Thetownend.com

Anyone actually going?

1-3 loss sadly. In front of 8,220 fans of which 780 are Ex miners.

Me? Going?, depends on the weather. If it’s raining, probably, if it’s nice and sunny, no chance, be in the garden drinking home brew and trying to blot out one of the worst seasons I can remember, including relegation seasons actually.

I'll try and watch it via i-follow. I know you like a good holiday L-L, where I'll be it'll be 7am and I'll be awake due to jet lag.

Nice one.

Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire

I’m actually in the UK for this one.

Am I going? Am I fuck.

Bath races sounds so much better

Nope, my season finished alongside the team.

I will watch on iFollow but only out of habit, we wont win.

I’ll attend purely as I’ve got a season ticket. That said I haven’t checked the trains yet, if they aren’t running and I’d have to drive I probably won’t bother.

Will probably listen to comms. Initially planned on going and was considering Tranmere away too. Abject performances and no sign of improvement have sapped my enthusiasm. I think Wimbledon away will be the last game I go to this season.

We’ve got ST’s so are planning on coming down, more out of a sense of duty than expectation of entertainment or actually winning

yay. I can bitch to you about it while being dragged to cirque de soliel.

oh, it'll be 3am.. you're ok with that, right .

I'll be there. Can't wait.

We usually use the Easter Bank Holidays to get away for a good break also. This year though it's only to the Barnard Castle area for some eye test related japery with family.

This is where I feel the club are going to get a bit of a wake-up call. I’ve had the same seat in the DRS since it opened in 94. I’ve always renewed out of ‘duty’ but now unless something changes I just don’t feel that ‘duty’ for next season and won’t bother and I get the feeling many are in the same boat.

This season we’ve completely lost the feeling of being a football club who’s aim is to try and be successful on the pitch.

Yup. I currently have zero goodwill towards the club. I'm only going for non-footballing reasons, the routine with family and friends, and frankly dread it. The football has been garbage at home for years bar the brief Wellens blip. And yet still I go... Maybe I'm part of the problem?!

This is where Clem&Co are going to get a rude awakening. Doubled up with the cost of living, I've seen more and more people on social media who have either already decided against renewing, or seriously considering. And some of these are people who have been going for years and years. It would be interesting to see the comparison of Season ticket renewals now vs last season to just see how much of a malaise there is. When is the next AB, perhaps the question could be asked?

I'm also not convinced the club is doing enough to market itself, especially to the very loyal fan who can't be arsed anymore. If the club can't be seen to be bothered, why should the supporters? I know this season is mathematically not done and dusted yet, and perhaps they are waiting until that time, but I'd like to see the club going above and beyond to try and inject the belief back, I did suggest getting Charlie Austin tied down on another year's deal and use him as a rallying call. Sadly, the way the season has ended, i'm not convinced his heart will be in it either.

I suspect its going to be a rude awakening for everyone, if ST revenue crashes which looks like it invariably will, unless Clem puts in more cash (does he have more to put in) then unless we get savvy/lucky in squad assembly, with a lower playing budget, its just going to potentially spiral down.

Natch Batch :D

It feels like the club needs a rude awakening currently as they seem to be taking the loyalty of supporters for granted.

it does.

but not at the expense of going non league, which we may never return from.

that said, I don't blame anyone for not renewing

Of course not but ultimately you take people for granted at your peril. The club needs reminding that first and foremost we are a football club and results on the pitch should be the primary focus of the club.

What about this Transfer Loan that was mooted a couple weeks ago?

Also, what’s happened to that Ryan fella and his stuff coming out from the club that’d keep him busy for weeks?

Assume that's ongoing.

Someone on here said its like a cheap way to get cash you already have coming guaranteed, cheaper way than credit (as if)/overdraft.

Which is fine. And we will always be on the bubble financially - but I can't see needing to do this as a positive in any way.


Indeed.

Swindon 1 Mansfield 3 Att: 9,106 (750 stags)

Thought about it. Then watched saturday and its a definite fuck that.

have you got something better to do.

like stabbing your eyes with knitting needles?

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Swindon 0 - 4 Mansfield. 7,978 attendance including 558 from Mansfield and 12 triallists from Karachi.

"Sandro Out" chants to reach 120dB.

I’ve never missed a home game in seasons that I’ve been a ST holder. I’m seriously considering doing anything else but attend the CG on Friday. I just don’t enjoy it.

Or drizzling Tabasco into your eyes?

Don't forget that ALL season ticket holders are counted regardless of whether they show up or not.

Exactly that!!

And? It’s not as if any game you don’t go to the club donate the money to a charity. It still goes to the club less VAT.

Red hot poker

I think they were just using it to justify their attendance prediction in the face of disbelief, not alleging financial shenanigans.

Depends whether Banbury have a home game or not.

Oh here we go.

I’m not suggesting they were or you were. I’m not alleging any impropriety by the club either. Nor their representatives. Nor your relatives, nor the OP or their relatives relatives. Nor your relative relatives etc, etc, ad infinitum.

See where this is going?

We don't have 8.5k though  :)

Exactly the same.  If I was a ‘pay on the day’ don’t think I’d bother  -  and I think the gate will reflect most people’s thoughts.
P S.   See you Friday 4D !!

Away at Gloucester :D

Not going to that either, too much to do round the house

up your own arse?

At 1-0 at the weekend I was coming back for this but I've decided to work instead. Cunts.

I’m going to leave after 80 mins, especially if we are 1-0 up, that way the late capitulation which is almost inevitable won’t ruin the rest of my weekend

That's it, join in with the player mentality :)

You'll beat the traffic as well!

 :bye: Danny Dill  :D

do…

Curious to see if Kanu gets any runouts when play offs are mathematically gone. Heard a half tongue in cheek conspiracy theory (on one of the podcasts, can’t remember which) about his involvement being linked to meeting requirements that would ensure a larger transfer fee if he was to move onto a big club and heard he’s a promising player so a move may not out of the bounds of possibility.

Not sure if I completely believe there’s that much to it myself but interesting to see if it happens. Who was the other supposedly promising one that one of the recruitment team mentioned we’d struggle to hold onto? Was it Hart?

