Thetownend.com

can i just say this is the best season i have had as a town fan for years  :D

Agreed.

Yep!!

I was saying that to that dodgy london lot i hang out with at Orient, last comparable season would have been 15 years ago,

I don't know if you meant to, but that's put this tune in my head, FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpx7IWPda8A

it took me a while to get into this season and was loosing the love of the game for a while.got it back at fulham and i'm fucking loving it now

Can't argue with any of that. Think everyone's feeling the same way (even Reg!) - had a text from a mate this morning asking when he'd taken the bang on the head and woken up in a parallel universe in which being a Town fan is this good!

Im loving the way we are the talk of other message boards,it's been fantastic this season and long may it continue.

You cant help but loving the way the leeds fans are pretending they dont care about us.

Easily the best feeling as a Town fan for 15 yrs.I love the fact that the rest of football
has largely ignored us all season!  :)

It's the best season that I can remember. Though I think this is in part due to my memory going and being unable to recall much of the good years in the 80's/90's in any detail. Though its also in part due to everything off the pitch being so much better this time; no financial worries, a new stadium on the way, the best owners ever, Adidas as our kit suppliers, a decent sponsor and so on.

I actually do think things are the best they've ever been, all round.

I must admit I was feeling a bit meh about the season.

Sure it was going well but part of me didn't get carried away because I didn't think it would last.

I expect a lot of others thought the same.

Then Austin came along...and the rest soon followed.

It took me till half way through the day on thursday to stop buzzing from Southampton. Hell of a buzz and a rubbish come down.

I want another hit on saturday!

Keep on buzzing!

I am looking forward to more mental celebrations resulting in a) grazed knees from seats infront b) cut lip from stray elbow c) glasses flying into the air and d) grown men kissing.

That is all.

I love your username.

seconded.

and despite attending only two games this season, i am well enjoying it

I love Charlie, it also feels to me that he is a family member and I am a brother or uncle who is immensely proud of him. It's as though he really is OURS.

I think that Wilson is great. To make such an impact on players like Amankwaah, Paynter, Lescinel, McGovern and now maybe even Marshall shows just what a quality manager he is.

Fitton is fantastic. I think that he has made two mistakes from memory: Malpas and changing the pricing for the townend, asides from that everything he touches seems to turn to gold.

Even the team bus looks dead sexy. If you had told me two years ago that we would have 4-4-2 OR EA sports as sponsors, I would not have believed you but now we have BOTH of them as sponsors.

Oh.

And even Bart seems more positive this season. That in itself speaks volumes.

Certainly the best season since 06/07 and on a par with 03/04.

All this lovey dovey positive stuff is making me quite nauseous, get a grip you bunch of cunts.

I have to disagree with all of you.

This is one the worst seasons I have ever had to endure.  There is nothing worse than your team doing so well and being an eleven hour flight away.  The only game I managed to listen to on the interweb was the Bristol rovers game (I well and truly jinxed us that day).

It is great to hear about town doing so well and that we have such a well run club now, but I am really very jealous of everyone who can go and see the games week in week out.

(Just kidding)

It has been a cracking season so far, for many reasons.

A colleague of mine from the US emailed me yesterday to ask how good Charlie Austin was, I rambled on for ages about the whole team, etc.

It's really strange having so many positives and very few negatives at the moment.

You are having a laff surely? Waaaayyy better than 03/04 - quite apart from the fact we're not in imminent danger of going down the shitter at any minute, the football is better too.

I'm not judging this by off field matters, purely on the pitch at the same stage in 03/04 we were 3 points worse off than this, but had scored 3 more and let in 2 less. Quite similar records.

That season we played some good stuff at times, as we've done this....hence on a par.

Let's hope the denouement this season is more satisfactory....

I actually agree with Reg about 03/04.

Not too sure about 06/07 though, I did enjoy that but only towards the end when I knew we were actually on to get ourselves up automatically.

06/07 was a very strange season..what with the flying start, plane crash (sorry bad taste)
etc. Nevertheless enjoyable eventually...

From where I was sat. 03/04 was OK.

It sort of felt as though our position was a bit false and we were only up there because of a few individuals whereas this season the whole kit and kaboodle is the nuts.

