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I have been very critical of our home fans over the years and looking this probably unfairly. Seen a stat today that in the last 10 seasons we have only won more than 10 league games at home in 2 of those seasons.

How bad is that

Really poor compared to what it used to be😆

Probably worse the 10 seasons prior.

Always thought this when people criticised the home support. Of course there is a degree of it but simply put, the home crowd have been served up some absolute shite recently.

The two may go hand in hand at some point as well. I’ve seen a lot of debate on the “should the crowd lift the players or the players lift the crowd” and realistically it’s situational over a season, it’s not just one or the other. I made an effort to try and gauge the atmosphere at home last season and it did start off quite well until a few home games in where people had seen enough shite that they turned up to games expecting to be bored by it again, at that point it’s on the team to lift the crowd early and give them something to shout about.

Also think there’s a very low level form of “ptsd” (couldn’t find a better word) around the tippy tappy style of play left over from the many years we’ve tried it unsuccessfully and had to put up with away teams coming to us, sitting 11 men behind the ball and killing the game as opposed to when we play teams away and they have to open up more as the home side which brings more excitement.

So yeah I think the atmosphere at home is fairly bad at the moment but I think it’s a bit unfair and naive to point that purely at the fans.

Not just us but I think the advantage of playing at home seems to have shrunk these last few seasons.

The home form and home support have both been absolutely crap. Even in the Garner season I remember McKirdy calling out the fans to provide some support by end of the season. The football at times has been dross and the style of play hasn't been inducive to wild home support, but on the whole I think Swindon fans could be a lot more supportive (at the ground and on social media).  

Should be a 6 pint minimum before letting anyone in.

I looked up the stats recently on when we'd last had better home form than away and it was more than a decade ago, I'll see if I can dig them out again.

Was it around the Di Canio era?

Its been pretty awful for years.

Here is the count of home wins each season followed by cup wins(+play off wins) at home. It makes poor reading.

I make it 124 home league wins from 295 league games, thats a 41% win ratio.

In all home inc cup and PO games its just 140 wins from 333 games, thats an overall 42% win ratio.

2010-11 5w  (1 cup/PO win)
2011-12 21w (3 cup/PO win)
2012-13 10w (2 cup/PO win)
2013-14 13w (3 cup/PO win)
2014-15 12w (0 cup/PO win)
2015-16 10w (0 cup/PO win)
2016-17 7w  (1 cup/PO win)
2017-18 9w  (1 cup/PO win)
2018-19 8w  (2 cup/PO win)
2019-20 13w (0 cup/PO win) *covid season
2020-21 8w  (0 cup/PO win) *BCD season
2021-22 9w  (3 cup/PO win)
2022-23 9w  (0 cup/PO win)

https://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=59531.msg1723767#msg1723767

Here's my post comparing home and away form back to 2013/4.

It is certainly enough of a trend now to think there must be something to it.

The Junior Reds room would be interesting...

Only if you are under a certain age, for those of us that are a bit older that would send us off to sleep, which would probably not make much difference to the atmosphere.
In fact isn’t that what they already do in the  Arkells?

I've never understood why the Arkells gets the hate from the DR and the TE. The atmosphere in there is largely the same as every other stand. Yes, it is quiet when we are shit, which is pretty often, but so is everywhere else.

God’s waiting room

At times the Stratton bank has been the loudest🤣

But imagine the disappointment of having watched Rogers et al in their prime, winning the League Cup, smashing Roma etc and then having to chow down on the shit sandwiches that we serve up every week now.

Us younger fans can barely stomach it.

Its quiet when we're decent, let alone when we're shit.

Great point.

I am the same now when i think of the Ossie and the Hoddle teams. I was fortunate growing up as we were always on a upward march until McMahon, Quinn etc so i was spoilt.

One thing i genuinely don't think we have ever had is the right owners at the right time at this club.

Ah, that’s where a touch of dementia comes in handy. I was there as a 14 year old and yet, even now, I’m genuinely looking forward to the new season.

I’ve often wondered why the club has been bypassed when prospective owners are looking for a club to invest in.

Both Seton Wills and Andrew Black could have been good owners if they had employed the right chairmen/boards.

Wills pumped millions in through his various eras, as did Black, but they were largely pissed against the wall.

Exactly this. If we could have ran semi sustainably in either of those eras without the fat greek crook or Paolo Di Canios biggest fanboy, we may have been ok.

Plenty of dehydration.