Thetownend.com

From Martin Howard via Twitter.


Thoughts?

Its going to upset people, but I really couldn't give a toss what we play in.

It's a white kit. Quite nice really.

Hope its not fucking yellow

Quite excited to see this to be honest. But lets say it's white and then we get drawn away against a side that wear white? Surely that would be a TOTAL fail?

Have you seen it? Who are the 'top sponsors'?

Is there a clue in the twit!!

Is it Claret and Blue? Or Sky Blue?

I was always slightly relieved that we didn't do what Plymouth did during Paul Sturrock's first tenure at Home Park and introduce a bight orange away kit.

It's a white shirt & we will be wearing it in the playoff final at the end of the season

Let it go ;)

I understand that blah blah blah now a days blah blah blah football is all about the money blah blah blah and all that

However, why the fuck do we need a FA Cup kit? answer is we fucking dont.

Home kit, an Away kit and then a third kit should there be teams in our league whose home colours clash with both our home and away kit (which is highly bloody likely with red and white)

I miss the old days!

Why would you not 'give a toss'?...I really don't understand.

So we could turn out in yellow and green next week followed by blue and white hoops the next and you wouldn't 'give a toss'? Is that what you're saying?

Yep. I really don't understand the uproar about kits.

So, we're bringing out a new kit for the FA Cup?   That will be £38 well spent for anyone who buys one considering our recent record revolves around being knocked out in the early stages by non league opposition.

And colour of the kit does matter, it's tradition.  Our first kit is red and white, always has been, always should be including Play Off Finals at Wembley.  Things could have been so different if only we'd stuck to our home kit!  And yes, even now it still grates on me.

We should play in red and white home and away unless there is a clash of kits where we play our second kit. No need for a third kit regardless of who the sponsor is. We're Town we play in red and white.... end of. No need for this fucking around.

Are we making money from The People as an 'exclusive story'...personally won't be buying it would prefer to spend it on another Away Day!

It's going to be white and the sponsor....'Fly Emirates'...Sweepstakes anyone?

Haven't we had 3 kits for the last two  seasons (the black kit and the blue kit)?

Or did I miss something and this is a 4th :?!

I take it The People is the sponsor as they are co-sponsoring the Win a Pro Contract thing with Samsung:

http://www.people.co.uk/sport/football/news/2011/10/30/peoplesport-s-dean-jones-has-swindon-trial-for-win-a-pro-contract-102039-23524543/

No picture of the shirt though.

Our home kit is red, our away is black. This 'FA Cup' strip will be our 3rd. Unless I too have missed something. People will buy it and the club gets more money. No harm for me.

If we dont play in Red at home in the Cup then they can shove it. I wont be there.

Had hoped they had sorted this mickey mouse nonsense out, but obviously not.

I'm not crazy about it myself Spence, but not pissed off enough to miss a match because of it. Particularly if it forges a new relationship with a "high profile" sponsor .

The Wembley farce still pissed me off mind.

My word I hope we get away draws.

Its a personal choice, I dont expect anyone else to avoid it.

To be honest, the FAC is crap now anyway. English football far too unequal to make it interesting.

Just exhibtion games. The Crawley attendance showed how much the fans care about the FAC, we would get more for a JPT first round game. Not worth the effort. The FA have ruined English football in terms of competition, lower league teams ignoring their flagship would be a good wake up call for them, instead of this treadmill of doom we seem to be on in terms of financial inequality.

But the kit change is the last straw.

I'm surprised nobody has brought up that there are still supporters in this town who won't buy the People Newspaper as they were the paper that brought out and delved into the story our the macarihilliergate scandal. I'm not one of them but obviously that feeling may have died down over the years

i demand to see a picture of this kit

Best I could do.

Hmmmmm....pretty naff really.

'The People', what a scummy sponsor. Oh well, I expect we'll get knocked out in the 1st Round anyway.

i see your "pretty naff really" and raise it to "fucking shite"

I just hope the 'Win a Contract' victor is good enough this year. I hear that Pavett rooms with Milan Misun somewhere...