If we don't go up this season then I am confident that we will be right up there next season, I didn't feel quite the same way in 03/04

BR is correct in his summary i feel.

I think it's everything about this season that makes it better. For example, everyone is behind the current board, and the manager, unlike 03/04, when many people still hated King and the board.

This year means more because it feels like we're rising from the ashes a bit. The board have given us stability, hope - a future - the players are people that will seemingly sweat blood for the cause and one of the heroes is one of our own.

fairytale stuff, and long may it continue. Every game is a cup final - and this in a league far stronger than 03/04 IMO.

It's just immense!

Agree with that - and I'm only a 1.5 hour flight away. I've proved conclusively that me listening on the internet is a jinx and I'm so paranoid now that I don't even read the text messages until I know the game has finished. These last few games will not be enjoyable at all.

So was I largely, although the fact that there's a much more positive feeling around the place as a whole does help this season. But actually, I was talking more about the overall performances on the pitch, you're talking about positions/points on the table. From a dry statistical standpoint, yes, we're about par with 03-04, but the football really has been better this season. And as BR rightly pointed out, in 03-04 we were very dependent on a few stars (ish), whereas this season there's real depth to the squad. And a real passion even in the loan/fringe players, as we've seen with Ward and as we saw the other night. There's a lot more to comparing how good a season is than just points on the board, even if that is what ultimately decides how big a success the season is

The burgers are still shit and there are still no bacon butties in the TE.

 :nod:

But your assessment is totally subjective, based probably on a high from the last couple of games. Mine is more objective...with a bit of subjectivity thrown in...namely we've played some decent stuff at times in both seasons, mixed in with some crap.

Still, it's good that people are enjoying being a Town fan at the moment...

No, both opinions are subjective and mine is by no means based on the just the past couple of games - I've enjoyed going to football more this season than I can remember, we had a better start in 03-04, but the games overall this season have been far better. Subjectively speaking.

Anyway, I'll let you go, you must have some kids' balloons you need to burst, or some strawberries to piss on :)

i think we are better than 03-04.there doesn't seem to be any big egos in the squad unlike then.remember mooney going off the boil and arguing with migs vs barnsley?

Some highlights of 03/04...drawing at then Prem, Leeds, but robbed by the Ref. Some of the best football that evening easily, on a par with this season.

Coming back from 3-0 down at Vale Park, who we pipped for PO on goal difference showed good fighting spirit, there is a question mark this season about our abilty to come back from going behind.

Fallon's equaliser v Shitty....they missed auto by a point.

Mooney's late winners at ColU and Meadow Lane...always something special about scoring late ones rather than letting them in.

My point however is that at the same stage, the 2 seasons are similarly decent...we had a sniff of auto in 03/04, but trailed away a bit in the last 10. This, I don't think we've really had a serious sniff at auto....I'll get back to you after the next 10.

All I got tuesday was coffee spilt all down my back

fucking worth it

Not denying that 03-04 was a good season and that night at Leeds is still one of my best Town memories (and yes it easily matches anything we've done this season). But I've enjoyed this season more, and have felt consistently since September the football has been better this season than in 03-04 (already said we had a better start to that season). As you say, though, it's all subjective

03/04 was all about Sam Parkin and Tommy Mooney.

This season is all about Swindon Town Football Club.

GET THE FUCK IN!!!!!

That's it. In a nutshell. Thanks BR

....you forgot Migz n all!!

This current team would beat 03/04 team, easily

Douglas Vs Hewlett for fuck sake!

I'm inclined to agree with Reg. This season is on a par with 03/04 currently. We played some good stuff in both seasons and went on excellent 10 game + undefeated runs as well.

Its was better than the league 2 promotion season though. I dont want to sound like a leeds fan but I found it very hard to get exited about getting promoted out of that league back to something more like our natural level.  And the football under sturrock was poor, whilst effective.  Off the field stuff started to rumble during that season if I remember correctly, although it didnt really take off.

Interesting point as man for man I'd fancy our current team as well, but we only have 3 more points now than then.

 Maybe Hewlett wasnt shite after all?

Sorry, of course he was. dont know what came over me then

I'd agree with this, but it was an interesting season. The final game v Walsall did get the butterflies going though, in much the same way as any number of key games down the years.

