Thetownend.com

Anyone going?  :doh:
First of our two 6 pointer relegation battles of the Christmas period.
Tranmere had a lean spell around Ocober losing 6 on the bounce in all competitions, typically to lose only 1 in 7 in the following games before playing us. With our away form being terrible I can't see beyond a defeat.

Tranmere 3-0 Swindon att: 6,711 (241 town)

Merry Xmas  :)

I know we're sort of tongue in cheek on the relegation stuff, but that start to the season really did put us a long way clear, we're 15 points ahead of Forest Green second bottom, who have taken 20 games to amass their 15 points.

With 24 games to go, we probably need something like 13 points to be safe, maybe even less. Even we're not *that* shit, it would be like the inverse of Barton's Bristol Rovers a few years ago.

Obviously points deductions would put the cat amongst the pigeons.

We play FGR in the Christmas/NY period who could close that gap to 12 points ;)

I'm not massively worried about relegation but the last 2 games where we've stunk the place out and shown very little going forward whilst being continually catastrophic at the back is a red flag. You then look at Flynn's run of 20 games without a victory (I think that's accurate) last season at Walsall before he got fired and that is potentially another red flag. Since his contract extension our form has pretty much tanked (not saying that's the reason for it) and we're about to lose our 2 best attacking players. What happens in January is absolutely key, but we know that.

As for Saturday - the game is Saturday isn't it? I think it's another defeat unfortunately.

The more 'achievable' target is the Beamish line - 17th on 58 points. We're only just above that on points per game at the moment *including* our start.

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/LeagueTable.asp?CompCode=LGE&Tier=4&Season=1983-1984

Never thought I’d say this, but I’d take relegation if it meant the entire club got cleaned up and passed on to someone who cared. Let’s just get all this shit dealt with and start anew.

But the obvious risk is we don't get that right and get stuck in non league.

Surely the club is more saleable when in the EFL? If that's Clembos exit startegy.

All that stuff is out of our control. Obviously I’d prefer him and the rest of them gone and stay in L2, but if it meant falling through the trapdoor to get them out, I’m fine with that.

I guess I'm not - risk higher than possible rewards. As it happens, as things are, I think its an inevitability we drop within 5 years.

Things can change.

I was thinking about this yesterday, given our good start to the season- 12 points for admin and a clean start takeover with a sensible owner in January is possibly the quickest way out of this cycle of abuse, and should mean we stay in the EFL.

Unlikely to play out like that, but id bite your hand off for it right now.

Cant see past a defeat.

Barely bothered to even watch but I will. Fair play to anyone trvalling up there but at least its no longer a Friday night KO like they used to be.

Yeah we'd go non league and still have the crooks hanging around I think.

If we lose this, i'll start getting worried as January is going to be a shit show and its going to be a much more difficult second half of the season.

I remember going up there on a Friday when we had Shearer & White up front and Tranmere had John Aldridge. At that time they were three of the leagues top scorers so goals were obviously guaranteed. yep, it was a 0-0 draw. We stayed up & went to watch Everton on the Saturday, who managed to win 1-0.

I'd happily settle for a 0-0 draw this time, but just can't see it although I guess it depends on who (if anayone) is back from illness/injury

I was at that game too, it was my annual outing to take my long passed Dad to his local game.

We would go up on the Friday morning to his home in Runcorn, go to the match the same evening (it was often middle of Feb which coincided with my dad and my mutual birthday) and then on the Saturday we would go to Anfield as my dad had a soft spot for Liverpool having lived locally for 25 years despite him supporting Town for 60 years.

It was always bitterly cold/wet/both at Prenton park and often snowed helped by the winds coming accross from the Irish Sea.

I would happily take a draw too but cant see past a 3 goal defeat again.

The amount of times I see people complain about having to go to the tinpot teams in League 2, imagine having to go to this lot (Bromley, Solihull, Gateshead, Eastleigh, Maidenhead, Wealdstone, Boreham Wood, Woking, Dorking, Ebbsfleet, Fylde), Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

Added to that, as Batch says there's no guarantee that we would get promoted, we could quite easily do a Southend, Hereford, Scunthorpe, Yeovil, Torquay and the rest, especially as Clem would hang on to get his investments back, which he wouldn't trying to sell a non-league club

I did say I’d accept it IF Clem et al fucked off and we had new, competent, honest owners.

Getting relegated to the Nation League (…or lower) would be like the play offs.

The best case scenario is the best way to do it. Go down, get the club even, get decent owners and come flying back with lots of momentum.

The worst case scenario is absolutely soul destroying.

IF you could guarantee that going down a few divisions would give us 3/4 years of winning every week and flying up the league back past where we started I’d bite your hand off. I get I’m in the minority but going down and playing smaller clubs in worst stadium still appeals to me more than playing Colchester, Franchise & fucking Walsall every sodding year forever

Can you drink in your seat at NL level or is it lower than that?

Yeah not for me. We saw what non league would be like last Saturday. In terms of looking appealing to owners down there, we’re already a good level below where we should be so already have that appeal, it’s all the other potential skeletons in the closet that make us unappealing and those will still be there regardless of division.

As others have said, there’s no guarantee we come back and more chance we go further down. I like that Dorking manager but if we had to play them or clubs like them in a competitive fixture in non league then it would be a sad sight for this club, not to mention they’ll do us over.

Honest question, do you go to games regularly?

Non league with new owners could be a great laugh. Cheaper tickets, all new away days and probably the biggest budget in the league, which while doesn't guarantee success, should mean you're competing at the right end as a minimum.

With this mob we'll probably have the 14th largest budget in the league and be competing at the wrong end of the table and more misery.

Yeah you can drink pitchside. NLN you can anyway, cant see national league being an different?

*ignore me - EFL to National league premier it is banned’

There’s a big assumption being made here that the National League would actually accept us. They have pretty strict financial regulations and with all the stuff hanging over us and FA charges they may not be keen and I would imagine the fallout from any relegation would be catastrophic.

We’d probably be ok as they let Southend in but it’s not really a risk I’d fancy taking.

