Thetownend.com

Boom,

We'll win this.

2-0 Town.

Williams and Ferry.

Just been speculated on BBC RS Sport Update that Caddis won't play any part in tonight's game  ::)

Tonight will be a tough game tonight, not sure what to expect to be honest. It would be nice to grind out a hard fought win though with a decent performance from all.

Two tough home games on the bounce from which I’ll happily take 4 points.

The single point will come tonight, 1-1 (Benson) and will probably result in a minor panic button pushing meltdown in some quarters.

I expect it to be hard thought and not as easy as people think it will be. Last season was good and we pissed the league but I can see it being a tight 2-1, possibly last minute/late winner from Arch-Hen.

Really looking forward to this, going to be very tough.

1-1.

2-1 us

0-0 draw 8,122 crowd with 202 Creepy fans there.

0-3 defeat. Caddis to hand in transfer request. Paolo to go Loco. Meltdown to happen on here.

Crawley are a different proposition from last season. Barker is a good young manager and he (and O'Driscoll) has signed some real quality during the off season. Think we'll struggle down the right without Caddis again.

Hard-fought 1-1 draw.

We did win it in the end, but it was a hard slog for much of the season.  Our form picked up towards the end of September but my abiding memory of the autumn/winter is that even though we were winning regularly, we just couldn't catch Cheltenham and Crawley - who always seemed just out of reach.  If we won, so would they.  It was very frustrating.

We won the title in the end because we were able to sustain our form, while the others dropped away towards the end.  But we only went top on February 21st after beating Shrewsbury at home (if you ignore the 'table' after the opening day 3-0 win vs Crewe when, technically, we were also top.)  So it took us 6 months to get there.

Like to think that because of the slight fall-out with the local media that PDC  turns it on its head and Caddis plays - but it ain't going to happen is it?

2-1

I could speculate caddis is going to be playing. The point is, the media are guessing. Im gonna say my guess is he will be in the squad. If not, after a poor performance on Saturday, then it's bye bye.

We'll draw 1-1.  Caddis will be left out all together.  PDC  will continue to refuse to talk to the press.  The TEF will go into meltdown. The world will end. Good Night!

That's it though, it's all speculation. Paolo's not told them anything so they're guessing. Let's wait and see.

We'll lose 5-0.
Caddis will be hanged, drawn and quartered in the centre circle at half time.
PDC will literally explode in the post match press conference.
Everyone's going to die.

Think we will win 3-1 but will be tough, hopefully a decent crowd and atmosphere as well. Ritchie,Williams and Collins to score

Last season this was the kind of game where we'd go in not sure what to expect, and then come away pleasantly surprised. If we can continue with our home form then I see the same happening tonight. I'll go for a 2-1 win.

Well that's a given.

But back on topic, we'll win 2-1 it'll be a close game.

Caddis forced to work in the TE Burger Van, 2-0 (Troy and Williams), 8,874 in attendance, 303 from Crawley

Our new team will take time to adjust to playing together and DiCanio is heaping on the pressure already. I think this will be a tough game with 1-1 being the result. Caddis wont play until the wekend on principle.

Im going and i cannot wait......you redz!

Has he gone?

No sign of him at the CG since Saturday so I hear

Who?

Il Duce

Yeah he's gone. Will never darken our door again. I can only assume he's done the interview on the official site from a cave in darkest deepest Afganistan.

Sigh.

The man was loco long before we got him on board!

3-0 Town. Benson hattrick.

2-0 win tonight. Crawley have improved but so have we and the defense will see us through tonight. Caddis won't make the bench and Poalo will feel justified..!

I think we will sneak a 1 - 0 win tonight with Caddis more likely to play for the U18 team against Lambourn tonight than against Crawley.

Think creepy will nick it 1-0 while we have a patchy start to the season.

1-0 Crawley

Can't believe people have so little faith.

Sure Creepy won 3-0 on Saturday but all their goals were terrible defending by Scunny.

Have you all forgotten last week already?

3-0

Apparently,Scunthorpe had loads of chances against Crawley on saturday and if we have our shooting boots on,i'm going for a 3-1 win with Collins,Richie and Ferry scoring

Although I'm predicting a 3-1 win I think two of our goals will come very late. A league win at this stage of the season will be more important than the proformance. Ritchie & Williams with our goals.

It's been a long wait (since Bradford), to see us play again, looking forward to a Town win.

Won't be as much fun as last season though, as we won't have the Fat bloke to shout abuse at :)

Easy win for the Town, 2-0.

How many are we expecting crowd wise?

7774

I will miss him tonight.

4-1 Benson, Williams x 2 and Navarro

P.S. Paolo is goinng loco down in acapulco

7,466

7,272

3-0 Ritchie x2 & Benson.

As a little prelude to games I enjoy going onto other forums to see what their confidence is like, yes I know some fans like Sippo don't give a fuck but I like to and I know some other Town fans like to do the same, so heres a few quotes about the game today.....

They are horrible little club with horrible fans with huge fucking chips on their shoulders, the sooner they get relegated back to the pub leagues the better.

Fucking hate that shitty little club, hope it goes all Rushden for them.

Their fans sound like a right barrel of laughs

all 4 of them

Should be a good night tonight then

Cant see us dropping points in this, so much so, i have had a fair whack on us to win (cue the draw)

Probably the same one guy replying to himself.

Crawley fanbase might be up with Torquay in delusions of grandeur.

Dickanio? Swinedon? Circus act? Chasing refs? Another nail in the coffin?

I have no words.

They probably will only bring a couple of hundred tops because they are a tiny club.

But Torquay are a proper club, they maybe deluded, but they're a proper club.

I bet some of their fans who come tonight who didn't come last season will have a heart attack seeing more than 3,000 fans in a ground.

Actually I do have one word. The word is 'guffaw'.

How nails can be in a coffin after 4 days of a league season I will never know. This time last year we were embarking upon a woeful run of results and we still dicked Crawley (twice) and League 2 come May.

