Thetownend.com

The Opponent:  The Weather

Let’s face it. Chances of this game going ahead are pretty slim, despite the likely assurances that no pitch inspection is planned. Now I fully appreciate the back garden is not quite the CG playing surface, far from, but it does seem to be getting closer to Peatmoor lagoon with every drop of rain that falls. On this basis, I will save the dazzling trivia for another time. If you plan on calling the game of Mr/Mrs Official then let’s do it as early as possible, at least the pre-booked Towie Cabs Taxi bringing all of their travelling support down will have plenty of time to make other arrangements.

Anyway, instead of my bullshit, enjoy this link –

http://www.greenun24.co.uk/colchester-united/colchester_united_fans_up_in_arms_over_swindon_fixture_change_1_3316902

Here’s a snippet!

“It is a decision that has angered many Colchester supporters, including, Ray Orman of Hadleigh, who e-mailed the East Anglian Daily Times to air his own frustrations, and those of many other fellow U’s fans.
Mr Orman wrote: ‘There are a few of us quite upset at the moment. How can Swindon be allowed to move this fixture to Friday at such short notice?
‘There is a fair group of Col U fans who travel to away games on Advance rail tickets. These are now completely worthless and not refundable. The only way we can go on Friday now is at full fare.”

Weather or Not? –  Seriously?

Where the opposition gather –

http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/colchesterunited/forum/102600/swindon/#12

Last 6 –  WLDWWL (14th on 34 points)

They have served us both –  Will Dixon, Michael Rose. Lloyd Opara, Johnnie Jackson, Mark Yeates, Jordan Pavett, David Prutton, Roy Bicknell, Jamie Cureton, Tony Thorpe, Ray Bunkell, Ian Culverhouse, Richard McKinney

The Odds -  Swindon 4/5  Draw 11/4   Colchester 4/1  Seems a decent price for the away team.

The Son Says – We will win 1-0, once I convinced him his wobbly tooth will still be wobbly in the morning.

The Prediction – P-P  But should it get the go ahead, we will win 2-1, goals from N’Guessan and Barker in front of 6’898, 99 from Essex.

And Finally – Keep safe one and all, the next 24-36 hours is looking pretty miserable.

COYR COYR COYR

I've got a good feeling about this!  2-1 Swindon COYR

I've got a bad feeling about this 0-0  :zzz:

I have a good feeling the match will be on and a better feeling we will win 5-1

Where's this storm, then?

It's 4.30 no wind, no rain.

'Aint no mountain high enough . . .'

3.1 thumping for us
Still dry at mo so maybe will be on

Going to go for our first clean sheet since November 26th, and a 2-0 win with Smith and Luongo the scorers.

Jamie Cureton did not serve us.....

Nor did that pikey cunt Prutton or that twat Rose

Yes they did....shite on regular basis.....Cureton didn't even do that...

Will Dixon, now there was a player we could do with today. One of the hardest players ever to pull on the shirt.

P-P.

Off

I agree with your son. 1-0 win, Ranger.

If its not called off!

Is there any official annoucement from the club re possible pitch inspection.

Yesterday was dry and so far the rain hasn't been huge... So I think we'll be OK unless a hurricane hits.

As for the game, a scrappy horrible affair which I hope we edge.

Lots of rain on its way and gales predicted tonight. If the game survives then I think we'll sneak a 3-1 win.

According to Hodgetts this morning the pitch is perfectly playable and no early inspection planned, could change if the predicted storm hits!!  Be careful walking around the DRS from the club shop end, it's like a lake, as is part of the car park!

Will be surprised to see this game played. Don`t think I will be in attendance - my predication skills have been way off so let`s say a straight forward 2 - 0.

it was perfectly playable against crawley according to some people :no:

Don't forget Kevin Watson :)

Quite funny to see the Colchester fans' reaction to the fixture change. Wasn't it the FL who moved the fixture, rather than us?

Do feel for those who bought advance train tickets though. Both of them.

I remember one Saturday game where they brought 89 fans

Imagine the game gets called off at 7pm! They'll be absolutely livid, both of them.

Weather's not been bad so far today. If it gets called off, it won't be before they set off.

My flight to Lisbon takes off at 19:45 so won't know the score until full time.

Maybe I'll ask the pilot for score updates! Wonder if Yeovil Red could help out?

Hope we are off and Peterborough have to play on a mud heap, wear them out for Monday!

Good luck with taking off in this weather, I have got a flight on Monday and hoping the winds will clear by then.

This game will be P-P.  Not because of the pitch but because of the danger of getting to the ground, surely common sense will prevail, travelling from Colchester on a Friday night is bad enough, in the middle of flooding and gale force winds even worse.

