Thetownend.com

QPR takeover set to speed up Clarke move
           

  PAOLO Di Canio is waiting to speak with QPR's new owners and get the green light to complete a move for Leon Clarke.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/9204332.QPR_takeover_set_to_speed_up_Clarke_move/?ref=rss
           

Clarke may not be the answer to all our prayers but if nothing else he was give us a well needed lift prior to the game - which I think we all need - I dont think there is a partiuclarly confident vibe at the moment.

Clarke is like Marmite to be honest you'll either like him or hate him. I have a good feeling about him and he'll definitely score goals for us at this level and league one.

I don't know much about him as a player but Prem to L2? Something about that doesn't make sense to me. Are there no clubs in between QPR and us who rate him!?!

He was a reserve player in a Championship side who got promoted, and is being linked with a team who want him to fire them to promotion... whilst I see your point, it's hardly Tevez to Hereford.

This could be a distraction we dont need. He's probably in no rush to join us.

Wrong! A deal has been agreed with Clarke and his agent just waiting for QPR to sanction the move.  PDC is hoping to speak with the QPR board tonight and the deal will probably be a loan to start with, with a view to being permanent

I hope it will be a loan move to start with.  This will give us a good chance to have a look at him and if he does well offer him a permanent contract.  You can look at this move as a distraction or a welcome boost when it does happen, just depends if your glass is half full or half empty.

rjack, does your source say if we will get him before sun, GOD we need him

The issue lingering in the back of my mind is that this guy is 26 years of age and cannot find another club other than Swindon. He is hitting the peak of his career and he's willing to play in Divvy 4?

He's only dropped below the Championship through loan deals (Southend I recall being quite decent a few years back) and to be honest I half expect QPR to tear up his contract instead of a loan deal as Warnock will probably want rid.

he's actually had offers from a championship club & 2 league one clubs but he's still keen to join.  Must the PDC effect  ;)

I think it's money.

RJack - this is a genuine question, and I'm not asking for names.  You seem to know an awful lot before anyone else - where do you get this information?

Is that not a nagging doubt you're going to have about anyone who shows an interest in us with any sort of track record or reputation?  It's like the ugly lass tormenting herself with dark thoughs of 'Why is he interested in me?'

Frankly, I think she needs to thank her lucky stars and get on with it.

BBC Radio Swindon it was mentioned on there a few days ago that he had interest from a championship club & League one clubs.  Also on QPR forums that we're not the only club to come in for him

Fair enough - you clearly do more research than the rest of us!

I was just interested in what QPR fans had to say about him which isn't great to be honest but it also mentions interest from other clubs higher than us

Possibly. I'm NOT knocking his ability or writing off his intentions but modern football my experiences following a lower league football club has left me quite cynical.

This is something we all have in common, and the healthy cynicism is something we should be proud of.  I tried explaining this to my three year old last week during a 'what is Swindon?' and 'what is football?' conversation, but I don't think he's quite got it yet.

I'm 21 years in since my first Town game... I don't think I've quite got it yet either.

I was going to say the exact same thing -even the number of years.  Weird.

Being a Swindon fan is like riding a rollercoaster, that is what i have learnt in the years of my support  8)

Same here.  What was your first game?  Mine was this:

STFC 0-1 Bristol City (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910103)

Junior Bent used to have one good game a season...and it was always against us.

A couple of months later during a trip to England: Swindon Town 1-2 Port Vale. First game a loss and first Town goal is an O.G.  ::)

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910115 (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910115)

I see supporting Town more similar to getting kicks out of pain.

40 years since my first game - a 3-1 win home to Pompey. Its all been downhill since.

To be fair...it hasn't.

It feels like it. 40 years ago we were a decent Div 2 team.

Whilst reading about your first games I had to look mine up as I thought it was a similar date

21 NOV 1989   3R    Bolton Wanderers (Home)    2 - 1 AET    White, MacLaren

and thus the love/hate relationship began.

That series of games was absolutely epic. That must have been the third replay I think. The first game was a classic, ending up 3-3. I was gutted not to have won at the time but looking back it was a fantastic game. Bolton were a bloody good side at the time (and a division lower) but we were better. What a side that was.

I know what you mean.  I think we all think that the side we knew when we started following was basically where it should be.  As a result, without really wanting to, every team sheet I've seen since 1990 gets compared to Digby, Kerslake, Shearer, Calderwood & Simpson.  (They don't usually measure up.)

