Thetownend.com

Di Canio receving positive response from fans, says Watkins
           

  PAOLO Di Canio’s appointment as Swindon Town manager has heralded an increase in new season ticket holders for the coming season, and chief executive Nick Watkins is delighted with the response
  from the fans.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/9072571.Di_Canio_receving_positive_response_from_fans__says_Watkins/?ref=rss
           

positive response but loads of stuff about people sending back season tickets and not coming due to the facist side, to me thats a "mixed response" ?

Watkins did say it was "very few" who sent back their tickets so it seems the overwhelming response has been positive.

I think most of the season ticket shortfall between last season and now is people that got them on the back of 09-10.
It's a very small (but vocal) number of people who have turned their back on the club due to PdC's devil worship.
4250 ST holders in League 2 is very impressive.

Do you just read what you want to read Gazza?

Some have expressed their unhappiness and sent their season tickets back but it is very few.

If you can find me more than 10 people who have done this then please do mate

Mixed response?  Are you having a laugh?  750 down on last season is incredible given the shite people had to put up with last season.

Get a grip.

I meant more to the point the article says its positive but spends more time highlighting the fact people returned tickest albeit very few.

Mixed response regarding the appointment of PDC not season ticket sales...

Not really loads of stuff. A minority of fans have sent back season tickets and murmered about how they don't agree about Paolo's politics but hardly the end of the world.

We've sold 4,250 season tickets in Division 4 after an absolute holocaust of a season. To me, that is a positive response.

Just to counter Gazza'a spin to the article


FFS Gazza, we can all read it.

Surprised adver haven't tried to contact Mex etc to try and get a story from them.... papers love negativity!!

Why Mex?  Sounds like you'd do nicely for them...

Because I haven't walked away due to the apointment of PDC. It makes a great story if a long time supporter, who had gone through a lot of shit to get to games, sometimes in pain, a former fan of the year leaves the club, the journos love that kind of thing.

But cancelled your manager sponsorship didn't you?

I respect that Mex is a man of principle and miss his posts.

However am i not right in saying he wasn't going to renew anyway this year though? Before the PDC announcement.

Even better, Poxford have only sold 3000 STs

http://www.oufc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10342~2373352,00.html

4,250 already is a great response I am impressed, if Hart had been appointed I feel that figure would have been under 2,000.

Yes but thats partly due to the cost as well... I was having a re-think as I have sponsored the manager for a few seasons now, PDC has dodged the question several times about his politics so thought he is here as manager lets get on with it, but the cost will go up massively as the club need to maximise revenues following relegation as they have told me. Not my fault we were relegated but the clubs finances etc are paramount so... cut your cloth accordingly and get the best deal for the club, not becuase someone has been loyal over time. I am sure I will be offered a player to sponsor should I want it at a more reasonable price. I will likely not bother and just use the money to go to some of the L2 grounds I need to go to.

Whilst the club have not said it and I will get first refusal on PDC Sponsorship, they have already said on more than one occasion that they have had several parties wanting to sponsor PDC, this meaning the price will go up by quite some margin I would imagine. I would imagine a company will be willing to sponsor PDC for a lot more than I would be and thus the club from a business standpoint can build a relationship with that sponsor instead of just a "fan".

In fairness a lot of people said that, once players start going and you get over the initial shitness of the season before you want the season to start again and fall in love with it again!

what is their stadium called now. been so long sinse i took any interest in the Pox i now know nothing about them.

google search tells me it's still the Kassam! but i thought he walked away a long time ago

He walked, but I think he still owns the stadium and the land around it.

He only bought them for the real estate at the manor and the chance of making a few quid out of the new development iirc.

ah that'd explain it. cheers

...and left them with an unfinished ground in one of the most dreary and inaccessible parts of town, right next to local sewerage treatment works.

Great legacy, that.  Glad it's not us.  The experience of match days there must be hellish...so in that context, I guess 3,000 season tickets isn't bad.  The 3,000 all deserve a f**king medal.

the chinese buffet on the complex opposite is very nice though

That's a great response. We were only selling 3500 season tickets back in the early/mid-90s (not Prem year obviously), and that was the old Div 2.

I haven't got mine yet but still intend to renew before the end of June.

Perhaps they're waiting for the press conference where PDC walks in doing the Roman salute and insists on all non domiciles to leave the room - at least then Mex can say "I told you so" - somehow I don't see it happening...

It would have been ideal for Rover's ground had it been in Bristol.

Where there's much there's gas.

Its not a mixed response, its an overwhelming endorsement. Time to put up or shut up Gazza.

I think Di Canio will improve our walk up sales more than our ST sales as well.

Thoroughly impressed with the response from our fans, many on here were predicting a lot would throw it the towel. Lets not disgrace ourselves and finnish the season with a lower average than the Pox.

Plus I dont care if where we finish as long as its above Oxford!!!!

So you don't care if we don't go up then?

Well yes but if we dont as long as we finish about the pox.

so it'd be a successful season if we finished 10th and the pox 11th?

us finishing above pox + no promotion < us not finishing above pox + promotion

My feelings exactly.