The result tonight will have no huge bearing on either side's season, but it'd be nice to get that first win under our belts. As for the comments about Di Canio, he really has nothign on Evans when it comes to touchline antics. Paolo shouts at his players, Evans stands there intimidating and threatening the opposition. Hardly the same. Shame the fat controller isn't there for them - I now have to depise them purely for their dodgy goings on behind the scenes.

Personally I thought they sounded like a bunch of cock juggling thunder cunts

Wasn't it Evans who was telling his players thugs to break Caddis' legs?

Rooney's legs I think? But yes, it was Evans.

I'm still full of optimism. 2-0 Swindon coyr

Yes, supposedly so. I can't bring myself to dislike the club so much now Evans has left. I actually enjoyed their players you tube clip taking the piss out of him once he was out of the door. To be fair they like us achieved what they set out to last season with promotion and I don't think they will be the whipping boys of division one this season.
Edit: It was Rooney.

Thats what bothered me most about all the posts, WTF is he/she on about?

I am beginning to really dislike the piss ass little club with or without Evans in charge.

It is a close one between them and Torquay for the most deluded fans of a small club award.

I don't really give a fuck about their poxy little club but christ on a bike those idiots spout some absolute shit. It's as though they've been football fans for all of five minutes.... Oh...

Haven't seen in this thread, but i've been told that Caddis isn't in the squad again, Troy is injured, and Roberts is out of the squad again with a torn calf. Was this on BBC Wiltshire or something, or have I just been fed rumour and conjecture?

Sounds like bollocks to me, I've not seen anything from official and the unofficial facebook pages.

Cool, haven't had time to verify any of it.

Nothing to see here!

Roberts is definitely out

Time for Rooney

However everything you have said is hardly beyond the realms of possibility.

If we all close our eyes and will Caddis back in to the starting line up, it will happen.

Join me.

Hopefully the whole situation will have been sorted out, and Caddis will back.

As mentioned, Roberts is still out. It's a shame but not the end of the world.

Not seen anything about Troy, so wait and see on that one.

As for Caddis, it's all speculation. Nobody knows.

Well not nobody. Nobody on here perhaps.

Certainly nobody in the local media!

Still think Caddis is finished here, it just doesn't seem right, maybe there's more to it? I would have thought he would have been back by now if he was staying, I could be wrong.

But we will win tonight 2-0.

This vow of silence wouldnt have happened under Gary Rose!

Warren and Morshead have some questions to answer!!

Maybe Caddis had a baby with PDC's missus?

I would imagine that this could have caused a little bit of friction.

Bbc wilts just tweeted saying caddis not in squad

Not if they used lubricant

We're Doomed ...

Caddis has been left out of the squad again.

Unless he used lots of lube

Well at least that's song for tonight sorted then. To be fair though Raffa didn't have a bad game against the gayer's and I didn't us play Hartlepool, so I couldn't comment how well he did against them. But isn't rule number 1 of football management you don't change a winning side?

Interesting fact tonight, if we go unbeaten then we have gone 1 year since a home league defeat.

Thats going to put a kybosh on it then!

Caddis was fit enough to captain us against Palace, but not even make the squad since (and isn't injured). Can we accept there might be an overriding issue yet?

This was meant to be a sensible discussion point rather than the pressing of any 'panic button', by the way...

If he was a batsmen and PDC was the umpire ...... PDC has just given him the finger!

I think 3 games into the season, for him not even to be on the bench points to the fact that there is indeed a problem unfortunately.

Lets hope it doesn't affect our form going forward.

We've done ok without Caddis, admittidly we've played only two games this season, Brighton in the cup and Hartlepool in the league, winning one and drawing the other. If Raffa get injured tonight or we lose will we see Caddis back in the team? I hope so.

Will PDC talk to the press after the game???

I just hope that PDC's hotheadedness doesn't come back to bite him on the arse.

I cant believe PdC is just leaving him out just to preserve his macho 'I'm in charge' image

Caddis is either not fit enough (which I doubt) or he is on his way out the club

Couldn't care less if Caddis is playing or Paolo speaks. I just want to win football matches.

Would be interesting to see if caddis is at the game tonight like he was against Brighton.  :hmmm:

Would it make any differnce if he was or not? If he's on his way out then, then he's on his way out.

Probably, not sure if it's the same now but in the past if you wasn't in the squad and didn't turn up on a match day you lost a percentage of your wages. Would also imagine Paolo wouldn't have it any other way.

He's gone. Does the transfer window close 31st

You're such an optimist little red.

Sorry but if anyone saw him in any of the friendlies then you'd know that he won't be at peak fitness until next fucking month.

If that's the case, no wonder PdC is pissed off

Nice little downpour to make the pitch slippy, should help moving the ball about quickly.

Don't know why but i love a game under the flashlights when its raining

3-1 town collins brace and ritchie

I've got a bad feeling about this.

2-1 defeat.

I have a good feeling about this evening.  I would be amazed if Saturday's warnings were not heeded.  Everyone is expecting a response...so let's see one.

That would be an incredible case of contortionism

1-0 MacCormack (pen)

Is Caddis in the squad

Loaned out to Oxford according to BBC Wiltshire.

Firing squad, maybe

That's it now, we're down, I ain't coming again.

Anyone know how long Roberts is out for? As much as De Vita works hard he hasn't got anywhere near the quality Roberts has, need to get him fit and firing.

Not according to the STFC Fans page on Faceache he isn't.

Transfer windows never close, they can only be slammed shut.

3-1 town collins brace and ritchie


Great, we've signed someone. So who is this brace???

Don't forget we have Rooney... he could step up

I think it'll be 1-1 tonight, Collins scoring in the second half.

Which is about as conclusive as asking my imaginary cat. Still, the BBC have said he isn't.

Hope Troy is fit. Looking forward to seeing him play live for the first time after his performance against Brighton.

Saw him against Palace. Seemed alright.

Hope Troy is fit... Saw him in every freindly & both games so far, he looks like a great signing. Absolute tank.

A lot of fans said he was MoM at Hartlepool, he will be a big loss if he is unfit even though we have Flint to come in to replace him.

Roberts is at the CG in a protective boot tonight apparently, that can't be too good.