Nice kit ruined by the logo.

I actually quite like third kits, just like having Swindon kits in different colours- useful for 5aside or whatever. But yeah, wearing them at home is another sign of everything that's wrong with football etc. etc.

Spectacular home goal.

Any fan who buys that kit with that logo on it is a complete idiot.

Home goal?

oops.

Ive done that before as well! Tit.

Agreed, the sponsor makes it look naff. If it didn't have such a ludicrously large sponsor logo I might have been tempted to buy it.

haha. I used to think it was home goal as well!!

When I was about 5! :)

Alright Orange, keep it friendly!  :)

I'm actually embarrassed that the club has anything to do with that shirt.  Anyone who buys it is a mug.

Unless we get to the final of course ;)

I love the current owners of this club but they seem to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the kit.

It's not hard. WE PLAY IN RED.

1) At home at ALL TIMES

2) At all other times we still play in red apart from when there is a clash (i.e Wembley '10...and no, I ain't never going to let that go)

It's our history, our tradition. It is our past, present and future. The only constants with any club are the fans and the club colours. Take those away and you have 11 blokes kicking a ball around.

How anyone can either not understand that or not care about it is totally beyond me.

Embarrassed by this to be honest, it looks like a charity kit. Absolute rag of a paper too.

I refuse to watch us at home unless we're wearing red.

It does feel a bit 'Kingswood Construction', doesn't it.

Sunday league kit

I'd rather have them back than have 'The People' as a sponsor. What a fucking joke.

Anyone who buys this is an idiot, especially with the sponsor.
And before anyone says 'all money for the club', buy the fucking RED home shirt, our shirt.

Fucking hate 3rd shirts.

Xanadu Road, Atlantis.

Don't like the idea of us wearing anything other than red at home, although the colour of the shirts won't stop me watching them.

Shit idea from the club (Although it's obviously a business decision that will make us more money) met by a typically over the top reaction by some supporters.

But the clubs very first colour was white shirts with black shorts, followed by green shirts with white shorts so its not like we have ALWAYS played in red and white.

I dont like the kits but it brings in extra money, yes its a shit shirt sponsor especially considering the past dealings with the paper.

Oh and for the record, yes I do think that if drawn at home we should play in our home kit no matter what, this isn't the fucking Champions League FFS.

No, but we have done since 1918. That's long enough to count as 'always' in my book.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Swindon_Town/Swindon_Town.htm

It looks like a training kit, with a crappy logo. Am i the only person who knows pretty much nothing about The People newspaper? is it shite?

All you need to know is that The People broke the story of the Macari illegal payments that ended up in our eventual relegation from the top division.

I (and countless other Swindon fans) still hate them for this and would never entertain buying the crap newpaper.

Complete wank and the club have made another mistake but on previous form, its not like its going to be around for too long. Given the Wembley 10 debacle which Wray ackowledges was a mistake, I don't know why the club have done this - presumably a few quid in the coffers.

I'm all for the club trying to make a bit more money wherever possible, but a 4th division side cashing in on a cup-only kit encapsulates everything that is wrong with modern football.

Not to get into this again, but without individuals from within the club feeding them facts they wouldn't of had a story.

It was a well known fact at the time that many clubs were doing the same thing, but they never got caught because no-one was willing to shit on their own doorstep and release the facts.

I don't particularly like the newspaper to be fair, but from what I recall they didn't print anything that wasn't true.

watch poxford at home come out now... wow what a disgrace, (Ill still go) unless they raise prices as its a "A" grade game and you get the people for an extra pound with your programme ::)

Didnt even know The People still existed.

No fucker will buy this kit, we might not be at home and if we are the chances are it will be for 1 game probably.

Can't see the point of this even from a financial point of view, the only way this works for the club is if we get a home tie on TV and that it pretty unlikely.

