Thetownend.com

First home league game of the season, ticket sales aren't looking great on the site. Struggle to top 7k at this rate.

Depends on the next 2 games I suppose

2 games?

Bought tickets for this yesterday. Noticed there was a lot more options in the DRS than usual.

Think Morfuni et al are in for a shock this season. We've backed them really well since he came in despite the constant slide down the table in both size & quality of the team & thus their performances.

The drop to <7k attendances has been coming for a while now & the season tickets being counted whether the owners went or not is probably the only reason they weren't already there back end of last season.

Two match day threads on the go. Nice.  :)

Didn’t someone post that there were around 1,000 Season Tickets dished out for free (or close to) last season that they haven’t done so this time.

If that is the case then even without losing anyone else you would expect the crowds to be down, so based on last seasons average we should be around 7,400.

That is more or less a direct quote from the Advisory Board minutes explaining why 1000 down on season tickets was actually not a decline in sales. I'd... take it with a pinch of salt. I think if there 1000 complementary season tickets floating about we might know a few of them!

The only person who we know seems to get into every game gratis, no questions asked is our absolutely not vice-chair.

1k Freeby ST'S? Can't see that myself.

I mean we did have a lot of sponsers last season.

I *think* they all got given one. An acquaintance of mine had one for his company I believe. Although they were one of the bigger more visible sponsors rather than the official referee’s toilet sponsor.

Surely the ST is included in the package? So not given away, its paid for?

Perhaps Anthony's battery in the calculator has gone flat again

I guess that depends how you’re declaring the money.

50k & a free season ticket or 49.6k & £400 for a season ticket…

Pure guesswork obvs

Yeah true

£100k worth of free ST’s, my arse.

Who seems to have an access all areas pass for all grounds in the league. Some matchday guest!
Was in the bloody tunnel on friday night ffs

I'm assuming that the club still have an arrangement for match day tickets at a favorable rate in place with Nationwide?

Presumably the discount is less following the noise about unfavourable commercial arrangements?

Think it's gone up again to £14 - looks like I'll have to register again as mine doesn't seem to be working

Ours and Walsall's

Ah, I see.

Likely to be under 7k then  ;D

3-1 defeat is the likely result at full time

Until we get a competent goalkeeper and more creativity in this team, a point vs anyone is a good result I think.

2-1 Walsall

Green shoots are starting to appear!

Swindon 2 Walsall 0 att: 7,980 (480 Saddlers)

If I see 90 (or even 75) minutes similar to the second half performances at Chesterfield and Crawley l will be very encouraged (and if that happens there will be a good chance that we win)... if we get 90 minutes along the lines of the two first half performances... that doesn't really bear thinking about. I'm optimistic it will be the former scenario...

Looking at the ticket sales online there’s about 3k standard home tickets sold so far, I’d say your attendance prediction is very optimistic.

A nice sunny day forecast so you never know :D

Only shoots I’ve seen thus far have been Roles shoots

 :clap:

You shoulda seen Wright's and Ofoborh's!

Bitter cunt! shit out 4D!?

This

We are assuming here that our admin is up to date and the seats are correct. I've seen a few saying their seats look like they're available to buy online despite being their season tickets

Where have you seen this by the way? I'm now half expecting to turn up tomorrow and have the seats I've bought tickets for to be occupied by ST holders and then another pair turn up having bought tickets for those seats also!

Fortunately it appears that there should be loads of spare seats if this does happen.

 :D

Have seen a few people on twitter reply to the photo saying their seat still looks available. Not loads but wouldn't suprise me

I see the OSC are trying to organise a minutes applause on 9 mins in Memory of Andy Rowland.

Would be great if anyone that is going to the game can join in.

Would be such a Swindon thing to do - to sell the same twice whilst having 6,000 spare…

It happened to me years ago, i was sold seat tickets for someone who had a season ticket for them (when Jeremy Wray was chairman), so I sat somewhere else. Reported it to the club, never heard anything back.

Even if that’s the case it’ll be minimal and it’s still very very empty. In recent years 1st game of the season has been 8/9k at the moment they’ll be lucky to even get 2 thirds of that. There’s clearly been a much bigger drop off than the club have admitted.

The proof will be in the attendance pudding. I know you are comparing like for like but it is holiday season...maybe we are seeing a normalisation happening.


PC: 9022, 9158, 9450
BC: 7024, 7026, 7795, 9032*, 8090**, 7060, 7133

* coventry, **bradford

PC - Post Covid
BC - Before Covid (or Clem I suppose)

It depends how far ‘normalisation’ goes. They are going to be heading towards pre Fitton if they aren’t careful which were around the 5k and could easily happen. And to be honest they’d deserve that…

I reckon we'll break 8k. We'll see.