TOWN v Crawley: Foderingham; Devera, Flint, McCormack, McEveley; Ritchie, Miller, Ferry, De Vita; Collins, Williams
Subs: Bedwell, Risser, Cibocchi, Navarro, Rooney, Benson, Storey

So Troy is out then and Benson dropped for Collins, also nice to see Ferry get a start.

Surprised to see Navarro dropped but s'pose it's rotation innit

2-0 Williams, Ritchie

That is all.

COYR! Will be listening from Norway - that is if that shitty STFC World stream works!

Cibo on the bench, good times.

He will be dancing

JW being very honest in the interview with the BBC, it seemed to come accross that Caddis was being a bit of a trouble maker in the clubs opinion (Paolo's).

He also said he trusts Paolo 100% and that its now between Caddis and Paolo to sort it out if he ever plays again for the club.

And that the club are very upset about how it has been handled in the media and that it got out of control...like we didn't guess that.

.....and we are hopefully going to bring in two new players before end of transfer window, maybe one this week. X

so, who else is here?

Kanskje bare meg og NorwayRed...

Me....

I'm here.

Is Player working? Not for me...

Player working fine for me here.

We sound like we have started quite well.

I'm here, in between feeding the baby and trying to get the other one to sleep.

Sorted now.

Come on Town!

Me here. Radio in kitchen for me from many miles away ...

Top of the evening from the Emerald Isle

Sounds like a decent start. Devera just missed a free header...

Co-Comm not enamoured with a decision to not give Collins a penalty.

It sounded a close one.

Co-comm? Co-Comm? Thats f*ckin Alan McLoughlin - One of the best players to ever grace a Town shirt!

Get in!

Ritchie 1-0

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL.

MÅÅÅÅÅÅÅL!

Get in Ritchie!!!

Yes but not one of the best commentators TBH.

Oi Oi
#
Flukey goal

A fluke. Scored from an intended cross (Maybe like Dave Hockaday against Shilton's Southampton)

Geddin'     :D :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

True. But deserves still respect for his on field contribution.

They all count!

sweeeeeeeeeeeeet, i wish evans was still there manager. cunt

I thought that was Derby, could be my age tho.... :(

Flint booked for being billy big bollocks and threatening Alexander

Yeay!!  :pint:

Flint just got booked for handbags with Alexander

Yeah, but Rotherham are losing

You're right...Twas still Shilton though...And I was a little squiffy!

You Reds !!

Thought it was but tuned in late and didn't want to make a tit of myself by calling the wrong name. I'm sure he'll be devastated.

Two more goals for the traditional scoreline.

See Timlin sent off against scum

timlin sent off already. whoops

Good save Fodders.

All i remember from that game is "whats it like to beat your wife" aimed at Shilton     :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

2-0 Miller!

2-0 Miller, one more goal for the traditional scoreline!

Schwiiing    :clap: :clap:

Miller 2-0

MÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miller!!!!

Are we top yet?

i'm listening on stfc player and it's 1-0, twitter says it's 2-0. i think i'm listening to the same game...

Pleased for Miller!

I'll second that.

it's still 1-0, i don't know what you're talking about

yay 2-0!!

Sounds comfortable so far,albeit listening on world.Bonus as well is that our bench looks pretty strong and would be nice if Storey could have a run out later

[url width=200 height=270]http://i.imgur.com/mWzTq.gif[/url]

It still offends me that we have to play this glorified pub team.  I want more goals.

Crawley are very different from the long ball team of last season.
They are looking to play the ball out from the back whenever they can, and a couple of times towards the end of the half we very nearly caught them out because if it.

Ritchie's goal was a total fluke, but frankly who gives a shit.
Glad that Miller scored after Saturday's penalty miss.

Have to say Collins & Williams look good up front, they are chasing down everything.

Alan Mac hasn't had his best game (couple of misplaced headers, from the second Wes made a really good save.

Anyway, so far so good

fucking drum

cunts

Someone please thump that fucking drummer

We should drown him out with vuvuzelas.  It would be mildly less annoying.

agreed

The fucking drum is really pissing me off.

or swarms of African bees   :badmood:

What is it with tinpot clubs and drums?

Can't make out the chant with the drummer.....but the rhythm is getting under my skin now, and I'm tapping along!
 :suicide:

[url width=500 height=280]http://i.imgur.com/j3XBF.gif[/url]

The beauty of not listening means I can't hear any drum.

I am, however,watching Embarrassing Bodies.

with piss.

To give the Aldershot drummer some credit, he was quite good.

The Aldershot drummer was fucking good. I was quite near him. Pissed me off, as good as the drumming was.

3-0 de vita

3-0, normal service resumed!

We should play Crawley every week.

De Vita 3-0

WAHEY!!!

Rafaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Lovely jubbly 3-0

Get in! Fortress CG.

i like rafaaaaaaaaaa

I love it that we have players like De Vita who - let's be honest - wouldn't be in the starting line up were it not for injury...and they can still produce the goods.  Loving this.

Cox scores for forest

my commentary on player has just died

Tilkoblingen er god. Tilkoblingen er død.

hvilken? det kan ikke bli bedde!

p.s. who needs caddis?

can somebody PLEASE kill the drummer  :suicide:

Same happens to mine but I found if I switch to Crawley commentary and then straight back (after washing my ears out with carbolic soap) to Swindon, it resumes.

Two seasons, three games are through, and we have scored twelve more than you!

Love Raffa. Glad he's still Di Canio's second choice for Left Winger. Even if he does what he did last season and score a couple of goals at the start of the season and then fade away from the first team a little bit towards the end, he's still worth it.

I still think he's shit and haven't forgiven him for a god awful performance at Aldershot....well, may I have a little

Can't be bothered to go onto Google again!

My connection has died now too.

You da man!

Don't forget the soap or you'll get mastoids!

I didn't see him at Aldershot. I will admit he had a tendency to drift out of games, and his first-team credentials were definitely reliant on his hard work as opposed to his skill. Still, I think he does pretty damn well for a player who isn't an actual left winger.

Then again it may also be a blurring of reality and fiction, what with him scoring 25 goals in one season on FM2011 for the steep, steep price of 9k from St. Johnstone.