I liked the L2 season but I wouldnt have stood for another one in there.

It was nice, in a way for once to be a bit Leeds to steal Todds expression. Being one of the biggest clubs in the division, getting the best crowds, having the best players.

Little teams I'd never heard of looking forward to playing us.

Chester running out of food half an hour before kick off because they werent expecting our huge following.

Love this season more than 2003/04 purely on the basis that FINALLY after years of mis-management off the field etc. finally we are doing well on and OFF the field in an economy where teams are going bust/facing financial meltdown.

We can actually enjoy the football as opposed to worrying where the next Winding Up order, see our best players sold to stay alive etc.

We are doing well this season and if we don't go up, given our position off the field now with people who know what they are doing, I am convinced we will go on and match if not better this season's performance next year as opposed to not being able to retain top players. Also we dont have a manager who will make our decent players shit. We have a manager now who should have the resources to strenghten the team instead of hope we find a surprise. Also Wilson will keep his mouth shut unlike Andy King who came out saying we were going to sign Owain Tudor-Jones, Bradley Orr etc. which alerted other clubs who then snapped them up. As long as Paynter doesn't sign for the Pox like Mooney (tongue firmly in cheek), I'll be happy that. Plus even if Paynter goes, i am confident Wilson can replace him.

Also, why should we ignore the off-the-field aspects, as Reg has? I support a club, not just a team. I generally feel good about our performances on the pitch, but I'm *really* excited about the structure behind it that makes you feel this could be sustainable. Don't tell me anybody thought that in 03-04.

Fact is, in all my years following the Town we've never had such a good board, and experience tells you that that is what really makes a club successful in the long-term. It might even transform our club for years to come.

You mean like Theo Robinson?

Kingy actually got David Norris to the club for a pre-season tour or look around or something, but he still ended up at Plymuff, who he left for a mill.

For the purposes of this discussion....if you want to discuss how the club is run then that surely is a different debate....last season the club was being run in the same way, yet it was a disappointing season.

The best season to be a Town fan was 1985-86

The best football we ever played was 1989-90 and 1993-94

This season has been a nice surprise.

not sure if you can legislate for an idiot who says one thing and does another, Reg. Wilson assumed Theo was comibng because that what the player had told him?!

 Anyway, look what theo's doing now - warming he bench: well done, lad.

You can't compare wilson and King IMO. Completely different characters.

Surely as Old Duffer you can remember 68/69 ?

The memories are still there, 68/69 was certainly successful but was not as good to watch as 1989/90 or 1993/94.

You need a bit of luck as a manager....if Wilson had signed Robinson for the 200K mentioned and he'd struggled, would we have got Austin?

King's luck ran out when he had to lose Crosby and take on more of the coaching himself.

The topic is "lovin it", "it" being the current season. A big part of what I'm loving is seeing our board beginning to be rewarded for the things they started turning around last year.

This is bigger, better news than any individual result, and it offers the hope of more of them to come.

You're right about needing luck as a manager, but I think we would probably have signed austin anyway as we still wouldnt have had enough strikers and he was reletively cheap labour

I think its no coincidence that we have improved since Shirtliff came in as assistant manager.

But the main difference is a willingness to play good football and work as a unit while defending, and that we have found one of the real gems in English football with Charlie Austin.

Long may it continue.

I don't know I'd put quite so much emphasis on the infrastructural stuff as you have (in terms of why I've enjoyed this season so much, not in terms of its importance, on that I totally agree), but you have a valid point - I think it was juddie who put it best earlier in the thread when he said that the season has been all the more enjoyable because its had a quality of phoenix rising from the ashes. And, as you said, because it feels like the improvements are likely to be sustainable and ongoing, not just a one-off good season.

We need to see this feel good factor translated into improved attendances, otherwise we're still on a road to nowhere....ask David Byrne.

on that, I agree with your Reg. I interviewed all three members of the board for this week's programme and that was the big issue - it will decide how big the stadium becomes, how much he club will be able to sustain itself etc...

The Board should look at a club like Doncaster as a template...they now average about 10,000 in their new ground on the fringe of CCC PO, having been more or less dead and buried a decade earlier, and never having any great tradition.

It would be quite conceivable that with an improved ground, a bit of success a level above we could average 12 to 13,000...with one off games needing 17 to 18 000.