Yeah i think so. Who’s father is a directot of the club.

He needs to not be suspended before he can play..

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/adam-hart-one-of-britains-most-wanted-men-tried-to-eat-sim-card-during-arrest-5b5p3lnnstn

Quite the character. But he's not a director. That was a typo... honest!

Loads of kids going to this.

Next door to me are all going.

Be 8 or 9 of them on the pitch and all.

Got covid, so im oooot!

Nice weekend plan fucked up.

Hope you feel better soon.

In terms of a team for this week, I'm going to go with what I'd like to see rather than what I think it will be:


                                           Brynn

Lavinier               Brewitt                      FBT                Tomlinson


                                          Clayton


                      Khan                                 McEachran


                                          Williams

                        RHM                                 Austin                               

Any excuse !!.

The Milwall Flu Mansfield Covid.

.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pbjsVDUlVyY

I'm bug free and got a nice weekend planned, which doesn't involve this poor excuse for football.

There was a couple of Barnes coaches parked up at Dover yesterday in the background of a news report, were you in one of those maybe?

Hopefully loads of fans finding better things to do with their good Friday will tempt fate and lead us to actually putting in a good performance and getting a result. Although having said that, I'm still going and we are terrible, so we'll probably get thumped by 4 or 5

Yep, just taking pooch out for a nice stroll.

I have a feeling with Mansfields 600 or fans they expect to travel we will still see over 9,500 fans there.

Some fans just want something to do on a Good friday so will go if we are playing well or not.

I will be watching online but more out of some form of masochistic trait, I wont be posting much during the game today cos quite frankly I cant be arsed.

Nice one JJ although your commentary will be missed!
I predicted 9,100 which raised eyebrows😀

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtHMozwXwAADMcI?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Looks like a 433 to me.

Another formation, I personally don’t like in general and one I don’t think we have the players for.

Could be a 451 I suppose

Williams dropped for Darcy🤔 Looking at next season already!

No Clayton or Minturn. If a centre half gets injured we might struggle. Don't like a 3

Nothing but a list of football players who will be letting down the fanbase. Again.

What’s up with Clayton? I think a member of his family was on the FB group moaning about Morris’ management of him last week.

Very quiet in the ground ATM

Hodgetts just said the car park is very busy😀

Zippy on co-comms which is the probably the only reason I'll stick with the broadcast

Just mowed the lawn and settling down to watch the game with a video pass. It can't be as bad as last week- can it?

TBF 1st half and for a while in the 2nd half we passed the ball really well and looked a half decent side outside of our own box anyway.

But for whatever reason we cannot defend and are creating so few chances, not getting many crosses into the box or even taking any risks.

All too often its a sideways pass in the opponents half that 2 or 3 passes later the ball goes back to Brynn and the attack has died out, we wont take risks, we dont run at teams or try and beat our man or even attempt get shots in.

It has reverted back to early season when we look too scared to take shots or risk passes just to keep possession, which we ultimately lose anyway 4 or 5 passes further on.

The players just dont seem to play as a team and play scared yet there is blatantly some ability there.

Giuliano Grazioli in attendance today in the Arkells watching us.

Hopefully serial whinger Clough will be usual whiney self at 5 o clock

If ońly we had a young Colin Calderwood!

I dont think he has a very good record vs Swindon has he?

Afternoon all, just back in time for kick off. Hope for a good start of the bank holiday.

No,long may it run mate!

Welcome young un. You never know we could surprise today.

I will drink to that!

Well, I think there'll be goals at both ends.

Edit: hopefully not in alternative halves...

Goal!!!!! :pint:

Fuck sake

We’ve scored too early, again

1-0 RHM

Nice cross from Hutton, left foot cross from the right onto RHM's head unmarked from 6 yards.

Lovely stuff! RHM finds ways to be unmarked a lot.

Yet another assist from Hutton. A brilliant one

He would be a decent winger if he was more consistant, some of his assists have been excellent this season.

He needs to work on his goal celebration knee slide..

With that amount of space that he had he could be celebrating a few times today too.

Very tidy goal that. Nice cut in and teasing cross from Hutton, and great unmarked run from deep in the box by RHM. Two goals in 8 first half minutes for him.

Khan seems to be getting caught on the ball quite a lot early on

I really hope Hutton doesn’t retreat into his own half for the whole second half.

Darcy OMG that was terrible from a good position.

Darcy with one of the less accurate shots you'll see there. About 50 yards over the bar!

Looking more like 3 at the back again today so far.

Not tracking runners again

1-1

Unmarked at the far post.

Or none

Both sides of Hutton on show today, came far too far inside there and left his side completely open.

It's imperative we get some decent defenders in the summer......for starters.

Some more poor defending

Had three men on their one and the other guy just ran in at the back post with room to swing a very large car indeed.

Defeat incoming??

The great thing about having no hope is that goals against aren’t so painful.

Decent goal though.

Really? For once, I might’ve backed myself to score that.

Khan has started like he has forgotten how to play football

There is that too.

Hutton is definately a threat in both boxes, for us in attack and for the opposition in our box!

The collapse is coming🤣

No doubt. They look faster and stronger than us. But, you never know.

Tomlinson is not a centre back, why is he playing there. Why is Wakeling playing wing back? He’s a liability there. This whole line up is puzzling.

I barely even huffed in frustration when they scored TBH.

He's a L2 Trent Alexander-Arnold. Which is fine if our centre backs were any good at covering.

100% this.

70 minutes earlier than usual.

Yet again another team with experience dictating play.

We are so shite!!

Mansfield dont look that good but we look less good than them.

Jesus! Just got to the bit where we left virtually every player unmarked in our box and the fired it against the post and off the rebound passed it to the CF who decided to put it into Brynn’s hands rather than the net! 😮

It does feel a bit like Morris picks a formation and then shoves the players into it, rather than picking a formation that suits the squad. Maybe that's fine in the context of this season, but suggests that we'll need to do a fair bit of recruitment in the summer to give him the players he actually wants.

Austin and Brewitt booked now.

Definition of league 2 football😀

With only one recognised central defender.
Shocking tactics.

Fuck me, that must be a first this season.

That's the first time I've heard Austin mentioned!