We don’t want non league, no guarantees, tough to get out of, a big scalp for opposing teams and too many league teams with history end up disappearing.

I have a ST - first for a while as I’ve not been living in the UK.

Tranmere 2 Swindon 1 att: 5,890 (275 Town)

Which is exactly what we said when we went down to League 1, and when we went down to League 2.

Fair enough, just wondered as the thought of travelling around the country to non league shit pits fills me with dread, regardless of which shyster is our owner.

Do you travel from Peterborough for all/most home games?

A big no thank you.
It's the one thing that I would hate to have in common with a couple of our local rivals.
I like to travel and visit new places but there would be absolutely zero novelty value in sportcationing round the National League.

Yeah, we have had season tickets for the last 18 years

I suppose its the easiest and fastest way to get Town in the Premier Leagues :)

Fair play great commitment.

Those local rivals that now sit comfortably above us in the league pyramid, sadly.

I'm probably with you though, given the history of the club, going into non-league is a bit of a 'stain'. Obviously there are positives to it, as others have alluded and there is something to be said for getting to play different teams at new and (un)exciting stadia, but yeah, i'd rather not personally.

Isn't the aim of the club Championship football?  :sherlock:

Mr Power said, “within 5 years” but to be fair he did come close :D

Minus a few clubs with rich owners, it should and would be true for League Two if it wasn't for the disorganised crime consortium.

Driving up early Saturday Morning.

As for some on here wanting us to play in the National League give your fucking head a shake.
Tough enough supporting this shower of shit now let alone touring the likes of Boreham Wood.

Yes I want Clem and the Chancers to fuck off as they will hold our Club back for eternity.
As low as I have ever felt Supporting the club and that is down to age and having no hope.
It’s gone for me.

Don't forget the days of achieving the "Beamish Line", with ironically Ken Beamish being a former standout for Tranmere.


Maybe good times are around the corner, from Wikipedia:

"After retiring as a player he became manager of Swindon Town. John Trollope had originally brought Beamish to the club as his assistant.[2] After Trollope's unsuccessful venture into management came to an end, Beamish took over the reins from him towards the end of the 1982–83 season.[2] Working on a tight budget, Beamish was given only one full season in charge, in which he led the Town to their lowest ever league finish – seventeenth in Fourth Division.[2] However, he did lead the club to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, where former club Blackburn Rovers eliminated Swindon.[11] When his contract expired at the end of the 1983–84 season, new sponsors Lowndes Lambert demanded a big-name manager, and Beamish was replaced by Lou Macari.[2]"

Remember the Beamish tenure and the epic Blackburn Rovers FA Cup game, lots of crowd trouble that day.
Enter King Lou, what a time to be alive.

Blackburn at home in the FA Cup was crazy  :eek:

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/24001781.tranmere-v-swindon-town-press-conference-happened/

So Cain and Shade back then. And Khan in provisional AFCON squad (but presumably available).

Though he has obviously not watched the Wimbledon highlights


On recalls:
Which is fair enough

Worthing fans raving about Aguiar but hes 2 divisions lower than we are currently in so hard to judge.

Partick fans cant make their mind up about Adeloye.

The bad.

The good.

Mobility hahahaha.

Batch's post got me thinking about set-pieces.

We must work on them as some of our attacking corners are pretty creative. They don't always work but it's evident that we do mix up what we do when we get them. As for defending set-pieces, well it looks like we do absolutely nothing in training. That third goal that Barrow scored on Saturday was as badly a defended free kick I've seen in a while.

As for Aguiar and Adeloye improving the team or not. I think you can make a very good case to say based on the substitutes bench for the past month, having those guys on the bench would have made a tremendous difference. Obviously that wasn't possible until January so it's a moot point anyway.

As for January - Aguiar is potentially going to be a Kemp's replacement, I can possibly see him being given another shot after a good spell at Worthing. Adeloye isn't going to replace Young is he? I wonder if we'll try and flog him to Oldham or Hartlepool or something.

Surely they improve the team by just giving us 2 extra bodies for the bench?  No disresect to the 16 year olds, but i would rather have 2 players capable physically of competing and playing for their next move rather than a bunch of yoofs that played 24hrs previously and can't really be considered.

Indeed. I'm no great Adeloye fan but it is an open and shut case on whether they improve our bench or not.

I think though recall comes at opportunity cost.  If we bring them back we can't spend the increase in wages elsewhere.

They are a sticky plaster on a bigger issue. But if we don't have other options then that is dfferent.

What have we been spending their wages on since Sept...?

There is no doubt that in recent weeks Adeloye and Aguiar would have improved the bench but both sets of players wages being covered by the loaning teams means that we probably cant afford to have them at the club currently as that will over stretch and already paper thin budget.

IMO better off letting them stay out on loan with their clubs picking up their wages rather than us. But yes I could see Aguiar coming back and being given a chance to replace the leaving (almost certainly) Kemp.

I live 45 mins away from Prenton Park but can’t summon any great desire to go to this one. Crewe in January is even closer but at £27 I doubt I’ll be there either.

Hopefully we can pull a couple of surprise results out of the hat in the coming weeks but my confidence for the Christmas period and the transfer window is pretty low.

1-0 Tranmere, and Town to have 0 shots on target. 326 away fans.

Young & Kemp, clearly not all their wages (Young & Kemp that is), but will have made a small dent

The fact that Adeloye definitely improves our bench and he isn't even doing well in Scotland tells you how dire things are.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/24002801.swindon-town-just-four-players-training-barrow/?ref=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR0KsEuCmc-M0ctQIfC9urSqJuX6J4SIzZbAs7JWUeZmU_F_v9-R8N4K0OE_aem_AVai-Ov9-Q8eSUYl2MIjoUs4T7_gp-KiqjNhORqyW-fLbho8PiJw9sKxkbniI8sodDY

Bet Bradford are chuffed we’re playing an injured Jake Young

I did think that...

Avoiding a heavy defeat would be a result!

