Thetownend.com

Waiting for the Brighton Kingpin were we?

Unlucky :D

2 - 0 Town.

I was just about to do this you fucknut, im going to the game too so if we lose its entirely down to you.

How naughty of you John.I'm also going to the game today [not been to one since southhampton].So if we lose i will be most upset and blame you forever.

Could be a hard one.Its going to be down to us to break them down,hoping we can do it.Come on the Town!

We should win, wycombe are shit

Oh gawd. We never win games we should win. Except the ones we do.

should win easy today, but we won't and will just scrape home a 2-1 win. Paynter with both.

Close game only 1 goal in it, 1-0 to us Obladeeobladah to score.

I could tell KOT hadn't started this in an instant.  The title was correctly spelled and everything.

2-1 to us.

I can't be there as I'm moving to Uni, which should increase our chances of a win signifiicantly; hopefully by enough to counter Mex not making the thread!

5-0 Swindon. Easy!

Thin we'll do well today. 3-0 for me.

I fancy a 3-1, and a sending off for good measure.

Hopefully a hatful of goals today i've two nephews coming with us, one's a Chelsea fan the other is a Gooner.

So is anyone taking their father and gramps along?

I reckon I could get 4 generations of Town fans down there if I really wanted to.

I'm going to get Fred to pose as my aging father, so we can look like 3 generations.

And I have composed the following haiku about today's game

Wycombe?
We'll dick 'em

Thank you.

My 2nd game of the season and i say 3-0 town.

2-0 Town....Paynter double.

4 -1 Town

Never heard of the place  ???

3-0 Town (Tope hat-trick)

Greer returns -

Swindon Town: David Lucas; Kevin Amankwaah, Scott Cuthbert, Gordon Greer (Capt), Lecsinel Jean-Francois; Jon-Paul McGovern, Jonathan Douglas, Simon Ferry; Billy Paynter, Alex Revell, Tope Obadeyi

Substitutes: Phil Smith (GK), Anthony McNamee, Lloyd Macklin, Callum Kennedy, Sean Morrison, Ben Hutchinson, Michael Timlin

4-3-3 then

3-1 Town.  Goals from all over the park inGreer, JPM and Paynter.  Of course, we'll be 0-1 down inside 10 mins but the fightback will be good...

3-1 I reckon

Some old guy in a Liverpool shirt just ran on the pitch and scored in the wycombe goal, then ran back into the stand and the stewards just looked a little shocked!

Have we scored yet?

Bloody internet radio went dead on 3pm! ;0(

So I guess Im here on my own then?

It feels quite lonely

Haw Haw

I feel better now you're here Dave!

Howdy.

Nope, i'm off to london now. Your on your todd i'm afraid

how we playing today?

I've got noone to play with!

1-0 manks

GOALLLLLL!!!!!

yay

sexy time

Get in manky

JPM against the post from 30 yards.

Is everyone at the game today? As it is dead here.

I'm back again!.............1-0, Yippee!!.....Am going again for a bit now!

Are we playing well? I need a new job that free's me from the office on weekends

We started slowly but are controlling the game now by the sound of it, creating a few chances.

Half time 1-0 sounds like we should be 2 or 3 up and making all the chances now after a slow start.

Dodgy first five mins but looking much better now.

It's about time we bloody spanked somebody...   :eatkf:

What stupid wanker just sent that text? Surely a thisis'er.

The one about Fitton not forking out money for Austin?

Stupid fucking txt.

Close by Topi. Into the side netting.

Oh I just realised it the TEF's very own Juddie co commentating too.

Sounds like Wycombe are coming back into it now.

Shot by Paynter, missed a good chance though shot accross the face of goal from a good position.

Think this may end up 1-1

Revell wide with a header in a good position.

Timlin coming on for Ferry.

Paynter missed another chance.

Sterling effort there jj...Keep it coming (but see if you can report a goal for Revell. Like to see him get off the mark rather than have pressure build.

You are very welcome, I know what its like when you have no updates at all from those listening.

LJF just been booked and is about to go off and be replaced by Kennedy.

2 close chances by Wycombe hitting us on the break both saved by Lucas.

LJF staying on but Macca coming on.

I didnt hear who went off the commentary cut out :(

Macca on for JPM, LJF seemingly injured and wants to go off.

Wycombe are coming at us much more now, the balance of play seems to have gone to them a bit.

Ive as much admiration for you as I do your avatar! ;0)

You are very welcome :)

Sounding a little shakey now, we arent making chances any more and soaking up a lot of their pressure, Zebroski and Betsy are at the centre of most of their good moves.

6 and a half mins of normal time left to play.

Is it controled soaking up or frenetic? Remember someone commenting on the fact that Wilson was a very defensive minded manager and that there would be lots of 1-0s vice 5-4s.

Chance by Revell took too much time and got robbed by Oliver in the box, had too much time on the ball.

Looking at other scores, this would be a good week to get 3 points....Hope that hasnt jinxed us!

It sounds pretty much controlled, not too frantic, appart from LJF who seems to be having a poor game by the sound of it.

But all the pressure is from Wycombe, 2 and a half mins to go.

1-1 bad goal to let in.

Doh!

GAY

No way, there must only be a couple of minutes to go.

4 mins of added time.

Fucking fuck it.

Nomoreheros you jinxed us !!!!

Revell had another good chance but failed with the keeper going walkabouts.

Very frustrating.

Sorry :-(

We seem to have sat back and settled for a 1-0 instead of attacking them.

Fucking fuck fuck Paynter shoots straight at the keeper from 6 yeards.

1-1 result.

I thought a win at home against Wycombe would be a dead cert (well as much as a dead cert can be).

We really do need a natural goal scorer innit.

Innit

Bugger! Bloody annoyed at that. Think that shows that although we have strengthen the team, we still have a way to go. Appeared from jj's commentary that things went bad once Ferry went off. Interested to see when folks get back if the two things were linked?

It did sound like we created a few chances but just didnt take them, both Billy and Revell missing good chances.

Charlie Austin was apparently sat in the directors box today, (not that I am pinning any scoring hopes on him but maybe he can become what we badly need)

Be interesting to see what the match reports are like from people who were actually there, did we gift them their goal?

Yeah its very hard to actually get the feel for the game from just the commentary...or even someone typing highlights from the commentary.

It did seem we were very lax at the back for the goal.

JFL or LFJ or LJF however you want to call it seemed to have a very very poor second half.

Crapski.   2 points dropped.   Hope we dont become drae specialists.  Game was there for the taking by sounds of it

If JFL was injured, perhaps DW should have subbed him sooner.

Definately 2 points dropped and not so much a point gained.

They kept saying that Lescinel was indicating he was injured to the bench but he couldnt have been that injured surely or he would have gone off?

Maybe he knew he was having a mare and feined injury? we will have to see the reaction of those at the game.

Sounded pretty poor second half though.

Wilson said that he was injured but couldn't get him off as play was still going on.

Charlie Austin deal all agreed and will sign this week according to DW.

Didn't think we were abysmally bad, just didn't have great game today. I've come home completely depressed, but only because of the moaning idiots sat behind me. I really don't hold out much hope for the little kid sat behind me who can't be much more than 8 years old but is already moaning at Revell every week.

I think people have gotten too much optimism from our good start to the season and expected us to beat Wycombe easily.

On balance, I think it was a fairly even game. We bossed the first half and they probably just nudged the second. We should've won, their keeper was poor all game and then pulled off an absolute blinder to deny Paynter at the end.