Lindsey was criticised by me for doing exactly this early season.

Pick a formation to suit the available players not the other way when players are of limited ability and experience as we are especially so.

But that would mean playing 1-7-2

I guess the key difference is that Lindsey had the squad he wanted (at least in theory), Morris inherited one.

Shame Wakeling couldnt release a shot on the edge of the box there, he didnt really have full control of the ball though.

Indeed that is true.

Who is commentating?

Bodin.

Bodin can't stop bigging up Mansfield

Jesus! Can’t believe I didn’t recognise the voice!!

Khan has a shot but it Khant hit the target.

I predicted 1-3🤣

What a pile of shit😡

1-2

If that wasn't offside that's fucking embarrassing defending. But it looked miles off.

Awful non defending by us again between Tomlinson and Hutton.

Is Williams injured or rested?

Mansfield vs cones

This is absolutely gutless. Most spineless bunch of players we’ve ever had!

1-3

There is just zero confidence in this team - embarrasing

Fuck me. The defenders are all chasing the same man repeatedly, it's like watching six year olds.

Marking is so 2021-22.

I hate football.

Awful

 :-[

Sat here relaxing, saving myself 60 quid. Happy days.

How utterly pathetic, turning this shit off

The latter I’m afraid

Fucking useless cunts.

Do we practice being shit at defending.

Fucking Dracula FC

Honestly our defence look like they've never met eachother before. It's not an individual issue (although there are those too) but an organisational one.

Absolutely Abysmal!

We are worse than we were under Lindsay......

Are we safe from relegation yet?

Yep. Utterly clueless

We don’t have enough CB to play three at the back, so we move two full backs there and have to play a striker as LWB.

Like, what! Why that’s just down right fucking stupid. Everyone can see that.

Morris said they've had a great week on the training ground🤣

So much for FBT being better at LB. Awful game

Changing to Tomlinson LB FBT LCB.

Meanwhile the erstwhile stabled horse disappears into the distance, whinnying merrily.

Jesus! I thought we were talking about embarrassing defending for their second. But, equally applicable for the 3rd!!

…and that’s not on the players.

For me only RHM has given it a go today the rest have been pretty terrible as a whole.

wtf is this defensive lineup anyway.

Morris you twat

I don't think Morris is very good at this.
As I said before, they can all go this summer.

Definitely after the sack to take the dosh and run back into Lampards arm.

Isn't  there an assistant job going at Chelsea till the end of the season?

Including Morris?

Are they still there?

Yep

We could do with chelsea making an approach for him!

Hutton as we all know positionally is poor in defence and Tomlinson is not a centre back. Thats down to the manager for picking the wrong formation and trying to shoehorn players into his system.

Maybe with a kick up the arse at HT we can respond but I dont see where our goals will come from and cant see us defending as a unit.

Is Artell in work atm?

I’ve been in the give Morris the summer camp, but its seriously looking like he’s not up to it.

Playing players out of position really gripes me.

I can see us scoring two, that's not the problem. I just can't see us not conceding 15 at the other end.

Got away with that, some terrible finishing by the big striker.

What a time for my feed to freeze!

FWIW he missed a sitter mate :D

It looks to me like what needs to happen is to throw out the bathwater and the baby, clear the decks, let them all fuck off and start again.

We all know that will not happen though as we don't have enough money to make it happen. Morris looks like he is trying to get sacked, the players look like they don't give a shit, and the top tier of the club look like they are apathetic to what they are seeing on the pitch.

The whole situation is embarrassing as a club, at a time when there should be so much positivity due to owning the ground for the first time.

What a time to be a town fan..

It’s ok though cos the Pox are only goal difference away from bottom four!  :D

The way this team is playing and collapsing every week & the fact we have fuck all to play for - they just need a back to basics bank of 4 bank 5 - 1 completely isolated up front and just play for a 0-0 just to not lose.

Yep I’ve given up on the whole lot now, don’t think anyone is interested or up to it now, even Morris. Complete fresh start from the current on field regime.

7 of the bottom 10 are currently winning. We could end up bottom 6 come the end of the season.

Turns out Power was trying to do us all a favour and finish the club off.
Our quality of life would probably be better for it. Fuck STFC

James Dunne and Olly Lancashire would walk into this team.

TBF to Power his recruitment was way way better than it has been in the last 2 seasons. About the only good thing you could say about him though.

HT that was poor.

Even the boos were a bit half hearted.

Nothing to do with recruitment nothing to do with Morris' inheritance. Playing a centre half at FB and a FB at centre half is rank bad management and it looks like it's cost us this game. Clueless

Agreed - that was a clear message that the attitude and willingness of this team, coaching staff and hierachy is in completely the wrong place.  But ST's are still on sale for next season....

Like trying to sell a car sat on bricks.

Unless you're a scouser and have the wheels hidden away in your garage😀

DNA abd I have walked out. We’re off into town for a few beers before we get picked by the Mrs. Later on.

Well that half was fun, wasn't it!

As bad as Gillingham first half.

Two issues at play here:

1) What the actual fuck was Morris playing at with that formation, against a team doing well and pushing for a win?  Craziness - only one semi competent centre half at the club and we go with a back three.  Wakeling has some talent, but what he does have is going forwards, not at left back/wing back/anywhere with back in the name.  Tomlinson is an attacking left back at his best (which he is not right now).  FBT is a steady left back, Brewitt a trier (sorry, not as sold on him as others) and Hutton a terrible full back but good at crossing.  Nothing in there should even hint at playing 3 centre backs and two of them at wing back.

2) The players are just not very good.  We have two players who combined make a good left back, one experienced striker and a hit and miss forward player in Hepburn-Murphy.  Beyond that, not very much at all.  

Brewitt puts in the effort, likes a tackle, but loses his man far too often and does nothing to organise anyone around him.

FBT a competent enough left back, not a centre back.

Tomlinson is way off his best - is he even fit?

Hutton - so bad at defending it's laughable by now.

Khan - nice touches at times, but he seems absent a fair bit to me - he always seems to be having to put some effort in to get to the nearest player when defending.

McEachran - tippy tappy, nibbles a bit, but he's an icing on top player.  The longer he plays with us, the more I can see why he hasn't been snapped up by teams with full squads.  He is a nice to have.