And I still think of sides like Stoke and Burnley as being beneath us...on the basis that they actually were in 1990.  I know it's all wrong, but I can't help it.  I keep thinking that our natural place in the pecking order is somewhere between the Championship and League 1 - and then I look at the attendance figures in last Sunday's paper and it, unhelpfully, backs up that view.  (Did you know that there was only one game in League 1 last Saturday that beat our crowd against Crewe?  True story.)

I'm rambling.

How on earth do you lot remember games from 40 years ago? I struggle to remember the games i went to last year (easy to forget, i know) let alone my first game.

What i do remember is that it was before the scoreboard was put up as my old man kept asking me the score to see if i was paying attention. And, the Town End looked great fun.

Same here Ardiles (not sure about Simpson though!). I remember going to the likes of West Brom and Birmingham EXPECTING to win!

One day....one day we'll be there again.  Honestly, I do believe that.  Otherwise, what's the point?

I like your optimism Ossie, but it seems like an absolute pipe dream to me now.  We used to start the season in Div 2 against the likes of Leicester, Pompey, Wolves, Sunderland, West Ham, Birminham etc and seriously think that we could win the whole bloody thing!!!  The minimum attendance in that division seems to be about 15,000 now which is a full ground for us.

When I started going in the late 70's, we were generally a third division side and more and more, the second division phase (and prem) through the late 80's and to the mid-90's is now seeming like the over-achieving period rather than us currently being in an under-achieving period.  League 1 (Div. 3) seems about right for a while until something massively changes.
Keep believing and we might all join you in time.

Yep...take that.  But look a little more closely.  Millwall's attendances, for example, are stuck at around 12,000...and they're two leagues above us.  We're guaranteed to get that on Sunday.  I honestly don't think we're that far off.  At the present time, we are definitely punching below our weight in terms of attendances/potential.  Sorry if that sounds a bit South Yorkshire (you know who I mean) but that's the way I see it.  Even in League 1, we would still be one of the better supported clubs.  That's why Paolo getting us out of this league at the very earliest opportunity is imperative.  We can then work from there.

To temper what I've already said, I do accept that there's a limit to our aspirations.  I was lucky enough to start following the Club in 1990, which meant I got in there just in time for 1993/94.  I do accept that is unlikely that we will ever make the Prem again during my lifetime.  However, I do think that sustained periods in Division Two should not be beyond us.  Blackpool and Doncaster are there right now, and I'm certain that we have better long term potential than both of those clubs.

South Yorkshire?! Try again...

Already with Ossie Winston.No reason in principle why we shouldn't be a decent championship outfit.We have pretty wealthy backing investors.First we need to get a decent manager(not sure about Di Canio yet), and importantly keep him for a decent period of time.Given the incredible financial instability at the club before the current board took over, it's not surprising we have struggled.We were a third division side when I first went to the cg in 66/67 season just as Danny Williams was putting the final touches to the 69 cup winning side.We had been relegated, sold our star players,and no one could have foreseen the success that was to follow.No reason now why we can't have a good side again.

I was thinking of Wednesday!!  (But I know who you were thinking of.   :D)  OK...let widen it to 'Yorkshire'.

My first game was home against Hull City in '79. It ended 0-0.

So I feel I have seen the bad, then the good, then the bad, then a little bit of good, then mostly bad....

I agree with Ardiles wholeheartedly, we simply have to believe that we can get back to the Championship, it has to be a (realistic) target. But first we need upward momentum, it seems we've been without it for so blimin' long!

I also think that we need to get the ground sorted, one thing that all the "traditionally smaller teams" that have risen through the leagues have in common is modern improved/new grounds - its as if they're cataysts for success. Doncaster, Reading, Blackpool etc.

Wow, coincidence! I am 99% sure that was my first ever game aswell!! It was definitely a cup game v Bolton in 1989 that was my first game anyway (not sure if we played them at home in the original tie?)

It says it was the Littlewoods cup on a site I just found, it was the 'Zenith Data Systems cup' in my memory though?

My first game was in 89. I was 3! I have no idea who it was against.

can't remember my first home game as I was too busy trying to work out in the first half why there were 15 numbers on the townend advertising hoarding and then got even more confused when the man was putting random numbers underneath them - took me 3 more games to work out why he was doing it... I think I must have looked like a retard spending more time looking at numbers than the game

Yeah we played them at home in the 3-3 first tie:
http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Results.asp?Season=1989-1990

Doesn't memory play tricks. For years I thought it was Port Vale. The only things I remember about the game (my first live game) were sitting in the yellow seats,  how mental it looked in the Old Shrivvy Road, the chanting between the Shrivvy and the Town End (we should be embarrassed these days), and Ross Mclarens winner into the Stratton Bank goal.