Greer looked off the pace a bit, his distribution was poor. I'm getting more and more impressed with Douglas every week. Put his foot in well and wins a good share of headers in midfield. Lucas was great as well and didn't stand much chance with the goal.

LJF was poor. Showed some good flair in the first half but really didn't look interested in the 2nd. Should've just gone down to force the ref to allow a sub.

Revell got some stick for not putting away his chance at the end, but he was quickly surrounded by 3 defenders and I don't think it was as clear cut as some people thought it was.

Overall not a woefull performance, I think we'll easily manage mid table still.

 Thought Wilson got all the subs wrong...Paynter/Revell just doesn't work, neither can finish, taking off Ferry and JPM just handed the midfield to them...very strange unless they were both injured.

Just back now.  Definately 2 points dropped, though after we didn't go on and get the second goal it was always likely to happen as they only needed to get one chance, which we gave them right at the end.

Revell should have buried that header at the death, though. 

Thought Ferry was playing really well and was very suprised to see him going off.  Lescinel didn't look very injured but had a nightmare last 20 minutes and Cuthbert was right to have a go at him after their equaliser.  His distribution had been absolutely dire all game, too.  Kennedy to start next week please.  Even in the 5 minutes that he was on he put in a couple of great crosses and didn't look like a mistake waiting to happen.

Thought the ref had a shocker and Paynter was ineffective throughout.

Overall it was a dissapointing result but perhaps not suprising considering we were only one up.  We actually kept the ball well and moved well, but didn't create too much in the way of chances.

Not as bad as some of the idiots at the game were making out, but Alex Revell really is a shocking footballer. Absolutely fucking hopeless.

I thought Tope played well, was very strange seeing McGovern and Ferry going off and we seemed to lose shape once we lost them.

Lescinel can look great one minute then shite the next, Kennedy must start ahead of him next game.

We are always going to have the problem of not being able to kill the game off because we haven't replaced Cox yet, but we do look safe at the back most of the time.

Ive been one of Wilson's biggest fans. But today was a total and utter fuck up on his behalf. He went with the same team that should have been 4-0 down at HT at Walsall (the only difference was Greer).

I thought Wycombe were the better team first half and second half. We were turgid and Danny Wilson took forever to make a change. I think anyone who went to Walsall would have been in total disbelief at the team DW started with today. Our midfield was by passed, all 3 strikers are too similar. Revell hardly had any of the ball at Walsall, and he should have given way today. Then we could have played McNamee on the right and either McGovern or Macklin on the left.

I think Greer and Cuthbert were the best 2 players on the pitch and without their partnership Wycombe would have been out of site first half. I think Tope is now our most dangerous forward, and fair play to him for the improvement. Paynter worked hard again, but thats 3 terrible misses in 2 games. Misses that have cost us 4 points. Revell isnt that bad, but hes totally lost in this 4-3-3, hasnt got a clue. He needs wingers! Has Wilson fallen out with McNamee after the Norwich transfer saga? Some of our second half play was lazy, I think the appauling home atmosphere was starting to have some effect on the players who thought they had done enough.

Weve played some fantastic stuff this season with 4-4-2 and 2 quick wingers. Our atacking strengths lie in our wingers. We dont have to play this boring anti football rubbish, crowding the middle of the pitch. Sorry Danny, but for me your reputation takes a major battering on this performace. Complete fuck up.

We gotta point last week when we didnt deserve it....Wycombe did the same..thats football.
The thing that annoys me is that we dont need one striker...we need two or three competing for places..its not just about scoring goals but our front players just arnt making the opposition defence work enough...even against Colchester it was there defenders pushing on...not our front players pushing them back...but ware still in a good position and 8 games undeafed shows ware on the right path.

another game and another 2 points dropped wycombe did nothing at all to threaten us until the goal at the end. our distribution was terrible greer just kept thumping the ball up field to no one. mcgovern was then subbed when he was the best player in the middle he was controlling the game for us and trying to pick out passes. revell was crap missed a sitter which should have settled the game took too long to think about what he had to do. tope played well in the first half but faded in the second still though he looks our best player upfront. douglas was solid as ever JFL just didnt seem bothered. i think its time to give callum kennedy his chance to shine.

Totally agree Reg, all around me were saying the same, and were stunned when Wilson did not  replace Revell or Paynter with Mac, the obvious sub., and leave the rest the same as we owned the midfield.

Well, that proved exactly why we wont do anything this season. Black and white facts two points for games against Walsall and Wycombe isnt good enough for a team chasing the play offs. Not that I personally think we are good enough and im not expecting it but I know some fans are.

We werent good enough today because we didnt kill the game off and we had more than enough possesion and chances do it but we arent good enough infront of goal.

Wilson cost us the game with his, quite frankly bizarre subs. Taking off JPM who was by far and away our best player and totally dominating the midfield was game suicide. Bringing on McNamee was hardly a master stroke either!

Topi seems to get better every game and was pretty damn good, but faded in the second half due to us going either route one or Greer to Cuthbert to Greer to Cuthbert to Greer to Cuthbert to Greer etc etc

Maybe we could try playing him upfront?

Paynter was awful today. Not going to sugar coat it. Should have scored that header.

Revell still hasnt shown me anything to suggest he'd be a good addition to our squad. He's like Blair Sturrock in Barry Corrs frame. Some good touches, good control, works the channels well. About as threatening infront of goal as Charlie Griffin.

We should have had that wrapped up 15 minutes into the second half.

I think the poor performance started from the front and worked it's way back through the team as the game went on.  :frustr: I don't think taking off two of the better players helped though (and I mean JP and SF)  :(

Brilliant point that, sums the lad up pretty well.

It was so obvious, I think we can only assume that both Ferry and JPM were injured.

They certainly didnt look injured, neither were fouled, neither went down injured.

I didnt have a drink today, which could have explained a lot. But I could have cried tears of frustration at full time today.

Away at Franchise, home to Southampton and second half against Walsall were fanastic displays of fast wingers and attacking prowess. The best wing play weve had for years. Sorry to bring up some bad memories. But when Wilson joined us I had visions of the City teams who ripped us limb from limb at Ashton Gate with Murray on the right. They could afford average strikers like Peacock and Roberts because their front 6 were built to attack, Murray got 30 goals in one season. This summer we signed Andy O'Brien who looks one of the quickest Swindon players ever. Lloyd Macklin is now our best young player and is ready for league football, and this has brought the best out of JPM and McNamee who have underperformed for us for a long time. So I wasnt that worried when we started the season with just Paynter up front.

So why oh why are you playing 3 mediocre strikers up front Danny? Why? There is no excuse. We were shit out there today. Boring and predicable, going for a 1-0. The crowd was quiet (swindon are a family club now, well done, the atmosphere is gash) but it was a better crowd that weve had and instead of giving us hope that we can challenge for a top 6 spot, people will have left fans thinking we have no desire to get ourselves up there.

I would have fancied Peacock to score a couple today!!!

I agree fully with this post and your previous one Spence, it was incredibly frustrating today as Revell or Paynter playing as winger is a terrible idea. Them two up top could work if we play 4-4-2, with bundles of pace and delivery out wide.

The one thing that really fucked me off today though is the fucking morons who keep screaming for us to go forward and go long at every occasion. We have the players in Greer, Cuthbert, Douglas, Ferry and JPM to dominate possesion, and we went too long too early today. The rare occasion we did keep the ball and play our football, the dickheads were crying out for us to go long!

Do we have something in Ferry's loan contract to say that hes not going to play 90 minutes as hes been subbed on every game for us?!