Back to the game though, this is all us from the sounds of things.

Didn't understand Benson for Williams.
When did Rooney come on and for who?

I don't mean to be critical, but he was shocking that night. But then, so were the rest.

Nice to see him on the score sheet tonight, hope it boosts his confidence.

ever teams needs a hard worker who is just there for his hard work.

I think leefer said he thought De Vita would be better in L1 than L2. Most strongly disagreed - maybe leefer was right?

Early days though...

Did De Vita come on up front or on the wing?

Scrap that. He started on the wing. I've had a bad night. :doh:

Paolo sounds like he's on mogadon ...

We're 4th in the table.  Behind Tranmere, Donny and Notts County who are all on 6 points.

Comfortable win. Thought we coasted the second half.

And drums should be banned from football. I've now got a bloody headache.

Great result, hope the performance was good. Unbeaten at home for a year, fortress County Ground:)

A rather measured and subdued PDC:
- Yes, we win. Thought it would be harder
- We played as one corps (!), one spirit, one team
- Praised Devera playing at RB. Linked better with Ritchie
- Should have scored more
- Fodderingham only had one save to make. Crawley didn't create many chances.
- Today was best team performance under PDC at this club
- Happy with all of his players and proud to be their manager
- They were close to perfection tonight.
- Talked a bit about being happy that De Vita scored. Not looking for goals from him so it was a bonus
- Talked lots about defending from midfield and across the back. Lots of hard work has been put in
- We have intelligent players with ambition and desire
- Wants to concentrate on the next game rather than commenting on whether he will bring in another player

And 1 goal conceded in the last 18 home league matches

no mention of Caddis at all?

Miller:
- Played well. Started well
- Great result and 3 points
- Glad to score after missing penalty
- Miss has played on his mind.
- Watched clips on Crawley and new their strengths and weaknesses
- Ferry has plenty of energy and gets up and down the pitch. We have a strong squad
- Tasty game coming up against Franchise. Favourites for the league
- Fancy anyone at home

Ah, a De Vita interview, I always enjoy his accent...

De Vita:
- About time he got a goal
- Opportunities limited at end of last year
- Knew there were a lot of players ahead of him in pre-season
- Knew that he had to work hard to get in managers thoughts
- Hopefully can take chances when given
- Everyone has to be right and ready for each game
- Couldn't get going at Hartlepool. Tonight team put it right tonight.
- PDC was very aware of what Crawley were going to try to do. Town didnt let them, which is prob why PDC thought it was such a good performance

No. Not asked. Not mentioned. Thought the bit about Devera playing well was PDC's way of sticking 2 fingers up at the Caddis situation. It was a bit of a 'We don't need you' type comment. Saying that Devera started off shakily be has improved and looks a natural RB. He is now starting to link well with Ritchie.

Just back.

Fairly dominant performance bar a 15 minute period after half time. The fact is, with this defence, we never really look like conceding. Great to see us at it from the off today and deservedly in at half time with a 2-0 lead. Very impressed by Williams, who has a great work rate and awareness of his teammates, while Miller in the middle showed his class and experience with a brilliant performance. Also nice to see Ritchie play brilliantly WITHOUT Caddis, and De Vita was likewise brilliant on the other wing. Roll on Saturday!

Absolutely that was a 2 finger salute to the Caddis saga, the 'special' mention for Devera went on a little too long to be just mentioning a player in passing.

I thought we were great all though the team and Paolo got it spot on with the changes made and MoM for me was Ferry, he put in a great shift.

Cheers NMH, very useful getting interview info when not near the radio. Nice to see PDC gave comment tonight.

Always great to beat Creepy after the past few seasons, although with Fatty Evans not being there the match didn't have the same 'grudge' feel!

The first half performance was top notch and it meant we could 'ease' off a touch in the second half, but still some great play and turned it on when we needed to. Crawley surprised me in the first half by playing it on the ground but by the second half they resorted to classic 'hoofball' we know them for!

Looking good so far, hope we keep it up especially with the games coming thick and fast!

I called the goal Ritchie scored before it hit the net so I'll take that!

Next up...Franchi$e...C.O.Y.R!!!!!

All very comfortable tonight, felt like a typical County Ground game last season. Only ever going to be one winner. Defensively superb.

Can all drummers be banned from entering the ground? Just an annoyance.

Really enjoyed that game tonight, Crawley were a much better team than the one we also beat 3-0 last season, they knocked the ball about well but were a bit powder-puff in the box.  We were fairly dominant throughout, I thought Ferry had a great game, Miller I hardly noticed which means he must have had a good game also.  Flint did well at the back, he may have been a touch lucky not to have been sent off just after we scored, got a yellow - although the Crawley bench were convinced it should have been red, although to be fair to the ref he ignored them but after consulting both the linesman who was almost on top of it and the third official who it was directly in front of he pulled out the yellow.  Ritchie looked much better tonight, Devera did a good job of replacing Caddis - overlapping and getting down the wing.  And the front two seem to be a dream signing at the moment, the pace and workrate of them both was outstanding.  Once they get a total understanding of one another's game they will give defences a torrid time, especially at home.  Good game, right result.

Drums are gay, but fair play to their fans for singing. Poor effort from the DRS tonight.

Back to the game, I love the way we bully teams into submission, so they just have no idea how to break us down and give up. Brilliant effort from Williams again, he's fast becoming my favourite player.

Applaud the Crawley fans tonight, sang all night, thought it was a bit quiet in the TE, just hope we can attract bigger attendances than what we had tonight as we go up the leagues.

A absolutely class performance, didn't hear on BBC Wilts if Matt Ritchie meant that goal, flicked on midway through Paolo's interview, I hope we perform as well in front of a hopeful bumper crowd come Saturday against the MK Mongs. COYR!

So did I and no.


Exactly how my Dad described it at HT but I swear he said Derby?

As for the game - we were pretty dominant throughout and other than the one shot that Fods put round for a corner they offered fuck all in terms of attack bar a couple of moments from Macca.
The only thing I was fed up with in that game was how shite Crawley were in the 2nd half. Maybe we just stepped it up but we looked infinitely better than them.

