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Was on radio swindon this morning as usual, and beleives we shouldn't be in the position we are in the table!!

Take your rose tinted spec's off son. We're shit and definately deserve to be where we are!!

Indeed. Just because a couple of representatives tell you that you should be higher doesn't make it true.

I agree. The league table doesn't lie. We are in this position for a reason to be honest. I could understand if we were maybe a month or 2 in the season and had been unlucky. Massive cull in the Summer

Will there be though? If our CEO thinks the team is quite decent, and shouldn't be that low in the league, will the board agree to a massive clearout?? I'm thinking not.

In terms of ability overall he is right - when you look at players like Cox ... but having said that our midfield has been non existent and overall Ive felt there hasnt been enough effort throughout the season .. mainly under Malpas

Unfortunately for Nick, who seems a decent fella, he'll be best remembered for his statement that we could afford to take our time over getting a replacement for MM, because "we're not in freefall"

I think it was this lack of urgency, which transmitted itself to the players, enabling them to keep the same bad habits....when what was needed was someone to come in and rapidly shake up the squad, and have some time to do it...

We now have the bizarre situation with a a dozen games to go, of the management finally identifying there's a bit of a problem in the boiler-room of our side and we don't actually have a centrocampista worthy of the name.

He's hardly going to go public and say "Our squad is wank and we deserve to go down" while we're in a relegation dogfight is he?

What the board think of the squad is better represented by the fact we're chasing 2-3 loanees.

I wouldn't put it like that, but he could've said we aren't good enough and that is why we are chasing the loanee's....

The board are great for saving the club and we will always be thankful but is there a genuine football man on board? Not sure, Was Watkins at QPR before or am I getting confused? We need a genuine football man to balance things in my opinion as well as the business men. We need a steady mix I think. I could be wrong and am prepared to be shot down. This isn't slating the board in any way, off the pitch spot on but on the pitch has been a bit of a nightmare.

Watkins was at QPR yes, and Fitton's ran a non-league club (Hungerford) for years.

totally agree.  actions speak louder than words and all that.

IIRC, Watkins worked for QPR holdings in a commercial capacity but on the rugby rather than the football side. And Nemo's absolutely right - the Chief Exec can no more come out and say "Our players are a mix of clueless League 2 journeymen and complacent no-marks with the odd star and we'll be getting shut of pretty much the whole damn lot of them come the summer and good riddance" than the manager can. It may well be what they think, but about the worst thing they could say in public, given the situation we're in.

But we all know we are crap.

This thread is so over the top what chief executive of any company anywhere comes out and publically criticises the manager and teams performance?? I am sure they are not all patting each other on the back and saying oh its been one unlucky year.  Its called putting a brave face on, trying to keep what little morale we have left up.

As far as Sippo saying he cant see them getting rid of much of the squad, have you been drinking? these are players that for 2 years have struggled in the bottom half of the table in relegation battles and we finally have the chance to get rid of a lot of them whos contracts are up without having to pay them off.  Our board are smart business men a lot of the dead wood will be shifted and Danny Wilson will be allowed to bring in his own players.

Finally FFS Gazza get a grip with your cross examining of the board, you need to slap yourself in the face to snap out of your craziness this week.  What exactly are the board getting wrong that a "football" man would improve? in my opinion Danny Wilson is a great appointment and next season we will be moving up the table.  This year is about survival, lets get on with that instead of turning into nut jobs everytime we have a poor result.

Fuck that, I think we should ring talkSport en masse after every game we don't win by at least 5 clear goals and demand the manager's/board's/tea lady's head. And we should always start off every call with the requisite "Now I wasn't at the game today Stan but..."

ie. We could convert to be ManUre fans

What I mean by footballing man on the board, is someone who perhaps understands agent fees etc. I know we won’t pay them which is great however When we lost out on Charlie Mulgrew, Richie Jones etc (both would have been good signings), was it down to Malpas or the fact we were not paying agents fees. The only way not paying agents fees works is if every other club does it. Otherwise the agent just goes elsewhere unless there is immense pressure from the player saying “I want to go here” , Just a thought I have, probably complete bollocks really. I mean Cox came here and I dare say his agent would have wanted a fare whack so…. Danny Wilson is a great appointment no question and I honestly believe he will be a big success, Not slagging the board off at all, just throwing a couple of ideas about. I am not anti-board or anything. They have been spot on off the pitch. I dare say if we had a decent midfield we would be around 12th now which is what I expected going into the season. Yes I was crazy earlier on in the week, for some bizarre reason I am feeling very confident about tomorrow now!

We lost Mulgrew because his mrs did not want to move here and the Scottish premier league is a more lucrative move than League 1.  To summarise he had the opportunity to move back to Scotland, better league, more chance of being noticed by national team, no doubt a better salary and also he got to please the mrs.  Agent fees did not come into it.  As far as Richie Jones goes who cares, he's hardly set the world alight up there.

Hartlepool did not pay for an agent during the entire of 2008, so I'd say your a bit wide of the mark on the Richie Jones thing.