Sod's Law, can't see any way tonight will happen, whereas if on the Saturday, then maybe a chance.

Monday may be OK though.

25mph winds at Heathrow around that time. It should be ok for taking off I reckon?

The club will do everything it can to get this game on, not least because it means Kasim is available for Minday's game.

Just hope the call is made before 4(ish) as that's when we are planning to leave here.

I honestly can't see this being on.  The wind and rain is really picking up now.

Its starting to rain quite hard now so I would be shocked if the game did not get called off on safety games

It is only going to get worst would seem sensible to call this off as early as possible if we play on the pitch in this it will turn into a ploughd field

I've seen games on in worse weather. If the pitch is fine it will go ahead

Yeah, it's not that bad at the moment so unless it worsens considerably then I don't think it'll get called off this early.

Just spoken to Adam at the club (sorting out some hospitality), he says the word on the street is that there might not be an official pitch inspection as such but 3pm will be the decision time and referee's call as that is as late as they can leave it for Col U to get on the road. He seemed reasonably confident it will be on.

After being stuck in savernake forest, due to a fallen tree and driving home through floods on Wednesday,  I'm in no rush to do the 3 hour round trip to Swindon this afternoon. If it goes ahead it'll be our lowest attendance for a league game for quite some time.

Bloody hell I never realised you brought that many people with you!

Not seen anything in Reading so far to warrant it being P-P'd. I assume it's no worse in Swindon? Its a bit of wind and rain folks! Yes I know we've had plenty of rain lately but the pitch sounds like its ok. 25mph winds are far from ideal but don't think that's enough to call a game off either.

Haha. I'm talking about a lot of out of town fans, not just me.

That made me laugh out loud :D

Hopefully a low attendance will mean the end to ridiculous Friday night games

You're ignoring the fact it's only been switched because of the JPT game.

Not as stupid as ridiculous Monday night games

The JPT's just a ridiculous competition all round though so it's quite appropriate to have it's games on a ridiculous night. We should all be made to wear ridiculous hats to the game as well, just to get into the spirit of the thing

I am all for this idea :)

I'm sure I have seen you in some ridiculous hats in the past Paul..........

Its rained a bit, its quite windy, all the ingredients for a cracking game of football  :)

I'll say 2-0 to us with Smith and Ranger scoring! Weather horrible driving back from Bournemouth this afternoon after watching darts last night, but must say it's much better in Swindon than I thought it would be!

Unofficial pitch inspection between 3-4pm, don't know why they haven't told every one really.

Got a free ticket but still undecided wether to go or not.

I need persuading

Hell yeah!  :nod:

3-0, let's fucking do 'em. Smith, Ranger, Thompson (one of).

Pretty insistent rain where I am, and I wouldn't be MASSIVELY surprised if the game was postponed. But then the groundskeepers at Swindon are magicians.

You have a free ticket.

There. Persuasion over.

I hate that insistent rain, won't take no for an answer...

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm going to fall and make stuff wet"

"Stop it."

"Nope, hahahahahahah. Hey hey hey I'm going to fall and make stuff wet"

"Stop it!"

"Nope! Ahahahahah!"

Etc...

I love the news reporting.  We're in for a double pronged attack apparently.  As if the weather has been conspiring to bring down the country.  Evil weather.

The Express front page has forecast a total of 27ft of snow and 20ft of rain since November. I refused to look at their front page today through fear of drowning.

Their front page is virtually on the weather. Apparently we were going to have the coldest winter on record in November...

Apparently tomorrow there will be 'Organised' heavy showers. We need to find out who the evil mastermind behind this is.

Jesus the way people are going on, on twitter, you'd think it was the fucking apocalypse.

It's only a bit of wind...

So any idea of the result of this unofficial inspection?

It's not even rained that much, and all word coming out of the club/Adver seems to suggest the pitch is fine.

I will take it as 'no news is good news'.

That's my take on it. BBC Wilts and Adver just using Copers interview from yesterday.

I would have thought the Taxi from Colchester will be on its way to The Merlin now, would be a bit harsh on them.

Club just posted a picture of the pitch, no puddles...no need for a pitch inspection.

I don't think rain will be an issue. So as long as the Arkell's holds together in the gales, the game should be on.

Indeed.  One of a set of great tacklers in the 70/80s, Burrows, Bunkell and Kamara being other notables.



 

Looking at 30/40mph winds tonight - strong breeze to gale force according to Lyneham Met report. Methinks it is going to make for a real problem on the pitch. Would be quite happy to see the game called off imo.

Never did like re-arranged games and not got a good feeling about this one. Like to be proved wrong.