Darcy - nothing, just nothing.

Wakeling - never let this lad ever had to play in defence ever again please.  If we want to develop rough diamonds, we have to give them managed game time in their actual positions.

Hepburn-Murphy - hot and cold to the extreme, even in a game.  I'd have him around but as a back-up/sub most of the time I think.

Austin - looks utterly lost in the way we are playing - needs crosses/balls into the box.  He can put himself about but he is not a link player and wasted if we won't cross.  Still looks likely to score if the ball does get there.

What a mess we have put together.

Boooooo🤣 I would have done the same!

Looking at the table I reckon we’re going to finish 19th. Only 4 points from Gillingham who sit there currently.

wise

Omg this is seriously bad. Yes Morris inherited some crap but is 2 wins in 12 really good enough in a results business.

Hardly going to persuade people to renew ST is it?

The buck stops with Clem. He needs to man up and start talking about what he is going to do to put things right.

If this form continues next season we will be heading out of the football league

Hutton and Brewitt are just not very good defenders, are they?

Just so, so bad. End the season now.

Agree Morris inherited some crap but league 2 in general is crap so he now has to start taking some blame with his questionable formations.

Just need a red card now to complete the day.

With McEachran and Brewitt there's a bit of a Sheridan era thing going on where new signings would start really well and then get dragged down to the level of the rest of the squad pretty quickly.

Att: 9,281 (587)

I was saying similar to Batch at HT, the last few games has a very Sheridactyl feel about it all.

Not today. Terrible error from the manager

Absolutely madness really, fair play though.

Ref seems reluctant to book their players

How many will still be there by the final whistle?

Will not get that many for the rest of the season

Triple change coming from Town.

Lavinier, Kadji and Shade on.
Hutton, Austin and Khan off.

We’ve not won a game with Brewitt in the side, yet.

Well we usually fall apart after Austin comes off so...

Morris, Brand and Sandro? 😂

Surprised to see Darcy not go off hes been poor today, poorer than Khan for me...just.

Did anyone else say Austin would’ve had that?

‪Why are we bringing on a shit Bristol City loanee in a pointless match. Send him back & at least look towards next season!‬ Kadji is garbage and not even our player!

TBF he probably would have but on todays evidence he wouldnt have even got near the ball.

👍

Darcy shows ‘good energy’ but does nothing with the ball. He gets knocked off it too easily.

100%

£££

1-4

Cracking finish from Boateng but Darcy, oh dear.

Now we're the laughing stock of league 2 😡

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: they don’t even have to attack to score now. They only have to wait for us to give it to them.

Just bring the guy down ffs, you're not on a yellow.

Guessing we pay his wages if doesn’t get minutes.

Clive Dunn and Sarah Lancashire would walk into this team.

Don't panic Mr. Morfuni!

Barrow at home next week with hardly any away fans watch the attendance plummet

To be fair, it was a hospital ball from FBT.

We are still beating them on away goal ;)

Everyone should just walk out and leave them to it! Not even worth booing anymore.

Yeah, he takes main responsibility for me

Baffling

The real ale in the Sir Dan is going down nicely. Just like the town.

Always the way with loans.

Fee is agreed at X but Y gets taken off every game they play.
The more he plays - the higher the Y = the lower the X

Credit to RHM, for at least putting in some effort

Plus it was a last minute deal in desperation so never going to favour us

.
https://youtu.be/CXxztZs82yE

Hes the only one coming out with any credit today for me, bar none.

Anyone going to Tranmere on Monday 😀

Not really, most loan deals these days are a total fee reduced by number of games played.  Everything about the club suggests we'd do it currently - sell anyone we get bids on, not invest in a keeper because you can't sell them for money, volunteers to deliver the players a sandwich, probably illegal employment practice for media "intern" and so on.

Yep

Was going to listen to the whole game but bumped into a friend and ended up going to a pool bar and played a few games and had a few pints. My prediction when we went 1-0 up was a 4-1 loss. I now think that was a bit conservative. You can blame Sandro if you want but Morris has had the benefit of Austin and his results have been heinous. We need to get rid of this clown asap. The experiment has failed. Lindsey was better in my opinion. At this rate we will be begging for Sheridan back!

Boatang is tearing massive holes in our defence.

I imagine for the same reason we are playing CB's at FB, FB's at CB, strikers at WB etc.

I imagine he will put the GK up front at some stage and whack a short midfielder in goal.

Let's be honest we have all done it on championship manger in the past.

At least Luke Williams & Ben Garners tippy tippy football had a structure behind it

I agree with some of what you say, but with regards to Lindsey there are some very short memories.  Also, why doesn't Lindsey get the same amount of flack that Wellens and Garner got for leaving at the earliest opportunity?  I think the answer to that references back to the short memories..

In fairness, it's probably because we all wanted him gone anyway.  He was shit, another symptom of a sick club. I don't blame him for taking the job, nor leaving when he did.

Exactly my point re: Short memories

I don’t think Lindsey was as bad as some made out. He wouldn’t have taken us up but I don’t think he would have taken us down. We seemed to be more defensively solid under him. Maybe some of that is due to MacDonald. We have been poor going forward under both. Our points per game under Morris is extremely concerning. We should have gone with Artell.

Irony being we were glad he’d gone and shocked we got money for him. Now we have a more expensive/higher profile appointment hoping that the same happens again!

It’s fucking shite, we are being embarrassed

I think he was worse than people made out - no surprises we were more defensively solid under him, he had at least some CB's in his squad.  PPG is valid, but you can't say that Artell would have done any better in the same circumstances that Morris was given, in fact Artell might well have said "no thank you"

Not sure why you would bring Williams on when the game is over and we have another in 3 days time.

Oh good. Jake Cain to save the day.

He was dire.

We do not have a fit Centre Back in the squad today that Lindsey had the ability to use.  That may explain why we are much worse.

We also got rid of two central midfielders who at least knew how to gain a little control in Gladwin and Reed (neither good enough in my mind, but both better than anything we replaced them with).

I’m not saying he was good but I don’t think he was any worse than Morris.

I wanted Lindsey to leave, I wont lie.