Roads could be busy tomorrow thus leaving a little earlier.
Don’t know why I am even bothering because I am flat with this shite now.

Remember that 3-0 “no show” performance on a Tuesday night.
Have a feeling it’s ground hog day.

I went to the 'no show'.....dreadful

Fair play to you Duke, that's great commitment 2 days before Christmas. Hope it's better than last seasons 1-0 defeat up there, which was one of the most boring games I've witnessed live. Got a feeling, based on not much, that we may reverse that result and scrape a 1-0 win.

2-1 defeat.

3-0 loss.

Looking forward to an away day with my excellent nephew. I’ve not been to PP since the play off semi. I’m not expecting similar tension and excitement but who cares? Little or no hope trips to wherever, whatever’s going on behind the scenes is what we do, regardless of what division Town are in.

A lot of history with Tranmere going back to the 80’s & 90’s

My only visit was the PO semi. What a day/evening that was. Thought the Tranmere fans were very gracious considering.

when are you taking your average nephew?

They still moan about the floodlight game now

Pre match Season's Greetings from The North Western.

So, is evvvverybody happppyyyyy!?

Away record in this calendar, or should that be colander, year is:-

P23 W4 D8 L11 F36 A45 Pts 20.

It's been tough going.
Just the one opportunity left to get average conceded up to 2 goals per game.
Just need to equal our heaviest defeat of 3 zip & it's job done, although it will death by a thousand cuts if that happens, with a Stanley knife of course.

Last 2 performances here have been piss poor, so Prenton Park no longer the happy hunting ground that it was before.

Hopefully the players have had a look at themselves & are ready to take some pride in their work today.

Don't buy the talk of lost dressing room at this stage.
That's always a standard theme among the fans when things aren't going well.
Not liking the utterances from the manager is another one.

Still we are where we are.
Dutifully equipped with bags of chips on both shoulders to blend in with the locals it's into the fray one more time in 2023.

All the best to everyone on the TEF.
Have a good one.

Cain and Khan both there, didnt see Shade though.

Has there been any mention of how long RHM is out for?

I havent seen any mention, I am not sure what his injury is either TBH.

A few of the ‘injuries’ seem to be unspecified. 3 weeks ago Clayton was ‘on the grass’ according to Flynn.

All seems a bit wooly to me.

Neither. Whilst I don’t believe he is good enough/suited to being a regular starter, I think he’s a good option off the bench for the last 20-30 minutes, with defences tiring. His absence just makes an already weak bench, even weaker

Until we win a couple of games?
Sorry, just trying to get into the spirit of things.

A sore knee can mean different things to different people.

Absolutely, he is a big miss late in games causing havoc with his pace, whenever he starts he always disappoints but off the bench hes a great option.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GCCaT7gW0AAu1NQ?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

So no UGM now.

State of that bench again.

Was sure UGM was on the video of the players there.

Shade was there then just not on the video. Cain is the one extra player on the bench so one of the kids drops out.

Food poisoning apparently.

One recognised CB - 19 year old Minturn.

Carnage incoming.

So how does that line up?
Back 4 with Shade at CB? Or even Austin?

Rung in sick!

Blimey, so UGM has bitten the dust as well.
Who is going to partner Minturn?

Charlie with Shade as the free roaming wildcard??!

Doesn’t look bad as a starting eleven but god help us if we’ve got to start using what’s on the bench. (Which we probably will, sooner than we would like).  

I know our luck with injuries hasn’t been great, but this is quite frankly a disgrace for a ‘professional’ outfit.

That’s Brewitt, UGM & FBT off in the window then…

Good grief, no defence.

Hutton at CB & Shade at FB, this could be more embarrassing than Aldershot

Kokolo LCB with Minturn RCB, Shade LWB and Hutton RWB they said on the radio.

This is Swindon, surely you don’t expect professionalism ?.

Embarrassment incoming?

I mean I can’t even look at that and say ‘player x could do an adequate job at CB’ like say McCormack, Peacock, Migz or Grant have done in the past…

I bet those Welsh scouts in the crowd are rubbing their hands for Boxing Day!

No immediate thoughts about looking to change the avatar then Maniac?  ;)

The only one I would suggest may be Austin at a push.

Come January it's going to be mostly youth teasers in the squad

It's like picking a Sunday morning side at the moment.

Glad I got my 11/8 on Tranmere

I wonder if Flynn has🤣

This- the sooner this regime fucks off the better

The squad depth and size quite frankly is a disgrace

it’s getting close !!.

Unless someone can photoshop it.

It’s got to the stage now where the stench of the Sheridan season is wafting over the CG again.

Fucking criminal - literally.

Alright,  Alright,  I’ll give it til five o’ clock  !! 

TBF if we had a squad of 24 with the injuries we have we would still have a weak bench.
The question we need to ask is why do we have so many injured players, is it due to a reduction in the medical budgets?

Where’s Bamboo when you need him🤣

I feel the same.

Success this season is not getting relegated.

What a time to be alive.

Same, sadly.

Never thought it would ever get that bad again.  Think the shit could be hitting the fan well before this game finishes. 

After the team was announced Tranmere are now evens

Betfair only go up to over 6.5 goals.

It’s going to be at least 10. Maybe even our worst defeat ever

Wonder if Young is still injured

Yes I hoped we had hit the absolute bottom under Sheridan, but it seems we have a basement!

Boxing Day could be a big embarrassment for Clem🤣

RHM with the longest short term injury ever still then….

Must be a few done the same, odds on now with Paddy Power.  

One CB. What a pathetic squad we've built.

It's the football or the in laws and I'm considering the in laws.

How many do you have in a squad of 24 though. We’ve got 4.

Somewhat hoping ifollow doesn't work again so I'm forced not to watch it.

State of that squad.
Boxing Day will be a shitshow.

Not sure if I can watch this one.

Clem’s on the blower to TSTBL as we speak, telling them to get a tweet out saying we are signing John Stones in January.

CB’s?, If so we’ve got 4 missing.
Brewitt, UGM, FBT & Clayton.