Umm

It's like a monsoon in Highworth. Still on?

Getting very windy now.

I'm staying home with Jack Daniels

Pitch inspection at 6:30

Cooper just been on sky sports news and says game on

Old Interview (yesterday)

Another inspection at 7.

Reckon it will be off

Passed, but another inspection at 6:55

I'm up for this one now which means postponement is imminent.

WTF??

Turnstiles not opening until 7pm.... REVOLT! REVOLT! REVOLT!

I'll be ordering my starter around then.

Indeed. I'm not sure what difference 30 minutes will make now.

There's lots of rain lining up to hit Swindon in the next couple of hours. If it's touch and go, they may as well call it off now.

It's going to get called off and people are going to explode with raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage.

So Power said its been playable all day, but at 18;15 a downpour put it in doubt. Then the wind blew the water away so it was still on.

I predict abandoned.

I'll admit I would be slightly peeved if this happens.

Not bothered as I couldn't go tonight. The only downside is Kassim can't play on Monday.

Game will be a farce with the wind at its current levels

Isn't it supposed to get even more windy too?

Gusts increasing to 50mph+

GAME ON

Scramble scramble scramble.

Yep, game on. One hell of an attacking line up too with Pritchard, nguessan, ranger and Smith all starting.

We're not really able to keep a clean sheet at the moment but if we can show the same strength of character as the last couple of games then 2-1 Town with a Michael Smith brace

5-2

Whoa!  This is going to be immense.  Or immensely awful.  Check back in 2½ hours to find out which.

It won't finish

If it doesn't finish, does it still count as a game for suspension purposes?

Ludicrous decision. Wiltshire Police warning about increasing high winds and numpties say it is ok to play football. It is called football for a reason and people pay good money to watch professionals play it not a referee strutting around the park. I shall be there but fully expect it
to be abandoned.

No, but any bookings/red cards in the game do!

When was our last abandoned game, by the way?  Was it the home game vs Tranmere in early 1993 when the floodlights failed?  (Or 'failed', if you're a conspiracy theorist.)

Was it in the 80s when we were 3-0 up against Bradford and the fog closed in?

There's far too much calling games off for the slightest girly reason

I remember a game vs Grimsby in about 96/97. We were 1-0 up with a 'wonder strike' from Sky pundit Kevin Watson when the game was called off due to a frozen pitch.

Cant believe this is on. 8-8 abandoned on 31 minutes

surprise-player not working!

The wind and rain outside is really fucking nasty.

Good job I'm inside with a roaring fire and Dominos on the way.

What have you gone for? Meateor on the way myself.

Are you here?  The ball is going to go nowhere in these winds.  Should have been postponed.

They'll make no money tonight.  There's prob 4,000 here if that.  Hardly any of the ST holders by us are here.

Working fine in Russia :)

Curry for us.  Mmmm.

that's comforting

Rubbish, football should be played in most conditions. So it's a bit windy, keep it on the deck and adapt to the conditions.

The postponement of matches at the slightest bit of wind, rain, snow is a reason the game is slowly getting more and more shit like.

Were you at the leyton orient match, cup match I think in 92 (ish). Freezing cold shite first half, we stand through the half time break, pa announce,net says match will carry on, then 5 mins into second half it gets abandoned. In fairness the players could hardly stand up as the ground was lie concrete.

Never been so cold at a match than that night.

I have to say, I could not possibly agree more - it's one of many, many reasons sadly :nod:

Carolina/New Yorker and a load of sides. Hopefully the delivery driver doesn't drown

fucking cuntbollocks shitkicking arseraping player!!!! Fuck YOU!!!!!!!!!!1

It's more than "a bit windy" with "the slightest bit of rain" out there.

If he gets stuck at least he'll be able to eat  :), for a few days by the sound of it  ;)

No I wasn't for some reason. I was however at Fulham v Swindon for the FA Cup 3rd round game in 86/87 (we were both L1/div 3 in old money at the time). I have quite literally never been so cold in my life. Going back down the M4 afterwards, there were one or two buildings (next to the raised up bit near Brentford) displaying the temperature and I clearly remember them saying -10 (MINUS FUCKING TEN!!!)

Fuck me that was one cold mother fucking game. It doesn't sound right saying your coldest game was Fulham away - it should be Hartlepool or Grimsby. But there it is.

Mine was Chelsea

Meanwhile, is anything actually happening in the game? I have STFC player but can't be fucked to listen to that poindexter who commentates these days.

Appreciate that sonic, but football's a winter sport, play on!!!!

No.....Although Smith nearly scored as I type.

gone close twice now!(player has exonerated itself!)