I've got the fucking great escape tune going round my head, cunts.

As for the match we played some good stuff, so did crawley.
Thought the ref was a bit shit, gave too many decisions to crawley
Flint was lucky not to be sent off, left his foot in after the tackle and then kicked crawley the player.
The crawley mob were alright sang through the entire second half albeit one fucking tune with a cunting drum
Our goals were taken well
Defence was solid throughout
the two saves wes made were great
must say we are looking good at the minute
and we look hard to beat which is good
can't make it to the franchise game on saturday but based on what I saw tonight we'll fucking do 'em.  :toocool:

Great evening's entertainment. I said earlier that I thought it'd be one of those games where we come out and perform better than expected, and am glad to have been correct! Another 3-0 win - no wonder Crawley fans get so wound up about us!

Defensively sound tonight. There were one or two moments where Crawley found a bit much space and Wes got one punch wrong, but I can't criticise any more than that. We weren't really tested as we were so strong.

Ferry had a great game going forwards and chasing back. Made good runs, won the ball, and generally made a nuisance of himself. On the wings, Ritchie was in great form whipping ball after ball into the box, and De Vita did a good job on the other wing giving us variety in our attacking play.

A mention too for the two boys up front who worked their socks off. Williams troubled them at times with his pace, with and without the ball, and Collins played very well as a target man, receiving the balls and linking up the play. He should have done better when he broke through in the second half though - hit his shot straight at the keeper!

As for Crawley, the played a bit mroe football than last year but they really never looked like they were a threat. We had a rocky patch just after half time but we kept them out well and got our foot back on the gas. Defensively, I thought they were quite poor. They doubled up on Ritchie but he still got his cross in every time, and our players kept finding plenty of room in the box.

All in all a good performance but Saturday will be a much bigger test. Man of the match to Simon Ferry.

from a skill perspective he is actually our best player.

We will!  Don't forget that this was mid week game, during August (lots of people away on holiday), against Crawley Town.  In that context, 7,600 odd is a decent crowd.

Agree with that toally. Wasn't expecting much more than 7,000 - especially with such a small away following. If we keep winning the crowds will come. Expect Franchise to bring 800-1000 so it'd be nice to get up towards 9k at the weekend.

Good win. Ritchie deserved MOM but Rafa had a very good game with a great bit of skill in the first half. He's got really good feet and a very good footballing brain. Devera supported Ritchie quite well. Williams is going to be a beast of a player.
After the first goal we took our foot off the gas. Crawley probably had a fair amount of possession but did fuck all with it. Their defence was shocking and I felt that if we needed to win by 6, we woujld have done.
Thier drummer was a complete and utter cunt. We really need to ban these fucking things from the ground. Anyone caught with one should have their knackers surgically removed.

funny how people see things differently. In my opinion he hardly touched the ball in the first half and only become prominent once we went three up and his fitness told.

Another home win. Can't believe how good our CG record is over the past 12 months. We created a lot more than them and we deserved to win. Was impressed with Collins tonight. Him and Williams both look good. De Vita had a good game as did Ferry and Devera. Roll on Saturday.

That was ace all round.

Very much looking forward to Saturday and according to the Sky sports football app on my iPhone Alan Smith got sent off tonight for franshise which should help!

Personally I though de vita was MOTM.

and that fucking drummer should go shove his drum sticks up his arse. I don't think any of their fans were watching the game second half just singing that one sodding song! fair play for keeping it up for 45 mins but mix up the songs a bit!

Just back and really enjoyed tonight's match, a mate of mine said Crawley were poor but it was much more us playing really well throughout the team. Did the Drum beat really have a rhythm because I thought by the sound of it they were just passing it about telling people to hit it as hard as they could. Annoying when fans pretend to be having a lovely time whilst watching Their team get spanked. ( you are only allowed to do that at places like Forest  :) )

Also the picture going round on twitter of Paolo helping to cut the grass after the game is amazing.

If you want a job done properly...

I thought MoM was Flint tonight. I was looking forward to seeing Troy in action as I was impressed with him on the TV against the gayers, but to be fair, Flint came in and won everything in the air and most things on the ground too.

Mentions also for De Vita who seems to defy logic by playing well when everyone thinks hes a bit shit and Ferry, great to see him back in the starting line up.

And since when has Luke Rooney looked so much like Michael McIntyre ?

Link? We don't all use twitter kind thread starter, sir.

Theres a few going round, this is the original one from @MacPhlea

https://p.twimg.com/A02e7RnCMAA0-Y4.jpg

Just seen this one too.

https://p.twimg.com/A02rcFpCMAA-0Jy.jpg

[url width=320 height=319]http://c0014444.r32.cf1.rackcdn.com/x2_e20221e[/url]

Yes it was Derby. I made a mistake.

Within a couple of seasons both Soton and Derby came to the Town with Shilton in goal. In both games we absolutely battered the opposition. In the Soton game, I've never seen such a magnificent goalkeeping display that ended with a bloody awful penalty miss from Kammy.

When Shilts moved to Derby and they came to the County Ground, we battered Shilton again. But, as he had been before, he was absolutely outstanding and pulled off some marvellous saves.

All until Dave Hockaday when storming up the right wing (attacking the TE) and put in a cross that alluded everyone and unexpectedly plopped into the far corner of the net.

Comfortable. Crawley are not the same team they were last season they kept the ball down and tried to play it from the back, I think Paolo knew this because we never gave them a second to take a touch, the pressure from everyone was brilliant. Ritchie involved in every goal tonight and was very good. Thought Ferry was brilliant and Collins impressed me as well.  Think we will have to play to play better on Saturday against a very strong Franchise. One extra thing, I wanted to kill that ****ing drummer.

Haha just saw Paolo mowing the pitch on SSN, brilliant isn't he.

BBC football has Crawley down as having 52% of the possession and 7shots on target one less than us, really ?!

Can understand the possession - they had plenty of the ball in their own half and around the half way line. The difference was we attacked when we had it.

It says 2 shots on target. Not 7.

Sorry, my mistake. 7 shots 2 on target.