Only the 5th choice Minturn is fit to play

That defense is not even school boy level, let alone non-league, cheers Clembo :crash:

It will actually be a typo and we’re signing paving stones

Hopefully Clayton and UGM can play on Tuesday.

6 hours round trip in a car.
The bench an embarrassment to those that travel.
So many still in support of Clem, who definitely is here.

Fallen out of love with all this.
Questioning why we bother?

Could be a long afternoon.

Plenty of people saying Brewitt isn’t injured.

If this stubborn Welsh prick doesn’t realise he isn’t Erik Ten Hag and we don’t have the luxury of leaving out players he doesn’t like then we really are sunk. The man is an idiot. Honestly rated Morris more.

I mean, we don't have any really good defenders anyway, so maybe this may work, just ditch them all and play a 0-7-3 or something.

Of the four listed CB's missing, only two of them are really CB's anyway.  Godwin-Malife - nobody can convince me he would be a central defender in a back pairing for example.  FBT is a left back, full stop.  Neither of those two have the behavioural instincts required of a centre back, they both get dragged out of position and love to edge forward, or even galivant forward.  So we basically started the season with two centre backs, one of which the Manager wasn't that keen on and the other who gets injured every five minutes.  It's not rocket science that we end up here regularly.

I hear rumours of several "tactical injuries", I dont like the sound of that at all, also that Flynns hands being tied with "having to" put kids on the bench.

Rated Morris more - behave.
Brewitt isn’t being left out because Flynn doesn’t like him. He’ll be missing for the same reason any and every player who goes missing late December does.

The lineups on iFollow show Hutton starting at CB. It's not even impossible.

With the luxury of a new contract Flynn can fuck about all he wants to make a point.

Shambles doesn’t even come close.

Dodgy eggnog?

I may be proven wrong but I’ve not seen any defensive aptitude from Hutton or Kokomo to date.

That would be typical Swindon, play our only defender who can't defend at CB :D

Don’t think I’ve ever seen Hutton head a ball. This should be a laugh.

That’s the problem everything about the club is laughable

He put him there late in a game recently when we had an injury, with Genesini going to right back.  Good job we didn't just recruit "numbers" though, and got that quality in (a statement I actually have a lot of time for, just it wasn't very apt for what our recruitment looked like).

Jesus H Christ! Is there any point in tuning in for this?

And the player in our team who creates the most chances... Perhaps we could slot Kemp in next to him.

Was Flynn in charge of Walsall when we drove a bus through them in the last game of the 21/22 season?  If so, a lot becomes very clear.

Dont give Flynn ideas!

Yes, but it was a dead rubber match for them and a one we had to win…

I'm playing Devil's advocate. The results under Morris were dire. However:

Morris had no window.

He only lost by more than 1 goal once. Zero thumpings.

McEachran looked class under him and absolutely shite under Flynn. (FBT also looks a shell under Flynn.)

Morris tried to shuffle the pack he had to get out of the rut. Flynn is a stubborn prick.

We were unlucky with decisions (foul on Brynn vs Sutton) and reds under Morris.

Morris was massively undermined by Austin, who is rapidly pissing on his legacy. Never forget he forced a move the first time round. Don Rogers he ain't.

I actually can't stand Flynn anymore. He's a regime stooge. At least Morris called out the bullshit.

Yep. Trouble is we’ve got 20 odd last games to go.

When you actually look at his career he’s actually done fuck all of note. The lure of not getting Newport relegated despite a low budget must have been the clincher!

He one a few FA Cup games😁

That did us a lot of good.

I was thinking more about how they set-up to defend, it was atrocious, exactly like we are doing (ignoring today's selection fiasco).

To be fair 5th and 7th for a club of Newport’s stature is decent. Far better than we can currently aspire to unfortunately.

Was it Flynn, or was it the pitch?  He has said he didn't play the way he likes to because of the pitch being a ploughed field.  Maybe they got lucky, the pitch meant they had to have basic cloggers and had no option on how to play?  Now he has free reign, he creates carnage.

Are you suggesting we should do STFC on our own pitch this time?

Why do I never get home comms in iPTV?

Okay Hawes thinks Kokolo at CB with Shade LB which is perhaps the least worst option. But still really quite bad.

They’re wandering around already

Khan CH. Makes some sort of sense

Well Khan sitting around CB so thats changed a lot!

Well it's certainly interesting

Perhaps but McKirdy was tearing every defence apart during that run in.
Probably not worth fully dismissing but think the context that they had nothing to play for & we did & we were on form is worth mentioning

Oooer

Nearly nearly OG of the season

FFS Minturn and Mahoney, so near to an OG.

Hutton Minturn Khan Kokolo Shade
              McEachran Kinsella
                            Kemp
                       Young Austin

I think?

We've not started well.

Please tell Jonathan Smith what Saidou Khan's first name is.

It’s 3 CBs

Minturn, Khan & Kokolo

Hutton & Shade as WBs

Kinsella, Kemp, McEachran in the middle

Young & Austin up front.

 Like Johnny Smith on co Comms. Probably the pick of em

We just cant clear our lines so far.

I'd love Kahn to turn out to be prime Alan McCormack...

2nd to Fjortoft jnr for me.

Absolutely, or Grant at Plymouth.

These Scouse commentators are getting me tits already

Shame I’ve got the away comms. Proper scouse…

6 mins in 0-0. I’m surprised…

Hawes and Smith arent Scouse ;)

My fuckers are

Switch over to de away comms. Day do dat der downe day!

Optimistic shot by them from 40 yards just wide.

One of my best mates is Scouse, I dont need any more of that in my life thank you!

Our long diagonals are not finding their target at all yet.

Wow Khans passing is so loose today.

Now Mahoney plays it into touch weakly.

We have to "weather this storm"

We’re renown for that

I think we need to just try and do the basics, like finding a Town player with a pass.

Mahoney has banana boots on.

Stats say 60%-40% in our favour😁

Write this down lads!

We keep passing back to Mahoney on target which is so fucking basic.