Roberts  :D

Since when has wind been a reason to postpone a game anyway? Can't recall any game ever that's been called off because it's windy? Agree with the above, adapt and get on with it.

If its a waterlogged/frozen pitch etc and a genuine safety issue then that's a different story...

The biscuit was well & truly taken earlier in the week when Man City called their game off an hour or so before kick off.  The game could have gone ahead, but 'elf'n'safety decided that it would be too dangerous for fans to travel to the game (poor lambs) so they called it off.

So pity the fan who had spent 8 hours driving up through various weather-related diversions from Weymouth, 260 miles away.  My first thought was 'poor bugger'.  My second thought was 'glory-hunting tosser...you got what was coming to you'.

There have been loads! Comes down to spectator safety from bits falling off the stadium.

Pauld might lose his hat

Close again!-It's all us

Couple more chances - 4 mins to go

I won't because:
a) I quite clearly said ludicrous hats are for the ludicrous JPT. The league is not ludicrous. Although the weather is
b) I'm at home.
Although I suppose I may mislay it.

 :D

Ranger does a hammy ?

Looked like groin.  Out for Monday I'd have thought.

Ranger's off, drat it. Still, second half we have the gale behind us

Not many striking options for the Posh game now  >:(

Pics on twitter of the empty stands are quite shocking.  They'll spin this, no doubt, as weather-related.  But we all know really that it's because they tried playing on Valentine's Day.   ;)

Could be our lowest League crowd for years.  Hell...it might even be sub-Oxford this time.

taxi for Storey!

:(

Three, surely?

I assume didn't see the picture printed in the MEN of the programme selling booth thing blown on its side

In the old days, that programme booth would have picked itself up, dusted itself down and got on with it.  It's all gone wrong.

All very quiet

I'd guess 5-5500 in here tonight, conditions currently ghastly, and some shithead keeps dropping their guts.

Is there still a game on?

Dare I say it that Ranger "didn't fancy it"?

How many of their lot?

Did Christian Roberts just belch?

Very very quiet. No Harley or JMac for everyone to grumble at.

Ward's there tho'

Colchester down to 10 men - Headbutt on L Thompson

I'd say 50 or so.

one less now

Dirty Sanchez (Watt)

Just said on Sky that 'virtually guaranteed goals' - Cant see it myself. Think this is going to be a frustrating night with the bus parked.

6,683 (96 away supporters). Really that many?????

Sssshhhh, nobody has noticed yet.

Some ticket readers were not working on the way in. There is nowhere near that in here tonight!

Wide from Pritchard. 13 mins left

Tijane Reis to give a spark perhaps?

Sounds frustrating

Fell asleep.

I hate STFC player. I fucking hate it.

Did you dream of a last minute winner?

I understand you, I really do

like

All sounds so flat. 0-0 I reckon

Tijane on for NG

Has the commentary on the radio died for everyone?

Nope. Fine here. I appear to have mislaid my hat though

They always count season ticket holders whether they're actually there or not

Pritchard - Over bar from Free kick
Byrne - Over the bar with commentators orgasming

To be fair, 96 col u fans is a pretty decent effort bearing in mind the weather, change of date etc.

Pritchard wide

Roberts is annoying me now. I thought we scored twice!

Me too, so annoying!

N Thompson wide

FT 0-0

Glad I didn't go.

Someone out

Two points dropped and Ranger out. Wife on the blob. My glass is half empty tonight  :(

Stuck in heathrow waiting for diverted flight from Birmingham. Airport lounge closes in 20 minutes and 2 points dropped. Weekend potentially ruined! :(

Disappointing not to get all 3 points.

The good news is that Posh and Walsall only got a point each today as well.

Well done Mr Cooper, once again this game shows how tactically you do not have a fucking clue! 20minutes against 10 men and instead of stretching the play to make the space you decide to get them to try and play through the middle of the pitch where all there men are! When you finally realise with 5mins left we need to get it out wide you bring on Reis which was the obvious move. Just next time when you are trying to stretch it play him on the left and pritchard on the right so they dont have to cut inside and make it fucking narrow and play right into there hands!

Tonight proved we are nothing without Ranger, looks like he may have now played his last game for us with the case in a couple of weeks. Least we can play Storey up top in a 442 now.....

Except for the games where, clearly, he does have a clue.

Otherwise, a great point.

One shot on target all game and none when they had 10 men shows how much we lacked a punch up front. The ball never stuck to the top 2 and when the ball was crossed into the box it was never attacked or held.

Luongo plays too deep for me and when you have a CB in Troy moving into a more advanced position with the ball then him it says a lot for how little we move the ball with pace through midfield, it was too slow and too predictable.