Interesting thread .....for once......(jk) 8)

I agree with pretty much everything posted and I certainly agree with the title. I am absolutely loving it. Having fallen out of love for a couple of years it's all come flooding back again. The Carlisle home game was the first I had been to in eons (slight exageration) and the comparison to the previous game I had been to, almost a year previously, was night and day. We looked like a proper football team from front to back. A really, really good side.

The way I see it is that the last 17 years since we got promoted to the Prem have been unspeakably awful apart from 95/96 when we pissed the division (L1 as it now is) and before we realised what total cunts McMoan and Hunt were, the afore mentioned 03/04 which has to be the last time I was actually proud to be a Town fan (I'm thinking of the Leeds game in particular) and then the 06/07 div 4 promotion season. That was fine and loads of teams take years to bounce back and some never do. I'm never going to knock a promotion but my feeling was that it was a little bit, ever so slightly, 'meh' As some one said previously, "I don't want to sound like a Leeds fan but..."

Any way, I make that 3 decent seasons out of 17 (and as a side note a decent season for me does not have to involve a Championship, promotion or even play off appearance. It just so happens those seasons all involved one of those components)

What we have this season is very good team playing nice football, a very, very good manager (who I have always rated since he was at Barnsley and he was a pretty decent player as well as it happens) who has - and this really is the key - a sound base to work from provided by Fitton, Watkins & co. They have invested on the playing side and Danny is probably the first manager in the club's history to have not have the rug pulled from under him in being forced to sell his best players at key points in the season.

This has to be the first time in the club's history (and we are by no means unusual on this respect) when we have actually been properly run by individuals who have sound financial backing and sound business acumen and a real plan for the future.

It's for all these reasons that I am LOVING this season. It's not down to one factor or one individual. One last thing though. Above all else I feel incredibly, unbelieveably LUCKY!! We could so easily now be in a similar situation to when Luton had that horrendous, draconian 30 point deduction or worse still, Chester City. I really do believe we were not too far away from that kind of scenario..and then to be taken over not just by some dodgy 'Portugeezer' out for a quick Euro (remember them? The thought of them makes my blood run cold - talk about dodge a bullet) but by men of the calibre of Andrew Fitton, Nick Watkins, Jeremy Wray (sorry, can't remember all their names)  Men of intellect, money, vision and integrity

I must be fucking dreaming. This shit does not happen to STFC.

I'm going to have another Stella 8)

Ive not really felt involved or that bothered by it all reallty.But I enjoyed the 4 games ive been to well enough.I do wonder if im a little bit addicted to misery and prefer rubbish season to sucessfull ones..

It's just been a breath of fresh ar really. I've really enjoyed it. When we lost at Norwich back in October i'd already written off the play-offs. Oh how I was in for a shock in the weeks and months that followed. What a turnaround. The debts have gone, the team is good which is nice and now we have a future vision of a redeveloped CG. It's full steam ahead whatever happens come May.

There are several things I still find hard to believe this season and they are as follows:

• We are currently level on points with Charlton and 5 points from automatic promotion in a league which has been the hardest for years
• We have brought in some fantastic high calibre players that appear to actually want to play for us
• We have signed possibly one of the most exciting young prospects outside the premier league
• The club is being run excellently by shrewd business men and for the first time in years, we look like we are actually going places (even if not this season possibly next)
• The stadium redevelopment is finally moving and heading in a positive direction

That is it but enough to assure a sense of positivity for the remaining games that play offs are now more than achieveable.

Reading that is like having an epiphany where your eyes open and you realise that you really are getting on a bit.

17 years, fook me.

I'm more excited by this season than I was by 03/04 (which was still a damn good year).

I think from my perspective its down to the teams we're competing against.

in 2003/4 The bigger names were - QPR, Sheff Weds, and to a degree Bristol City.

2009/10 its - Leeds, Norwich, Southampton, Charlton

Then as others have mentioned its the Charlie factor - Proper Roy of the Rovers stuff.

Couple all of this with some great football and feeling that the club isn't about to dissapear into some unspeakable black hole at any moment and its been a cracking season so far.

I can honestly say I've enjoyed this year more than any season since 1986/7 (I was living abroad for most of 1992/3 and 1993/4).