For me the biggest issue of all of this was that it took us 20 days to appoint the new manager leaving him just 1 day of the transfer window to sign and get rid of players, which he never managed to do and we rushed to sign a pretty poor player from Bristol City.

If we had indeed managed to sign Fagan-Walcott then maybe he would have made a difference in our powder puff defence and we could have gone on a run, its all conjecture and what could have beens, but, you cant appoint a manager with his own ideas tactically on the last day of a transfer window and expect him to get results from players he did not want to sign.

Not defending Morris as he has made some big mistakes already and some wierd positional changes.

If hes here next season then I hope he can get players in to play his style.

With all the shysters lurking in the background and this shit on the pitch the whole club feels rotten from top to bottom again.

Morris is looking like another bad appointment.

I am not suggesting Wellens was the messiah - but what he brought was a sense of pragmatism to this level.  He knew it wasn't all about pretty football - he actually abandoned our youth team completely - suggesting it wasn't fit for purpose and would not help us get promoted from Div 4.

Morris looks like an appointment to try and polish the same shit.  His choice of formation today shows he is not a just get a result type of character.

Yay we did a goal.

It's like comparing apples to oranges.  Would Morris have done better with the squad and situation that Lindsey had, I think he would - would Lindsey have done any better with the squad and situation that Morris has, i don't think he would.

I wanted SL to go too. Colchester away was dreadful and it was clear he wasn’t up to the brief (for promotion at first attempt). Not seen anything other than negatives from Morris so far.

Told you we should bring Williams on! 😂

Lovely ball forward for that Williams goal. McEachran?

Impossible to know, but neither have shown anything like what we need to get out of this division. I think Morris talks a good game but it doesn’t translate into tangible on pitch improvements.

Shade’s a bit shit isn’t he

He is not the only one, but yes he is.

Agreed, which is why I don't see how you can say that Lindsey was better, as Lindsey did exactly the same.

He’s in good company.

Well we beat them 7-6 on aggregate.

Thats a win in my book :)

Objectively his points per game is much better and he had us in the playoffs without Austin and we didn’t seem as defensively frail (but we have discussed some mitigations for the latter point). We did have Reed and Gladwin but Reed didn’t play much and Gladwin had some injuries as I recall.

That’s not just a team going on holiday early. That’s half the team giving up on a league career.

Well, I would like to drop the lot of them and play the youth team for the rest of the season!

Going around in circles, but you would expect his PPG to be better given the situation that each manager was given.  They have both not been good enough, simple as that, but the clubs hierachy needs to shoulder some of that responsibility.

😉

Completely agree. Both have been a disappointment. Perhaps Morris more so given his high level coaching pedigree.

Morris vs Lindsey is very much two bald men fighting over a comb at this point.

An absolute travesty that he wasnt started. And I don't buy that " he can't play Monday and Friday"

Rather depends on the youth team being played in their positions doesn't it....

:D

Who’d have thought that so soon after the euphoria of forcing Power out and the unexpected challenge last season we’d be back to feeling that the club is wrong from top to bottom. Feels like we are forever destined to be a basket case.

Bodin:
- They had experience in abundance. Their major players had an impact
- Bodin doesn't know the Swindon players, but there aren't many with experience or leadership. He knows Austin, who he said would offer advice and support
- There were several leaders on the pitch for Mansfield. Is there enough of that in the Swindon team? Bodin doesn't think so.
- 9000+ attendance is exceptional in this league. The pitch is excellent too. Swindon wanted to dominate the ball, but Mansfield didn't let them do so.
- The last goal from Boatang was a case of Swindon falling for the trap that Mansfield were setting
- If Swindon want to be a possession based team, they need to use the possession to cross the ball to Austin. How many times did we do that today? Austin was anonymous as the team only crossed into the box once when RHB scored
- We were a playoff team. So far at Swindon, Morris isn't meeting his expectations. The players aren't giving him what he wants. But, everyone gets judged on matchday, and that, today, was poor!
- Mansfield look to be a team with momentum.

We need to save and highlight this post. Funniest thing I have read for ages!!!

…but…Lindsey’s head is slightly more shiny but he had slightly better wax.

Bodin "we have enough good players in this squad to be winning a lot more games". Unpopular view on here I know but I tend to agree. Today, Morris' selection of FBT at full back and Tomlinson at CH as well as the completely bafflin omission of Williams in the starting line up was a massive factor in the defeat in my opinion

FBT was not full back, he was left of three centre backs.  Wakeling was playing left wing back.  Which is actually more absurd.

So If Mansfield wouldn't let us keep the ball what was the plan B🤔

I don't care what anybody says

Gunning would have more than 2 wins from 11.

Morris:
- That's not good enough. If I were a fan, I'd be frustrated. The level of performance, especially in the first half is not good enough
- There are ways that you can lose games, but today wasn't due to bad luck. We just rolled over
- I let them know at 1/2 time
- I could have changed all of the players other than RHM who put in a shift
- They should have all started the second half to put it right. They didnt therefore Morris made changes
- On 6th shot Mansfield scored their 4th. We didn't defend properly and kept turning the ball over
- Felt today was a little bit different. Players didnt look bothered that we were behind at home
- Are we regressing? 'Well, we certainly ain't getting better!'
- Morris wasn't sat there with confidence once we scored early
- We were completely second best all over the pitch
- Tomlinson as CB: Went to a back 3 as didn't feel comfortable playing against a front 2 with a back 4. Thought a 3 would give us the opportunity to switch play. But we didn't and there were gaps everywhere. Players didn't follow what was talked about in training.
- Didnt switch play through the midfield in the first half. Had to go back to a 4 to shore up defence.
- They are low on confidence. The message at half time was that they had to compete better. Think we did that, but the quality wasn't there.
- Lavinier attitude when he came on was good. But RHM only player to come out with any credit
- Morris was really disappointed. It doesnt reflect well on anyone at the club.
- Too many things went on in the first half that shouldn't have. Too many players didn't care that we were losing.
- Would prefer to see them arguing in the changing room at 1/2 time
- Clayton and Jephcott are not injured, they just didnt make the match dat squad.

Aside from the obvious (as I had very low expectations for today but still ended up disappointed), I took away 2 very big problems from today.