Nasty shirt with a nasty sponsor. The headline underneath is worrying me.

i'm not sure of the point of this shirt, it could be used for 1 game,

spurs have 3 sponsors for different competitions they're guaranteed to be in the europa league and it won't be a 1 game wonder (potentially).

do the club think being in the people will turn people into town fans? if people watch football the chances are they won't bother deciding "you know what, i will pay £25 to watch that funny italian feller who caught that ball once (pdc, not lanzano) jump about and tell his bench what should've happened"...

I hope we draw Preston or Tranmere so we can't wear it.

uddersfield

We can't wear white against them. White and blue stripes will clash.

No we will wear white, they will wear their away kit.

That is red.  :badmood:

Better quality picture.

Ew.

If we wear this, I hope we get knocked out in the first round. What a pointless fucking excercise.

We will get beat I should imagine, Huddersfield are a tough side, a silly stunt by the club to make a profit and gain exposure. Could backfire if we get knocked out. Imagine we make it to Wembley with the JPT, wonder if we would wear this then?  :wink:

Wank kit Wank Draw IMO

So we will be playing against a team in red at the county ground?

That's just fucking wrong.

The "Come on you Reds" animation on the scoreboard will be amusing, if its used.

I am pleased that its come too early for Leon Clarke to have been playing for Udders (if the rumours are true) that would have really fired the fucker up.

Not that bad a draw, yes they are pretty good this season but we have had our moments, it wont be on TV as its not high profile enough but we have a great chance of going through as we are at home and our home form aint that bad TBF.

Fuck me that kit is truly wank and the sponsor can go fuck themselves (for their role in Macarigate as already said) .

And that draw is wank too. Hope it gets frozen off and rearranged for a Tuesday, we beat them on Tuesdays.

Reminds me of this.............


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3416238/The-Sun-backs-FA-Cup-minnows-Crawley-against-Wayne-Rooney-Co.html

Why....its a kit....if they wear a Donald Duck kit i wouldn't give two shits.....to hope we get knocked out because of the kit is bonkers.
No disrespect to you people who seem to be upset about the kit isn't it a little trivial compared to what teams like Plymouth are going through...i dont get what the fuss is about.....yeah its a crap kit but who gives a shite if we are wearing it at Old Trafford in round three.

Just seen it

What a pile of wank cunt.

Anyone who buys it will need sectioning

Yes im looking at you Gary Stanley ;)

Yes ............... its a shit kit

Yes ................ it is a commercial exercise

Yes ................ The People are wankers

Will it stop me following STFC .............................. Will it fuck

Some of you fuckers need to get a fucking grip

Seriously !!!!!

Agree to a point.

If we wear this kit away from home I don't see a problem.

It just seems wrong to wear it at home & force the opposition to wear red.

I just cant imagine anyone else doing it, seems daft to me.

I agree.

i plan to delete my account during the 90 minutes we were this kit in disgust

How much do you think the People newspaper are paying us for this?

Bennetts having some sort of existential crisis

We did that against Crawley last season...and it was so wrong.

I refuse to buy the People or any Mirror Group title due to the demotion. Yes they might not have printed any lies, but who owned the title at the time?

A certain Robert Maxwell, who used to own the Pox !!

I'll now have to explain to a young kid,who I've been taking to the CG this season, why we're not playing in red at home...and he won't understand it !!

4k, to offset what we lost when GMB stopped.sponsoring us ;)

There are plenty of other STFC games I can spend money on going to.

How much are 'The People' paying us? How much did this kit cost to manufacture? How many fans not turning up will it take for them to realise that messing with the clubs identity is not acceptable?

But the fact that the kit is at the behest of 'The People' makes it even more rediculous.

I guess some twat at Mirror Groups marketing team said, 'we dont sell many papers in Swindon'? There might be a reason for that.

Pretty disappointed that we've done a deal with that newspaper.

Not sure but it will all be handed over in brown paper bags ;)

Ive not read the whole thread but get the gist,what if the sponsership is used to offset a price decrease for the game? Is it then acceptable?

Straight to the point Fred as always :clap:

Or on the piss.

