Thetownend.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/swindon_town/8096728.stm

Hmmm. Whilst i am very confident of us doing better this time round, it was exactly this sort of talk which helped kick start our problems last season

god that dreaded Playoff word with inflated expectations again. I would be happy with 10th this season.

This shows a serious lack of ambition from Fitton. If he's serious about taking the club forward we should be looking at pushing for a top 2 finish. We need 7 new big name signings from Premiership clubs then we'll walk this league. I could run this club better. Fitton out.

Bit odd to start raising expectations now isn't it.  Its not like the cheap season tickets are still on sale or that we have signed Ronaldo.

Chairman in wanting his club to do well this season shock.

If we improve over last season and get a top half finish I'd be happy at that progress.

I think it's good that the manager and Chairman appear to be on the same wavelength and in what they want to do. Things just seem more assured and definite than they did a year ago.

i agree with fitton

Apparently he's also said he wants us to make a "good start to the season". The man's a disgrace! :)

Didn't we hear the same last season and the season before that.

I agree with you reeves, seems like lack of ambition to aim for 6th but with some big teams in the league next season maybe thats all we can aim at.

I think before Fitton tells us the aim is playoffs maybe we should see what sort of team/squad we have. Looking at our squad at the moment we will be lucky to finish midtable

Woosh!

What this statement says to me is that hes willing to back Wilson to bring in the players he needs to push for the play offs.

Why shouldn't we be aiming for the playoffs?  Thats what everyone aims for - achieveable or not.

But then again, I suppose Fitton should be saying "ho hum, lets set our sights on mid table mediocrity"

No, no, no. Fitton should come out and say "We're looking forward to another disappointing season of bilge and flirting with relegation" in order to set people's expectations to a manageable level. Anything more than that shows unrealistic signs of optimism/ambition that are simply unacceptable to those of us used to a diet of constant misery and disappointment

we're not even halfway through june yet.

Keep Cox and we might .. sell him and we wont ...

People who say they are hoping and will be happy for a mid table /10th position finish are cunts.

Im pretty sure I say this every close season. 8)

going up as champions

By Christmas.

Anything less than Champions with 100+ points and 200+ goals and I won't bother going.

I thought the same. We don't know what budget Fitton has given Wilson, for all we know he could have said £500k plus whatever we get from Cox if he goes. Maybe we could see 4 or 5 signings around the £200k mark, I can't see us paying much above that and they'd all be youngsters (say under 24).

I'd imagine its slightly easier for Wilson to sign decent players than it was for Malpas.

I think you missed my point. I am agreeing that aiming for 6th is lacking ambition. We should be aiming at the top spot and nothing else.

My point about the players is that Fitton should set our target when we have the full squad. He can't target us at playoffs yet with our squad.

If league one was a boxing match it would be stopped by Xmas, where the fuck have I heard that before.  Oh yes, some scum down the A420!

I'd be even happier if we were relegated.

oh i see.fair point

Champions and winning The FA Cup would do me.

The first team ever to do the LDPaintWindscreenvans + League Cup + FA Cup treble.

If thats what fitton wants then he has to back Wilson which to be honest he has done so far. Was reading a few other forums where a few fans seem to think with the signings we have made and the possible arrival of Robinson that we are signing some quite decent players.

Although way too early to be making judgements, next seasons prospects need to be judged against the background that entering the final year of this decade, we've managed one top ten finish, at Div 3 level. That being when the old Board decided to go for it, and spent a fair wedge of money that we didn't have...on the likes of Mooney, Igoe, Evans, Howard, O'Hanlon, Nicho....

That gives a kind of indicator of what we should hope for, if the Board are serious about having a decent season, rather than just trying to avoid another relegation scrap.

Personally I'll settle for what Wilson did at HPool, namely a decent attacking side at home scoring plenty of goals, which makes going down unlikely, and provides some entertainment and a good few wins, a bit like we were the season before last under Sturrock and Malpas.

We've managed two top ten finishes in this decade Reg. That doesn't make us much less crap though  8)

I don't think targeting the play-offs is that big a joke, nor that we need to get that many more players in. We seriously under-performed last season, there weren't that many teams that came to the CG and outplayed us or were noticeably better - maybe 2 or 3. Its not that we were lacking the players, they just played shit. Add on all the points we lost in the last 5 minutes of games and a bit more luck and we'd have been near the play-offs.

Our squad is looking like it will be stronger than last season plus we have a decent manager from the off. A good start to the season to get the confidence up and then the play-offs will be achievable, more so if we get a few more decent players.

Yeah, but one of those was at Div 4 level, not Div 3 which is where we are now.

 I'm defining top ten as a single digit finish....I suppose technically 10th is a top ten finish.

What about 2002/03 Reg?

See above...

I thought we finished 10th one season and then got into the play-offs the next?

Back to the point, yes that team that got into the play-offs was very good, but we should have done better that year. With those players we should have gone up, and I don't think you need a team that good to get out of this league as long as you have the right manager. I'm hoping Wilson is the right man, but we definitely need Robinson and two or three more good signings befor eplay-offs are realistic

Aside from arguing the technical point about what is a top ten finish, this kind of makes my point, we had some decent players when finishing tenth...eg Parkin, Gurney, Migs, Beast, and even Oolet who performed consistently in the PO season, then added to it.

As things stand, we've a collection of largely underperforming players, will lose our main man, and have no real idea of what is coming into the squad. The reality is that as things stand, there is little reason for optimism beyond blind faith.

I'd say the fact we've signed two decent players, and the fact that there's rumoured to be a third on the way, is a reason to be optimistic. There's no denying that more needs to be done before we can hope for a good season though