Thetownend.com

Who is going to this, surprised at the lack of big name Italian players that Paolo was hoping to coax into playing. Maybe one or two surprises come tomorrow night  :hmmm:

Yes, in the euphoria of Saturday I got a ticket....

I'm going.

Julian Dicks is playing, he tweeted it a couple of days ago.

I'm going.

Darren Anderton
Paolo Di Canio (player-manager)
Julian Dicks
Fraser Digby
Micky Hazard
Paul Hunt
Sammy Igoe
Tom Jones
Chris Kamara
Lou Macari (WAA manager)
Lee Peacock
Christian Roberts
Max Rushton
Ben Shepherd
Fitzroy Simpson
Jonathan Wilkes

What a line up....

Do you reckon Jonathan Wilkes has 'celebrity footballer' down as his occupation?

Anyone know the layout of the Arkells? Trying to buy some good tickets, only ever sat in the DRS or the usual TE. Options left for the group I am in are AC, A1, A2, A3, A4 anyone know the best of them blocks as can't find a seating plan!

Paolo maldini and christian vieri checked into jurys inn earlier

Where ??

From the online ticketing...

Milan?

If I'd known he was playing I'd have come down.

If any major names from Italy were announced, I'd expect a sudden demand for tickets.

You're telling me that 2 Italian footballing greats are stopping in some crummy budget hotel in Swindon ??

Misun? Is he finally getting a game?

No doubt he does although i always suspected his occupation was noted as 'Robbie Williams's talentless mate'.

In much the same way as its pleasing to see that celebrity football stalwart Ben 'the short bloke who used to be on GMTV and we always thought may be having a go at Jenni Faulconer' Shepherd is playing!

Cant believe you fell for that!

Indeed it would be a B&B rather than a hotel.

I didn't

As I read that I must admit that "a little bit of wee" didn't come out, I absolutely slashed all over my laptop and desk.

Sounds like Peacs and Roberts are really looking forward to playing on the Town Ground pitch again. Think Lou Macari is managing the Air Ambulance team and its for a really good cause and a bit of fun so should be a good night.

I'm going. I can't wait to watch Paolo play more than anything!

Its all about Hazard. Running the midfield long before this upstart Eden Hazard came on the scene.

Hazard is just driving the mini bus

We are going up to this tonight, any idea if the roads are clear of flooding hold ups ? Will be going via Calne, Avebury  :-[ Wroughton. Either that or we come up via the M4 although that will be busy with rush hour traffic.
Thank you.

can you buy tickets on the night? toying with the idea

I'm pretty sure you can, if not book them via ticket office and pick them up from collection hatch.

Calne > Avebury > Wroughton surely? Amesbury would be one hell of a detour!

No problems at all on that route.

your right Sam, I'll edit that   :)  Cheers I'll use your route and not mine !

Away support sales have been poor apparently.

You can buy tickets on the night

You should have no problems on the roads between Calne, Avebury and Wroughton.  Just the odd bit of surface water but nothing bad enough to close roads etc.

Decided to head along to this now that cricket has been cancelled tonight.  £5 seems excellent value for money.

the presenter from Soccer Am is playing as well apparently so I guess there will be some Sky cameras there tonight?

Think I'm actually aloud to go to this so will pop along.

Did you hear that through the sound of the underground?

Yep.

You won't be allowed Crispy.Read the terms.

??

Does anyone know if the cricket club will be open for car parking tonight?

Only 2500 tickets sold in advance for tonight. Is it just me or is that a pretty poor showing seeing as its a fiver for adults?

It's you.

Hope this helps.

of the banning order

It's a shame, although I suppose charity matches are never well attended anyway, a lot of out of towners missing I expect as well

If you fancy giving me a lift up & back I would be happy to go ;)

Seriously though, there are a lot of people who travel some distance to games & with season tickets just paid for plus the other games recently something has to give.

Im going

Out of towners like me wont be making a special effort with the price of diesel being what it is. Charity matches dont really live up to the hype....loads of unfit previous heroes and guys you dont really know, not that enticing. If I lived in Swindon I might go if it wasn`t pissing down.

Enjoy...

Be worth it just to watch 2 Tef contributors sweat like warthogs :)

Paolo Di Canio XI: Rhys Evans, Jerel Ifil, Paul Bodin, John Holloway, Julian Dicks, Ben Shepherd, Chris Kamara, Fabrizio Piccareta, Chris Wise, Paolo Di Canio, Christian Roberts

Substitutes: John Francome, Marco Panarese, Domenico Doardo, Mark Isaacs, Paul Godfrey, Mark Webb, Chris Tanner, Steve Weller

Wilts Air Amb: Fraser Digby, Micky Hazard, Jonathan Wilkes, Paul Hunt, Tom Jones, Sammy Igoe, Fitzroy Simpson, Darren Anderton, Lee Peacock, Max Rushton, Kyle Lapham

Substitutes: Gary Parker, Mark Hanrahan (GK), Luke Macallum, Nick Judd, Gary Horgan, Danny Allen, Jez Webb, Adam Wainwright

PdC scores :toocool:

2-1 now Roberts (PDC) and Peacock (WAA)!