Guess PdC was happy not to have to bollock the lads so had some spare time on his hands . . . . :D

Paolo applies the coup de grace ?   (sorry, don't know how to do a circumflex)

Well happy when I heard about this result this morning.  Looking forward to getting back on Friday and seeing my first game of the season on Saturday.

Like that...coup de grâce

Pau-mow Di Canio.

Pao-mow, it's Pao-mow

Thanks for that. I remember that goal like it was yesterday, and it had been doing my nut in trying to remember who it was!

That was easier than expected, great result. Season up and running...DiCanio calm. All`s well, order has been restored. Saturday will be a good measure to see where we are at.....Caddis situation will be sorted by transfer closing date one way or another....

Must find something to whinge on about....

Can someone post up some reaction from that Crawley forum? I can't be bothered to sign up.

I really enjoyed listenign to the game on Player last night, we sounded like we set at them pretty much from the off and hardly took our foot off the pedal, a good win against a side that are still fancied to scrape into the play offs.

Here are a few quotes from the Creepy forum on how they saw the game.

The first few comments were in response to a little winding up by SwindonRed, obviously a Swindon fan on a wind up mission...no its not me but....

Some pathetic usual comments to start with then some people at the game telling it how it was....with us the better side.

Done :) I was copying it as you posted that.

Yes, because you would never see a football crowd goad the opposition bench or worse still, the bastard in the black match officials.

I liked the bit that said about playing at old trafford. Shame no-one told them that we've played at Anfield, Stamford bridge etc in the Premiership a league they will NEVER get to.

Haha thanks, exactly what I expected from them. Absolutely laughable.

Very comfortable last night, we looked really good in all areas.

I think Williams is going to be absolutely immense this year, he was causing them problems all night. It was good to see Ritchie have a good game and I think Devera is growing into the RB role.

We looked very solid at the back and was good to see that Flint is still winning absolutely everything in the air.

I thought I would dislike Crawley less after Evans left, but I don't, horrible little club. Drums really should be banned from football matches.

Will be a much bigger test on Saturday and will be a good indication of where we are. Bring it on!

Hopefully the horrible little fucker Alan Smith will be banned after his sending off last night, making them a bit weaker too.

He will be. It was a straight red for violent conduct, so 3 match ban.

They have had 3 red cards so far this season. Kay, Gleeson and Smith so I guess each of these may be suspended?

From what their manager says, their defence is a little make-shift at the moment so hopefully we can take advantage.

We really need to ban away fans from bringing drums into the ground. Not only is it fucking annoying but it can stifle the home support.

They live in cloud cuckoo land, then again they ain't too far away from Brighton.

Wore my new town shirt to the shops today. Some bloke came up to me and went "Your boys played really well last night", turned out he was a Crawley fan who was at the game. Some of them are alright!

Then again in the same trip someone shouted "TWAT" at me, so swings and roundabouts.

I think a baby's bib could stifle our home support recently.

If 150 odd people with a drum can generate more of an atmosphere than 7,500 fans of a team winning comfortably then we should be worried.

N.B. I have no idea if this is actually true.

I think BO that is why we need a decent new, bigger, home end. All likeminded singers can congregate there.

...like at wembley, oh...

Too big = spread out = same problem.

Some fans watch the game like they're sat in front of the telly at home.

The main reason our atmosphere is shit is because the singers are all spread out. I stopped sitting in the TE years ago because the view is shit. I sit up in the DRS and will often start the songs when the TE sing to us, but getting an atmosphere going in there is very hard unless its a massive game. If we had a decent stand behind the goal like Pompey I would sit there and I think the atmosphere would be a lot better. I also think the fact that the TE is so far away from the away fans doesnt help. The TE can rarely hear the away fans and vise versa, the acoustics at the CG are terrible. There was a period up until the Bristol Rovers seat throwing game a few years back when we had good numbers in the North Stand right next to the away fans and the atmosphere was fantastic with great banter and singing all through the game. If the Arkells didnt have  a slightly restricted view and everyone who sings started sitting there then I would go back to that. But whilst people still sit in the TE the atmosphere will never be amazing except for big games.

The lack of atmosphere has absolutely nothing to do with the fact a lot of our fans don't sing

The singers at the Hawthorns and st marys tend to be right next to the away fans

Hopefully the ground re-devlopment will solve this problem.

So how many would pay the extra £6 per game to stand near the away fans ?

Think you need to accept that traditional atmosphere, is now prettty much a thing of the past, like steam engines, tuppence back on an empty Tizer bottle and smoke filled pubs.

At least the people there have made the effort to get away from the TV for a few hours, and so something of our cultural heritage remains, when so much else has been destroyed.

Alot of people moved to the Don Rogers this season due to the ridiculous Town End season ticket prices (i.e being not much less than the DR)

Were you drinking in the Beehive after the game? I thought I recognised you from an STFC quiz night but couldn't be sure...

I like the way he said they have played at old trafford.

So have we mate, in the league.

Pikey baggage handling cunt.

Yes, I availed myself of a few post match pints of cooking lager.

When exactly was it that the singers moved to the Town End? I remember back in the Championship winning McMahon era, the noise all came from the Stratton Bank end of what was the Intel stand.

Then I was working away and didn't get to many games (1 a season, give or take) for a decade or so, and by the time I can get to more gomes, the singers are all in the Town End.

Yes it used to be in the top corner of the Intel stand where the atmosphere was. Then one season they trialled £10 tickets in the Town End everyone moved there. I used to love at atmosphere in the Intel stand as the away fans sat on the Stratton Bank.

I dont buy in to the fact that people dont want to sing. Because our away atmosphere is superb! I am one of Im sure many who would sing at home games for 90 mins if there was a decent number of us singing and it was in a stand with a good view! I sit in the DRS towards the TE, it would have potential to get more of an atmosphere going, but not that many there are 'sing for 90 min fans' like you get at away games.

This Crawley player must've been playing in a different game, and saying they can out pass any team in the league...well...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19348003

Hmm, not quite sure when the wrong time to score is...?

:clap:

"Unfortunately for us, all of Swindon's goals came after the game started and before the final whistle, whereas we scored all of ours in the warm up. It's quite hard to take, but there's not much you can do about it really."