As much as this lot are incompetent, I was sold an aisle seat back in the 80's - the seat numbers jumped 2 or 3 across the aisle, but my seat number would have been in the middle of the aisle.  Fortunately the attendance was little more than a few thousand, so plenty of room.

Had the opposite on the early 90s
Had three season tickets back row of the North stand. 2 one side of the aisle and one the other but because it was the back row there was no step and another seat there - so we technically had 4 seats!

I hope this is adopted by the whole crowd.

The man was a true STFC legend after playing for us in almost every position including goalkeeper over nearly 9 years as a player ecompassing 350 games and 100 goals after signing from Bury for £85k in 1978.

Then taking on player-coach, coach, reserve team manager, coach again and caretaker manager with us after retiring too.

He settled in the area and lived out the remainder of his life in Swindon after becoming landlord of the Plough in Old Town.

Not that long ago he opened up about his mental health issues too.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/13898573.andy-rowland-raises-awareness-of-mental-health-issues-by-sharing-his-experiences/

Legend is a term given to players who have only served 2 or 3 seasons in recent years, Handy Andy is a true legend.

He was the landlord at the Plough, not Royal Oak, right?

Couldn't agree more.

I think even how it is we will break 8,500 tomorrow, I expect Walsall to bring about their normal 4-500.

Those 500 will really help when you add them to the Walsall fans!

Yeah my mistake, for some reason I remembered that wrong, I thought it was the Plough and Royal Oak.

My mind isnt with it today :D still the same number of Walsall fans too! :D

In my defence I was just reading about the gloating Bradford fans on FB calling Valley Parade "The Wembley of the North" courtesy of HMS Piss the league Bradford.

Walsall will be on a bit of a high after 1 league win at home to Morecambe last week and then a 4-3 penalty win vs L1 Exeter in the LC midweek, also at home.

There is only one Wembley of the North & we visit there next month.

You reckon? Do many people actually pay on the day now as current sales show us miles off that.

I pay on the day

Just had a chat with our IT man who supports Walsall. He’s driving down from Leeds to the theatre of despair tomorrow. He’s not very optimistic as they’ve no one up front to score. Touché, neither have we I replied. Looks like a midfield scrap in the centre circle then.

Swindon 2 Walsall 0 att: 8,480 (416 away)

Going 1-0 win, Glatzel and 6,981

3 : 2 Smith, Glatzel, Ofoborh

Attendance: 7,327

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

Live 30 miles away, does anybody know if the road works in Lechlade will hold us up much as can't leave till 2pm?

That’s a loaded question. If the lights are on green and no-one is waiting, no. I’m not being obtuse, but it’s a lick your finger and stick it in the air conundrum isn’t it. I went through mid week last week with minimal fuss, weekend middle of the day, without road works you could be waiting 10, 15, 20 minutes or more. However it pans out it’s 30 minutes to the county ground from there. You’ll just have to take your chance or go another way.

Normally the optimist in me thinks that the first home game should be an indicator of where we are heading, loosely based on pre-season and early league/cup games. At the moment I have not got a clue as to what I will be seeing this afternoon, defensively we should be sound, midfield a hotch pot and a forward line that has only scored one goal. It will take a while for the squad to gell into a recognisable force with all the new players just hope it does not take too long and we can get off on the right foot (or left depending on the strongest one).

Refurbed Legends Lounge looks a bit like an airport Brewdog to me...

Does he?

I assume the point of the refurbishment was to make is more of a pub / bar / event space than a football pub.

I know they said it’s not done (very Swindon) and it looks sterile as anything.
As a Town match day going fan - I’d absolutely hate the look compared to how personalised it was previously but I think I can at least *underatand* the logic (how very unSwindon) behind it…

Should have started the works earlier and oerhaps it might have been finished in time for today.

Didn’t think my lifestyle changes were that noticeable.

I assume those pics are of it half done, and they’ll reinstate the pictures of the Town legends, and some other references to it being a football club…

Ah but they probably had to wait for all the hangers on to get their cut of season ticket sales before they knew if they had any money to do it.

It’s a possibility but I guess it depends if they have done the refurb for the football crowd or the general public.

Whether they want to be a football pub or an every day pub & events space.

I also assume any worthwhile memorabilia that was in there can go into the museum.

…all guess work on my part

Perhaps Adam Hart was running around with a paintbrush and roller to get the job done :D

I think after seeing the first 2 games this is what I currently think is our strongest line up.

                         Bycroft
              Wright     Hall     Freckleton
King                                                     Longelo
         Ofoborh     Cotterill         Clarke
                  Glatzel         Smith

But please dont play Ofoborh in such an advanced or wide position today.
                      