Such is the disgraceful nature of modern football.

But as long as Swindon win, the players could all play in Halloween costumes for all I care


as long as they are red ;)

A few good points though

I am afraid you have caught me on a sober Sunday

You bang on and on about our fans piss poor vocal support and portray yourself as some sort of "fan's voice"

but to say that you wont attend any CUP games because of a fucking kit is quite frankly pathetic and just proves you are not as in tune with the rest of the fans as your ego would like you to believe.

Whilst I fully stand behind your voice about the Wembley kit, you are so far wide of the mark on this one it's embarrassing.

FAC games. Ive not encouraged anyone else not to go to the game. I havnt said 'I hope we lose' or anything stupid like that. Ive said I wont be going, thats my choice.

The only way for fans to take a stand against bad practice is at their own clubs. Thats the only way to change club football for the better. Its been a series of small steps that has got English club football into the money obsessed, whoring the game mentality we are in now. No one listens to fans in this country, because no one makes a stand.

I certainly do not think I am in tune with most fans.

And believe me...he wont care.....you may well do,but he wont.

Spence

I more than most understand and can identify with what "the few" can do, believe me

I am not saying that you have encouraged other people not to attend FAC games have I ?

That is your stance, its up to you. I disagree and think it is childish but, it's up to you

But please stop posting as if you are the voice of the fan, because quite clearly you are not

OK. I understand what you are saying now. My mentality has been shaped by seeing plenty of fellow supporters give up on STFC/football altogether over the last 10 years because they hated what it has become. For me, its the difference between 'take it or leave it' or fight back and try to change it.

Im not going to change my posts though.  ;D

Thats not how I read it. Spencer is offering an opinion on something Town related - fuck me Spencer don't do that on a Town forum. People can agree or disagree with him or ignore him. I don't think he's passing himself off as the fans voice or that his opinion matters more than anyone else's. Think you need to read it again or just ignore him Fred.

I will attend this game in full red home kit, socks, boots, the lot as a sign of protest and I encourage you all to do the same.

Where does posting your strongly opinionated views turn in to posting as if you are 'the voice of the fan' and how is this judged? Surely the finger could be pointed at anyone who posts an opinion if that's the case?

I think Fred needs a beer.


Not enough.  What we really need is our own 'Red' Man Group.  (For anyone who has not seen Blue Man Group, they look something like this...)

[url width=460 height=288]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01247/blue-man-group_1247903c.jpg[/url]

Licking every goddam window you pass?

First off, not intending to question Spencer's decision and the majority of fans I know don't like these cup kits.

Anyway, you may argue we rely on these to financially boost us and any boycott will only fuel the need for special kits.

Don't mind the shirt but think we have been spoilt of late with four four two and Samsung so " The People " hasn't got the same sort of appeal to it. Won't be buying one myself.

I don't really care about the sponsor, but we shouldn't play in anything but red at home.

First all i think its great were getting extra sponsership at the club every little helps indeed and thats credit to the club who have gone out and got it but also have to agree its just stupid we have to play in white at home anyway, it will look stupid if we go out first time wont it against huddersfield i realy cant see the point.

Conversely I care about it being that sponsor more that I do about the colour of the shirt. Though clearly we should play in red as much as possible.

Just so everyone's clear...

From swindon-town-fc-co.uk

The Sunday People printed revelations that chairman Brian Hillier had bet on Swindon to lose in an FA Cup match against Newcastle. The Town were beaten 5-0. On 5th January 1989, both Macari and Hillier were charged with unauthorised betting. Hillier was suspended from football for six months (later increased to three years), the club were fined £7,500, and Macari £1,000, for what the FA described as a minor role in a "foolhardy misdemeanour"

To be sponsored by them is a disgrace.  Shame on you STFC.

If the People didn't print it then some other paper would have. They didn't make up any bullshit did they? Just reporting the facts so I don't see the problem really, Hillier et al are the ones we should blame, not the paper as far as I can see. (I was only 9 at the time).