Interesting straight after that that 19 year old Minturn had to tell Hutton where to go to defend the throw! Hutton was just walking and let his man get goal side

It seems at the moment we're "there for the taking"

This could be the worst passing performance by a Town side that I can remember ever so far.

This has been dogshit so far BUT time is flying by!

Our first thought when attacking is to pass the ball backwards rather than taking a risk.

Every department has gone backwards under the gaze of Flynn and his Oxford mate.

then just wank it forwards when they've passed themselves into a cul de sac

Not going to matter if Kemp and Young go. Struggling to get the ball to them anyway!

Even Venkman has stopped posting under Flynn!

I fully understand that we are a cobbled together team today in defence, but even in midfield and attack we are offering absolutely nothing, basic things like short passes let along long passes are so utterly poor. Putting Mahoney under so much pressure with fast back passes when his kicking is off as well is suicide.

Just do the basics and get back to passing the ball to a red shirt.

Well, we are doing better than I expected, so far…

1-0 Kemp

What a goal

Fucking GET IN you fuckers!!!!!!   9/1 first scorer!

Not so much against the run of play as against the incoming tide. But who cares!

Dan Kemp, unbelievable. Don’t deserve to be ahead, but who cares?

Keep a clean sheet and we win the game :D

great cross Kempy 😁

Booooo!
We’re not supposed to be winning.
How fucking dare we

Jesus!
1-0 Kemp!!

How did he score that?

Way too good for us.

Unreal finish.

Clem IN!  :girlgiggle:

I think "against the run of play" was perfect terminology for that goal.

Another Hutton assist. Machine

No joy?

That was a corner to Town won by Young.

How to shut up 5,000 Scousers.

This ref hates Young.

Football maths fans will enjoy that Chippenham are beating Maidstone who beat Barrow who stuffed us.

Awful wayward shot from 25 yards by them, nearer the corner flag.

Kemp shot low is a fairly easy save.

Chippenham, best team in Wiltshire!

Since the goal Kinsella has come alive.

Weak header by their striker unmarked wide from 6 yards.

Hutton cuts inside and shoots, deflected over for a corner.

Short corner to Kemp but his shot is poor.

Golden chance for McEachran, who is not that kind of player and dallies when he needed to shoot.

Looked harder to miss then in the box for McEachran.

McEachran playing well so far though

Not sure he actually got a touch, was trying to play it onto his left foot and needed to shoot with his right I think. Suspect he didn't know the defender was there and thought he had more time.

We have looked much better since the goal.

why didn't mcE hit it!


so much better than the last 2 weeks

Great chance for him, he hasnt broke into the box much so far this season, there is a player in there I am sure.

Hutton fouled very weakly there, he was waiting for the foul.

Better defending there by Town, Kinsella clearing it under a lot of pressure.

High foot by their striker on Khan, booking.

Bit lucky there,Khan being "clever"

Commentators don't think there's much in it but he's jumped and has a high foot, really not sure that was so different to the red earlier in the season.

I forgot Shade was playing until that cross.

Smith saying defending has been fantastic - I think there's two very different things. Individually, lots of effort and desire to defend, which is great, but the structural, tactical bits of defending have been fucking woeful. Still, the effort is there so this is an improvement on many recent games.

Khan kicks the ball away and tranny fans see that, hes not winning any fans in Scouseland!

‘The ref, whose name’s Sunny, has gone cloudy for me!’ (After giving Jennings a yellow)

Agree 100%

3 mins added.

Good tackle by Kinsella there, hes doing well today.

Never a foul by Kinsella there either.

Turnbull looking like Captain Haddock with that face fuzz.

HT 1-0

Got better after the goal.

Well, this is a patched together side trying its bollocks off. Lucky to be ahead, but pleased for them. This isn't a lost the changing room performance - although quite possible of course than Flynn has lost the (far busier) physio's room instead.

Tranmere nothing special but competent and the kind of side that would beat us comfortably if we were playing poorly.

Pity we’ve got to play the 2nd half.

We don’t do 2nd half

After a couple of weeks of anonymity from our midfield, we're looking like a unit again. Hoping for a non collapse second half

Well, that wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t even good - it was desperate in place.
We’re playing like a shit, relegation threatened team scrapping for points.
…but…we are are winning, so who cares about the above?

Good to be ahead.  Would like to see more direct play.  Atleast if you are sending it into their goal it’s not near yours.  The back pass is painful

Pleasantly surprised. Okay, it wasn’t fantastic, but a patched up team battling well. Kinsella has actually looked decent for me in recent weeks

Right just blow the final whistle before they can make any subs pleas.

As well as leading the other big positive is that the bottom teams are on the evidence of this beyond dreadful so we shouldn’t need to worry about being pulled into a relegation scrap.

they improved as the game went on. happy so far!

I know Khan is not a CB, but do you think we’ve looked a tiny bit more solid without the CBs rampaging upfield.

Tyrese Shade has just done his good thing for the season

Shade low cross but no one there in the box.

For all his good work Kemp has played a few really loose balls today too.

1-1

Ready the Benny Hill music

Bad slip by Khan there.

Boo 1-1

It was, and bad luck, but why is Shade playing *that* ball. The best case scenario is us turning an attacking position into a defensive one. We got the worst case scenario.

Just fucking pass it back to Mahoney.


Fuck sake

He slips so often like that, but usually it’s in midfield where it’s manageable

fucks sake khan.

Unbelievable!

Swindon shoot themselves in the foot shocker..

Lovely cross Hutton, good header Austin. Proper attack that.

Hutton great cross and header by Austin but its just pushed round the post.

Another "unworked for" goal to the opposition

it's wasn't bad luck*. it was fucking khan trying to spin his man and fucking it up.

he had a county mile to play a simple backpass.

*unless you mean Mino (?) tackle landing at their strikers feet

All of a sudden the library wakes up.

I'd be interested in a tennis style 'unforced errors' stat. Think we'd do okay...

If anyone's "scouting" Hutton today, damn

Another shot saved

Mahoney low save.