I think based on the little spell we had Tuesday I’d prefer King left & Sobowale right.
Mitchell over Cotterill but that depends on the position of the midfielders.

Wouldn't mind seeing King start as one of the 8s at some point.

For me King is reminiscant of Rob Hunt, not in position, but in steady and versatile stakes. He has the ability to play in different positions to a satisfactory level without ever really excelling, a solid team player.

Hardly can recognize any of the players from last year.
So let's just hope a new start and a new successful future.
COYMRs

Im interested to see how Charlie Lakin plays. He's a player I really wanted us to sign. Think he would have been perfect in our midfield.

All the food vans gone?

Looks like Kennedy has agreed with me.

Do I follow still do live commentary if so how d'you get it? Cheers

I think they do mate, i have an iFollow season video pass but I am sure the audio option was there too.

Just go to the iFollow link on the OS.

Cheers mate. Done

Jesus the quality of iFollow looks like its being broadcast on a Commodore 64, its appalling.

And with that they reset the system, thats better.

Sorry to be ignorant but what d'you need to watch on ifollow?

I will FB message you mate.

Cheers mate

I'm really rooting for Bycroft to show what people see in him today. He could probably do with a confidence booster as well, after last 2 appearances

I think Bycroft is a good keeper, but he has always had at least 1 blooper in his bag every game ever since we signed him, he needs to be more confident at times coming for the ball and get over his mistakes quickly.

I think hes a good shot stopper but he just doesnt command his area well enough for me, his kicking can be great or awful too, but, TBH, very few L2 keepers impress me, the only one last season that did was the Salford keeper Alex Cairns who signed for Leeds in the Summer.

Has the pa been fixed? It's really fucking loud on ifollow

This description reminds me of a STFC cult legend who went by the name of Frank Talia.

The pitch looks great.  And have they finally sorted the tannoy system out?  The music and PA seems louder than previous, unless Ifollow have their mics sistuated in different places this year.

The pitch looked superb when we did the Museum tour a few weeks ago, up there with the best I have ever seen it.

Is this game on Sky, anyone.  I follow connection problems here.

The Arkells looks sparse.

Don't think so

Nope, iFollow only.

Thanks guys.

ifollow just showed a replay of the officials coming out of the tunnel. can't beat that level of coverage.

What a fucking save.

Shite from Walsall as anywhere else and its a goal, but still a good save nevertheless.

Great save by Bycroft.

On the negative side, shows we need to wake up at the back. But pleased for Bycroft as he hasn't looked up to it so far before that. Hopefully it does his confidence some good at least.

That'll do him,and us,good

Ifollow commentary is slightly behind the picture, which is confusing - only 2 or 3 seconds but enough

It is annoying.

RIP Handy Andy Rowland.

Fuck me Spireites 3 nil up already!

yeah noticed that on the save. 2 seconds maybe. Only time its been obvious.

Not good for us you wouldn’t expect Crewe to lose two home games on the bounce🤣

Not much quality in this game from either side so far, going to be very attritional today.

Midfield all over the place, Ofoborh looking lost in the left sided attacking midfield position.

Cotterill doing some good stuff then fucking up the easy pass at times.

Good effort by Smith there.

Fair play to the Walsall GK, only 19

Been fairly even so far I would say. Walsall had the best chance which they probably should have buried but we've had several more 'half chances'

Smith looks more mobile today

I think hes been fairly mobile in every game really, far more mobile than Drinan.

Have we lost the picture or is it just me?

mines fine

Yep, mines ok

Spirites 4 nil up - might say something about our point

Another great save by Bycroft.

Good lad Bycroft!

shite defending.

Here we go again.

Not sure this 'style' of football fits Glatzel at all.

Massive cock up by Hall.

what on earth was that

soapy tit wank what experience. Load of shite.

Nah fuck this style of football. Not being able to string 2 passes together is not something I can get on board with.

It’s embarrassing.

Hall having an absolute mare there..  tried to control hit and knee'd it in for Gordon to finish,  Grant Hall gets an assist

Stupid foot in on the keeper by Smith for another yellow card.

Instead just hoof it

We are a yard off on all our passing and any free ball. It can only improve from here....I hope.

Oh dear

We are fucking awful.

Well, that’s 7 goals conceded in 2 games and a half of football.

I’m glad we’ve tightened things up at the back.

Christ

We havent even looked like scoring so far.

Terrible. Jamie Russell signs bad players.

This'll be some comeback!

It will need to be!

I don’t even want to watch the second half.

Fuck you Clem. Seriously.

Kennedy sounded delusional in the post match interview after Crawley for me, saying it a magnificent performance. Seemed to think he could sell Crawley as world beaters.