As for the kit, I don't like it because it looks cheap, the tabloid sponsor looks like a sticker, and I don't think we should play in any other colour than red at home. Don't see why they couldnt just keep the home kit but replace the sponsor for FA cup games

FA Cup is shite and for that reason I am out

Do you really blame Brian Hillier, Lou Macari, Vince Farrar, Gary Herbert or Dave King?  The felt they were acting in the best interests of the club.
It is a commonly help view that what they were doing, (illegale payments to players) was happening up and down the country.
To suggest, as the Sunday people did, they were involved in match fixing, was complete nonsense, but it sells papers.

I'm going to have to disagree here. The paper didn't make anything up did they? Hillier did something stupid and was caught. I hardly think you can blame a Newspaper for reporting factual news events can we?

Or is there something more that I am missing?

To be honest I don't know exactly what went on except that they'd been up to something dodgy.

The kit's got non-league written all over it. It looks cheap and tacky.

However if it means that it generates more money for the club then I'm all for it.

As for the discontent in sacrificing playing red at home for extra revenue, don't hate the player, hate the game.  :D

So, should we assume that the sponsorship is worth the equivalent of £7500, adijusted for inflation ?

1. They didn't just "report the facts".  It's a red top.
2. "To be honest I don't know exactly what went on except that they'd been up to something dodgy"  Speaks volumes.

You and countless other Town fans could benefit from a history lesson about our club. 

It's a white top - that's the problem.

Lionel Slave Trader Smart was the fucking mole.

I think I'm right in saying Spurs have different sponsors for European and league games, but both on the white shirt. A reasonable compromise on this whole issue would be a red shirt, with a different sponsor and different design. They could have done a retro/classic design as a nod to the history of the FA Cup. That would sell bucket loads, keep us in red and avoid any ill feeling.

Bottom line is, well...the bottom line. How much will we make,including the indirect effect of people not going, getting annoyed etc. We don't have the luxury of being able to ignore revenue streams for the sake of history and sentiment like the big clubs occasionally can and do, but there was a much better way of doing this one.

There was a much better way of doing this.... STFC's first FA Cup game was in October 1886, and I believe the Town's main colours were white during that period.

If this had been a white shirt to recognise the 125 year anniversary, I think the general vibe would have been a lot more positive.

There's a petition ongoing which has been posted on facebook.


 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/swindonfacupshirt/

I get the impression that some people on that signiture list that have missed the point regarding The People reference. One certainly implies that Swindon Town being sponsored by The People is disgraceful because it's not a tabloid titan like The Sun or Mirror as opposed to the early 90's scandal :)

One said we were demoted back in the 80's.

I'm pretty sure it was 1990 !

Demoted in 1990, after the stories first came out towards the end of '89.

I remember the night they announced we were demoted. I was 8 years old and cried my eyes out.

Had the day off school the next day I was so upset !

I liked the Leon Knight signing 'If Paolo had signed me, this would have never have happened'

Having another team wear red at the CG is just wrong. I'm all for money making schemes, but as others have said I don't see why it couldn't have been a different red kit?

Oh well. We'll probably go out first round anyway ;)

What colour will uddersfield now wear? I agree we should always be in red at home.

red

I was significantly older, but was angry enough that I took the day off work (as holiday I may add).

The punishment was, and remains, a disgrace.

Ultimately it wasn't the bet that we got relegated for, it was the illegal payments.

As chalkie points out Lionel Smart was the real villain by feeding facts to the media.
If it hadn't been the people it would have been one of the other papers.

The whole thing is a farce and anyone who forks out for one of these tacky looking shirts is only going to encourage the club into further poorly thought out schemes in the future.  Simple answer is nobody buys the shirt and hopefully the club realise it was a complete waste ofeffort time and don't repeat the exercise next season.  On the other hand they don't seem to have taken on board the strength of feeling following the Wembley shirt debacle.

I am late to this discussion but has anyone contacted the club management about this? I just wondered what they have come back and said.

