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This debate has resurfaced so time for the TEF to decide. What nickname do you want for our team?

 Ive gone for Railwaymen, but I quite just like Swindon.

The death bringers

The press have nicknamed us Di Canio's Swindon

Never liked, The Robins, so just not that. I quite like, The Inbreds.

The Railwaymen is already taken, isn't it?

Said it before and I'll say it again, moon rakers is an ace story and we should be proud of it, better than the proxy robins, and then we could come out to the James Bond moonrakers theme, with our chairmans diplomatic connections i may suggest it to him  :toocool:

Shirley we don't really have a right to Moonrakers, as isn't it a Devizes story? Or do we get dibs on it as we're the largest urban area in Wiltshire?

The Bluechippers :D . Relevant to the modern day Swindon.

Didn't realize it was specific to devises, but seeing as they aren't using it...

Moon, moon, moon rakers.

This would be my reason for not choosing the Moonrakers, think the railwaymen has more relevance to Swindon, Crewe are also known as the Railwaymen but there has been more than one "Robins"

Thick yokels making fools of themselves after imbibing too much 6X. What could be more appropriate?

Fred elliot was right all along.  :crash:

Railwaymen is shit and long winded. If you want to go down that route then Steam would be a better choice.

Always preferred Moonrakers. We're in Wiltshire so we can claim it. It shortens to Moonies, better chants and justifies baring your arse cheeks at the opposition. The outfit is more fun and cheaper for fancy dress. Everyone thinks we're country bumpkins so we might as well play up to it. Plus we can nick the Moonraker theme.

I think you have the interpretation of moon raker our rivals believe.

The real one was about pulling the wool over the eyes of some bobbies when smuggling something I believe. It was dumped in a lake/pond and retrieved using rakes. When the plod caught them raking the lake in the dark, they cunningly saw the moon's reflection and said they were raking the moon in. The plod incorrectly considered them think yokels, believed the tale, and left them to retrieve their bounty. Or something similarish.

Steam

Huh?

STAB ?  ;D

" Oh when the Steam, go Steaming in......."  ;)

Always found the word Aggro funny  :)
Swindon aggro, Swindon aggro, ello,ello......

Swine

Ah yes, that sounds familiar. Cheese i think.

It was alcohol... they hid it in lakes to avoid paying duty

could of been moonshine.

"Rake daddy rake!"

http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=3697161315

The story I was told as a lad was that a group of Wiltshire lads were involved in smuggling brandy.

 The barrels of brandy were hidden in Devizes "Moonrakers" pond out of sight and away from HM Customs.
Apparently late one night the Wiltshire lads were stood in the pond and were using rakes to try to hook the barrels and shift them from the bottom of the pond when HM customs came riding by on horses and stopped to enquire what the lads were up to. The Wiltshiremen played up to their country bumpkin reputation and pointed to the reflection of the full moon and said in best west country accents  "ere orificer, We waz just trying to trawl that gert big cheese out the water see" - to which HM customs said "you great big country bumpkin twats" and rode off to Calne in search of for illicit brandy.....

Or something like that...

Original is best = Spartans

Reading are 'The Royals' on the basis (I think) that Windsor is 20 miles up the road and that it's the largest town in Berkshire.  So why not?

I've never once heard 'The Robins' from the stands.  It's a term used by journalists and programme writers only.  Means very little to our fans, I think.  At least 'The Moonrakers' would be uniquely Swindon in league football, and not shared by two other clubs less than an hour away.

I think it's because the official name of the county is Royal Berkshire

Should be named after the Berkshire Hunt

Awoo!

Spot on.  Nicknames Irrelevant.

I particularly like when Liverpool are referred to as The Reds when they're in their away kit.

yep "The Berkshire Hunts" suits Reading,though I always thought they were the"Biscuitmen"

The "Yoyos" seems appropriate.

Well, I suppose since Jacobs biscuit factory went tits up that's about as appropriate as te Railwaymen for us

Spartans.

It was Huntley and Palmer in Reading...Town v Reading, when I was a kid, was Railwaymen v Biscuitmen...now if we ever play them again, it's the M4 derby.  The romance has just gone form modern football...

Sunderland changed their nickname, which was the Rokerites, when they moved ground...maybe we should just change the colour of the shirts like Cardiff, to give a reason for the proposed change.

If we went for black shirts...then it might keep PdC for a bit longer..