I wonder what he'll say about this total bag of shite.

A least we still have a club a renovated Legends Lounge

Its still early doors and under Di Canio we looked shit for the first 5 games, but there seem to be no shoots of growth in the team, old mistakes still happening with different players.

No knee jerk yet from me, but fucking hell this is grim so far.

 seems like big cloggers might not be the answer

Hmmmm it’s going to be another long season isn’t it?!  I thought I was missing something when I wasn’t feeling much excitement for some of these signings and thought it was just my general lack of enthusiasm for the club, but I fear we genuinely are a poor team.

Just got my picture back and missed 2 goals! 😢

Terrible I honestly don’t think I can stomach a 2nd half.

Hall is an absolute liability and Freckleton is a shit Jerel Ifil

A really, really concerning half of football. Showed absolutely nothing going forward and looked worryingly vulnerable at the back. Early days, but can’t say there’s much to be hopeful about

Wish I was that lucky and didn't have to see Grant Hall have an aneurysm when he was supposed to be defending. 

Our midfield is non-existent

Once again midfield is the issue.

Not holding onto the ball, not tracking runners...

And Ofoborh playing out of his best position IMO.

You could have Gardiola in the dugout and the outcome will not be any different with these shite owners.

Only way is to force them out I am afraid whatever that takes.

They will kill us

Sound investment not getting a ST & boycotting home games.

Completely rancid in every single way.

Not spending any money is a start.

What’s the general mood of the crowd and roughly how many are there?

Looking at the crowd it looks to be about 7k max to me.

What a load of rubbish nothing has changed.

Well the last 2 weeks of the transfer window better blow my socks off, otherwise I fear for our season after the first 5 or 6 games..

Some light boos at the HT whistle already..

So the ticketing system was an accurate reflection then. Far more haven’t renewed and are boycotting than the club will ever admit. If we continue like this they are going to have massive cash flow problems.

This.

1.  Resolve my VPN issues after 28' in time to see Bycroft save well from a Gordon free header on the 6 yd box (3 defenders declining to mark him)
2.  30' Hall allows a ball to bounce, shins or thighs it leaving Gordon to run through unopposed on goal. 1-0
3.  34' It's Matt's turn to have a free header unopposed in the box.  2-0

It looks like Walsall had also fluffed an open goal under no pressure before I got online.

Can we call time on the myth that at least we have a solid defence, Bycroft apart.  9 goals conceded in 2.5bgames is Flynn-esque?

Someone has probably asked this before....but what happens to the ground if the club goes bust?

Only way I can see us shaking the hangers on at this rate. I feel like we'll be stuck in purgatory for years more.

DNA is in the DR with his new girlfriend. She had her perfume confiscated from her on the way in 🤣 Anyway he says a good turnout from the Saddlers again. So imagine this dirge in the middle of winter at home to a northern outpost with two fans and a whippet. Sub 5k anyone?

As I’ve said we’ve got to pressure them into going. Not sure how but carry on like this and we are doomed

Midfield as weak as piss. Ollie Clarke hasn't come close to living up to all the fanfare when we signed him. Bycroft has played well. Overall performance though, utter garbage...

Saw the replay of the goals - oh dear!

Hall having a stinker
Midfield non existent
Glatzel struggling with this formation
Smith looking lively

They sold 500 tickets for today plus walkups.

I have only seen two halves and there hasn't been much to cling onto.  Midfield looks awful and I have no idea what our plan is on the ball.  Off the ball we are very passive.  Pretty shit, not sure this is any better than last season.

Fucking hell Freckleton, clear the fucking ball.

And so it continues.  This is non league.

Game over.

Peach of a freekick.

Get fucked STFC

Oh dear

Can some of the people there get a bit angry please? Or is it only the Clemmings left?

Wall was NOT set up correctly for a left footed strike.

Shocking.

Spend some money you aussie cunt. :badmood:

The whole club is broken beyond repair. Kennedy out. Russell out. Hall out. Clem out. Kiely out. All the dodgy fuckers out. Liquidate us now and start again.

I agree with Bodin. Bycroft should have been protecting that side. But, he doesn’t seem to be able to cover and dive very well to his right.

No. Get some money for the club and fuck off.

So much this.

Some of our fans will read Clems copy and paste programme notes for a third year running at the end of this season and think we're in safe hands.

this aswell fucking bloke promises of  a better team and people believe  it total dog shite.

Where the hell is our midfield?

Stay positive, I am sure we are on the verge of signing a world class player, only to be outbid at the last minute but the Dog & Duck Sunday league team  

Other than both his 1st half great saves ;)

I haven't bothered to go so far and nothing I've read makes me think ill suffer the 4 hour round trip for a home game

Currently everything about Town says relegation fodder. This team currently has nothing about it.