 
 :clap:

What was I thinking. .

You deserve a medal for that,  Oh......

:D

Haaaaaaaa!

Hi Swindon fans,

Crawley fan here. I’d thought I’d put my thoughts on the game of the other night and my over all experience.

First up, going to the County Ground as away fan is an expensive day out. £25 and the food and drink is pricey too, although the alcohol is bizarrely comparatively cheap. The stewards inside were a friendly bunch but the bouncers outside were way over the top. I think they need to realise that mostly respectable people and families got to football. They treated it like a nightclub. Tone it down.

Once inside I thought the ground was excellent. Good facilities and a fantastic away section. The ground is built to keep the noise inside which was good.

On going to the game I think most sensible Crawley fans would have been very happy with a draw. We steamrollered the Conference, did well in League Two although slightly limped over the line at the end. Most of us realise that this year is about consolidation. Some newspapers are still inclined to call us the Big Spenders which is ludicrous when put up against the spending power now of the likes of Sheffield United, Coventry and to a certain degree yourselves. I don’t think we’ll go down but we’ll by no means challenge for promotion.

On the game itself, until you scored an extremely fortunate goal I thought it was level pegging. After that we were totally outplayed and you deserved your win. It’s frustrating though that the other two goals were also somewhat defensive gifts from us. On another day we might have scraped a (admittedly undeserved) 0-0 draw. Also, on another day you might have had your player sent off. A yellow card was probably the correct decision but I’ve seen them given.

From what I’ve seen of your team I think you’ll make the play-offs. You play good football, move the ball around well and are defensively sound. Ritchie looks like a very good player; it’s a shame he goes to ground so easily. Such is football.

With regards to our singing. You’re an ex-Premier League side. Remember how proud you were when you got there. It was the highest you’d ever been. League One is the highest we’ve ever been. We never thought we’d get here. I certainly didn’t and I’ve been going for twenty years. We’re going to enjoy every moment. I thought your crowd was very quiet although I appreciate most clubs’ fans are noisier away from home.

It irks me that SOME supporters of clubs like yours have the audacity to call Crawley not ‘proper’ and tinpot. A history lesson will show you that Crawley Town Football Club is only seventeen years younger than Swindon Town Football Club. It’s total ignorance and arrogance to say such things. It’s the ignorance that made the Football League such a closed shop for such a long time that you had to be voted in and up until very recently you had only one in one out.

Another think that irks me is SOME fans from larger clubs such as yourselves taking the mickey out of our attendances and away following. We’re a small club. Less than eighteen months ago we were non-league. The infrastructure of our club is still fairly non-league but it’s a steep learning curve and we’re learning. I was at a game about three and a half years ago when we had 600 people in. We’re now averaging over 3,000. Now that may not seem big time for you with your Billy Big Balls 7,500, but for a lad from Crawley who’s seen truly dark days at the club that is amazing. So an ex-Premier League club taking the mickey out of our attendances is bit like Tesco taking the mickey out of the thriving local corner shop: pathetic.

Paolo Di Canio. I don’t like the man. I don’t like his politics. I don’t like the way he likes to be the centre of attention. I do understand why Swindon fans like him though as he’s brought success to the club.

Steve Evans. I didn’t like the man. I didn’t like his history. I didn’t like the way he likes to be the centre of attention. I did like him as manager of Crawley Town though as he brought success to the club.

Paolo Di Canio still manages Swindon; Steve Evans now does not manage Crawley Town.

Anyway, football internet forums are a dangerous thing as it’s always the trolls and the unreasonable people that get the most attention and give club’s fans bad names. I’m sure the vast majority of Swindon fans are thorough upstanding decent people; I know Crawley Town fans are.

I’m pretty sure we’ll meet again in the league next season, although you’ll finish higher in the table than us.

All the best,

Born in Crawley Hospital aka BICH

You really have changed my opinion of Crawley and their fans, well done.

Does the other Crawley fan know you posted this?

You'll meet us in the league this season fella, unless weve played you twice already ;)

Also, we were the 10k fans that mysteriously appeared when you played Man Utd in the cup :D

What politics? I don't think it's been discussed on here before.

It'll probably take at least a season for you to shake off the Steve Evans stigma.

Please can you shoot the drummer, thanks in advance.

Probably the same place as the 30k fans that mysteriously appear whenever we play at Wembley.

Very nice, thanks.

All this coming from the same man that posted on the Crawley forum this....

Your backhanded complements have been noted, though don't flatter and don't get above yourself - we play Franchise Scum Saturday - now there's a club that should really be put out of business

Ok, what about all the fans they had, at home, against stoke in the cup then

I bet he is the drummer

The first five paragraphs were so promising

Tinpot cunt !

Apparently the drummers name is Neil, which is surprising as most baggage handlers are called Mohammad

BICH - Regarding attendances, it was your CE who said they had budgetted for crowd of 4.5k last season, which was an absolute joke considering you ground barely holds 5k, which you still couldn't fill when you had Stoke at home in the Cup. And due to the fact that the FL bought in the wage cap last season, it would mean Crawley probably breaking the wage cap.

Fat Boy Evans, is, and always be a crook, who should've banned from football for life. He did far worse than anything PdC ever did.

And bringing a drum = Non-league side = Tinpot. It gave me a fucking headache.

All in all a pretty measured opinion that's difficult to argue with.
Just a couple of points:
 - the 3,000 crowds were on the back of really successful seasons - the best I can realistically see for Crawley is consolidating as a league 2 team (with maybe occasional forays into the big time of L1) with crowds stabilising at not much more than 2K.  Very few teams have managed better than this over the last 40 years.
 - I understand not liking PdC but to compare him with slimeball Evans!!!! - I would stop watching STFC if Evans was our manager for as long as he stayed.

Just looked on the FA site: Franchise, Smith suspension starts 21.8.12 ends 1.9.12.   Kay suspension starts 18.8.12 ends 28.8.12 and Gleeson suspension starts 11.8.12 ends 25.8.12 They all got three match suspensions.