Sign him up!

2-2 now. Peacock.

Thunder and lightning in Highworth so they might be getting wet.

I hope Hanrahan gets on and Paolo sticks one past him.

I wish I'd gone now.

4-2 PDC chip and Roberts (sign him up!)

Paolo Di Canio has scored more goals for us than Lukas Magera has.

If only Magera was playing against former pros, celebrities, Non-League players and others  ;)

6-2 Di Canio hat trick!

He still wouldn't score  ;)

I don't know who I feel sorry for, Magera or Port Vale!

Magera scored for Banik on Saturday.

Hostem online rozhovoru má být:

Dawid Pietrzkiewicz    362

Benjamin Vomáčka    257

Jozef Adámik    123

Tomáš Marek    130

Lukáš Magera    1868

I don't know if this is good or bad, but he's got alot more votes than the other guys... "Online guest conversation should be on"

Final score 8-2.

Mr Di Canio was awesome tonight.

So was Rockin Robin doing his PdC impressions on the touchline...

ha ha he was hilare! As was kammy going off injured after taking the Pen.

Paolo was awesome, thought Igoe was decent too.

Christian Roberts, he's gone for a pint!  :pint:

Robin was most entertaining, a few punches to the dug out and ran on to celebrate Paolo's first goal. Paolo seemed to love every minute of the game and even managed a knee slide goal celebration towards the Town end  :) great to see the Ex players back and some were still pretty handy. once the Town end was opened the fans in there even managed to get a few songs going. hopefully a good amount raised for the WAA as it was a good turn out. :clap:

Best song of the night along with " South side South side give us a song " and " is that all you take away " stand up for the champions was interesting as the new comers didn't have a clue what was going on  :)

Hats off the the club for having the sense to open the Townend fire exit as an extra turnstyle 15 / 20 minutes before KO.

They had Moorehouse and another steward taking tickets and getting bodies in to the ground as quick as they could go when it was obvious that a massive queue was forming outside. Ive been quick to rip them apart for getting caught out at events such as this, but someone spotted the possibility of a problem forming and rapidly did something about it resulting in the queue dissapearing very quickly. Top job STFC. You're learning!

PDC was class tonight. It took him a while to get the brain going what with pissing about and playing up to the crowd in the first half, but he got it together in the second with some breathtaking passes, crosses and goals.

First time I've seen him play apart from on TV.  Fucking awesome close control. Well worth the fiver and the effort of going along.

Ace to see the Townend rapidly fill up and get going when it rained.

I loved the group restraint demonstrated when a few started to sing 'you fat bastard' at the fat bastard who came on at left back. The chant nearly started twice, but people decided not to go there. Brilliant:-)

Impressed with Oggys and Fitzroy's pace and energy. Kamara was fucked running wise, as was Bodin, but both can still play.

Micky Hazzard and Tom Jones were both fat and unfit. Jones looked like he needs a hip replacement, so fair play to him for turning up.

Sicknote could probably still get a game in L2 - if he was fit...

Christian Roberts looked to either play balls to PDC whenever an easier or more obvious pass was on, or to have a shot himself. Useless Welsh cunt who clearly sees himself as a fucking legend. Bell end would be nearer the mark.

A good night had by all. Hope it raised plenty for the Air Ambulance Crew.

Yeah cracking up at that, brilliant.

I don't know if this photo has been linked yet but it's just brilliant. [url width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/QeSSc.jpg[/url]

If only he was registered as a player. He could come on for the last 10 minutes at Bradford.

Just checking out Paolo's arms in that pic for a STFC tattoo !

He's getting in a few weeks while his new chest tattoo about his parents heals up.

Nice to see Jerel got a game.

Nice to see Jerel has finally found his level.

Jerel Ifil plays in defence, team concedes 8 goals. Standard.

Jeeeeeesus! What a night!! Truly was the stuff of dreams.

Picture this, sat in the dug out with 50 mins on the clock... Lou Macari turns to me and says "Get yourself ready son, you're going on for Fraser. Next thing I'm running towards a 'boisterous' Town End. I get my bearings (well... not sure I did actually... spent 40 minutes trying to get them anyway), turn and see Paolo bearing down on me... crash-bang-whallop and the gaffer has a hat-trick, then Kammy, then Shepherd... then Wyse! All went in an absolute blink of an eye. Sinmply amazing.

Always wanted to throw my gloves into the crowd. If it was your son I passed them to in the Arkells, make sure he burns them!

Great banter in the dressing rooms and - far more enjoyably - with the TE. Wouldn't have had it any other way. Tick in a life box being confirmed as a dodgy keeper by TE faithful!

Highlight of the night? Cleaning out the gaffer for Kammy's penno. Well, couldn't let him have a fourth could I!?