Sobowale has been one of if not our best player in the last 2 games. I think he would make the defence look better - Ah! And here he is!!

Att: 7,786 (687 Walsallies.)

Now, can we have Mitchell in midfield please?

Absolutely no chance!

just sad really

Oh dear!

This is awful.

So the lesson learnt from last season is not to have a good start and that will ensure you go down then?

Utter utter shite

Hate this club so so much.

About 4,000 freebies for the mafia.

I hate the fact that people still back those at the top.

This is as bad as it gets (pretty much).

No quality in any position today, no defensive quality, no creative ability.

Its just absolutely shit.

Too many still do and don’t see they are the problem

I genuinely think there’s about 6000 tops in the ground, the rest is likely fake sales via dirty cash put through the club for cleaning.

I thought the bookies were being harsh on our league finish this season but after watching this today I can’t see past the prediction being right

Hard to see a loved one in such a state. Hoping it's a case of a whole new squad taking time to gel but this heavy a defeat is not a good sign. I always try to remember that when we broke the points record in this division we amassed 5 points from our first 8 games.

AKA the same as last year within the halls of the CG

This is bloody terrible

The worst performance I have seen.

Worse than any under the Power leadership....

Hate to say it but this could be the beginning of the end! Kennedy sounds a decent guy, says all the right things but was he really just a cheap option who no other club were interested in.

I know it's only 3 games in but the whole make up of this squad & the way they're being played just doesn't look anywhere near good enough. Unless something drastically changes we're going to be fighting to stay in the league this year.

And what I've seen so far we'll be losing that fight.

Exactly this as I mentioned in another thread.
It never felt this shit back then for those seasons though.

When was the last time we conceded four at home in the league?

Only November - Stockport.

Stockport last season.

What will come first? Administration or relegation?

Don’t worry we might get to 5 yet!

Can I be the first to say that tje evidence is increasingly suggesting Russell is a crock of shit at this DoF lark?  He may know how work in an Academy, but we've been throwing cheap spaghetti at a wall with none of it sticking.  Granted, the structure he is working within is also a shit show, but he keeps telling everyone there is a plan.  The output of that plan is the ultimate determination of his performance and its awful.

Hopefully liquidation

Not sure when I have ever seen us concede 4 at home in the league. Sat next to the Duke of Banbury which was nice but he left at around 65 mins. Few positives so far. We could be in real trouble. Also how is Cain a pro footballer?

I already said it.

Then I will be second

Swindon don't win with 3 at the back, for whatever reason..  i think it's been proven by now...

Could have stopped that sentence after the first three words

This.

Mate, you think everything's shit so you're bound to get some hits.

I don't see any way we could play any formation with wide players in attacking positions though.  The wing backs aren't much use either.

Everything has been shit for a long time. Moron.

I have lost count the number of times I have seen us concede 4/5/6 at home in the league!

Russell can't even claim Glatzel as The Moonraker stated spreadsheet Sandro was initially in for him. So I think we can all agree he's about as good as director of football as Clem is as owner.

Not sure what Premier League they meant but heres part of the plan

Southern Premier

I used to laugh when people said we were better off with Lee Power, but they're not even wrong.

Never seen so few people in the Arkells as it goes to 90 mins. Fucking hell. Did they announce an attendance?

Best I can come up with is

Bycroft

Sobawale
Wright
Hall
Freckleton

King
Ofoborh
Clarke
Longelo

Glatzel
Smith

And that possibly looks worse than the current set up.

Does anyone want anyone other than none of the above in the poll?

Aldershot proved to be the point of no return last season.

Here we are again already.

Non league football can be enjoyable for a small club.

We are not that.  We are a very sick animal indeed.

Thank you Morfuni.

Thought hard - no.

Heads need to roll tonight.

 I suspect it's only going to get worse

Funny that..a cynic might suggest both their identical recruitment efforts nod to the role just being a cypher for someone else's interests

That's because we have recruited a team to play 3 at the back, exactly the same as last season.  No real chance to change it now, we have gone in 2 footed on 3 at the back so are stuck with it now.

To those clapping at the end of that.....Do you sit on the end of the bed and clap while another bloke fucks your wife? Do you stand there and clap when you're getting mugged?

How the fuck are you clapping that you complete mentalists?

Someone please mention how that’s fine because Crawley lost 6-0 early last season and Wellens lost his first home game heavily so don’t panic.

That was past the point of being so bad it’s funny, very concerning

I said in X they would be clapping!

No idea, no fight, was there a game plan?  