Not successful but better them finish 10th and us finish 11th and us not go up.

the only way next season for me will be successful is if we're promoted. whether it be automatic or playoffs

The games vs Oxford next year are going to be important, no doubt about it.  But I'm not about to start using them as our benchmark for success.  They're just one of 23 other sides in the division that we need to finish above.

I'm confident that we'll be up there; finished 5 points off the play-offs last season and have already added the experience at the back that we were missing last season.

As a relatively impartial outsider its more or less impossible to assess your chances. When you look at your 2011 form its clear to see that there are some pretty deep-lying problems and that some major rebuilding needs to take place. But a new managerial appointment and clearing out a load of players is a good start.

The celebrity managerial appointment is anyones guess. I'd be inclined to say that there will be an adjustment period (again, how long this takes is anyones guess - a few months, six months, a season) whilst he gets used to actually being a manager for the first time, and then also becoming familiar with a division that I suspect he knows little about. He could also hit the ground running and be a complete natural, or it could go really badly. I would't put any bets on you, put it that way.

It'll be interesting to see who you sign, and that might unmuddy the waters a little.


Kassam is a complete cunt and I'd take the Manor back any day with its 7 stands because it was a proper old football ground, but the new ground isn't the dreadful experience that you exaggerate it to be. You never smell the sewage works for instance, I don't even know where they are. I'd guess where the big Thames Water signs are, which is a little way from the ground.

Our attendances can't be knocked really, based on last seasons averages we are the 7th best supported side outside of the Championship and have solid away numbers.

di canio has clearly got many people excited. If we don't come out the blocks flying our gates will be shit despite decent season ticket sales.
It's shit or bust this coming season. I'm hopeful and more optimistuc by the day that it's gonna be a good un

"Our attendances can't be knocked really, based on last seasons averages we are the 7th best supported side outside of the Championship and have solid away numbers."

They're not bad i'll give you that. 7th i think is pushing the truth a tad mind.

The main importance of the games against O*frod, are as an indicator of how far we've sunk. It's a bit of a smack in the chops to actually have to play them in a league game after so long....that they're probably favorites to win at the CG, just goes to show the pit that we've fallen into....

When Macari took over a shit side it took him a season to get things sorted....get rid of the deadwood, get in some new better players, start to get competitive, especially at home. If di Canio can do something similar then he'll be doing well.

I know, I was laying it on think deliberately.   ;)

Have to hold my hand up and admit that I've never seen a game there, either.  (Visited the Manor many times in the 1990s, but was in an East End pub with a crowd of London based Town fans for the FA Cup game in 2002.)  I had a good look at the new ground a few years later though after karting nearby at a friend's stag weekend and couldn't escape the feeling that the planners had pushed the football club as far away as they possibly could without it actually leaving Oxford all together.  Not surprising given the city's history, I suppose.

 :fishing:

Sorry just checked, 10th

Is that behind us? Genuine question.

Do you have a link where i could have a look fella

Reginald nearly got me on the end of his line there.

Fair play O*ford fan. I'm a sucker for the facts though.

http://www.emfootball.co.uk/attend.html

If you like facts, then you'll know that we're on an all time historic run without a home win...

Can't disagree with much of your post Oxford Fan, however Kassam is not a cunt but a legend and as for the Manor - worst ground ever. Don't take my word for but Jon Ladd in his guide to football grounds (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Football-Grounds-1998-season/dp/0711026017) book. Sample quotes:


And:


And:


And:


And:


The place was a dump - fit for purpose for the team that played there.

We were the 7th best supported team in League 1 last year (behind Southampton, Charlton, Huddersfield, Sheff Weds, Plymouth & Franchise) with an average home attendance of 8,454.

http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D2/attend.html

Oxford were the 2nd best supported team in League 2 last year (behind Bradford) with an average home attendance of 7,277.

http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D3/attend.html

Thankyou

I dont care where we finished as long as its above everyone else.

Nah the Manor was great, you won't sway me on that. A few on here have admitted to seeing its charms, despite the dreadful experience for away fans. Beautiful ground.

Petrol station next door was better

I quite liked the manor ground.

I loved the Manor Ground.

It had 9 stands not 7, I'm sure.

That shed thing in the corner between Beech Road and Cuckoo lane was a stand.

Wasn't there 3 stands on Osler Road ?

It also sold stuff that could have improved the manor ground immeasurably

I'm sure I counted 16 once ???

Hmmmm...I suspect I may have been pissed when I counted them :hmmm:


9 looks a bit closer..

[url width=561 height=368]http://www.oldgrounds.co.uk/oxfrd10.jpg[/url]

I loved going to the Manor ground.... it wasn't necessarily salubrious but it had soul! The Kassam seems like many of the other "new" stadia - feels plastic and souless.

Bit like comparing Soton's Dell and St Mary's or Highbury v The Emirates. I liked The Dell - I haven't been inside St Mary's but I suspect it feels similar to all the other new stadia that have sprouted up in the last 10-15years.

Jonah

It feels exactly that way Jonah, almost like you're in the walkers, or another of these off the shelf stadiums just with red seats.

Come off it, the Dell was a brilliant tight football ground.

The Manor was a few cowsheds bolted together. Neither it nor the Kassam are or were ever any good. In fact, Id say the Manor included all the worst features of old grounds, and the Kassam includes all the worst features of modern ones. No rose tinted spectacles necessary.