I think this is very relevant. We're no longer a dumping ground for old, shit has beens and never will be's. We have signed some real fucking dross over the last few years. We've not had many players who gave a fuck about us. I think the way JPM has changed his attitude is testament to Wilson. He's transformed players that were here and he's signed players who want to play for us. They're not a collection of indiviuals, they're a team, scrapping for each other.
I've enjoyed this season more than any since Hoddle's days. I'm not saying the team are better than any of the others mentioned just that I personally have enjoyed it more. My daughter has taken some real shit for being Town now she's got friends asking if they can go with her. She's loving it as well.

Its been brilliant....and the best is still to come.
For me at Wolves was the first time i thaught...hello we are playing to a plan,disciplined and the same at Fulham.
Getting Douglas was/is still hard to believe but for me i like the way Wilson makes a decision and sticks by it....we couldnt believe it when he put his faith in Amankwah,Lescinal and JPM.
The football has been good to watch and our discipline first class(Ferry aside last week)
Its been good to see Town fans with smiles on there faces...players want to come here and opposition fans respect our team.
The only downside to a good season has been the last gasp goals conceded,and dare i say it the Manks/Harris spat which didnt much good for both players and clubs.

I dont think you can blame Ferrys discipline.

Did you see what he got booked for? the second one looked very harsh and a fair tackle from the away end. I saw the highlights and was as pissed off about it as Alan Sheehan was.

That ref clearly had 1-1 on his slip. the 8 minutes of added on time played was a joke.

This season pisses on 2003/04 as far as being in love with it for me.  The team is better, plays better football and (leaving aside the usual fuckwits who attend football) the fans are as one and behind the club, Manager and the players.

95/96 was the last time it was like this, and even then it was a bit more expected given the nature of the club before that season.

The performance against Southampton really impressed me.  We came up against a team with big resources, who'd invested in a new players and were on a really impressive home run of results and performances.  It's been a long time since a Swindon team could go away to a place like that and control their performance to perfection, even if that meant accepting we'd need to set-up to negate them for long periods.

Also, Austin is the first player since that 92/93 end of an era season that we've had someone playing regularly who really galvanised fans in a positive way (don't throw names like Parkin in, he was quality but not the same as players like Hoddle, Foley, Shearer, White, Henry, Calderwood, Taylor, Digby etc)

This season must be progressing a dream, I've just read through an entire adver comments section without wishing to shoot anyone, even a little bit.

It creeps up on you like a thief in the night :(

Yeah its the optimism I cant stand

Turned 24 last week and this is definitely the best season and best era there's been for me in my Town supporting life. I went during the early early 90s but have almost zero recollection of it.#

Since then it's been one good season punctuated with years of utter shit on and off the pitch. So now to have total security and a FUTURE as well as a TEAM of talented players it's like a fucking dream.

As I've said for a long time, fair play to anyone of your age who's sticking with the Town. When I was that age we were in the Macari era which was mentally fantastic and ran into the Ardiles and Hoddle eras which were equally brilliant. Happy days indeed and it's those memories which have kept me going through the last I don't know how many years. Years which, by and large have been horrible. Some one of your age has not got that to look back on. Without those memories and experiences, I don't know if I could have stuck with it. But you have and fair play. The good times are finally on their way back though 8)

Thank OST :) I sometimes wonder how I stuck through it all, especially with everyone supporting, United, Scouse, Spurs et al. it would've been easy to drop the Town. But... I suppose it wasn't because I never did and never even flirted with the idea. It riled me no end listening to my mates taking the piss in their Spurs/United/Liverpool shirts. But I never get off their cases, nagging them to get down to a game. Especially this season! Having endured so much, I feel like I've fucking earned this!

Probably why our attendances aren't as good as they should be. Nearly every town fan i know is late 20's upwards, being so crap we lost a generation to Sky glory hunting, hopefully we can start pulling those back now.