Why isn't Ofoborh playing defensive mid?

What is the idea of playing anyone along side of Smith when they don't support him?

Why play three at the back and wing backs when nobody knows how to defend, or knows how to make a run forward?



What has Kennedy to say?

 

"If you don't like it, put your hand in your pocket and buy the club"
"If you complain or say anything remotely negative you are not a true supporter"
"All some people do is complain"
"It is only 3 games"

All some of things one can expect to read shortly

Wonder what the odds are on conceding 4 at Crewe to make it three in the trot🤣

 Did not see that coming. 0-4 at home to Walsall.
 Gunning must have given the pre match team talk.

All the local journos are back in the clubs pocket so don’t there will be much published criticism for him to respond to. Give them access to the likes of Russell and inside info on transfers and it’s all it takes to shut people up.

Especially love the fact the club deleted the attendance post on X, nothing to see here obviously.

Binned off watching Town to dust off the football boots & attempt Saturday football after a 7 year break.

Made the right choice I guess.

How as Bycroft after his recent form?

Kept the score down tbh

The manager doesnt even appear to be the slightest bit angry in his interview?!

He’s getting paid🤣

Couldn’t believe what I saw in the DRS quite a few clapping.

They will get what they deserve- likely relegation judging by today

Losing early in the season doesn’t really concern me, these things happen and have happened before but what does concern me is zero chances created in two league games. I’ve never seen our midfield look so poor. Even last season when our midfield looked dreadful, we at least created chances. I know I keep banging on about Cotterill but god he was rubbish! And please play Ofoborh as a defensive mid!

Well, I for one am glad I didn't renew my season ticket and ruin my Saturday watching that

This is the thing - I think a narrow loss is disappointing but understandable, Walsall haven't changed their side much and we're a totally new team. But you need to have some hope to fling to and it's not easy to see where that is.

Well I'm shocked, another Clem season and we look worse than the season before. Amateurs and crooks running the club lead to that mess.

We start from scratch every season because the plan from the previous season didn't work, no continuity at all, and then we try execute the new plan badly.

Embarrassing.

Is he wrong then?

Did Kennedy really use the line “we’re going to lose loads of games” in his interview?

Yes

In the name of god Clem just fuck off

That performance at home was probably the worst I’ve seen in 30 years.

Looks like a relegation out of the league. Sad thing is would take that to get these fucking joke of owners out of our club.

There are buyers out there-Morfuni wants too much that’s the problem as do the dodgy hangers on.

no ones going to watch a team that loses alot well said kennedy what a moron.

Fuck off Clem.
That was the worst first home game of the season in all the years supporting the Club.
No different to the first half at Chesterfield.

Seriously we are in the shit.

We made an average looking Wallsall look like Man City

15 odd defenders signed and none of them looked like they had played there before.

Midfield non existent, 2nd to every ball never tracked runners , half the time didn't even attempt a tackle .

Expect 2 or 3 loan signing this week to try and get the fanbase to forget this embarrassment

The happy clappers can go fuck thereselves tonight aswell. :smugfu:

Agree

We haven't got the luxury of a really good start to save us from relegation.

Definitely looking at relegation after the first 3 performances

Harry McKirdy, come on down!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWJXDG2i0A

.

Keep throwing shit after shit.
Cutting costs, mediocre players in the hope something sticks.

We’ve had at least 4 chances to sell in the last 18 months yet this fucking chancer refuses to budge.

to late now for me. :crash:

That'll be the highest attendance all season unless an away team prop the numbers up. Definite lowest home attendance.

Tbh it’s only 3 games but I’ve seen enough for Kennedy to suggest this isn’t going to be good.

We’ve actually signed some ok players on paper yet he’s decided to not use them in their strongest roles.

Get Oboforh in front of that back line for fuck sake.

Paul Bodin said on the radio that was a relegation performance and he is right

Won’t get any better until he sells up and goes- we need a coordinated campaign to force this now

I heard that mate his asking price is too high. He will probably still demand £7m when he gets us relegated!

Yeah I'm not here to defend Jamie Russell but on paper there are far more parts in this squad than there were in Flynn's, Lindsay's or Morris'.

Probably a long game to get us to be grateful for Gunning...

 but if these 'serious parties' want to acquire the club from the current consortium, just pay the asking price. 

I’d take Gunningball next game over this shite…

Then it's working!

You can't run a club with no money or football experience from the other side of the world.  

You can argue this, of course, but the falling crowds (the true fall, not the published 7k) and falling revenue tell another story.

Face up and man up.

Another one paid to oversee our managed decline. Probably doesn't give a fuck like the rest of em.

Jobs for the boys.

Even if its about double what its really worth?