A shame we couldn't hang on.

The game was there for the taking and we only have ourselves to blame for not taking 3 points.  3 of the back 4 looked solid, the JFL needs a rest so Callum should get his chance.

JP & Douglas were the best players on the pitch by far.  JP was carrying an injury as he had his right knee strapped up with skin coloured bandages, I am pretty sure that is why he was taken off because he did nothing wrong on the pitch.  He may not have looked injured but maybe they were protecting the knee.  My problem is, if you know that you are only going to play JP for 60 mins, why take Ferry off?  They are our only 2 creative players and one or the other need to be on the pitch to make us tick at the moment.

Macca should have come on earlier but for Revell who just ran out of ideas full stop.  Billy ran his arse off but didn't look capable of scoring.  Topi was better, but only for the first half.

All in all a bloody frustrating game that should have collected 3 points, but a mixture of poor tactics and substitutions meant we didn't!

Spencer, I don't know what game you were watching but WW were the worst side I have seen this season.  Maybe you should have a drink next game!  :D

Wycombe really were crap and we were no better. Paynter was totally ineffective today with Revell even worse. How many touches does he need before he gets his shots off. Tope was pretty good in a Paolo Wanchope sort of way - ie he hasn't got a fucking clue where he's running so defenders don't either. The midfield was really patchy. Lescinel was crap today. Lucas came for and caught everything. Greer's distribution was well below par. Cuthbert and Manky had good games.
Overall a frustrating game. thier goal was shit defending. They should have been 1 nil up in the 1st minute and did fuck all else until they scored.  We were crap - the only save their keepr had was the last minute header.
As others have said, the subs were surprising. We needed Macca or Macklin on at the start of the 2nd and Revell needed to come off and put Billy back in the middle. I couldn't see any advvantage of taking off Ferry or JPM.
A bad day at the office.
 

To be fair I think fans should stop running down this league. Ive watched a lot of football at this level, and I think this is the best quality 3rd tier league since we won it in 1996.

Wycombe werent great, but I think on balance of play they should have won today. Zebroski, Betsy and that other black player are dangerous, just weve got a better defence.

Some people have got short memories. I heard a few people saying, oh my god, were being out played by Wycombe. But I remmember a few years ago they gave us a football lesson at home in the league cup. Completely battered us with Easter and Betsy. Theyve been a respectable league side for a long time.

I missed Yeovil and Wolves. But I rekon the only bad team Ive seen was McDons in the League Cup. Ince put out a few reserves and we battered them. Decent standard. It's not like losing to Barnet and Grimsby like we did under Sturrock in League 2. Those teams really were utter gash.

I'm going to have to disagree. This division was alot stronger in the early 2000s than it is now.

Stoke, Reading, Brighton, Crewe, Wigan, Cardiff all had very good teams. Even the Bristol City team that never got promoted was a bloody good one.

I do however think this is the strongest the division has been since 2003. However, i thought Wycombe were extremely poor and I wouldnt want Zebroski, Betsy or Pittman any where near our team.

I also thought Southampton, Southend and Colchester were all pretty poor as well.

That the game Reeves got badly injured?

And Nathan Tyson was upfront for them and absolutely tore us apart, class act.

We had a bad day at the office, two points lost but not the end of the world .... for goodness sake lads these days will happen not just for us but sides higher in the division. We are going through an unbeaten spell and in the last two games not playing well, but we haven't been beaten.
Seventh position in the league and still in a position to strike, for fuck sake get a grip.

If we're to seriously compete then we've got to win those.

But results wise, this is a drastic improvement from last year. I don't go often so I don't have that frustration of witnessing throwing away 2 points.

Chris, yes thats the one. They were under Gorman, we battled like hell to get back into it and they ended up completely battering us. Mooney played for them that night as well.

Dave, I agree that the teams at the top were very good in the early 2000's. Earnshaw was a menace at Cardiff. Stoke had Peter Hoekstra! A dutch international. Wigan, very good 4-4-2 unit. Not so sure about Brighton, or Reading. But at the bottom you had some real shit teams who were struggling to survive after the collapse of ITV digital. I remmember going to Wrexham and they had 2500 fans on a saturday. The scum were a disgrace. A lot of teams, like ourselves that just didnt score enough goals. Lots of awful teams you could get points off. The league is much more even this year, we lost the 3 poorest teams last year. Yeovil should have gone as well, but they hung in there.

Southend were dissapointing, but I think Colchester came to do a job. We'll see more flair when we play them away. Like I said, its a more even league. Look at Gills battering us 1st game, they will be mid table.

It'd just be straight at the keeper or wide of the target....

poor result.
we need a quality forward.

My twopenneth, first a mini-match report for the exiles.

Town made their customary slow start today and for the first 5 minutes the game was stretched and we were at sixes and sevens in all areas. Wycombe should have been 1 up early on when poor defending resulted in a clear cut chance for their attacker who, well lets be honest, who finished like I normally do at 5-a-side - scuffing the ball nowhere near the goal.

After that we got organised but again seemed to conform to the recent traits I have seen us play early in games, scrappy long ball football. And we didn't really seem to cause the Wanderers by doing so. However we suddenly decided to put our foot on the ball, get it down and knock it about. And Wycombe couldn't deal with our pass and move. We scored, hit the post and wasted a couple of opportunities. We were well in control but we weren't exactly peppering the goal. And we fans knew at half time that one is never enough.

So the second half started the same as the first. Poorly for town with a stretched game and looking a bit vulnerable as the midfield looked to leave the defence exposed and isolated on occasion. Though Wycombe didn't really threaten. Town improved and made a couple of decent chances but no second goal arrived. Then the substitutions happened. I didn't spot JP nursing and injury or Ferry being knackered, but they were replaced and we slowly but surely lost the plot with 15 minutes to go. Wycombe gained the upper hand with town conceding the initiative and the possession as the opposition took command. And so it came as no real surprise when Wycombe hit an undeserved equaliser. I didn't notice LJF was injured, but if he wasn't he sure as hell was the main contributor to the goal as he seemed to be caught ball watching.

Paynter should have won it with a great chance from a pinpoint cross, but didn't whilst pacey direct his header well enough, but the keeper made a great save all the same.

Plus points:
- Unbeaten in 8
- Far more solid than last year
- Best game I've seen Topi play for us
- Ferry, JPM and Douglas are a good midfield trio.

Bad points:

- Strange substitutions
- Can't close out games. Wycombe were shit and were there for the taking.
- Hard working but impotent strike force, coupled with a lack of goals from elsewhere = midtable obscurity (improvement on last year!)
------------------------------------------

All in all I don't think it was a too bad performance. I certainly don't agree with Spencer. Wycombe were dog shit and we bossed them for 70 minutes.

Our Achilles heal is obviously scoring goals. It's a team problem as well as a striker problem and it means we are left without a ruthless streak to put games to bed. We aren't quite good enough to see out a 1-0.

The football and solidity of the team is a vast improvement over last year. We have improved. But our good start has raised expectations. I think it is positive that we are moaning for drawing a game we should ave won. Last year we would be moaning about a lost game.

Cow's arse and banjo come to mind.

What a disappointment. I agree that this really seems the first time that DW has properly fucked up ! Starting with the same (bar Greer/Morrison) 11 as the start of the Walsall game was worrying. Subs were plainly wrong (unless injuries were the reason). A couple of individuals were left wanting - JPL had a great first half but poor second, and Billy P was totally anonymous (I thought Revell was better) until sadly missing a sitter at the end highlighting for me that DW has not yet sorted our attack. IMO the defence is all but there (Kennedy should start) and the midfield is virtually there too, but up front we are lacking. Are we desperate for a goalscorer already ? ......... I think yes !

danny said people didn,t do thier jobs properly,sadly he was one of them.