1. My tolerance for Morris is decreasing
I’d previously given him the benefit of the doubt for this season as a free hit due to the squad and other problems overhead but today had some baffling decisions. Starting with Tomlinson (our best LWB) right CB of a 3 and Wakeling LWB was odd, at least with FBT you can see why he’s needing to play CB right now. And some questionable subs but at the stage of the game it was gone. Kadji coming on felt more to give him minutes and slash the amount of his wages we need to pay this week than to effect the game.

2. The ground was deadly quiet
There wasn’t much anger or disappointment from the crowd, more just an acceptance of that match, like we’d all expected it which is probably not far from the truth. I have mates much more level headed and positive than me who left the ground with around 30mins+ to play and had already been questioning renewing their ST’s before today, most are in the category of waiting to see our summer transfer business. This is worrying to me, it points out that we’re all being slowly driven to not caring anymore and to me that feels more dangerous than a crowd that is being loud about their displeasure, at least that still shows a level of investment and care. The majority of us seem to just feel detached and apathetic towards the club at the minute and that’s where it will hit them I think, these 9k crowds are by no means something to take for granted and I feel the ST numbers are going to be a big wake up call for the hierarchy next year (although I hope I’m wrong).

None of us want to end up as a stagnating League 2 club or a club that sits happy in this division balancing our books and hoping for a play off challenge. Forgive me for sounding arrogant but for a club this size, we should be a big fish in this league, an automatic promotion push should be the minimum accepted standards but for some reason it feels like the clubs ambitions don’t resonate with that. There’s no point putting a roof on the Stratton bank and redeveloping the ground if you’ve driven away the support through horrible seasons on the pitch like this.

Morris is a good analyst of the game, but he does talk about it like he wasn't involved in it in any way.

His performances have been a travesty since the world cup too

Yep, he’s been shit for months

Interesting that Clayton and Jephcott not in the squad. I expect we won’t be signing LJ in the summer then. Clayton has dipped a bit recently too.

Has anyone progressed under Morris? Even McCreachan and Brewitt have got worse

Benefit of having media training from an early age, much like Wellens.

Posted on here earlier that a relation of Clayton seemed to have a bit of moan about Morris on the FB group last week. Can’t be a coincidence.

Certainly the spelling of his name has

Poor old Jephcott has literally wasted a whole season coming here.

On 1500-2000 per week? Yeah, I’d be happy to do that TBH.

Short career though😀

Ah well.

Clayton not making the matchday squad when your sticking full backs in the back 3 is a bit of a weird choice for sure.

Would suggest a falling out with the manager!

Plus bonus’s appearance money, plus international money, plus sponsorship money. Signing on fees, tv money, Plus, plus, plus. Fuck me jim he could be a Welsh Tory. 😁 actually, he could vote for who the fuck he likes without suffering financially.

I was at Hartlepool last week and waited for some of the players to come out, got some pictures etc. The body language of the squad wasn’t good. They all came out in dribs and drabs and there didn’t seem to be much in the way of interactions between them. I think Clayton and Cain came out first. Maybe the away dressing room facilities partially explain the staggered exits (not sure if this is usual as don’t usually wait for players after game) but I got the feeling that morale is low and cliques may have formed.

The biggest shock today was seeing a crowd over 9k. Wow.

A shambolic performance. Part of me wants to just go cold turkey and come back in pre-season and see who is still standing but, like many of us, I'm basically an addict at this point, so I keep coming back...

A few thoughts:-

Morris: Baffling back line. Worrying that he has evidently fallen out with Clayton, who was one of the few who looked a good acquisition before his injury, and Williams. Tactically the first half was a disaster. Also very surprised to see everyone come out for the second half. I appreciate his reasoning but for me he needed to ring the changes. I have gone from being delighted we got him and feeling it was a coup for the club, to then being an apologist and now feeling frankly a bit worried about his ability. That said, even if we lose every game from now until the end of the season I'd give him the summer and a transfer window. To pay him and Brand off would likely cost a fortune and reflect extremely poorly on us as a club. Sandro goes before they do whatever happens.

As for the players, even if you hate the manager's guts there should be a level of performance as a professional and today most of the team fell below that, and that is on them as individuals.

Brynn: Everything that is going wrong with our defence starts with Brynn. He is an above average shot stopper and he had a few cracking games for us earlier in the year but other than that I think he's absolutely woeful. His kicking is pathetic, he ignores instructions from the bench to go long, he is so mute he could be dressed as a mime artist, he is physically weak, rooted to his line and generally offers absolutely nothing to the defensive unit. He shouldn't play another game for us.

Hutton: The worst fullback I've ever seen. Make BOO look like Maldini. He actually can't head a ball. He had an aerial pass come at him from 50 yards today that he was totally unchallenged for, he watched it the entire way and then it hit his shoulder. Quite extraordinary. He can't tackle, has no positional sense and is physically weak. Clearly doesn't want to be here. Shows no effort or desire. He can cross a ball. That's it.

FBT: Fallen off a cliff. Rank at Hartlepool, rank today.

Brewitt: Hasn't won a game for us but our best defender over that period. That is a VERY low bar I admit! Feel a bit sorry for him. Shows fight and desire and played a few nice long balls, including one great 'diag' out to Tomlinson. A trier. Good enough to be a squad defender next year. Hasn't shrunk in any game that I've seen. Talks.

Tomlinson: There's a player there but he's a wingback and nothing more. Physically weak.

Khan: Gets worse with every game.

McEachran: Tidy but another who is pathetically weak.

Darcy: Can't fault his effort most weeks but he has zero tools in his box. Slow, weak, ineffectual.

RHM: Must keep. Like him. Looks to have lost a stone at least.

Austin: A starving fox in a box who is totally wasted in this sea of piss.

Wakeling: Please can we stop with the wing back experiment?

Kadji: If we are playing him to save money then I'll pay it. Just send me the bill, please. I'm begging you.

Williams: Looked a cut above the rest of these goons. Clearly isn't staying though if he's fallen out with the manager.

Shade: Offered nothing.

Lavinier: Fine. Should start over Hutton for the rest of the year.