I think these Man U/Spurs/Chelsea/Liverpool 'fans' who chose their team out of a Panini sticker album have missed out big time. The reason I support the team (and probably most on here) is because it is part of me and makes me what I am. When me and my mates started going to away games in the mid 80's it was the first time (even though we wouldn't have admitted it at the time) that we had been anywhere without our parents and that wasn't a school trip. They were fantastic times - going up north for the first time to the 'badlands' of Burnden Park and the Victoria Ground and all the adventures that entailed - blown spark plugs on the way to Notts County, windsrcreen wipers packing up on the way to Swansea when it's pissing down, countless drunken antics - that stuff stays with you. I don't see too much of those guys these days but when I do it's like we last saw each other yesterday and a lot of that is down to those experiences we shared all those years ago. These 'arm chair' fans will never have that and for that reason I feel sorry for them.

I agree, I have alot of mates who are armchair fans.

They have always questioned why I do it. Why I didnt give up years ago but they dont get it, they dont understand it.

Southampton away was fucking mental - its an experience they will never have. Their loss.

Indeed. My best experience following Town.

Seeing as my first match was home against Port Vale - Iffy's first match in charge - apart from our L2 promotion (by the skin of our teeth, thank you Walsall), I have endured absolute dogshite until this season.

However, I have hung on in there and yes Iain, I am lovin it lovin it lovin it.

I thought you'd been around since the days of Don Rodgers ???

nah, he's a bandwagon jumper. the only problem is he doesn't know when to jump on the bandwagon...

Six months on, it's very easy to forget that there were a couple of things that almost all Town fans agreed on at the start of this season:

• As you say, the division is about as tough as it's ever been.  Leeds, Charlton and Norwich were expected to walk the division...and they sort of have.  But very few were expecting us to keep pace with them.  And we have.
• Wilson had done a fairly decent rebuilding job over the summer...but there was a missing piece of the jigsaw.  Incredible to think it, but most of us were concerned that we were missing fire power up front.  Wilson sorted that too.

The comparison with 2003/04 is interesting.  We're not there yet, but on balance I hope we get a chance to go a few steps further in the play offs this year.  Agree with all of the points made earlier about the importance of stability off the field (which was completely lacking back then.)  If we do make the play offs, the sad truth is that most of us will probably not be able to get tickets for the away leg of the semi final.  We organised a London pub meet for London-based Town fans who couldn't get tickets for the Brighton away game in 2004.  The word spread and 60+ showed up on the night.  This year, there is such a groundswell of optimism about the place that I'm sure we'll need a bigger venue.

Suttonred, whilst I do agree with you and the fact that we have lost supporters to generation Sky who would rather support the Arsenal & Manchester United teams from the comfort of their local pub/living room I do feel that there are still a fair few young(ish) supporters out there in their early-20's who do follow Town and take great pride in doing so.

Some people why I bother supporting little old Swindon however moments such as Leeds, Southampton and scoring a last minute equaliser against Norwich give such a simple answer.

We have introduced a new supporter to the Town End this season, before our friend was never interested in football (more a rugby man) to a great extent ('supported' Arsenal) however now since December loves his trips to Swindon and getting involved in the banter.  He bloody hates Leeds and is a right nutter!  If only we could get a few more along.

By the way, Jean-Francois is my hero.

GET HER AT THEM WAKE THEM UP WILSON COME ON

The reds are going up, WITH BEEF, The reds are going up, WITH BEEF!

Its true that armchair fans never get to expreience those rare moments of magic like Invincibles volley, Fallons overhead kick, Greers equaliser on saturday to a lesser extent.

The moments where in a big game something brilliant goes our way and everyone goes properly fucking nuts.  We've had to endure a fair ammount of depression to get moments like saturdays equaliser, time will tell weather in ends up being as important and Invinvbles goal for example.

You dont get that high if you dont go to games. fact.

agreed. I was shaking after the euqaliser on saturday, there's simply no other (legal) feeling like it. And then retelling it to my old man, who's missing it while on holiday in Oz. You don't get that at home.

Last Tuesday I had a meeting in London which overran, meaning I had to turn round en route to Southampton (traffic). I was excited we won, but can imagine how exciting it would have been to have been there. It just doesn;t compare. I can only imagine the feeling when Austin scored.

That feeling when you lose it, hug people you've never met before and fall over into the row/s in front - just doesn;t get any better.

And all these things we're achieving this season feel all the better because we've endured a decade of tripe. We've had the lows, now let the highs roll. I have a feeling Leeds away could eclipse the lot...