Glad you enjoyed it.

You don't mind being a bit outclassed by someone of Di Canios ability do you?!

I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed last night. Just as I was walking back from food they opened the town end which my father and I thought we would try. Wow I loved it, the atmosphere was much better and the noise generated clearly picked up the game. I just thought it was for the most hardened supporters but to my surprise there was lads in there of about 10 standing on there seats singing all the songs pointing there fingers in the air having a great time. Made me smile as I thought there's the supporters of the future. Also experienced the respectful side of the town end when the "far bastard" chant never got going. So enjoyed seeing all those stars of years gone by. Great to be part of raising money for charity. As I walked home I saw some plank wheel spinning in the matalan car park. I thought to myself why oh why if u have nothing better to do why did you not go and pay a fiver and watched the charity match surely a much better use of time and all for charity. Stfc fans are league above these people and more proud that I'm now a part if it. Respect to all stfc fans and to the awesome town end.

Except he was on the winning team

Jerel Ifil wasn't that bad either.

You took the abuse well from the town end Mark, you and Juddie are lucky sods for being able to play.

I thoroughly enjoyed that last night, was a good crack.

With that one sentence, you have crushed me!  (And we'll let the spelling mistake go. ;) )  Micky would be in my all time Town top 3, probably along with Johnny Moncur and Glenn.

Edit:  So how many went, and how much money was raised for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance?

Best chant Of the night for me was "he's gone for a pint, he's gone for a pint, Jason roberts, he's gone for a pint" made me laugh and all the arkells stand.

What tune was that sung to then?

Christian ;)

Sounds like it was a great night, particularly for Messrs Judd and Hanrahan!

I know Paolo playing gave it a bit of extra interest, but at the end of a season with a lot of extra games and expensive away trips, to have a turnout for a charity game higher than the average attendance of 11 teams in the division is a cracking effort. Our support really has been excellent this year.

What a cracking night, good to see a lot of people who look like they don't go to the game very often so hopefully it will have attracted some new supporters.

As previous folk have said, the attmosphere picked up when the Town End opened, which was a good move from the organisers.

The one downside was I got back to my car to find I had left the sunroof open so had a soggy arse going back up the M6  :doh:

What a cracking night - I took loads of photo's from up in the stand, but this is my personal favourite :)

Hanrahan was nowhere ;)

Couldn't resist this one either - think someone was lobbed :)

With positioning like that maybe would be an idea to try playing upfront next time?

He is, he's at that place where the English and Germans had a game of football and a Christmas sing song in 1914

Whoops, slightly red faced! That's what I meant.

Guess who? :)

Same tune used for we're top of the league

is it a man or a woman?

:facepalm:

He's going to be disappointed it wasn't  the expected Toccata and Fuge in D Minor. But fear not, the Townend will be Bach next season.

It's a very pretty man with beautiful hair and a nice beard ;)

Oh, was it Paolo ?

Close enough.

Found this on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRF-twfGYeU

One thing I did notice was how fast he is, compared to Flint et al he's quick.

Once the Town End was opened a very posh sounding women sat in front of us was desperately trying to talk her husband/boyfriend into moving there. She said she was a regular but had never been in the town end and eventually they both went across. The town end is going up market  :no:

Love the snaps! Fat, bald, flatfooted... and wetter than an otters pocket! Only got a few from the night. Gratefully recieved if anyone has any.

The attendance was 3450ish, which i thought was very good, they made about 16k...

I thought Micky Hazard looked overweight on the pitch, but in the 2nd half he appeared in the directors box in a suit (i was next to it) and then came out and went up some steps in the Arkells and he didn't look overweight at all. I wondered whether the shirts were one size fits all to accomodate the very large man who came on in the 2nd half, and it made him look fat when he wasn't.

Tom Jones had very gray hair, took me a while to recognize him. Paul Hunt had a good game i thought, specially first half....

It's not unusual

(I offer my sincerest apologies, saying Tom Jones puns is akin to the gag reflex) 

I bet it was nice for him to play on the green, green grass of home again.

Who was the large fella ??

He was keen that's for sure, he was in danger of injuring himself more with his tackles. Will having a cup presented to the winning team mean its something they play for again next year? Couldn't really see what was going on because it was presented up in the executive area.

I assumed it was Juddie

Im sure thats a chant a recovering alcoholic needs to hear :(

I expect he passes a pub or two everyday.

Good old Crispy.

 :D

Get your coat.

(you can leave your hat on.)

Micky Hazard...  Even though grubby kept saying that phil king had gained a lot of weight...

Seriously? Wow, he's, um, changed...

From that clip, really sad to have missed what looks like a great night.  I was in Wolverhampton getting my car bumped into instead!  Doesn't seem fair really...

I'm sure it was one of the WAA volunteers who got to play. Micky Hazard played only the first half.

So any idea who the portly gent was for WAA team ?

He lives next door to my mate, I know that much...