What I find odd is that these guys aren't Lionel Messi. They can't afford to down tools if they don't like Morris. Whatever they think of him, he's achieved more in the game than most of them ever will and there is a reason for that. He had people like Marcel Desailly wishing him luck on getting the job. That doesn't make him a good manager but it means he has the respect of some world class players for what he's done in football, even if his career as a player tailed off early. Vialli made him captain of Chelsea. He must have something about him as a person. These piss takers don't even command the respect of each other. They should be playing for the fans, themselves and their careers. If they aren't then they shouldn't be at Swindon, and on today's viewing we should be showing most of them the door as soon as we possibly can.

What makes you think Williams has fallen out with the manager?

Just for laughs😀
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGfGEmKL_w

9200 watching that fucking shite.

Gutless, talentless, weak as piss.
Sleep walking to the National League.

So quiet off the pitch, no direction, nothing with intent and lacking football experience.

Like last Saturday unacceptable.

My dislike for 352 with wing backs is well known but IF Morris is insistent on playing that way then surely your two wing backs come from Hutton/Lavinier/Tomlinson and your 3 centre halves come from Brewitt/Minturn/Clayton/FBT.

With that personnel all available why the fuck would you entertain putting a wing back at centre half and a striker at wing back meanwhile leaving two centre halves out the squad completely?

That team would get eaten alive in the National league🤣

The most concerning aspect regarding Morris is that the accepted wisdom when you are on a terrible run is to try and make yourself had to beat.

Similarly, if your defence is appalling, then try and go full Kevin Keegan and outscore the opposition.

We aren't looking like we are trying to do either of those things. I'm honestly not sure what we were trying to achieve today.

We go 1 up and then NEVER try and turn the screw on the opposition.

The players are mostly shit, but the manager is cluless.
Stinks of arrogance and naivity, in line with how the club is run tbh.

The starting 11 today was baffling.   Sure we expected to lose but to send them out there in that formation was suicide.

He's been in charge 11/12 games which is a quarter of the season!

I’ve been told Clayton wants out, apparently hates it at Swindon.  Not sure the reason whether he’s just not settled or whether it’s because of the new mangement

That's OK then

I was really hoping Morris would be one of those managers who gets that extra 10% out of average players.

You've missed my point I'm highlighting that he's had enough games to expect to see an improvement.

60 quid saved today takes the sting out of it for me today.

Apologies that's not how it read.  

No point in getting shot now as season is done and will cost a packet, but if he's falling out with players, not taking any responsibility at all and not affecting games (in a positive way) then I may as well be in charge.

No worries!

You're right no point in getting shot for the reasons that you've mentioned and should be given 12-15 games next season to see what he can do once he's assembled his own squad. Imagine if Lampard does well in his interim role and gets the job full time would Chelsea come calling during the summer!

Big decision come the end of the season. Do they believe in and stick with Morris and back him properly letting him have choice of players to bring in.

A bit like McMahon was after relegation in 1994/95 where the players weren't responding to him but we bounced back winning the league the year after.

Or they stick to the model and get someone else in who can work under it. Problem is the length of contract given to Morris so they will probably tie his hands behind his back in the transfer market and hope it clicks or he walks away.

Got to be honest, the way things are going at the moment I can’t see Morris being here at the end of this season, let alone the beginning of next.

I wonder how much we ended up paying Chelsea for Brand. They will be loathe to write that off too soon.

Fast forward to having no Manager from May to August. Meanwhile Mildly takes the threadbare squad for preseason, whilst Sandro acquires next season's squad. All the while we're on tenterhooks awaiting a new managerial appointment, until Gunning is appointed as last chance saloon

Still going backwards

The Gunning era was genuinely the highlight of this season!

Left after their 3rd goal went in, what a shambles it was. I would like to know if the “happy clappers” are still “clapping”?. Also, will the trust stand up & hold the club accountable for this shamble: (or continue to clap along). Season ticket holder for twars however I feel I’m being mugged off by it all now…who is actually our owner, who puts the money in( actually is us morons).

That was a giant turd of a performance - on top of a mountain of other turds.

Worst yet. No redeeming features. Players obviously can’t be arsed. Fuck knows what’s going on behind the scenes.

Thought we’d cracked it by appointing Morris.

I’m a fucking plum.

Doubt it

There are Trust board members still congratulating 'Zav' on twitter for being a great bloke as recently as 5 weeks ago. They aren't going to do shit.

I'd be shocked if we sacked Morris as that would involve us paying the rest of his contract up. Can't see him walking as his current stock is pretty much as low as possible given our results. Expect him to be here next season, hopefully he'll be able to use any connections he might have to bring in a few better loanees as this year's batch has been the worst in recent memory.

I'm not going as far as writing him off yet

But so far, so so bad.

worrying times

Spineless weasels.

Losing faith in Morris after today.

Awful. Joke of a season. Pathetic club.

Shambles of a season from all involved.

Deep in Sheridan territory.

Yep. Probably the most ‘couldn’t give a fuck’ squad I can remember. Even the poor squads we’ve had before showed some fight and not downed tools like these tossers.

THe realities of playing in League 2 must be beneath some of the precious little toe rags.

I wholeheartedly endorse all of the above and would only add that unless there are some pretty seismic changes in the summer, we're going to be staring a bottom two finish in the face next season...

My thoughts exactly. Unfortunately no football experience at the heartbeat of the club.
Clueless from top to bottom and evident on the pitch.

Horrible afternoon.  hms shit the league next year . seems clem wasnt the man to float our boat after all

Just noticed we are the same number of points off relegation as we are off the play offs. Plenty of talent,no spirit

With getting a dose of Covid this week, which fucked all my plans i was feeling sorry for myself as it was.
Then i decided to watch the game on telly.
A big mistake.

It wasnt very good at all.

Nothing to play for has hit the atmosphere which wasnt great anyway.

Took the lead after the Stags started brightly but it was a false dawn.

The goals we conceded were shameful at best.

The way we gave away the throw on that led to the second! Sheeesh!

Was Brynn wrong footed for the one that went through him? :hmmm:

How did Mansfield miss that open goal?

At Half Time i am sorry to say i bailed, i could'nt see any kind of fightback in a team with no fight in them.