Great save Mahoney

Mahoney really noticeably doesn't trust the run of this pitch at all.

Lovely sliding tackle by Austin in the box, maybe he is a CB!

McEachran looks absolutely knackered.

Indeed!

Why?

Yeah,think we might see Cain shortly

Did their striker just appeal for handball against... Mahoney?

Mahoney with another save.

Fuck me, Hutton opted to go and get a twix from the stands instead of block that shot

Shooting ourselves in the foot - this is more like the Swindon we know & some love.

Still plenty of time for Tranmere to hit other 6…

Austin's lying on the floor diving header :D Someone please GIF that.

At least we can bring on fresh legs for those that look knackered

Save by Mahoney again.

I think the inconsistancy in Kemp would put off any Championship teams TBH. Some things he does so well then others he looks awful int he same game.

Cain has had 3 months rest surely he is fresh enough :D

Another decent cross from Hutton

I'm not loving the radio insisting this is an improvised team. It suggests we had no control over things

Many of the subs are so young they haven’t learned to walk yet!

Another save by Mahoney.

Sling em on!

Gets the value up when Torquay come sniffing!

Mahoney fell awkwardly holding his thigh.

Mahoney down holding his hamstring

Is this a tactical injury or is this Lewis Ward time?

Mahoney has... done a knee or something off the ball? I mean on the positive side it would be literally the only player we have cover for on the bench.

Was Austin making a point then? Running to get the ball then hoofing into touch while our midfield just stood there?

Jake Cain gets minutes in goal!

Mahoney limping off. Bugger.

Nigel Adkins doing a great impression of Rob Hartley on the touchline :)

Mahoney off injured Ward on.

I think the technical term is "fuck"

1-2 poor.

And there we go

Ward saves then 2nd touch he picks the ball out of the net.

Minturn isn't even in the box when they score, Austin and McEachran at CB. We have no shape, none whatsofuckingever.

McEachran backing off until the bloke is effectively through on goal and the defending from Hutton there? Don’t get me started. Every week he is effectively at fault defensively

bollocking bollocks

Murphy-Mahoney going back in Jan then!

Game after game after game

Something is terribly wrong when virtually every game goes the same way

This season is such a pathetic write off.

Now the fucking scousers make a bit of noise, like a bloody library even at 1-1.

2nd half we were in control until Khan fucked around, since then they've gone to shit.

I really don't think Flynn is problem number one, but this is a badly coached side I'm afraid. There's just no structure, people are in random positions, Austin is playing everywhere but up front, Minturn is out of the box from a corner, Kemp is our furthest forward player... like, it's total football, except totally shit.

None of us seen that coming did we?

I can't remember a worse Town side defensively in the last 25-30 years.

Zero organisation. Zero leadership. Zero desire.

I can see there being more goals for them in this game too.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

The epitaph of the Flynn era right there.

This is more like it.
Can Tranmere get another 3 maybe 4?

Zero clean sheets.

Just like his Walsall side. Funny that.

Well, now we don't even have the last piece of some kind of consistency in our team for the foreseeable..  at least the Mildenhall car keyers will be happy..

I would be shocked if we dont concede 3 or 4 today.

Only Sutton have conceded more than us and they lost 8-0 the other day

Cain on for McEachran.

Did you watch much of his Walsall side then?

Honestly think our player heatmaps would just be an entirely coloured in pitch.

Jonathan Smith has summed McEachran up well. Nice on the eye, but hopeless when it turns scrappy. Thats why I think in first halves he looks very good but when it turns scrappy in the second, he’s non-existent

I give it 10 minutes before he gets injured

What the fucking hell does The Manager say or do at half time. We are consistently shite second half

Yup. Wind in his sails and he looks the part. Not cut out for a December afternoon on the Wirral.

Lads, how isn't that a penalty for hand ball?

That was fucking handball.

Fucking Hand Ball!!!!

Oh mate that's stonewall.

That's a pen all day long, arm miles away from his body

Clear as fucking day. What a joke

Well, I think we know what Flynn's interview will be about.

I bet I know what Flynn will focus on during his post match

Complete accountability for another poor performance?

Even the Tranmere commentators are saying that’s a stonewall penalty.

Well at least the 2 points off of the play offs brigade will go quiet now..

I'm not sure they are still at brigade strength. A few stragglers left.

Shade scores but is offside.

Copy and paste

Hard to tell but Shade does look really quite offside there. Lovely finish though.

So would I in his shoes. Fucking ridiculous decision

Minturn eased off of the ball, nothing - 1st half Austin eases a player off of the ball, free kick - standard refereeing for this league

Home comms said they didn’t think he was offside

Fuck Barton I reckon women refs would do a better job.

That Apter looks a decent player to be fair.

Do you remember at the start of the season when time wasting was an instant yellow? That just seems to have stopped entirely.

Was Flynn booked then?

I wouldnt say the ref has cost us the game but that was 2 game changing decisions he has fucked up and given to them.

We lost the game on our own merit but if he gave the goal and penalty it would have been a different story.

Wait is the goal the Shade one? The iFollow angle isn't much use but not sure you can put that in the same breath as the penalty, none of our players seemed that surprised by it.


Yes.

Yes mate I agree. But many wont

This.

Penalty was stone wall.
Offside - not so sure. Shade’s out of the picture in the replay.

If Khan just passes that back to the keeper rather than trying to turn…

Problem is, when you have a shit team, you certainly can't rely on the officials making the correct decisions in this league

Looked like Flynn yes, Mildenhall then stood screaming at the ref for a while after

Have tomorrow and Xmas day off lads you ain’t going to learn anything new before the Wrexham game so may as well rest up :D

Terrible decision but not why we're going to lose

It was Young that was booked, not Flynn

This ref has given us absolutely nothing.

We need a free kick in Jake Cain range really

Terrible ending to the game, letting tranmere manage this game easily

Ref's done well to ignore that Hutton go fouled twice then. Hutton is a fucking pillock for reacting

Tranmere have not yet had a booking for time wasting, which is an absolute masterclass.