Troy and Ward seemed to get the ball forward more often rather than passing it across although the conditions probably had a bearing on that fact rather than a conscious choice by Cooper.

Murphy looked good when he came on and the Thompson twins were very good and got around well.

We are not looking good for Monday with injuries and suspensions and without a forward we will struggle unless the midfield wake up.

Can't disagree with any of the above.  Very poor decision making from Cooper when they went down to 10.  Two points dropped tonight against mediocre opposition who didn't test Wes once. Disappointing.

Losing Ranger and Thompson could cost us on Monday.  We're obviously going to struggle up front and it coyld be backs to the wall from the word go.  It might do us well if it gets postponed to be honest.

Disappointing, seem so slow in build-up play, but give credit to Colchester who defended well  - but in the conditions it was a decent point, bit of a lottery really.  Murphy looks more than useful, but wanted to cut inside all the time, mom for me was Troy, always available and prepared to run with the ball.  

Apart from the Coventry game i struggle to remember a game where he changed the tactics and it had a positive impact. Believe me I am happy to be proved wrong but we all know he doesnt know what to do and is only here as he's a good yes guy

Costly game that, Thompson (N) and Ranger out of Monday. Plus a failure to pick up 3 points.

The weather was pretty poor, and that didn't help. I thought we did OK in getting the ball down and passing it around, but there was very little incision in the final third. A long shot and a few crosses but we really didn't create much. I reckon I could have played in goal tonight for Town though.

Hey ho.

My MoM: Troy.

Oh yeah, I as very disappointed to see Danny N'guessen put on the loan list. But he was fucking shit today.

Glad it was on, pitch was more than playable which was very amusing considering some of the stuff on here throughout the day.

We might have dominated, but we were completely devoid of any creativity or tempo to our play. Painfully slow build up.

I like Troy and Ward as a partnership - put McEveley at left back when he returns and it's 4 of the back 5 that were so solid last season.

Pritchard deserved his man of the match award as he was the only attacking player looking to make something happen, bar Murphy who looked decent to be fair. N'Guessan, Smith and Luongo were all very poor and the difference in quality between Smith and Ranger is really quite big. Hopefully that is not the last we have seen with him with his trial approaching.

Louis Thompson...meh. I like the lad and his effort cannot be faulted but he is exposed when on the ball. The 4-4-2 set up going forward with Murphy and Pritchard out wide and Luongo and Kasim in the middle could be interesting, especially at home as would not give us much steel away.

Fair play to the 96 Colchester fans who made the trip, it was certainly grim viewing for them with no attacking intent shown.

His  shot selection was bloody frustrating though.


He looked quite incisive and quick to spot a pass didn't he. Also looked to put the effort and won the ball back a few times.


Kept coming out to the right, which didn't leave us much in the middle.

Peterborough really aren't very good...their only attacking threat of note on Monday will be Assombalonga and we more than held our own at their ground with 10 men.

Even with Ranger out, I would be disappointed not to progress with our home form over the season as it is.

Crap weather, crap game. Couldn't have been much more than 5000 there. No urgency from Town who seemed content to play it side to side and were slower than a bunch of sloths giving a very ordinary Colchester side plenty of time to regroup time after time. We were so fucking ponderous they could have had 7 men and we still wouldn't have scored.
Pritchard as MOM was a fucking joke. He had a decent first half but was greedy and fucking useless in the 2nd. MOM should have been Troy who was Calderwoodesque and was effectively our midfield in the 2nd half.
That is the 3rd home game on the trot we have been dogshit and the previous two we were 2nd best but won.
Probably not a great time to announce ST price increases and the possibility of £27 on the day prices for certain matches.

Did anyone else notice Ward limping a bit at the end. Hopefully just a touch of cramp/fatigue rather than injury.


Eh, what?

I was told there was something in the program that said early bird STs would be £375 up from £360 this season and that match day prices would be categorised a,b and c with a being £27. I can't see anything official and I couldn't see any programmes for sale tonight.

:(

Problem with early bird is I haven't finished with this seasons instalments yet!

I work on the basis if I'm in work then I renew and pay up front so if the job goes or things go to shit then its out of the way.
I'm not sure about next season.

A price increase to watch that shtie? Hmmmm. Not sure about an ST next season either.

Fucking shite night......topped off my shit day.

Lost my wallet, hit a tree, puncture, speeding ticket and that....

We did ok but why do we need to take two touches when a touch and go would of opened up a poor Colchester side.

Fair play to Colchester they fucking dug in and crowded us out.....mind you, if we had got one, it would of been more.

I'd take four points off each team any day.