I thought we totally outplayed Wycombe over the 90 minutes and we should have won by 2 goals. The defence and midfield were fine, the glaringly obvious problem was up front. Paynter and Revell were shit, poor throughout and then missing two sitters in the last 15 minutes which would have given us all 3 points.

Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I thought we were only playing two up front with Tope and JPM wide in midfield - if we were playing three up front as others have said I totally missed it. Out of what we've got at the moment, Tope is out best striker by some distance so why he isn't playing in that position is beyond me. I'd have him up front with Paynter or Revell with McNamee and JPM wide in midfield.

I really don't understand why people slate McNamee either, he is our most dangerous winger by some distance and causes problems for the defence every time he plays. He might not be a 90 minute all out player but his short bursts of pace, skill and pin point crossing are enough to make the difference and win a game. Macklin has to be worth a run as well, as he looks like he will score goals which we need badly at the moment.

I have serious doubts as to whether Austin will ever make the grade as he's been playing at such a low level. But having watched Paynter and Revell today I'd say fuck it, if there is any way we can wing it to play him straight away (maybe on loan then permanent in January) we should give it a go as there is no way in hell he can be worse than those two useless fucks.

I really wonder what goes on inside Wilson's head. His signings have been excellent for every position except up front; Douglas, Greer, Lescinel, Lucas, Cuthbert, Ferry are all good signings but he can't seem to find a decent striker no matter what he tries. Same goes for his tactics, I just can't understand what the fuck he is thinking.

I'm used to watching Swindon play shit football and losing all the time. It is just really frustrating when they play well and have the potential to do really well and it gets fucked up by some stupid decision by the manager.

we didnt start until 5 minutes. wycombes gameplan was not to press greer and cuthbert whilst they had possesion but there forwards were marking douglas and mcgovern, it took us about 15 minutes to suss this out, hence both greer and cuthbert hitting it long for the first part of the match, once we got the hang of this we took the piss in the first half. totally dominated and looked fully in control.

the goal was really well set up by revell. good finish. mcgovern unlucky in hitting the post following a great run from tope. tope was my mom first half. second half report to follow im eating chinese

Odd one for me today.  My nephew, aged 1 day, currently resides in Cheltenham General Hospital.  So we got in the car this morning to drive up to visit.  Stopped in Reading to do some shopping (where amongst other things my little fella, Ardiles Jnr, got his first pair of shoes) and then carried on towards Cheltenham after lunch.

I've not been able to get to any games yet this season (the first will be Brentford next week).  So the slight detour we made through Swindon to go to the Club shop was not an easy one.  Ardiles Jnr and his 1 day old cousin are both now very well kitted out little lads, but standing in the club shop at 2.45pm knowing we were probably the only people there not going to the game was quite tough.

Anyway - it was Ardiles Jnr's first visit to the County Ground (even if he didn't get inside the ground; that can wait a few years).  We marked the occasion by taking a few photos outside and, if I'm honest, he did look a little bored.  Meant something to me, though.

None of which he did today.

He doesnt get slated, our fans love him. He got a cheer just for warming up and a standing ovation when he came on.

Then a few minutes later Wycombe had a man over at the back post in miles of space!

luxury player.end of

second half....

we came out and tried to close out the game.the first 20 minutes nothing happened, then they started to slowly come back into it, ferry and mcgovern came off and we fell apart. Timlin was fucking useless, macnamme is not as effective on the right. Paynter was worse than timlin, revell wasnt much better. lescinel lost it about 15 minutes from the end and should have come off then.

you could see the goal coming from about 70 minutes. idiots.

Paynter and revell should have scored, espescially paynter. i think we should drop them both. my team for next week would be..

lucas
amankwaah, cuthbert, greer, kennedy
mcgovern, douglas, ferry
macklin, odebayi, macnamee.

he likes playing this formation because those 3 in the middle rock. they totally control games, with macklin and macnamme bombing up the wings instead of revell or paynter we will be far more effective and dangerous.

I'd like to see us go 4-4-2

Lucas

Amankwaah
Cuthbert
Greer
Kennedy

Macklin
JPM
Douglas
McNamee

Obedayi
Paynter

take it to Exeter and get 2 goals in the first 5 minutes!

Please to God please play this team tuesday. I think its hard on Ferry, because he is a nice little player, but this is our strongest team. I wonder whether Big Bazza might hurt us on tuesday?

To be fair, we did control the game for long periods today. It wasnt fair saying Wycombe outplayed us, but we should have been out of sight. Weve got the players to really go at teams and we just decided not to do it today.

Dell, whilst I agree that I should get a grip. I have to ask whether you were there at Walsall? Weve been awesome at times with 4-4-2 and two wingers.

Have we actually played 4-4-2 with two wingers this season?

As for Ferry, really didnt think that much of him today. Good debut but done nothing since. He's good on the ball but i'd still rather see Easton in there. Wolves showed he's still got it!

Its always been a bit 4-5-1 but with wingers as the wide men rather than strikers as wide men if that makes sense!!

Knowing Corr - there is more chance of us hurting him!

some interesting points... don't agree with Spence that WW dominated, I must have been watching a different game! Nor that we played with three up top, surely that was the whole problem? Revell and Paynter are too similiar which is why it didn't/doesn't work as a partnership. Revell often gets in the positions I would want Paynter to find, and he's not as good. In fact, I'd say he's shit. Love the description of him as Blair in Corr's body!

Everyone could see it needed Tope - who was excellent - to replace Revell up top, and Macca to go on the flank.

I thought Wycombe were utter tripe and there for the taking. Why we didn't finish them off I'll never know, but we lost our shape when JPM and Ferry went off, as others mentioned. In the second half, despite the fact that Wycombe created few chances, an equaliser seemed inevitable.

As for Lescinel. His second half was as dreadful as his first was good. He should have come off way before he did, and I think he was at fault for the goal. He gave up after Phillips went round him, fucking infuriating.

I love wilson but he fucked up taking JPM and Ferry off and not replacing Lescinel and Revell earlier.

Still, better to be fucked off having drawn than having lost.

I agree that Tope and Paynter must start Tueday, with Macca starting. And Kennedy for Lescinel. I hope Cuthbert gave him a good hiding in the dressing room after the game.

Onwards and upwards.

Really? I think he links things up very nice. Oh well, it's a forum of differing opinions. Though going 4-4-2 has it merits.

I hope Easton gets a chance, shame he lost form last year as I think he is beter than Timlin.

Good post

I agree McNamee is a luxury. But I think we can afford this luxury when weve got Douglas in the middle cleaning up. A luxury player can still be a hard working player. So long as he gets up and down makes himself available and put in good balls then he can still pull his weight.

macca should always play at home IMO. I an see why he's dropped away. Guess it depends on who we play, but he would have raped them today. They were abysmal.

I do feel thoroughly f*cked off we didn't win today, but we are so much better than last season it's ridiculous. If Cox was still here we'd be top three.

It's all about Charlie Austin!

