picked and managed by Peter Taylor who was had recently signed Paynter at Hull City.

 Right that's cleared that one up...I think most would agree BP is a useful player, not great but easily mid table L1 standard.

....he'll do a job for us no problems. Plus Cox looks all the better for playing with Paynter. I just wish we'd stop trying to use him as a bloody target man because Paynter can be quite handy with the old football!

Swindon 1 : Leicester 1 (if I recall correctly), just after Swindon were promoted to Div.II after winning the League Cup.  Peter Shilton was in goal, it should have been 5:1.  Shilton was the best shot stopper I had ever seen, and will ever see.

They thought Cloughie was mad for spending a fortune on a goalie when he bought Shilton, Cloughie was light years ahead of anyone else.

Interesting that Swindon almost signed Keegan for 35,000 quid but the board thought he was too small.  The crowd in the old Shrivenham Rd. stand during the cup tie with Scunthorpe were shouting "sign him on".   

That was a fantastic game even though it ended 0-0 but I am afraid your memory fails you a little in that Keegan had already retired as had Channon.

The game was in Oct 1986 and was a League Cup 2nd leg game after we lost the first game 3-0 down at the Dell.

SHILTON, FORREST, DENNIS, CASE, WRIGHT, GITTENS, LAWRENCE, COCKERILL, CLARKE, BAKER, WALLACE Subs BOND, LE TISSIER

I would love to see a video of that game we murdered them and could have easily had 6 or 7 if it wasn't for Mr Shilton.

After that game I sat next to Shilton on the Leicester team bus while he signed my programme-he couldn't have been more than 2/3 years older than me,I believe he was 16/17 at the time

No keeper will come close to Shilton for me, the bloke was like he was on springs in goal, bouning around like a rubber ball...fantastic keeper and the backbone to great Forest team of the late 70's.

But saying that, the goal scored by Hockaday against him in the Full Members Cup in 87 was stunning and would have beaten any keeper.

am i the only one who thinks shilton wasn't all that?  by world cup 90 he was shit and blamed his defence for everything conceeded

I must admit that in '90 he was past his best but still a great keeper IMO, but yes he has made mistakes especially for England...the free kick in '90 and the Poland mistake in '73 but he is still the best keeper I have seen, having never seen Banks play....no keeper in recent years has come close for me.

Now Ray Clemence...he was over rated IMO.

I saw Nottingham Forest win the League at Villa Park.  Villa battered them for 89 minutes.  John Robertson broke away and crossed, one nil, Forest League Champions in dead silence in the Holt End.

If Shilton weren't in goal, it would have been easily 3:1 to Villa.  Shilton bossed his area, bossed his defence and bossed the opposition.

He did have the loudest shout of any keeper I have ever heard...he could be heard from the back of the Town End when it was full.

He marshalled the back four so well, had them very well organised and that was as good a factor as his agility and shot stopping.

He rarely came out for crosses, he always left most of the crosses to the centre halves to deal with as that was their job and his job was to stop shots. When he came out for a punch he very very rarely missed it and if he did it would invariably go out for a throw in near the half way line the amount of power and connection he made on it.

Bank's save against Pele (Mexico 70, I think), absolutely incredible.

Saw Banks play at the C.G., when only had one eye after his car accident.  It was an exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.  It was freezing that day, hard on the visitors.  He caught a high cross, and the person behind me in the North Stand, yelled "A blind man could have got that!"

Memo to Swindon goalies, you only need one eye to catch a cross,............ if you are Gordon Banks.

Banks save against Pele was the best I've ever seen, closely followed by Montgomery's double save in the cup final.

It's not the greatest save in the world if it wasn't done with a bottle of wine in one hand.

It's the annual tug-of-war across the brook tomorrow and we will all have a pint in one hand watching those idiots pull across a very flooded stream. This will be followed by the eight-man boat race (pint racing), just a spectator again this year.
Two years ago my pub won with a time of 33 seconds, still a record around my neck of the woods.
If you want to get pissed tonight give it a try, I'm sure you know the rules.

Shay given is better

Arriba - that makes 2 of us. Banks was far superior in every way and he was probably behind Lev Yashin. The last decent keepr England had was Chris Woods - the others including Seaman have been pretty crap.

Cox?
Penman?

What does a duke do?

Take your taxes and pisses them up against a wall. Insults everyone they meet which everyone should feel honoured about and if you're in your 80s and Greek then you shag anything you can get your hands on. Duke = Glorified adulterous playboy. I'm jealous.

Any vacancies?

I would have thuoght one would become avaialble in the next year or so - the bad news is that you'd have to shag the queen once in a while and you'd inherit three imbecile step sons -  one gay -and one adopted grandson - Harry Hewiitt.

Geoff Crook had one game in goal in 1960 in goal- a dubious profession as a crook, but raised to a fine art by later STFC employees  :)

 Blimey...there's a name I've completely missed until now..Crook's only appearance was in the FA Cup replay v Bath at Twerton....Bronco Layne scored 4...it ended up 6-4 to us.

 Not only later employees, he may have been around when the previous season we had Jimmy Gauld, Jack Fountain, Walter Bingley and Layne, 3 of whom ended up at her Majesty's Pleasure for match fixing...Bingley being teh one getting off.

Reg, was he the keeper who loved to swing from the crossbar like a monkey? We thought it very amusing at the time...

 Just before my time....Kenny Allen was a Monkey Hanger, he played at the CG for Hpool in 69, just 20, didn't make it there, drifted into non league football for 10 years...then signed for us in 85, aged 36.

Best save that sticks out in my mind by a Town keeper was a save from Frazer Digby away to Sheff Utd..ironically it was  a firm header by ex town favourite Flortoft,he was going the wrong way but somehow twisted in mid air to push it over,i was in the away end right behind and can remember it like yesterday..incredible save.
Incidently i can remember going to Sheff Utd first day many years back,Mayes put us one up we hammered them yet Argentinian Alex Sabella scored twice to beat us..often think Sheff Utd get amazing loads of luck at there ground.

brez's save vs swansea is probably the best i've seen from a town keeper.if not, i cannot remember a better one at the moment

Best save in a town shirt for me was Scott Endersby away at Carlisle in about 83 or 84 cant remember now, in an FA cup game when they were 2 divisions higher than us.

It was similar to the Banks save from Pele, big strikers header from about 4 yards flying in the bottom corner when Scotty tipped it up over the bar from about 1 foot off the ground.

If Scotty was taller than 5 foot 9 he would have been a great keeper...that and being an alcoholic I guess.

I would guess Endersby felt better that day than a few years later when he played for Carlisle against us. Town fans were on top form that day and 6 pints of old peculiar in an hour was suicidal.