Heard chuckles after match.....two points:

- Thompsons booking maybe bullshit but he's getting a ban for TEN cautions and not just that shit one.
- don't bitch about having no forwards for Monday....you loaned out Storey...so fuck off.

He's right about winning shit on Monday though.....who cares lets make it.

What's the ST in the TE?

Surely they can't take two lots of instalments during the same period of time?


This.  The club kept hold of the increase in ST holders following Di Canio's departure, because we were still in with a realistic shout of Championship football when early bird and stage 1 went on sale last year.  That's unlikely to be the case this time round, which is likely to see some drop off.  Increasing the prices isn't going to help either.

I'm also in the situation where my son turns 11, so for the first time will have to pay for his ST.  £500 odd for the 2 of us is quite a bit of money, especially when the football on show seems to be going backwards.

If we make the playoffs I will have 2 ribs removed, suck myself off and post the video on here.

That confident.

Obviously you have never played at any level Mr Chang as the two most hated conditions are a rock hard frozen pitch and high winds! As could be seen, very little in the way of football which is what I want to see.

Basically the supporters were taken for a ride tonight, coming far down the list in preference to those in charge at the Town who for some reason or another wanted the game played at any cost. No wonder that there are so many arm chair fans quite content to sit at home and watch the T.V. and their "favourite"  teams and who cannot be assed to come out and watch their local side.

I am also very pissed off at Cooper's dinosaur tactics regarding subs. Yes, one was forced upon him but when they were reduced to ten men that was when it was crying out to re-jig the formation and go for it, not replace one forward for another very untried one, and leave another option (anybody) on the bench.

I have a horrible feeling that playing tonight has fouled the possibility of doing anything Monday and come Tuesday morning we will be left just making up the numbers in Divvy One - I hope to be proven wrong................

Chang is a bit of a twat, have you not gathered that yet?

Just a thought, why don't you do a post and mention tactics?

I took my ST out on finance for this season then had to leave my job, i rang the finance company explained everything to them & they re-structured my repayments so that i could pay it off( just a note that if you do miss payments on your ST they suspend it).

I think the players were saving themselves for Monday.

Why wait for the play offs!

 I'll probably just stick to a few beers.

You'd still be too fat to do it.

Tiered pricing for games? What a load of shite. I didnt realise we were in the premier league

Nothing wrong with recognising supply & demand in the pricing structure.  But I would seriously question how much appetite there is going to be for a £27 football ticket in a town like Swindon where, on average, incomes are modest.

We have lost 3 home games,we are on the verge of the play offs in febuary making the season still interesting and one game away from wembley...Absolute shite

What's shite? The complaint about an increase in price or the comment about the quality of football?

Play offs are gone for me. We have played more games than the other sides around us. Still need at least 30 more points from the last 15 games. Really tough ask. The quality of football lately has been poor and boring to be honest, a lot worse than the early season stuff which is a shame.

It'll be almost impossible to make up those massive four points. ::)

Yep, insurmountable...unless we win 2 or 3 games in a row...nah, it'll never happen...impossible :no:

I don't think we'll get relegated and that was the issue in the summer, right? I struggle to keep up with our problems as supporters.

We've been between 7-9 for the majority of the Swindon. Are we nicely poised or going down?

Get behind them and let's see how it goes, eh. I really hope we get passed, an arguably stronger, Peterborough United because this place will go loco-crazy.

That said. Let me be the first to say the we're fucking doomed next season though, doomed I tells ya.

Even if we do go up we'll come straight back down. Almost no point in even bothering with promotion.

My first thoughts exactly, what a load of bollocks. £27 quid, they're having a laugh

Not sure if you are serious, but I really hate that. Of course promotion is worth it. I'd rather be in Yeovil's position that ours.

Not sure a price increase is justified, tiered pricing is stupid, but I'm not overly bothered. What will annoy me is how early the season tickets go on sale and how early the early bird price finishes - though clearly I haven't got those dates yet.

It would be nice to visit grounds like derby, brum and blackburn even if we did come straight back down it would make a nice change from oldham, carlise.

I know plenty that wont go now at £25 for 3rd div footie,
No chance enticing them in at £27 then  ::)

Like to know where that would put in us respect of dearest tickets for this league

I think Sonic's post was dripping with irony - I could be wrong though.

I would really like to see us back in the Championship before I die of old age so I will gladly take promotion whenever it comes along.

£27 though - do fuck off ::)

no, I wasn't serious although I am certain a portion of our fans believe that.

Why focus only on the expensive ticket?
Basically if you don't want to go, don't go. There is no need to moan on here to justify your decision.

apologies.