Looking foward to getting high with Charlie and Billy up top.

pinning hopes on a wessex league player is doomed to failure.
we need a chunk of money invested in the side, which has the base of a decent team now.
either we stumble along doing ok,or we have a real go at getting out of this dire league we are in.

fitton should throw some proper money at the side and pronto

it was tongue in cheek arriba. we do need a striker. Hey, Nile Ranger was impresive for the barcodes today.

i know what you were saying was tounge in cheek regarding austin.but you can bet the morons in our crowd will soon be on his back(if he gets on that is)

I agree with Juddie that Revell was shit today. Far too early though to write him off as just being a shit player. He looked  completely different today compared with his home debut though. Possibly carrying a knock?

The side look good at the back, creative and solid in midfield, but shit up front. We can afford either Revell or Paynter to be playing as one of a front pairing but as has been said many times already, they are shit playing together. They are too fucking samey and both take far too long to pull the trigger.

If Wilson fails to sort out a loan striker soon it will prove costly. He's built a very good side in a very short space of time - albeit with some loans that we probably won't ever get a chance of signing permanently - but we'll soon lose momentum and confidence all over the park without an end product, which would be a disaster as it's sooo fucking long since we've had a side that shows so much genuine promise.

And before some smart cunt has a dig about remembering where we've come from, and not expecting too much this season; i'm only being realistic. The club made a statement by recruiting Wilson and they've backed him 100% since he arrived. In turn, he's quickly raised our expectations by virtue of the quality of players he's brought in and the quality of the football being played. Results and current league position aint bad either ;D

All I'm saying is that it would be a fucking shame to spoil all that Wilson and the players have done so far by us not having a goal scorer to complete the picture.

How many goals would Paynter or Revell score in the Wessex league I wonder? I know it's a crap league, but i can't help thinking you'd have to have something to score more than a goal a game for more than 60 games.

so, who do we sign then?

having seen what he's done at huddersfield, we would have been frighteningly good with theo robinson up top...

that all boils down to money juddie.how much will decide who

Wessex League is a decent standard of football. The difference aint that big, which is why we've courted Austin.

Obviously Wilson is going to play down the signing so there's no pressure on him, but he'll be gagging to get him involved.

No one springs to mind. I'm hoping for a decent loan signing or maybe someone dropping out of the prem with a few years left on the clock.

personally, rightly or wrongly, I have a feeling austin will be ace.

At worst he'll be better than revell.

Jean-Francois looked jaded towards the end and I thought he should have been subbed sooner. I think it would be harsh to blame him for the goal, shit defending all round and the whole team brought it on themselves by playing awful and inviting pressure.

I thought Obadeyi had his best game for Swindon and was my man of the match.

I think JFL will be dropped especially after using a string of abusive words at the Wycombe bench yesterday and the ref rightly booking him for it.

Did anyone not notice Wilson not acknowledging JFL when he went off? That indicated to me that DW wasn't happy with him.

Yesterdays game was one of the most infuriating games i've seen this seen.  I too found the subs very odd,once we lost JPM we lost our shape in midfield.

Too much long ball yesterday we seemed to adopt Wycombe's style of play.  I think Wycombe will go down this season worst team i've seen home & away so far.

Charlie Austin was in Exec Area yesterday i could see him cursing very quietly a couple times on missed opportunities soapy tit wank.

With Macca it only works if you have an equal threat on the other side.

Until he's had about 3 games. Then we'll all be wanting to give Revell another go.

No I wasn't at Walsall, one of the few games I've missed. Didn't mean to be offensive by the way. I suppose 4-4-2 is what players in this country understand and it might be the answer to revert to that system.

The morning after looking back JPM hitting the post and Billys last min chance we had oppurtunities...it reminded me of our match at Walsall last week ware they should have beat us and we nicked a point....big matches this week..ime hoping to go to both...tuesday via the lorry as ime working down that way.
It is abit frustrating at times the way even when ware drawing or losing we dont throw the kitchen sink at them...but in the past that has meant chucking draws into losses..the way we performed at Wolves has givem me a chink of hope for the future cos if we could sneak a way into the championship and get some players in then we could maybe get the good times back under Wilson.

Well in general that was pretty wank. Probably the worst i've seen us play this season. The 1st half was actually alright and much as I expected. We dominated the midfield, played some neat passes and looked like scoring a few. We got the goal then continued to press for another and up until JPM hit the post with that great curling effort it looked like one way traffic.

However after that it fell to pieces sadly. We came out second half and looked totally clueless. They changed their gameplan to sit back and snuff out any creativity we had. And it worked. We starting sitting back on the lead and looked lacklusture and like we really didn't care. For me that's not acceptable. Especially given the fact that the game was clearly there for the taking. Why did Wilson take off Ferry and JPM? They were the only 2 players who actually looked like creating anything decent for us. He should have put Macca on sooner than he did and pushed Tope (who I thought was excellent yesterday and my MOTM) upfront.

The goal was always going to come and it was just a matter of when. Sure enough it did come and it was from some poor defending from ourselves which we haven't seen much of this season so far. We totally blew it and to top it off we missed a sitter in stoppage time from Paynter which we didn't deserve anyway. Wycombe were full value for their point and fair play to them for having a good go at it in the 2nd half. No disrespect to them but a better team would have beaten us yesterday.

Wilson needs to sort the team out now I think. We should scrap this whole 3 in the centre of the park business and go with 4-4-2. JFL needs to be dropped now I think. You can see he looks tired and is more mistake prone than he was at the start of the season. Kennedy looks more composed. Give him a go. Wish he'd start Macca as well. Don't see why he doesn't play from the off at home. Put Tope upfront for Exeter because we seriously lack any striking options. Thought Paynter was useless and way off the pace. Him and Revell upfront doesn't seem to work. In short, sort it out Wilson! If we are serious about challenging in this league we need to be better than we were 2nd half. Simple as that.

I've alluded to this in the past, but Wilson's teams have often seemed to lack a real goalscorer...now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. An interesting season for comparison is 03/04, when Plymuff won the league with Mickey Evans and Marino Keith up front, who scored 20 between them. As with Sturrock's Div 4 winning side the goals came from all over...apart from Blair who failed to notch in 24 sub appearances  :)

Shitty under Wilson screwed up eventually, because of having Peacock and Lee Miller up front.  A young Leroy Lita came off the bench a bit, but only scored 5 goals.  Peacock/Miller scored 22 between them.  The same season Mooney/Parkin scored 38, but we still didn't go up.

At a key time Shitty drew at home 1-1 with Wycombe...the report on the game goes thus..."City will rue their lack of finishing power on a night when promotion rivals Plymouth Argyle and Queens Park Rangers both won."

I've kept away from this place until i calmed down,just incase i made an utter fool of myself and said things i may regret,I cant for the life of me understand how we did't win that game yesterday.The substitutions we're just odd,but after hearing ferry was tired and jp took a bit of a knock it's understandable,but why was paynter playing out wide and revell in the middle it just did't work,it's either revell or paynter not both and if im honest i would rather have paynter than revell,paynter looked a bit lost yesterday being pushed out wide so im not going to slate him for a poor game.

I like danny wilson and think he's a great manager but does he just lack that extra bit guile that may cost us dearly,hartlepool fans we're forever saying about him playing players out of position,when you look at the pace we have in the side Macklin/Macca and tope why did we play revell and paynter against a slow back four.Im no manager but you could see had we used pace running at them they would have shit themselves.We have to many players in the same mould and trying to accommodate them all dont work.

I dont understand why im not overjoyed this season because i would have given anything for us to be in this position last season.

One last point was it danny wilson who converted midfielder paul warhurst to a striker at sheff weds,if so i wonder if that's what made him keen on the idea of trying players out of position.

I agree, my MOM also, however JP had a good game as always so thats fair enough.