Yeh maybe, I was a child at the time. I went to Wembley and was there on the march, etc and remember the injustice of it all but obviously didn't fully understand it.

Give me the lesson now then, as far as I know the club got caught out doing something illegal and were made an example of, which is obviously shite but don't see why we are blaming the paper. Yes tabloids are c*nts, but all of them are, so if it wasn't The People it'd be one of the others printing the story.

I do understand not wanting them on the shirt, but at the end of the day it's more money into the club and I doubt anyone at the paper was even around at the time of the "financial irregularities". The colour pisses me off more than the tacky sponsor. Can't see anyone buying the shirt anyway though

The thing some of our fans seem to be misunderstanding is that due to 'The People' sensationalising, the wrong people (the club and fans) rather than the individuals involved for punished

The financial irregulaties episode in the club's history could easily do with its own thread.

or summed up easily by saying that Lionel Smart was a cunt of the highest order, we got fucked over by the FA who had exactly the same evidence against Spurs and Chelsea and bottled it despite Captain Birdseye who passed judgement on us being Chairman of Chelsea at the time.

Juventus got virtually the same punishment as us 16 years later for more than three years of match fixing. Justice, eh !!

In short, we fucked up by following what very other club was doing at the time.

Somehow we made ourselves an easy target to The People by making some misguided bets which then got 'sensationalised' by them reporting the truth (combining all the fucking stupid stuff we were doing at the time).

The FA were cunts by sending out an example warning to all other clubs (thereby giving them chance to close their books).

Chelsea and Spurs ignored the warnings but had the financial clout to challenge the FA (which we didn't)

If The People had exposed Poxford in the same way we'd all be rushing out to buy the FA cup shirt (and don't say you wouldn't)

Summary:We had a board who, regardless of what everyone else doing, broke the law. The People did their job and sold papers on the back of it. The FA used us as an example with an over the top punishment. In 20 years everything's changed apart from the facts. Get over it.

Agree though that we should always play in red at home and at wembley

Picture of kit for next week now posted on Facebook :

http://www.facebook.com/samsungfootball

That's actually quite nice.

It's not really is it? But if it swells the coffers, the more high profile sponsors the better

It's just this season's shirt with different sponsors, but it probably looks better with the old school white shorts.

Although it is just the normal home shirt with a different sponsor. Anyone who buys it is an idiot.

I think the white shorts is to commemorate the 21 years since The Sunday P****e ran a sensationalist story about Swindon Town.

The shorts have been on sale in the shop since September

It should be compulsory that any shirt sold, also has to have CUNT 1 on the back.

The Scum beat us to that one

If fans want to own the shirt then let them.

 ::)

i like the shorts...

It is, but only 'cos the first one looked so bad. (And like you say its the home shirt with a different sponsor).

I do like having the white shorts though

Me too.

I'd like to see us alternate red and white shorts each year, when I started going again regularly in the early 2000s we wore white shorts so to me it seems almost traditional.

Its just the normal shirt with a different (lower class, trashy) sponsor.

shorts nice, sponsor bad.

It is traditional, not almost.

[statto geek]we wore white shorts from 1898 through to 1972 then from 74 to 91 then went back to them again from 99 to 06[/statto geek]

Had a flick through the paper in the newsagents to see what they said about the new red kit. There was a picture of Paul Caddis with the 'new' shirt on, with the caption 'CAPTAIN:Williams' !!

The People really are a joke aren't they !!

Ady Williams is still club captain right??!!

Probably was the last time they sent a reporter to cover us.

Although i did say I prefer red shorts, that particular kit looks better with white. I'd be all for alternating the colours.

I'm split regarding the shorts (a joke there somewhere).

We wore white shorts during the golden era of the late 60's and early 70's and throughout the 80's but we wore red shorts when Hoddle got us promoted.

We wore white shorts when Ossie Ardilles go us promoted.

We also wore white shorts when Lou Macari got us promoted (twice)

Obviously the Sunday P****e were aware of that.