I don't believe that. People will pay the extra for the bigger matches, eg £27 to play Oxford next year

we aren't getting relegated

Another one that seems to think that a forum isn't for putting across an opinion

Not at all. If you have an opinion then provide your opinion on the cheaper tickets.

All I see is a reason to justify not wanting to go.

Imagine your well clued up on my circumstances

Thats not my point. Historically you need between 70-75 points to make the top 6 at this level. We are currently on 45 with 15 to play. So at the very least we probably need 25 points. Id say 27-30 to be safe. That's 9 or 10 wins from last 15 and with our away form and the teams we have left to play at home I just cant see it myself.

£25 seems quite a barrier to break for Div 3. I'd be very surprised if others pay that much, and you have to ask why we should be charging more? Extortionate prices. Power isn't stupid. Would like to think he won't charge that.

Include that the teams in the P/O positions have games in hand, it really isn't very likely at all.

Believe it or not I DO know ppl who wont pay £25 for this div  ::)

As we wont be playing pox be interesting who the club think is worth paying £27 to see,
This season ( using SAS ) I can do Shitty away for the same price as a ticket in the Arkells, yep travel and ticket
Yes some ppl will willingly pay extra some will draw the line somewhere

Don't mind them charging £27.00 for the odd match - as long as the price is dropped for the less attractive fixtures. With category pricing being introduced it looks like that will be the case and that is better than £25.00 for every home match regardless of the opposition.

If it's £27 for about 2 or 3 games all season, I'm fine with it. I'll go in the TE and pay £20.

Well it is my point.

We are 4 points adrift with 15 games to go. 4 points in 15 games yet people are writing us off? Are you also writing off Walsall and Port Vale or do their 1 or 2 points advantage make all the difference? Maybe you think the top 6 places are decided already?

Our present form makes it unlikely we will make the play offs - but there is, of course, a chance we may find a rich vein of form from now on.

Both Warsaw and Fryborough also don't seem to want to cement their place in the top 6 so, for me, it's still up for grabs

Mathematically possible yes. Ive not seen enough from us in our performances to think we'll do it either.

That's why I think Mondays game was far more important than yesterdays .

It's been a much better season than I expected though .

This is my stance and I have seen all but one at home and quite a few away.

If Pboro win their game in hand there will be a 7 point gap, 8 if you look at the goal difference as well. If Preston win their game thats us 14 points off them and 12 away from Rotherham if they win their game in hand. All ifs and buts, I know. Realistically there is only 6th place up for grabs and If we are being honest with ourselves, there's not really a hope in hells chance it will be ours.

It is only 6th up for grabs.  Fortunately Walsall, Posh,  Vale, Dons and Cov are all as inconsistent as us. Fuck giving up in February. Jokers.

This

If we can find a motivational song and a montage of former victorious goals and glories, I believe we can do it. Believe

Yep.

Many on the Posh forum seem to think they'll miss out and they are currently in 6th. Somebody has to take it.

With the right set up and squad we could establish ourselves in the championship in a year or two.  That's what we should be building towards.

If by some miracle we went up with this squad we would get annihilated in the championship and come down in freefall and losing money.

As has been pointed out by others, mid-table and a trip to Wembley would be a lot better most of us feared in August.

The biggest disappointment has been the drop off in quality and entertainment in the last couple of months.

Something you offered eh?

How's it going Paolo.  :sherlock:

Bit of a difference in giving up and giving an opinion on whether we'll do it.

Agree that we still have a chance of the top 6, and if we did put together a long winning run we would probably make it.

However, the performances over the 6-8 weeks would suggest that we don't have the consistency to put together a run of results that would see us overhaul the teams above us.

Well said.

I noticed the electronic advertising has been removed, thank god for that!

Probably a safety thing. I wouldn't risk switching on a kettle that Jed bought, let alone those hoarding in that weather.

Seconded.  The same points gap has been there for weeks now and we've failed to make up any ground even though we've had a number of games that on paper we should have picked up far more points.  It's not going to happen (happy to eat my words if proved wrong!).

The last point is exactly how I feel which is a shame as i was enjoying this season up until Christmas. Maybe getting to the JPT final will boost it up again.

Somebody made the point a while back that the weather and the state of various pitches have hampered our passing game somewhat. If the rain does eventually stop and pitches dry out, the form of last year may return. Probably be too late by then though.

A Wembley win would certainly boost the spirits, for sure.

It would be interesting to know what fixtures currently the club consider to be category a, b and c respectively.

We're playing in the third tier playing teams for the most part we've played near enough every year for the last 12 years.

What on this fucking earth could be a category a game? They're all category c and that's being generous.

Wolves and city presumably.

Wolves will be gone next season.

Unlikely but City too

Didn't you know....we are just outside the play offs and going up!