Actually, when you look at most club's nicknames they aren't very inspiring - very pre-war grey

If it's romantic nicknames you want, then look no further, than the soon to be independent, land of the Sweatie, where micro clubs have wonderful nicknames...eg Sam Parkin's Queen of the South...The Doonhammers, Partick Thistle...The Jags, Montrose..The Gable Endies, Forfar Athletic...The Loons, Dundee United...The Terrors, Stenhousemuir...The Warriors, Clyde..The Bully Wee, Ayr....The Honest Men, Arbroath...Red Lichties, Cowdenbeath...The Blue Brazil.

My favourite, if only for it's sheer cuntyness, and the fact I only learned of it recently, is Notts Forest's. The Tricky Trees.

That's more like it.

Yet again the English come up with dull and boring

Forgot that Barry, it's seldom mentioned by Forest fans but has been around for a while. Apparently It's also mentioned on the football manager game.

How about "The Lardys" . . can you still get them?
Grays bakery used to do the best ones in town.

On a bit of a serious note - it could be a great PR exercise for the club to ask people to come up with  new nickname.

Could involve the whole community and perhaps get a few more people interested in the club.

Fuck that for a game of conkers, can you imagine some of the shite suggestions there would be

The Swoodilypoopers?

The Cheesemakers - they will inherit the earth after all

No, no, no and fucking no.

Oh.  Thats a no then.

Whats so special about "the Cheesemakers" ?

Liking The Spartans. Bit of history and a pretty cool nickname, much better than the robins.

Plus, TV reporters won't be able to confuse me as to whether it's Swindon, Bristol or Cheltenham playing when they talk in future!!

Personally, love the moonrakers though. Fair bit of history there. It's reasonably local to the region and it's truly unique; We'd surely be the only club in the world with that nickname?!

Are you Tim Russon from Central News South??

Moonrakers for me

We could take the nickname of the victorious speedway team by way of recognition.....

What a stupid idea

I would definitely be in favour of rigging any actual poll for this. As would most of the internet, I suspect.

Sorry...sometimes I get carried away into flights of fantasy.

Moonrakers would be a great, unique nickname, but The Spartans just sounds ace.
Slightly more intimidating than The Robins.

Poor old Rockin' Robin.

but YAY for Rakey or Sammy Spartan!

We are the robins. Fucking get over it

Do 16 people think "Not remotely arsed" would be a good nickname? In 10-11 perhaps, but harsh now.

This is the most obvious benefit of changing nicknames, in terms of a mascot we could just give a local jimmy saville type a bumpkin costume and a rake.

Lets just go the whole hog and have a huge wicker man in front of the bank.

I've had to vote for "Spartans" What an arse kicking name.
Although being Wiltshire born and bread I do like the "Moonrakers" Love the country yokel connection, especially as the story makes the authorities to be the fools.

Leonidas as a mascot might open us up to a whole new market of fans...not quite sure he's as kiddy-friendly as the Robin mind:

[url width=267 height=362]http://fim.413chan.net/art/src/131022354197-300-Leonidas-B.jpg[/url]

Let’s just leave it till we can be Swindon Spartans at the new Honda Community Stadium in Premier League 2.

I’d vote for that if it meant we could be part of the PL set up.

The Soft Shoe Shuffling Spartan?

Leonidas was leading scorer at the 38 WC for Brazil...maybe the striker Paolo is looking for, apart form the fact he's dead. We've had Moonraker mascots in the past...if people feel that strongly about it, get off your fat arses and do something about it.  You'll prob need CRB clearance these days mind.

I want the franchise for straw selling.

Am I remembering this or making it up:

Didn't we used to have some yokel/Wurzel Gummidge character that walked around the ground?

For some years, we had an old boy who dressed as a Moonraker...white smock and rake, who'd go around the perimeter and chat to kids etc....he also used to wear a string of sausages around his neck...for extra piggy authenticity.

Ray Howell....David's pere, revived the Moonraker in the late 80's.

I can see Yeovil doing it....

Was he sponsored by Bowyers for that

Fuck off....Wiltshire Bacon Company up at Stratton.  Harris's of Calne would also have been accepetable, but no Trowbridge shit.

 :D

I remember chasing after a pig (or it could have been a cow) that had escaped from the abbatoir in Chippenham when I was on my way to work at Westinghouse.

Way back in Elizabethan times, it feels

Leonidas (the third, I think) is the number 5 horse in Totopoly.

I used to remember when Calne was full of pigs. The waft of offal on the way to school was immense.

Reading should be the Biscuitmen.  We should be the Moonrakers or Spartans.  Either's good.  How the fuck can we share a nickname with the Slave Traders?