There is a reason everyone else is getting taken over and we're being left for dust.

Why not? Sometimes in business you take a punt.  If the club is the great proposition we are told it is, the investment will pay off in the long run.

Crewe vs Swindon next weekend looks like a clash of movable object and resistable force. 50p on that finishing 0-0 I think.

Exactly this. Amazes me the stick he's getting when it's obvious he's not in charge of the recruitment. He's a very decent bloke who I have no doubt will fuck off soon and show his capabilities in roles he's suited for

I really hate this 5 at the back with wingbacks formation. It was shit under Flynn and it seems shit under Kennedy. We lack any midfield presence and pace up front. Im worried that because of the players we've recruited, we can't ever change to a 4-3-3 or something like that.

You're talking millions of pounds

Exactly this :clap:

But, he’s happy to sit there in front of fans and claim he’s a major part of the recruitment process, and have the chairman and manager both say he is.

So he’s always going to get shit if he’s happy to accept being the front of it all.

Fine.  In the context of buying a cake shop in Purton you have a point.  But in this context, that's chump change.

The ridiculous thing is Russell is exactly the person we should recruit to set-up and run a proper Academy, if we truly had any intent to follow through on that previously stated aim.  We haven't even secured a proper training ground, let alone a home for a true Academy to be built though.

Exactly how he started and started brilliantly but with every role at the club we appear to have just added to it

He did a decent enough job, but it is not and never has been a proper academy.  It's just a few youth teams - he should be given the directive to find a location, build an Academy, recruit a team of coaches and deliver a supply into t he first team or to Elite Academies.  That means over 1m per season in Operational budget and several million to buy a site, lay pitches and develop it.   I see the Oasis is going spare....in fact, they managed it at Moredon sort of, and that was 6m ish, so it's going to take a bit more than that.  Obviously, there is no intention to actually do any of that, so we've wasted having him around.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgV-pgGl5OU
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a--4rKn7YY

Everyone needs to calm down.  It’ll all be ok Big Gav will be back in October to save the day 😃

So in summary it was fucking shit, and it's probably 4D's  fault for starting the matchday threads.

Is that right?

At least the manager recognises that both himself and the fans are intelligent😁

Best thing that can happen to this club is relegation, followed by administration and then insolvency. The club has too many ‘hangers on’ hoping for a pay day. Fuck them all. I’d rather see a phoenix club that doesn’t owe any chancer a penny. Give me that phoenix club and I will be there week in - week out, with my phoenix kit and phoenix fucking hot dog for me and my Phoenix fucking offspring and phoenix wife.

Clem has been a disaster for STFC. Just give the club to the fans and fuck off into the sunset with your kangaroo and your boomerang and your tin of fosters and whatever else you Aussie cunts are associated with. You can even stick Kylie Minogue’s head in the dunny and flush it whilst wearing your cork dangling akubra whilst singing ‘I come from a land down under’.
Go, just fucking go.

Amen

 :clap:

Swindon AFC was our original name, by the way.

I'm angry to Mark, fucking livid in fact. :badmood:

I walked out after the fourth goal went in, couldn't bear any more! :smack:

Haven't done that since the start of 2009/2010 away to Gillingham. :(

dont think it’s Cotterill’s fault or any of the midfield 3 the ball is bypassing them the defenders just keep hoofing the ball upfield and it’s coming straight back at us if we played ball out Cotterill is a very good passer of the ball can ping your foot from 30 yards but only if he’s has the ball and the runners 🤷‍♂️

The lack of any response after H.T. really pissed me off, a stupidly given away free kick and it's game over.

You done well lasting that long :clap:

It’s ok Big Gav will be back in October to save the day 😄

Cracking season that one! Us and Norwich got pasted on the opening day. With about 3 games to go Norwich were top and and us 2nd.

Just read read back, was out all day so didn’t see it at all, couldn’t believe the score line. Doesn’t sound like there was much to take from that, not positive anyway.

Get well soon Swindon.

But he's got depth charts and lots of coloured stickers.

If he's not really in charge of recruitment then he's a mug for putting his name on it.

Again, like against Cheltenham the closing down for most of the Walsall goals was so lackadaisical.

What’s PdC up to these days?
If we are going to be shit - can we at least work hard

We are in deep, deep shit.

I see the Kielys were at the game today. Thought they had zero interest in the club…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jk2r9h

6:40. He also said we'll win loads too

Everyone’s interested in the brown envelope.

To be fair they are part owners, so 'zero interest' has always been bollocks.

Long story short fuck of Clem and all your hanging on cunts. Got shit from your blue coat twats and 5 of us won't  be back. Dick.

What happened?

If I had a £1 for every time you said it was your last game  :D

What happened?