Bloody hell, Paynter and Revell wound me up today - rooted to the spot on so many occasions waiting for the ball to come to them - two big lads with a physical presence did absolutely nothing yesterday IMO.

I agree with everyone regarding the crazy decisions regarding subs - either Paynter or Revell need dropping for Tuesday seeing as it just didn't work.  I wanted to see Macklin given a chance yesterday also seeing as he has caused defences problems everytime hes given a chance.

Mex's idea of Tope Macca and Macklin sounds interesting and I'd like to see it out of curiosity seeing as though it has the potential to absolutely knacker out the opposition within the first 10 minutes!

Tope though had a great game today, worked hard and think we will see more from him yet.  I guess thats one positive!

Was in London with Mrs Flash at Les Mis..

Sounds like you lot had a mierable time yerselves...

Hope there will be an improvement at Exeter!

No...Warhurst was at Blackburn by the time Wilson got to Wednesday.  Am I imagining Terry Fuckwit breaking Warhursts's leg at the CG?

I think we should be happy....we look to have the makings of a tidy mid table side which is an improvement on the last 3 or 4 seasons.

Ahh cheers reg,Iv'e not got a clue about the leg break,if im honest i can't even remember it.

Yeah it was definitely Fenwick. I am also sure he somehow managed to even avoid getting booked for it as well.

As arriba said - that depends on how serious we are.

Troy Deeney from Walsall, James Brown from Hartlepool, Carl Baker from Stockport, Adam Le Fondre from Rotherham, Andy Bishop from Bury, Chris Dagnall from Rochdale.

All decent enough for us and worth paying for if they add that cutting edge to our team.

I'm not saying all those teams would even sell to us. I believe Stockport have their finances sorted now but if we are 8th or around that point come January its a big decision whether to stick or twist.

Maybe against Exeter we should play with 3 central midfielder, Ferry and Douglas being holders and ball winners, with JPM given a free(er) role in front of them to spread the ball about and play with Macca on the left and Macklin on the right with Topi up front on his own.

That pace in the team would scare the living daylights out of defences especially slow big ones like Exeter have got.

Oh well, rubbish game to watch, poor performance, another point in the bag (how many more to be safe Reg?)

Thought Wycombe did a good job on us yesterday, not a good team byany stretch but they pretty much man for manned us all game to stop us from getting anything going - meant both teams had little spark.

Paynter and Revell don't look like they can work together in our team with the way we are trying to play, stick to one of them with another pacey player such as McNamee around them with Tope (see, I knew he'd get better).

I have no qualms with Wilson sticking to the formation and gameplan we've had - it's got us into a position where we actually look a good team - which is a long way from where we were with about 10 games to go last season.  4-4-2 means McGovern playing wide, unless you drop one of the three in the middle who have all been pretty good so far, but I've been impressed with him in the middle and he doesn't look as good out wide (even this season when moved there in games).

Spencer needs to drink before game methinks.  I doubt very much that Wilsons reputation and standing in the game will take a knock or be forever tainted by a 1-1 draw.  A top 10 finish does not look beyond us this season, without any signings - and I doubt we'll sign this elusive Simon Cox-a-like some are demanding.  Our attendances are such that I wouldn't spend any money if I ran the club - less than 7000 for a fairly local team when we are in the top 8!  Fuck what was served up, people didn't know it would be bad.

Another 38 points to be safe and Wycombe bought fuck all. We'll near on sell out their away end

We've played 2 teams in a row where pace would/did expose a slow back line. We only came alive against Walsall when Obedayi went up front and Macklin came on for example.

I'd drop Paynter next game, simply because he's missed two simple headers in as many games. We now have a big enough squad to keep most players on their toes.

I agree with the dropping of Paynter, he always gives 100% but time to give a more mobile attach force the chance.

My first game of the season and ended up leaving the county ground rather crestfallen.

Had a burger from the carvery van which was actually half decent and fairly priced. Saw the soccerette as well from a couple of weeks ago outside the ground. It was roasting going into the ground and was looking forward to 3 points.

My thoughts, Lucas looks like a keeper. I had my heart in my mouth a few times when I thought he had misjudged a cross but he controlled the box perfectly and its good to see a competent keeper after last season's Bert and Ernie antics with Brez and Smith.

At the back, very impressed with Cuthbert and Greer, especially Cuthbert who has some leap on him! Good to see some composure at the back with them appearing to have the ability to pass to a player in the same colour shirt. Amankwaah took his goal well (although I think the keeper should have done better) and generally did ok at Right Back. JFL I was starting to be impressed with after his first half performance, but second half he was a total liability. Should have been taken off after he got booked and replaced with Kennedy who put in a wonderful cross and looks to have a cracking left foot.

My man of the match was JP who worked very hard and played with intelligence, he seems much better in the centre of midfield than when I saw him being played last season on the right. In the centre, Douglas was a good water carrier and Ferry looked busy.

Up front, dear oh dear. Paynter and Revell played together was a disaster, I thought Revell was the better of the two but neither player gets pass marks which probably wasn't totally their faults due to the formation played. I was quite impressed with Tope, at times he looks like he doesn't have the foggiest idea what he is doing but he looked a threat and actually used the ball quite intelligently, probably should have gone up front with BP or Revell being withdrawn.

And so what of the game? Well, it ain't going to be appearing much on the end of season DVD. We scored a good goal created well by Revell who showed good awareness. JP then hit the post after a meandering run by Tope who probably would have run into the DR stand had JP not took the ball off his toe. Apart from that we didn't really do a lot. I thought Wycombe's game plan was to stop our midfield from playing and it worked, with Greer and Cuthbert going long without any other real option. Second half we weren't at the races, They spotted that JFL was the weak link and played down our left on countless occasions. Wycombe didn't play well but they worked hard and it was inevitable that they would score although Lucas didn't have anything else to do the whole match.

From the 1 game, I would say we will draw a lot of matches 0-0 as we look solid but I thought we didn't actually create much. It was a strange game as we hit the post and Paynter should have scored at the end but I would like to see more creation along the wings. Macca is crying out to be unleashed, we need more width in my opinion. Overall I think we will be top 12 this season, too many draws though will be the frustration.

From what I've read on here and heard on the radio, a 4-5-2 formation should give us the edge against Exeter.

Which 2 up front though?

im suprised by how much abuse Revell is getting, he didnt have the best of games yesterday but pretty much the whole team didnt, he done very well for the goal, showed his strengh by holding off the defender and showed great awareness to put amankwaah in, we scored 1 goal and he was the main reason and for some reason gets singled out by u lot

He works hard..but all pros should work hard..if a keeper makes a blunder he gets stick...if a striker dosnt score...he gets stick.

I don't think either striker received pass marks but I thought Revell was better than Paynter who couldn't seem to do anything right. At one point in the second half, Wycombe had a corner, cleared to Billy who had the chance to set (I'm not sure who it was) someone away on the left but made a total cu next tuesday of it and his pass was intercepted easily to give Wycombe another chance.

Revell's creation of the goal was great play in fairness.

On the rare occasion that he played for us - thats the type of play you'd get from Blair Sturrock but very few rated him.

Bit risky going without a keeper isn't it?

paynter is a decent player and a good second striker.but he is not clinical infront of goal.
he needs an out and out goal scorer to play off him.
one wont come cheap mind.securing one or not will show us what fitton is all about

Didn't think there was much difference between him and Paynter myself.