Meh, it's a couple of quid extra for games they feel there will be a bigger interest in. The Club needs to generate income.

or alternatively big increases in ST and matchday prices were predicated a couple of seasons ago by a clear promotion push with a charismatic manager and a board that were putting their hands in their pockets.
These prices were well above the vast majority of clubs in this division and by some.
Tiered pricing would normally be used when there are games that sell out or close to sell out - neither of which in all likelihood will apply to us next season and will probably equalise crowds down not up.
Also would be a cat c game - Colchester, Oldham, Shrewsbury. I could probably name 20 of the 23 clubs.
It will be very interesting to see the clubs rationale on this.
Also with us averaging crowds well above most in this division and having higher prices, it will be interesting to compare our budget with others.
 

Are we fuck!

If the club themselves thought this was even a remote possibility would they be announcing next seasons season ticket prices this early?

They announced the season ticket prices around this time last year and we were in the promotion pack

Does anyone still think we're not safe from the drop?

The price of match day tickets is pretty standard for this division now. It will be the death of the lower divisions in the future at this rate.

I dont think DV went last season, or the season before. Not sure why

You don't know how often or when I go to football.

Yes but last season they were promoted as 'we will charge this price no matter what division we are in' they haven't so far this season...

Supporters will always come and go. Everyone has a ceiling price that they are not prepared to go above. Everyone have different priorities. I don't drink or smoke and football is where I shall choose to spend my money. I will be there next season.

Category A, B and C is an idea for maximising revenue.

It does sound derivative and a bit up itself.  It is a useful device for middling Premiershit teams who can still sell out anyway against the top 4 or 5.  It can also be useful for hopeless (at that level) teams who attract casual supporters (tourists) eg Fulham or so called "away" fans who come to support their team (ie when Man Utd are in town).

This is not flexible enough for STFC where a standard price is better and when you can discount on an ad hoc basis for various reasons. Look at Friday night as an example with the second ticket offer.  Category C price but flexible and suitable to Valentines and even the weather.

Let's say Wolves do return next season, a potential category A but we are on a shocking, depressing run facing relegation with dwindling attendances and need 3 points to stay up.  I would seriously think of discounting and certainly not charging more.  Whereas if say Bury were coming on the last day of the season and we stood to go up etc why make Bury a Category C game which (with respect) it might otherwise be?

It won't really affect me as such as I'll be going for a season ticket. However I'm not convinced there is a big enough draw in division 3 football to mean people will come despite the extra cost.

But I'm usually wrong on these things.

Doesn't seem that long ago that the 'Intel' was sub divided in price carte blanche, with the wings cheaper than the centre. Seemed normal then but would be deemed loopy now.

Surely they need to get the best out of gate receipts?  If prices go up and attendances reduce they'll be no better off. If prices were dropped and attendances rose there will obviously be a point of maximum revenue. Need to get some feedback from fans and get a nice graph drawn up.  :)

They must have looked at it and thought it worthwhile though 4D, they aren't stupid (hopefully!)

I guess they have, but an extra 2-3k on the gates isn't just about gate receipts,  there's food, drink and shop sales. We are pretty well supported at this level,  how do other clubs manage when they have cheaper ticket prices and smaller crowds, yet still perform on the pitch?  Brentford and posh are just a couple of examples.

Do we not have a catering company handling food and drink that pay us a set amount?

Brentford are not a good example as they are massively overspending. I don't know about Posh.

TBF I don't know what is going on behind the scenes at clubs, just looking at it without knowing the facts.  :)

Roughly how many of our home games are midweek games a season?

I'm thinking of getting a season ticket next season but travelling from London it's only really feasible for weekend matches.

4-5 at a guess

This season we will have had 5 Tuesday home games in the league, 2 Friday games in the league and 6 Tuesday cup games (obviously not counted in season ticket games).

That will be 6 games on a Tuesday in the league if we get to Wembley tomorrow as the Sheff Utd home game will also be postponed on the Saturday before Wembley.

Catering at Swindon is shit....two girls in the TE Friday night .....seen glaciers move quicker.

On the subject of 'catering', what the hell has happened to the Town End bar/no beer being served in the TE?!?!

Not been open in months
Seems Jed jumped the gun opening it
Gone along with him

Glad it was open for the shitty game tho

So at the moment I am paying £25 per home match. Based on the New ST price of £405 for me in the DRS, if I was able to go to every match it would be £17.60 per match. This means I would need to miss 7 home matches to make pay as you go more appealing (completely ignoring the pay on the day bands they have introduced).

50/50 at the moment.

Go for it bob

That is the passionate rallying call that might swing it Tans! :)