With regards to our home attendance, I agree with you, I think for the games when the away team doesn’t bring large numbers I think we’ll struggle to get over 3,000 in the ground. It’s going to be a real culture shock for the newbie fans that have only seen success in league and cup for two years to see us not win every week.

However, on the flipside, the culture of football is very different in the town now. There are record number of season ticket holders and you’re actually seeing kids walking around town in Crawley shirts which has never happened before as it’s been the usual array of Premier League teams.

I think Steve Evans and Paolo Di Canio are similar characters. They both love the limelight and I get the impression from both men that they use every opportunity to further their own career. Both men have also been legitimately successful too. Both men carry unfortunate baggage too. Both are obvious, I can’t believe that someone said before he was unaware of Di Canio’s politics. I was uncomfortable with Evans at the club despite of his success; if I was a Swindon fan I’d feel the same about Di Canio.

A point well made by a sensible Swindon fan above about the attendances. Sure, it’s amazing how nine thousand ‘fans’ materialised when we went to Old Trafford but the same goes – and some – for your Wembley visits.

Interesting stat:

As per the 2011 census the population of Swindon is 209,000. The population of Crawley is 99,477. The average home attendance for 2011/12 for Swindon was 8,410, for Crawley it was 3,211. So, 4.02% of the town went to your games and 3.22% went to Crawley’s games. Swindon are ex-Premier League, Crawley up until eighteen months ago were non-league. So, in short, that’s really not bad.   

[url width=300 height=185]http://i.imgur.com/XNcdc.gif[/url]

Crawley are a non-league club punching well above their weight. I think they'll do ok this season but long term, no.

I understand people disliking Paolo but what crime has he been convicted of? To compare him to Evans is ridiculous.

Plenty of resonable points from BICH, but a few are just as juvenile as comments made by some of our own 'less considerate' fans.

You can't really compare that, you gave the population of the borough of Swindon, not the Town and for yourself haven't counted the smaller towns in and around Crawley that can easily be tapped into by a successful club. Wigan is a small town, but it's in an area with a huge amount of people and get decent crowds, doesn't really give you the whole picture.

Personally (based on nothing but a gut feeling), i think a town of our size including the surrounding places such as Chippenham, Devizes, Westbury etc. should be attracting more than we do.

Not a bad percentage for Crawley considering they are just a backwater suburb of Brighton!! (Possibly with not so many gayers though!)

Anatomy lecture:

You may think DiCanio is a bit of a cock, but Evans is a big fat crooked cunt. HTH.

I think the Crawley fans posts have been pretty good. But I'd like to point out that I think the majority of people calling them tin pot probably do so because 3500 crowds are nowhere near enough to sustain a league 1 club on merit.

I guess you could point to our own loss making, but I think that whilst we are spending big that if we needed to scale right back to break even we'd have a good chance to remain a league club, whereas Crawley wouldn't.

Does that give us the right to call them tinpot. Well I don't really have an opinion on them now fat boy is gone.

While I have not affection for crawley, to say low crowds will be unable to sustain a league one place is factually incorrect. You only have to look at Yeovil; while we have visited the basement twice in the last few years, they've maintained third tier football and reached the playoff final.

The fucking wurzel cunts.

Our problem is the floating fans who have no afinaty for a particular team so just go to watch the games of whichever club is doing best at the time. I'm pretty certain people in say Chippenham and Bath are more likely to travel to Ashton Gate to watch Bristol City while they are in The Championship. This also applies to Hungerford and Newbury where people will be more likely to travel to Reading especially as they have reached The Premier League. I remember saying to a mate last season that having both Reading and Southampton reaching the Premier League was not going to do our attendance figures any good. A lot of northern teams in League One this season so I personally think home crowds will be down on last season. Until we reach The Chamionship I doubt very much we could achieve an average attendance in excess of 10K.

Yeovil's average attendance 2011-2012 = 3984
Crawley's = 3211

Good point Herthab, didn't realise Yeovil had such low attendances. In fact Colchester, Stevenage, Bury and Rochdale had even lower attendances.

The thing is a fair few clubs at this level have small crowds like Crawley but they live to their means and although they don't run massive profits each season but all just stay above the breadline.

Crawley are not like this, they have got promoted by paying inflated signing on fees instead of wages, which was not taken into account with the wage/salary cap.

The last 2 seasons its well documented that they have got around the wage cap by unusual sponsorships deals and signing on fees such as when they signed Sergio Torres for a minimal weekly wage but with an excessive signing on fee and massive transfer fees for the level...getting over the wage cap but still paying him more that others could afford.

This is what is unsustainable and will have to stop, currently it has been got around by the mystery owners investing large sums in one off sponsorship deals, much in the same way that Notts County did a couple of years ago to get around the wage cap.

Some of this is stated in this article from last year addressing some of the financial oddities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2011/feb/18/crawley-town-manchester-united-fa-cup

Crawley bought their Football League place, pure & simple.  I don't dislike them for being 'tinpot', because that would be daft.  'Tinpot' is a relative term that could, equally, be applied to us by bigger clubs.  'Tinpot' also implies that you are punching above your weight, which is something to be applauded, not ridiculed.  But I dislike Crawley because there was no achievement to be proud of in their ascent up the leagues.  It was purchased.  They financially bulldozed their opponents.  Promotion was a dull inevitability.

Of course, we might also have the same charge levelled at us.  We also spent more than we earned last season and will probably do so again - but scale is everything.  In the long run, every club will return to its natural level, and last season's spending simply returned us to the division that we have spent most of our history in anyway.  Our spending was also sustainable to the extent that on crowds of 8,000 we could probably sustain League 1 football in the long run anyway (without any further cash injections), and that promotion to the Championship would significantly add to those crowds.  Crawley does not have that growth potential.  They're already maxxed out financially and their crowds of 3,000 are never likely to improve materially...especially with Brighton's resurgence just up the road.

As others have said, consoldation in League 2 is probably the best they could hope for longer term...but I wouldn't personally bet on that happening.  I see another Rushden, to be honest.  A star that shines brightly for a short period of time, before burning itself out to nothing.

Thats just about how I see it Ardiles.