If it really is an indication towards the attitude of the club then I am probably happier with the not splashing out unsustainable transfer fees option.

when the board is minted i beg to differ.
we are going nowhere as it stands.we draw games a out and out finisher would have won for us.
 we should still have money from cox's sale.
an able replacement should and could have been purchased

But does a player of that calibre want to come to Swindon Town?

Since when have we become self sufficient arriba?

Douglas and Cuthbert are calibre players who came here Luci.....we need three strikers..not just one,DW says competition for places are good for the team and hs right...but his comments are a contradiction really as there isnt any competition up front at all...
There are good players who would come here if we put decent bids in for them.

we've had them before.why not again luci?

bangkock our board are minted.is expecting a decent replacment for cox out of the question?
we have the spine of a good side but are toothless infront of goal.

We were never going to spend the money from Cox's sale.  The Chairman said that last season, one decent money sale per season is the plan, and those that are waiting for it to be spent are in for a bit of a wait!

Isn't it funny how when Malpas played JP in the middle we called him mad!  Now Wilson is doing it and it works so well.  I know a lot of that is to do with having a decent player alongside him, but even so.  Funny how these things work out!

I think that you are missing both the point and the importance of us being self sufficient arriba.

The thing is though, we already know what Fitton's intentions are. I don't think he's ever really indicated that we're going to be much of a buying club. Waiting for a sign that his intentions are going to do a 180 is probably a set up for disappointment.

I'm not saying that Fitton is perfect untouchable chairman, I still have worries that he can be a bit strict on the negotiation table which leads to missing out on a few player. But with a decent manager in and some proper building done we've transformed a team that was struggling all over the pitch in a short summer period, and without really doing any big splashing out. It's a bit frustrating that we're now weakest in our only strength last year, but it's not enough to taint what seems to be good work throughout the rest of the team.

I said I'd prefer a level of frugality about the club, but I obviously wouldn't mind if we did spend on a striker. It would be exciting, which is what you want from football transfers. I don't however think it's fair to do any big judgement on the board on whether or not we spend on a striker.

or something. I'm not sure I've put any of that very well.

how is that then?
fitton's in it for the long haul, so why shouldn't we expect some money be invested in a decnt centre forward?
as long as we have a mega rich board i dont see the importance.
they should throw some proper money at it.if not,why bloody buy stfc in the first place?
we coined it in on cox and aint replaced him.

I think that's the point though. He's in it for the long haul so why would he spend loads of money? It's normally the chairmen who want to reach the Premier League in "x" amount of years that do it. They're the ones who get bored and bugger off after a while.

We should invest in a decent centre forward, hell we should have invested in one 4 months ago.

However, I was not expecting huge amounts to be spent and I certainly wasnt expecting to see the Simon Cox money be spent. No doubt that has already gone towards our losses and keeping our finances in the black.

The Simon Cox money, is done, finished, spent. Just because it hasnt been spent on players doesnt mean its still there.

We bid 250k for Robinson and Tudor-Jones so there is a little bit there. That would be enough to get a Troy Deeney or an Adam La Fondre.

I think the point he's making though, and if he is, i agree, is that just because we have money doesn't mean we should throw it around to the detriment of our future.

It's like a cracked record. Fans expect everything and they expect it now. We've seen and we know what happens when clubs live in the short term spunking money all over the place in the hope of getting their wank spanners on some glory... Yet we still persist in wanting to be like this? It's something that has no future, only makes us feel good for a few seasons, at best, then fucks us big hard and proper for the next 10+.

Football clubs need to learn and i like to think we're learning early; we're beating the rush. One day, i hope, because of our long term strategy, we'll be picking up the pieces from all the "we want it now" clubs with a big fat smug smile on our face and club that won't balk at the next bill. That's what i want anyway. :)

In my opinion selling your top player without having replacements is ludicrous...not blaming DW...hes told Fitton who he wants...we aint got em.
If you want to take the plaudits for the good things,like he has then you should be prepared to take the critism......going into a season with one full time striker was stupid...even a non lge outfit wouldnt do that.

He's bought in replacements though.

Tope, Hutchinson and Revell - ok only on loan but its not like we've still only got Billy Paynter as a striker.

The problem is the quality coming in isnt a patch on the out going quality.

it's being done on the cheap when we have a mega rich board.
should chelsea,man u all be self sufficient?
self sufficeint is boring and i want more.i expect more from a board with the money ours has.they chose to buy stfc so throw some fucking dosh at it i say.

I did go through a stage of thinking self sufficient was going to be boring, but I've changed my mind again. I think the signings of promising fairly unknown players, or youth rejects from above is exciting because although there's that excitement that they might turn into something brililant, you don't really have the expectations so the potential disappointment is lower. Splashing out on a player from a club at a similar level who's proven has more initial excitement but comes with a bit too much expectations.

In conclusion we should never sign anybody that I've heard of.

On the Chelsea, Man U, examples I think it's a bit different. These are clubs with another level worth of assets. Their merchandising and telly revenue along with branding worth must put the business value of those clubs at hundrends of thousands, if not a million times that of STFC.

In the case of Man U that means they can afford to be in huge amounts of debt, at the moment. Chelsea's situation is a bit more precarious, but they still must have more money coming through the club in a week in business than we do in years.

I reckon if you scaled down the ManU overdraft in terms of business sizes then we might manage about 10grand max. If you did the same with the Chelsea sugar daddy model then a couple of 100grand a year. Maybe more if you want to push it. But do we? What happens to Chelsea if Abramovich get's knocked of by the KGB? Scale that down and to Swindon's level and it's not a lot of money coming in from Fitton that we become a bit too reliant on them.

If the investment grows the club so it becomes sustainable through it being invested then that's a good sort of throwing money in. Which I guess sort of shows through in Fitton's attitude to signing players, they have to have the potential to be sold on for more, it's nice to be on the same page as the chairman.

I'm waffling like a waffle machine and not really sure what I was getting at.

I guess that however much I'm thankful to Fitton and co for sorting out the club and am pretty happy on them doing a good job so far, I want the club to move away from relying on the charity of investors. I think that football in the lower leagues is moving in this direction anyway, and it's something which will work it's way up the divisions. Hopefully we've got a bit of a head start.

If it means that a football club's success starts reflecting the support and the town they represent then I'm not sure that's something I'm really against. Unless there's a change of attitude around Swindon then I'm not sure it's going to be brilliant for the mighty town.

Like every other club in this country live beyond our means is that what your saying?  

Im happy with a club who are trying to balance the money coming in with that going out.  There will be a major failure again in a club in this country and I rather still have a club around to support than bemoan the fact that yet another board have cut and run leaving the only constant (us) desperately hoping we still have a club to support.

Yes you just want one player for quarter of a million and all the extra costs (wages, signing on fees, agents fees etc etc) but frankly that sort of thing doesnt work with the way the club needs to balance its books.  Its not as if they haven't spent any money.  Its not a charity concern.

If you or I won 10 million on the lottery we may put 1m to buy that player and support his costs for the year and expect only lifetime season tickets for our troubles.  Businessmen dont.

Same old arguments over and over again.  Short termism Vs Sensible long term running of a club within its means.

If there was a decent goalscorer available who wanted to come to Swindon who had a price tag of £250k we'd have him by now.

I said a couple of months back we'd need to compromise, I'm not sure we have done because all we have are loans so this is where my disappointment comes from, not from the lack of chequebook usage.

football is about winning.if we are to be self sufficient then we are going nowhere on the park imo.
if you lot are happy with that,then fine.i aint though.
what clubs are sefl sufficient anyway?
i'm buggered if i know.