I am relieved that we have  just about have enough points to stay in this shit league, because i dont know where the next are coming from.

Just watched the 'low lights' this morning. :cry:

Listen to a fella in the background for the equaliser shouting BACK STICK! BACK STICK!....fucking basics.

Morris needs to watch the fourth and how it was conceded over and over again.....we cannot fucking do it!!! tip tap, tip tap, just to bang it long anyway. mindless....
Abandon this madness!! FFS! :suicide:

With the exception of owning the ground, this season really has been a shit show!

Saving £60 on ticket and piss up a small consolation.

Mansfield looked quite good and organised and take no prisoners on the break and foul in areas where they can get away with it...very good ploy. Could be a good bet for the Play offs.

Not for all of us ;)

100%. They don’t give a fuck. Heads down and zero interest.

Agree. Right now we are real washed up/pathetic excuse of a club. Clem needs to fix it. Fast.

Like that banner outside the CG says and theAston posted yesterday, this club is rotten top to bottom.

just watched the 4th goal.

Going to pitch a new show to rival Ted Lasso. "That's so Swindon" ...

And that is the crux of the matter. Any discussions about formations and personnel are hilariously irrelevant...

Whilst the after match interview with JM is ok and JM gives a honest reply it is generated by the clubs own media department? There are no real probing questions and is not independent? Who is the guy asking the questions? What’s happen to Hawes interview? Maybe wrong but all seems to be sanitised to me

It’s on BBC Wiltshire, as it is every week.

No link to the interviews after the games anymore from BBC wilts, you either keep radio on after game or download BBC sounds app and you can playback interviews - no delay, can listen back to the postgame ones instantly.

Spot on, it's borderline North Korea propaganda with any comms at the moment.

Some crackers on the clubs twitter feed on Friday,


Down but not out at HT

Growing back into the game moments before conceding the 4th.



Every defeat is a narrow one and plenty of positives to take.


Very frustrating, insulting fans intelligence at times.

Just saw the highlights. What on earth was Brynn doing for their 3rd goal?! I would have saved that.

Yes,seems to have been overlooked

It deflects off Tomlinson. I think Brynn is crap but I was sat with a good view of it and the TV angle is unfair.

Okay that is interesting, didn’t see that at all on the tv camera view. I think we could do a lot worse than Brynn but his form seems to have dropped. Someone at Hartlepool away seemed to think that Chelsea are after him and will offer 15k per week. He may be sabotaging that deal with his recent showings. 

Reading have a keeper, Luke Southwood, OOC in the summer who has been on loan at Cheltenham. Sort of perm keeper we should be looking at.

Actually spoke to him recently by chance. Think he’ll have a lot better suitors than League Two.

On the gk front, the current custodian is little use to us in this division. He saves the odd shot now and again but has no presence. Not an adequate start of the ‘central spine’ required to challenge the stronger teams.

Brynn is far far from our biggest problem with this squad.

People are probably forgetting how bad it could be…A certain Czech keeper springs to mind.

I think any young goalkeeper will lose confidence playing in a shite team.

He's right up there for me. Been dreadful for months.

He's definitely dropped off in form, but you could have Jan Oblak behind this defence and we'd lose every week.

Seen people saying an experienced keeper is a "must" - when did we last have an experienced keeper? Best Town stoppers in recent years have been Foderingham (0 professional games when we signed him), Vigouroux (0), Wollacott (10! Football League Games) and Benda (0). By that standard, Brynn is the experienced one with 16 games for Queen of the South! Honestly can't remember us having a "solid pro" keeper since maybe David Lucas?

Honestly baffled by the sudden scapegoating of Brynn. Without his performances earlier in the season, we'd be in a relegation battle right now. To add to that, I can't think of any examples where a mistake by Brynn has cost us points this season.

Is he the perfect goalkeeper, of course not but we're playing in league two, as with any player at this level, they're going to have flaws or they wouldn't be in league 2.

I would agree, I think he has exceeded JJW’s performance levels (in latter phase of last season) and pulled off some worldies to earn us crucial points, Grimsby away being an example that springs to mind. Last few games he hasn’t been quite as good and looks down on confidence a bit but almost everyone in the team does at the moment.

100%

At times I think some forget how young the age of 22 is in relation to maturity and dealing with pressure!

I think RHM is probably the only player whose looked better under Morris.

Brynn is a decent shot stopper no doubt, but in terms of what he brings to the defensive unit I'm really struggling. Says absolutely nothing. Totally mute all game. Weak body language. Doesn't listen to instructions from the bench. Looks like FBT is coaching him through every decision at times. Never comes through bodies for a ball. Rooted to his line. In the round he's a much worse keeper than Ward for me. He makes Wes, Vigouroux and the BFG look like Buffon, Neuer and Schmeichel.

Those three have shown experience isn't a must for a GK, but they all looked the real deal in most departments. Brynn looks good (at times) in one.

That said, probably one of our best players this year, which says more about what a catastrophe it has been than it does about him as a goalkeeper.

Agree 100%

When was the last home game when we had zero corners?

Dead on.

I don't think he is as good as some of the other goalkeepers we have had in the past, but he is by no means the worst. He's far in excess of anything else we have available this season too. Putting one of the kids in would be suicide I think.

Let him carry on and bid farewell at the end of the year and watch from afar how his career progresses. I'd be more than happy to see him come back, but I think its unlikely.

We should drop him and play the bloke who wasn’t good enough for Sutton

A couple of away comms have called out Brynn as being a bit wobbly in his box - I can sort of see it.  However, we have had a lot worse than him in recent times.  The problems with our squads are much bigger in other positions.

He's probably wobbly because of the shit defenders in front of him.

We can't as we can't sign him.

But, I would be happy enough to have Ward here next season. He's not a bad L2 keeper.

He reminds me of Phil Smith, a good backup who can play well for a few games, but if he’s our first choice you can forget promotion now.

There’s a reason he wasn’t wanted by Sutton

Maybe he's one of those players that needs someone good to battle against and bring the best out of him?

Agree 100%

You can ''listen again'' to the post match via the BBC Wilts Radio website for pretty much every game. No need for the app. Usually archived for about thirty days in order to catch up as well.