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whilst flipping through the tv channels on saturday afternoon i caught a bit of the george weah 'jubilee' game on eurosport. they had people playing like desailly, zidane, eto'o, song, melchiot, drogba, cisse... pretty much the best african players plus a few others. it was a bit like the tsunami match but without all the bigger names. i think it was something to do with marseille aswell?

anyway, it got me thinking, surely swindon could arrange a 'jubilee' match with all the quality players we've had over the last 10 or so years? we could have the wembley heroes of '93 against the div 2 champions of '96? i'm sure there are still people at the club who have contacts with former players? digby still works there, he can go in goal, then there are people like paul bodin, steve white, tom jones & alan macloughlin who all still work locally & i'm sure would take part. fair enough players like fjortoft wouldn't do it but i'm sure the likes of duncan shearer, micky hazard & craig maskell could be hunted down & persuaded to play? there must be loads of ex-players that would be up for a run around & a giggle

if it was arranged, promoted & marketed well (tickets no more than £10 - £15!!) i reckon we could be on to a winner. i would definatly go & watch the legends back in action. what do you guys think?

It's a fantastic idea and I would love to go and see that, particularly as I only began watching Swindon semi-regularly over the last couple of seasons when I've gained my independence by learning to drive, but it won't happen and it wouldn't be very profitable.  Sorry to be negative, but there is a reason why this sort of thing only happens with the big names.

The County Ground failed to draw 6,000 for many home games this season in a year which might well have seen us go onto bigger and better things had we successfully built on last season.  The year we made the playoffs, played superb attacking football and had a character on the pitch who many people enjoyed watching often saw us only rake in attendences of 6-7K.  So for all the oldies to come and play at the CG, we would undoubtedly have a lowered attendence, in addition to the fact that many players would charge extortionate fees for playing.

I think it's a great idea and in the absence of a pre-season friendly it would be an ideal opportunity to utilise the window we've got free and bring some money into the club this summer.

yeah i see your point walrus, but still a good idea in principle. if the players came out for free it might be worthwhile. i reckon we would get a few thousand out to watch, the same as a pre-season friendly, and maybe even some of the older 'stay away' fans who haven't been for years would turn up?

if swindon put half as much effort into advertising & promotion for something like this as they have with the elton john concert it might get somewhere.

Personally, I think it's a cracking idea. But the problem is in this bit:


That's a big if for a club that can't even manage to sort out its own season ticket incentives in time for the early bird deadline.

i remember the club doing a game like this a few years ago at the county ground. it was like a random select 11 take on a swindon 11. Glenn Hoddle, Steve White, Calderwood, Taylor all played. I was Ballboy  8)

Would be superb.

Would cost a bit to get going so someone would have to have some capital and initiative to make it happen so that rules out the club!

Pre-season would be the best time of year what with a lot of ex-players still involved in the game or driving taxis.  Throw in a few of the current team and you'd cut your costs like accomodation and travelling expenses right down.

Anyone up to the task?

i'd give it a thought  8)

We could just play a home friendly with the current squad vs. a team of old players.  At least our team would get to play in front of the home fans before tha season kicks off.

Going on from that, we could ask Shaun Taylor to play/manage the old boys, he's not up to much at the moment.

Tell you what would be fucking class, if that Norweigan bloke tuned up.

i can get hold of mickey hazard, he may still be in contact with some of the older players.

Shall we pitch it to the club, as valued sponsors for the club?

But would Mickey want to do it after we banned him from here.

shame im talking about the real one.

So was I.

:)  BWB i hate to break it to you but micky hazard was god wasn't actually the real one!

Are you sure though as my sources suggested otherwise. He's a taxi driver now.

Yeah he is a taxi driver now. also works with spurs under 14. He got offered the palace job before dowie but he turned it down.

i bet palace are happy he turned it down. great cv though....spurs under 14's!!  :o

It was because of personal reasons and his son that he was coaching them.

Just spoke to ash he suggested old loan players vs old school team. whats the opinions on that?

Would be cracking but getting some of the better recent loan players would be a problem as most will either be on holiday or pre-season with their respective clubs.

if anything does happen i think it will have to happen at the end of the season rather than before it begins in the next month or so. needs more planning than first thought.

I'd turn up if Jan Aage played. I'd love to see him back. Even just once. He's such a legend. People who never saw Jan Aage play don't know what they missed. Better than Pele.

Marie if you can get of Mickey Hazard get him on here for a chat/interview/question and answer session.

il see what i can do...many people up for that?

8) Everyone will be .Hazard is a legend 8)  8)  8)  8)  8)  8)  8)  8)  8)

Yeah but I'd prefer Jan Aage

She doesn't know him knob head!

Jan Aage has a bit of a reputation as a fruit loop outside of the UK.

I think he's still managing a Norweigan team, forget the name, but that would be a cracking friendly.

bring his team here for pre season?

Jan Aage Fjortoft was the best town player I have ever seen and ive seen a few....

Just want to say no matter who people from here talk to etc and try to arrange this wont happen.  And even if it did happen how many people would turn up, the 5,000 true mugs of swindon..  We need to face facts here the town doesnt support this club, they do not care.... quite frankly why waste our time.  If you guys do this and get 10,000 people there I will run around the pitch naked!

Part of me now wants this idea to fail...  :?

he's manager/director of football or something at lillestrom. if anyone can read norweigen have a look here http://www.lsk.no/index.htm . i also noticed they have uwe rosler & gunnar halle on the management team. you are right though dazzza would be great if they came over for a pre-season game.

with regards to the 'legends' game, i think it would be impossible to organise for this summer, but maybe the club could look into it for next summer? i reckon it would need a lot of promotion & advertising though if they wanted to get a decent crowd, starting around xmas and then continuing through 'til summer, gradually announcing more & more players that have commited to playing. that way it would kind of build a bit of excitment (?)

i agree people like fjortoft would be the major crowd pullers though

Fjortoft up front, with a midfield of Horlock and Hoddle?  Tasty.

another thought i just had was that if the county ground does ever get knocked down & redeveloped, they could arrange something like this to mark the last ever game there?

Why?

you want the current squad, some oldies and a team of fans playing a mini league tournement thing

I think we'd show the current players a thing or two :advercool:

Id two foot nicolas

I'd have loved to do the same to Howard. fat prick.

I'dfancy having a kick at Rory or Duke...

Fuck kicking Fallon, hes twice the size of me and has a nasty streak :?

I think that was the game I went to in October 2000, was a Sunday and weather was crap (gales etc) so about 2,500 turned up, was raising money for NSPCC.

Steve White got a hat-trick, Fraser was in goal, although they played him up front later on to give the show-biz team a chance.

Also remember Bodin, Calderwood, Taylor, Hoddle, Gorman etc playing, can't think who else.

Angus Deaton played for Showbiz team, he was not bad, Tim Lovejoy was playing, the rest I've forgotten. :D