Dave Keats has a lot to answer for (his dad took us to the game - I think the other lad Neil still supports Town too judging from his facebook posts).

Two games with over 16K at the CG that season. Terracing gone but not forgotten...

http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19900402

My first game.  What a glory hunter.  Stood in the townend with the ripped up newspaper all over the place, I was hooked. 

My first game:

http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19690141 (http://swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19690141)

Probably a bit of a glory hunter too as just a month after the League Cup win with the same team playing 1 to 11.
In my memory we sat on wooden benches at the side of pitch in front of what in now the Arkells Stand (before that was buillt though).
My first 12 games watching Town, spread over a few years, were all draws!

I saw us beat stoke 1-0, for my 7th birthday. think peter thorne scored. the one thing i remember from the day is turning round to see a kid in a man utd jacket, and asking my dad rather loudly why he'd where such a thing at a swindon match.

He did,  as you know it was 1997 and that was my wifes first game too (she wasn't my wife then and she still married me). She's also seen an Oxford game and hated it due to the unique atmosphere :)

In fact all the family thus far have enjoyed wins in their first game. My eldest was a 6-0 drubbing of Port Vale. I'll save the youngest for a game that matters....

Ossie and DWIG.  I love your positivity and am more than willing to come along with you.  Last year has clearly taken its toll on my outlook, but it does seem a bloody long way off!!  The Championship feels like our Premier League now and I have to believe we could get there in time.

For all the "first game" posts.  Mine was Swindon vs Watford in 1978 and we won 2-1.  I remember Andy Rowland scoring an overhead kick in front of the Town End.  I saw it again more recently on a video and I believe it is also on the brilliant www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk and I have to say it was a lot less spectacular than I remember it as a 5 year old!!!

Let the good times roll.

Sunday? :D

Enjoying the harking back to happier times. Let's hope that we're back there or thereabouts soon.

I think technically the first game I was in attendance for was this

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19880109 (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19880109)

but the first game I actually remember going to was a 2-2 draw against Oldham I think sometime in '91.

My first ever game was this one
http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19870601

I don't actually remember the first game I attended. I was definitely there for the first game of the 1990 season away at http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910101 (http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910101), so I'm guessing my first was at some point during the season before because I can remember listening to the play-off final match while I was on holiday.

Those were the days.

Home to Colchester 83/84 - crowd of just over 3,000 was about average for that season.

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19840112

I also dont recall my first game exactly, a mates Dad used to take me in the late 70's, maybe early 80's  (my Dad wasnt interested)..I remember being pretty bored for most of it to be honest.

However, around that time I recall beating Aldershot 7-0 at the CG, so if anyones remembers that game...lets call that my first. (may have been 6)

We can play guess the age of the poster from this thread.



Post edit...I clearly remember less than I thought, cant find a 7 -0 win over aldershot anywhere, must be thinking of the 8-0 win over bury...who fookin knows.

My first game

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19750103

Fuck me that seems a long time ago !

My first game: http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19920114

My old man worked Saturdays so i used to go on the odd occasion with my gramp or with my mate and his dad.

Swindon 1 - 1 Charlton

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/MatchCentre.asp?MatchID=19910121

Some old bastard on here took me. Who the hell was Richard Green?

Watch it.

When was the deadline to play on Sunday again? 12 noon today or tomorrow?

I think it is noon today, as the FA/League admin don't work weekends.

Not sure if this was my first game, but it's the earliest one I can remember...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qA2tduJTkw

Its worked for crawley, they just loaned a QPR player for six month. Whats the hold up?

Maybe we are not trying to loan someone

Cryptic DRS!

Think I have cracked it though!

Yep me too Cunt......................stable on his way to sign an 8 year contract with us  ;)

QPR just announced Clarke's contract has been terminated

Even if he signed now, it'd be too late for him to play this weekend wouldn't it?

We have untill midday tomorrow

No according to previous links to the FL rules that say "noon the day before....", no mention of working day

Confirmed here (http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~2425720,00.html)

Latest tweet from @SkyGraemeBailey:
Skysports.com understands Leon Clarke is set to join Swindon Town after leaving QPR. #stfc

Just seen that. He might be making an appearance on Sunday then! Although I seem to remember Di Canio saying he'd be on the bench if he signed.

Sounds really promising. I just hope the paperwork's sorted in time for him to play on Sunday (if the FL are working tomorrow).

I just hope Huddersfield aren't interested!