I was spouting Bollocks again then! Thank fuck the 80% Bollocks thing is on this site... I guess the exception with me though is I talk 99% bollocks

I'd say your points are objective and well reasoned Gazza...

I'd say bollocks

we were one of 10 clubs not to pay agents fee gazz, and of those ten, most aren't struggling at the wrong end of the table.

He's probably going to be playing in Europe next season as well.

PR is part of his job. If you expected him to say anything else then you're incredibly naive! He's never gonna come out and slag the team off is he? Doesn't look good.

the board have not been convincing at all.neither has wilson.some players have underachieved,others aint good enough.

gazza if you say something dont retract because people have a pop,stick to your guns fella.your post was fair enough imo.

apart from the basic factual inacuracies regarding mulgrew it was brilliant.

what i meant was, his opinion is as valid as anyones.he doesn't need to excuse himself all the time.

Seen as last season we finished 13th with practically the same playing squad as now then he's right we should be further up the league.

When the worst happens, I will always look back on this season and wonder how players who were decent enough the season before could suddenly turn so piss poor this season.

Just for example, now this season according to some Phil Smith is the worst keeper to ever play for Swindon, he was a non-league goal keeper and always will be. He was never good enough for Swindon etc etc well he did a great fucking job last season? Same with Peacs, Easton, McGorvern, Ifil, Aljofree, Smith etc etc

Thats what pisses me off the most, same players but much shitter.

His opinions in general are valid of course, but basing an opinion on an incorrect fact makes it significantly less valid.

Flamable Ben is going to love this debate.  in his opinion of course.

No it's not and yes he does. In my opinion. Which is FACT!

If we had a Director who interfered with football affairs it could also be to the detriment of the team. 'Football' and 'Non-Football' Directors only work so far as their ability to do so. We could have Rupert Lowe for example, astute businessman who has made some terrible decisions on the football side of things. I think our Board, whilst probably similar to Lowe in a business sense, go about things in the correct way handling the football aspect of things.

The current Board have funded what were perceived to be very astute signings. Obviously Casal was a disaster but you cannot blaim the Board for backing the (then) Manager's decision. Cox was a decent bit of business and the fans recognise this. Also, as of yet, we've not offloaded potential talents at first opportunity. The old Board had done that previously because they were hapless with running a business. In that caase the business element interfered with the football element negatively. The new Board's only 'footballing' error has been the appointment of Maurice Malpas, which as the Board was in its embyonic stages has been highlighted and scrutinised all too much.

A couple of seasons ago we got out of League 2 without a 'football man' on the Board. It's a case that the right Manager will do good work. Can you criticise an Executive for backing the Manager and playing staff? That's what some seem to be doing here.

Obviously I haven't heard what was said in the context of the interview. Was Watkins saying this club should be higher up because compared to Crewe, Cheltenham, Yeovil etc. we are bigger, or was he saying our current squad is worthy of League 1?

He was saying the squad is worthy of league 1.

 The debate is whether he believed that when he said it.

Now now Batch, we know there's more to it than that.

I didn't hear the Watkins interview, but he'd be making a cunt of himself by saying we're shit at this late stage in the season when every game is a potential lifeline.

I bet that in private the board are preying that Wilson gets the players motivated enough to get us safely over the finishing line. Survival this season will avert what could be a pretty nasty and painful inquest over their handling of the club in their first full year in charge so you can't blame them for getting the prayer mats out ;)

It's easy to point fingers about the Malpas fiasco after the event - fuck knows we've all had a pop or eight about that - but having fucked up, Fitton and the board did move pretty swiftly to get the cunt out of the club.

The second, and probably most damaging fuck up, was the delay in appointing a new gaffer.

Byrne sucked up sufficiently well to buy himself a few months before Wilson finally got the job and it was that disastrous period that did the major damage that could well cost us the season by seeing us relegated.

Prior to Wilson's appointment I'd have agreed about having a 'football man' on the board as Fitton was so easily dazzled by a cunt like Malpas and showed his naivety in footballing matters as pointed out above.

Wilson however is the real deal experienced manager who can guide Fitton and the board on how the footballing side of the business should work. With him there, a 'football bloke' on the board would be a complete waste of cunting money and may piss off Wilson, who's probably loving his time in charge educating the club and its staff on how to run a football club properly.

Whatever happens, close season needs to be used to get rid of the fucking dross and give us a fresh side who want to play for Wilson next season. If the players want to play for him, wearing the red shirt with a bit of fucking pride will follow.







 

Great post Delta.

If the season ended now we would deserve to be relegated.

There is still time. But we have been so sloppy and so passionless that our position is not false at all. We deserve to be bottom 4.

That league table doesnt lie.

We are not good enough and we all have to pray that we are the team that pulls away with a late rally (there is always one).

It is in our hands as we have alot of 6 pointers coming up.

Can we do it?

I am not confident....sorry.

I will be there til the fucking death thats for sure.