So far this is the most comfortable 6 minutes Tranmere will have all season

How is that a foul by khan? All he did was exactly what the Tranmere player did to him to get the ball in the first place

Possibly the worst season ever for quality of officiating so far.

Flynn can bitch and moan all he likes. Maybe it is even justified.

But the cold hard fact is that he is overseeing relegation form since the end of September.

And the plumber has made him unsackable.

I think we are down this year.

Same old shit it seems. :pint:

Let’s not forget Tranmere have been near the bottom all season proves how shite we’ve become.

It really won't make a difference, but do timewasting rules literally not exist?

Well, patched up side so I can’t complain too much as I didn’t expect a lot. Tranmere were awful, but concerns that we were even worse. Oh well. Roll on Boxing Day

FT 1-2

Very poor, poor ref, we played well for 15 mins when we scored.

Not good enough.

Shit players, making shit mistakes,  being set up terribly by a shit manager with a shit ref overseeing the game.

I fucking hate football.

If Brewitt is fit, Flynn is sabotaging this side.

At that moment he becomes no different to the Sheridactyl in my eyes.

Love it when we show lots of fight... after the full time whistle.

Is that a bit of fight from the team after the game? Wow, just in time 👍🏼

That yellow for Hutton leads to a suspension for his 5th yellow.  Wrexham game is going to be a massacre.  

 :clap: :clap:

Well, we kept it below 6 so that’s a positive right?

…and we lost so a percentage of fans will enjoy that.

It doesn't, it's ten for a suspension now.

Just not good enough is it.

Clem, Flynn, this poorly-assembled, weak, tiny squad. It's all a load of shit.

Or Brewitt is sabotaging the side if the other rumours are true.

Either way if hes fit he has to play, simple.

Clem doesn’t deserve a crowd of 13-14k on Tuesday.

I hate making excuses for the team, and in no way am I saying we didn’t deserve to lose, because we did. However, that ref was shocking. Sadly, just the latest in a very long line of terrible refs we’ve had this season

What are the Brewitt rumours?

Morfuni out.

Flynn and co aren’t far behind. We look so disorganised. No defensive shape whatsoever. What exactly does Hatswell, a defender, do?

Most thought Brewitt was fucking shit a few weeks ago.
Now he’s not in the team (for whatever reason) and everyone suddenly rates him after slating him all season…so Swindon…

What see the Brewitt rumours?

Suppose it depends on who you talk to etc, but from what I see and hear, the majority rate Brewitt and have done throughout the season

I know you're deliberately obtuse all the time, but asking for a senior centre back to play at centre back if fit instead of a central midfielder, a 19 year old and a left wing back is hardly a hot take.

Not sure it's that everyone rates him (I dont), but I'd rather have him at CB than a CM or a wingback.

I think this too,sadly

I take back what I said, we could easily get dragged into a scramble.

Desperately need some kind of takeover to happen in January or we are in all sorts of trouble.

Lots of rumours on social media that several players have "tactical injuries" Brewitt, RHM, Uwakwe, Clayton and others. Not wishing to play for whatever reason and hiding behind injuries.

These stories seem to be on X and FB mostly from what I have read.

Yeah,this better not be true. He's been our best defender all fucking season. Easily

"Most" didn't think he was shit, "Most" think he is adequate, there is a big difference

Pretty sure he’s in our top three players by MOTM votes on this forum.

I’ve never been a Brewitt fan, I think he’s very very average.
But due to our shit owner giving our shit manager a shit budget, he’s the only out and out defender at the club.

Very much this, but that covers most of our team "adequate".

Not an excuse,it's a fact.

Not me

Since October 3rd

L Notts 1-3
L Bradford 0-1
L Reading 0-5
W Newport 2-0
D Salford 2-2
L Gills 0-1
L MK 2-3
L Aldershot 4-7 (7-0 down)
L Colchester 1-3
L Stockport 2-4
D Harrogate 1-1
L Exeter 0-1
W Mansfield 2-1 (last minute winner)
W Accrington 4-3 (almost threw away 4-0 lead)
L Wimbledon 0-4
L Barrow 0-3
L Tranmere 1-2

F 22 A 44

 :pint:

Not many other managers would get away with 3/17 win ratio to be honest. Not saying he should go but the fact that we lose or draw so often from winning positions is scandalous

Morris was sacked with 4 wins in 18 so….

It's totally reasonable to talk about Flynn and our recent form, but the bit before where we were flying was *also* under his watch. The 4 in 18 for Morris was literally his whole reign from the start to end.

over the last 10 we are joint bottom with 7 points. we are 2 goals (-12) better off than Sutton (-14).

I'm not using that to justify sacking Flynn. I don't currently subscribe to that

For sure.

But any normal Swindon regime would sack a manager performing at this level in L2.

And this is Flynn’s squad. He was “happy” with it.

But 9 games were at home, so those were free to freeloading ST holders, so don't count.

Flynn:
- Two goals given away. Were avoidable
- Stuck together and tried, but gave away soft goals
- Tried to put out the most senior team that was available
- Didnt have much chance to practice. UGM had been violently ill
- UGM had to get off the bus before they left
- 5 CBs out
- Fullbacks had no attacking moments with 4 at the back last week
- Created more today
- Ultimately the goals we are conceeding are killing us
- Crowd had turned on Tranmere. We were quite comfortable
- Look at the offside goal and the penalty. They were scandalous
- Not the first mistake this linesman has made
- Brewitt and Clayton extremely close
- UGM will be close
- Brewitt is to do with his patella tendonitis. Had to stay off feet to take down swelling
- RHM: Bad knee. Scan clear. But in discomfort. If player says he's struggling, the rest of us dont know how to pinpoint it
- Don't want it to be about bad decisions, but they are fact. But we are too easy to score against

Don’t forget with his new contract we probably can’t afford to sack him!

tried same old crap different  week .

Clear scan but still "troublesome". I call "shirker" rightly or wrongly

Sacking Flynn won't help, if it had to be done it would have had to happen with a month's preparation before the January window.