Correct. A lot of clubs are not self-sufficient. That's exactly why teams like Luton, Bournemouth, Accrington and Southampton find themselves in the position they are in now. The last two were very much guilty of chasing the dream (on slightly different scales) and are now paying the penalty.

what clubs are self sufficient?
there is a difference between taking massive gambles, to throwing some personal cash at your hobby.
i'm not suggesting stupid dreams,where everything is gambled like the clubs you mention

Dont forget Fitton has got a 3 year plan or was it 5 years,so i think a lot of us are expecting a little bit to much to soon,we've made great strides this season compared to last season yet we are still expecting more.I think this could drag into the summer before we get a player that fit's the criteria of DW and Fitton,Huddersfield fucked us up theres no doubt about that but maybe we should have had a back up plan.

I think fitton still has a lot to learn about the football world and it's dealings,maybe he's been a bit naive at times,it was plain bonkers to announce theo robinson had agreed a deal on a verbal basis,once sky had hold of that story that was the end.

I remember a lot of our fans was banging on about signing scott murray and even more so an over the hill trundle,if it means waiting for a younger player like the likes of robinson then we are doing the right thing in my eyes.

Im not conviced it's down to spending money,I do believe the money is available for the right player.  

It would be nice to be self sufficient but we're not even that yet are we? Do we still get accounts details? It would be nice to know how much it's costing the board just running the club. I believe the initial outlay was quite big?

I don't think any clubs are self sufficient arriba, but I think there are going to be more and more trying to be. Football is changing and as clubs get over the hangover of trying to keep up with the new born premierleague spending, they're realising that there isn't enough investment to go round.

I see 'too far above our means' like cheap speed. Lot's of teeth grinding excitement, too much happy drinking and smoking, a desperate need for some sleep and then a horrible Monday morning.

Or maybe it's a bit like crack. More-ish and then the desperation it brings when it runs out.

Or maybe it's a bit like MDMA. Nah that shit is ace.

i like your logic ben.
ive forgotten what speed is like.is it still about?
i remember when pills were £15.now i get given them

I think base is dirt cheap, although due to my skintness I tend to rely on charity from others. For which I'm infinitely grateful for.

On a related note, I don't think I've ever tried 'shrooms or LSD, does anybody have some spares kicking about?

Some Heroin or Crystal Meth kicking about?

Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool for a start and Chelsea are working towards it.

Liverpool aren't a great example - they used to be before the Yanks saddled them with massive debts they're now barely managing to service and constantly scrabbling to restructure. But if you want examples closer to our level, then one league up Scunny consistently turn a profit, one down Exeter and Lincoln both pay their own way. It is possible and over the next few years it's going to become a lot more necessary.

Urgh. I need to sleep. Can't really type.

Exeter turn around finances. Helped by ManU games. Shows differences in money. 2 games for lower league club can wipe debts. Something.

 
 
   Hmmm. How strange ! Sounds like the final utterances of a man with a large diazepam kebab in one hand and an even larger electricity bill in the other.

Fitton's made it clear that we need to sell players to balance the books each year. That's exactly where [most of] the Cox money went. I don't think we'll see big money signings to the extent that some of you [arriba] want until we start turning a decent profit, whether that be through being in a higher league or just players sales.

In a way we've got the exact opposite situation on the pitch to what we had last season (no defence, great up front). I personally think the current one is the better situation to be in.

The table proves that and I would rather not see us lose a 3-0 lead only to draw because we had the Chuckle brothers in defence.

There's the rub though, isn't it?  We have spent the money (budget) on players who play in other positions, which has made us a better TEAM than last season, if a little less potent.

Arriba - you are going to have a number of years being annoyed I think (to add to those recently) because the money is not going to be splashed by our owners even if they have loads of it.  Their desire was to run a football club and see if they could do it properly, this was not a big Al Fayed extension of themselves, more a long term project like any other business.

I'm personally quite happy with our squad right now, I don't see a need to buy anyone, but it would always be nice if we did.  We are better than last year, to an extent where hanging on the play off coat tails is a possibility - objective achieved I think.

Took a mate to the game on sat and he described Revell as having one of the worst striking performances he had ever seen! While he got the assist (mainly because he took to long to shoot himself) i reckon we should send him back already. He is not going to score the goals. Get Billy back up front and get McNamee on the one wing with Tope on the other. I see the call to get Tope up top but i think his game is better going at people than with his back to them.

Please can we have a proper striker and then we could have a very good season.

I thought Fitton's stance was pretty clear and well known - the money is always there for players provided the price is right and we'll never pay more than we need to for the level we're at. Whilst we're in League 1 that means we're not going to be paying much more than £300k for a player and there is no need to, Cox and Theo Robinson prove that. Its just unfortunate they haven't been able to find a striker that fits the bill so far.

All that really matters is whether we are moving forwards and I'd say we are at the moment - the team looks a lot better than it did last season. They're building for the future and as long as they keep building I'll be happy.

i dont expect massive sums to be spent,but when we clearly need a goalscorer i dont see why the purse strings cannot be loosened a bit.
football clubs are not self sufficient.anyone buying inot a club should be aware of this and expect to use their own money.
nobody forces people to buy football clubs.

i think wilson is a pretty decent manager,but he's no miracle worker,which he'll need to be to take a self sufficient club forward.
our fans are quite demanding, and i think most will be a little frustrated.

We are surely far from alone in needing a goalscorer at the right price though are we?  I think the purse strings would be loosened if Fitton was convinced that a certain player would be capable of putting the ball in the back of the net - there are not many of these players about.  Its not as though every club has a 15-20 goal man.  We've been lucky with Parkin and then Cox - without this, we need the midfielders to chip in with a few more.  You can have success without a 20 goal a season striker.

Just read that back - its a bit rambling and I'm not sure of my point.  It must be Monday-head syndrome, brain still processing beer and thinking in pub rambling mode.

Parkin cost us £50k didn't he? He was pretty good. Fallon wasn't too bad and cost a similar sum too I think. On the other hand cuntface Cureton was free and he was shit.Selling Cox for £1.5m and buying another for £1m is a false economy.


I think it's harder to get a real gem in these days because football clubs are trying to manage themselves a bit better and the amount of decent players who are available and on the scrapheap are few and far between. It may mean we need to spend some money, but how much is viable? I'm not convinced by the Revell deal but I'll give him a decent chance, he looked good against Colchester without Paynter alongside and Paynter has looked good on his own too. I don't think it means either is rubbish, just that playing them both doesn't work.

I guess the thing that annoyed me most over the summer was the rediculous persuit of a wonder trialist which was never going to happen.

Except for the ones that are, already quoted in this thread (or maybe one of the others ones where you said this)

I think some people have a different definition of self sufficient. To me, self sufficient means they survive without going bankrupt or relying on massive cash injections. Nothing wrong with a club borrowing money from a bank or whoever provided they can afford the repayments and it doesn't mean they're not self sufficient.

Man Utd have massive borrowings but they are easily covered and are in line with a lot of companies borrowings, so for me they are still self sufficient. They also only have them due to the way Glazier financed the take over - he ended up effectively buying the club for about £50m or so in cash.

i'd see it as the club paying for itself without funds from board members or third parties.

is there anywhere online where i can see clubs incomes and outgoings?

Deloitte publish annual reports about the state of football finances, you should get some info from a quick Google.

Their last report said that 11 of the Premier League clubs were making a profit, so in theory they at least are all self sufficient. For the others, provided they stay in the Premier League I imagine they'll be fine but if they get relegated they could very quickly be fucked.