Listening to Flynn, he didn't seem convinced it is legit :badmood:

Welcome to the National League  :suicide:

Do we even have "6 centre backs"?

We’re fucked then even if there was a takeover that would take months if not longer to go through unless Clem surprises us and gets his cheque book out.

If you include Bennnn Ward, yes. Brewitt, FBT, UGM, Clayton, Ward, Minturn.

We only have one goalie (Mahoney, hamstring apparently on Wiltshire Radio), expect Conor Brann to be recalled.

…but…players tend to shirk when they don’t want to risk being injured because they know they are likely to be moving away from the club - usually up the pyramid.

I can’t imagine anyone has any interest is paying money for RHM next month.

Wouldn’t want any of this lot in the trenches with you, no fight in any of them!

Forget Wrexham, if we can’t beat FGR we are in deep shit whatever side he cobbles together.

 :suicide:

Ah,thought he'd gone back to Burnley to be honest. I had forgotten about him

He has, but still has to be classed as a Town loanee until January 1st technically.

Will read back.

A better effort than shown in last two games.
Unfortunate slip by Khan which changed the game.
Then again might have been game over if GM could have at least managed to get an effort on goal from a very good opportunity.

Austin was good defensively but that left an outnumbered Kemp & Young to try & play on the counter.

Ultimately you reap what you sow & this is where we are at.

A welcome break now from the incessant assault of See it, Say it, Sorted.
Fuck it.

Better than expected when the lineups were announced.
I know some like to slag the team off when we lose, but I don’t think you can be overly critical of the effort, those that played put in the effort, we were just lacking in quality.

The telling thing was how easy it appeared to be for Tranmere to see out the game once they got in front (penalty shout aside).

It’s clear that we need more bodies, but based on recent history surely nobody can be confident that January is going to change much.

All in all, just bloody depressing.
(Feel sorry for those who travelled)

Seems to me the players dont have a clue what they are supposed to do - it comes over all unorganised and ‘freestyle’. Obviously Flynn has no idea on how to stop the flow of goals.

I’ve seen enough. Out the door for me.

Looked more organised today, encouraging until Khan lost the plot for the equaliser.  With this squad with so many currently out, Pep would have issues - yes it's his squad but it was curtailed by the "competitive" budget.  

Why would the town look better overall without Dokes and FBT - have they been nursing injuries for weeks?

3 out of 17 is terrible. A no from me.

Flynn has conceded 59 goals in 27 games! 2.18 per game
Even John Gorman was less at 2.05 per game.

You simply cannot set a team up like this and expect to do anything. He has to go.

We are both physically and mentally weak.

Can't disagree with that, beaten by a crap side.

They were shite. Scored that second and the crowd were turning.
Kahn fuck up, they score and once again we capitulate.

They felt like an almost exactly average L2 side and therefore a good test of where we are - some strengths, some weaknesses, competent but absolutely nothing special. Earlier in the season we'd have dispatched them comfortably, now... well, we're a shadow of the team we were in September.

Interesting. When we were one up Duke, I left the iPad in the lounge to make a chicken curry for tonight. I couldn’t help thinking if they score we’ll fold. Well when I came back to my iPad we were 2-1 down. Nearly as predictable as the 25th December visit by Santa Claus.

Frustrating thing for me was the equaliser began with our throw 10 yards from their corner flag & yet again we chose to play it backwards? It was quite a long backwards pass to Khan prior to his slip. Drives me nuts!

3 out of 17, with:

* the division’s top goalscorer (Young)
* the division’s 2nd placed player for assists (Kemp)
* the division’s joint 4th placed player for assists (Hutton)

The absence of structure and organisation is comical and this run is worryingly similar to his run at Walsall last season. There’s either a complete inability or unwillingness to set up a team to be able to defend.

We need a serious improvement to not get dragged into it,  at the exact time we’ll lose at least one, maybe two and maybe all three of the above. And this isn’t bad luck, it’s the natural result of the Morfuni / Shady bunch regime, of reduced budgets, absence of football knowledge, and inability to run a cohesive football club.

Clem is not shafting us. It is the legacy of previous owners who are shafting us.its the ghost of Swindon past. It looks to me that The budget we expected was eaten away by demands from others no longer here. However Flynn is not capable of organising his defence and throws players under the bus.he must go! They sick notes are not all as sick as he says.Flynn out.

Keep on fucking dreaming, Clem has had 2 and a half years, this is entirely down to Clem he cant blame anyone else, I cant believe some of our fans are still fucking apologising for him.

This has been said for about the last 15 years ffs

See I think he is, but maybe not as deliberately as some in the past.

He doesn't have the financial clout to make us competitive, but is too stubborn (which you could argue is his fault) to recognise it and bring in someone who does.

The problem is apart from Lee Power who is long gone - everyone involved at the top end of the club are still the previous regime…

If Clem had started with a clean slate at the top; I’d continue to cut him some slack & believe he was just a bit naive about what he was getting himself into.

The hangers on and the obvious lies tell me he’s not to be trusted.

Easier said than done.
This gets thrown around a lot ‘why doesn’t Clem bring in someone with money’ as if there are plenty of them  just queuing up outside and Clem won’t let them in…

Clem should have been transparent like he promised and told the fans he was struggling to finance the club. Now he’s seen no different to Power but he does have a few weeks to try and sort out the current shit show he’s responsible for.

Displaying the latest accounts might help.

Really?! This is becoming like Jed and the laughable claim of a 1980’s debt hitting us now, how long exactly does he need to be ‘in charge’ before it becomes his fault? He was one of the previous owners FFS.

The facts are that since he has been ‘owner’ the club costs have inexplicably almost doubled despite the playing budget and off field staffing clearly being slashed. Of this cost increase around £2m are clearly unexplained and dubious in nature when the criminals and shady characters Morfuni surrounds himself are factored in. The club is now basically insolvent based on how Morfuni and his mob are running the club, not because of ghosts from the past.

 :doh:

1950s soapy tit wank.