Long story needed :D

…you could buy the club.

A lot of fans feel that way the way things are going. Absolute shambles.

Was the matchday guest and totally not our director that tells everyone he is a director there today?

I'm sure in many years time when these cunts have all (hopefully) fucked off, the FA will hit us with sanctions for that.

Bodin had it right in his summary.  Cotterill should not be playing the holding midfield role the lad is only 19 and he has a lot to learn.  Offensively he was ok nothing great but defensively which was the role he was meant be playing he was poor.  This in turn gave our back no protection.

Fuck knows why Kennedy continues to play him in that position.  Ofborh played that role ok at the end of last season which gave the midfield a bit of shape.

I also didn’t get the diagonal balls played when there were either no players in site or the player they were meant to be sending it too just didn’t read the game.

Clarke was non existent today but I think a lot of the reason for that was Cotterill who is being no played out of position.

Awful game but let’s hope Kennedy and the players learns from that or with fucked

I heard Bodin summing up the current situation on the radio and I have to say, I was totally impressed. He was completely 100% bang on the money and I would love to see what he could do as manager (maybe he'll get the chance before too long)...at the very least, he would be a huge asset to the coaching staff...

I thought they asked him in the summer whether he would come back and he said no

Yes he was, theres a photo on twitter somewhere

I don’t think Bodin would come anywhere the near the club right now other than commentating with this lot in charge.  Has high regard for the club but not the owners.  We showed interest in Billy but Paul was never  going to let him come here with the  current antics going

It’s been done to death.
We aren’t playing Cotterill as a defensive / holding midfielder. He’s there to quarterback or be a deep lying player maker - which doesn’t change the point it’s an absolutely fucking stupid way to set up our midfield.

Everyone can see it apart from Kennedy - if he lines up the same again next game we might as well sack him & get Gav back in.

Ofoborh did the defensive / holding midfield role really well back end of last season - we were all chuffed he signed in the summer. Complete waste of a wage if we are going to play him as a #8.

It’s stupid.

Yes I think they did and he did indeed say no...don't blame him

No, I don't think so either. It was just a hypothetical kind of idea really. When the ownership does eventually change though (and it has to one day) that bloke has a huge amount to offer...he talks so much sense...

Honestly after 3 games I’ve struggled to understand where any of them are playing.
Not sure about the shape or tactics other than to go long at every opportunity “hitting” Smith for flick ons.
So disjointed.

Ah well, I've managed to last 2 games. Good luck Swindon see you in the conference.  At least I can save some cash going forwards.

What haopened to you at the game?

I struggled to see the shape as well

The midfield couldn't hold onto the ball, the Walsall midfield was just running past them.....


Was amazed that the majority of the starting X1 had virtually all of pre season together, they looked like they had never seen each other before....

The amount if times the ball was between 2 of them and they just looked at each other....

Have to wonder what goes on in the training sessions.

I feared for us in June , after the first 3 games it seems obvious we are in deep shite...

Honestly I don’t get why you renewed or go, you clearly aren’t enjoying it. I haven’t renewed and I’m not regretting or missing it one bit, you soon get over it and find other things to do that there is some genuine chance of enjoying.

Spot on. It happened again, and again, and again. Freckleton and King were the most guilty. King was positionally appalling, and seemed unable to pass 5 yards. They *all* appeared dazed and confused and passive. It was genuinely up there with the most inept performances you’ll ever see.

Edit: Yet Kennedy says there were good things to the from the game. We’re already into “manager speak”. There were no positives Mark. I find it incredible that a man that played as a winger and spent time at Man City as a coach as well as a player, has a strategy where the main attacking tactic involves playing high balls to strikers, presumably for knock downs, when the midfield is 30 yards away from them. You can watch shit systems with adequate players, and adequate systems with shit players, but yesterday was shit system and shit players, bought with our non existent budget, provided by our absent, shady owners. when many of us went in with hope for change.

And the crowd was up for it at the start. You got the sense everyone there was fully behind them. And almost immediately, it was apparent that we couldn’t string two passes together. It wasn’t “they’re a bit off the boil” bad, it was something much deeper than that. At least if we had an owner in this hemisphere we’d be able to vent at him. The absenteeism really doesn’t help.

Me? Drank to much, was disappointed with the way we played, had a verbal wirh the away fans and got told off by security. Left at half time. Already given up, everything about this club stinks.

Frigby above aside, I’m amazed King hasn’t been highlighted more. Garbage at Chesterfield on the opening day and piss poor today - looks every inch a player who has spent the bulk of his career in non league.

It’s going to be a long season.

I thought it was you on the end of the ‘fatty what’s the score’ chant  :D

If it was just the 90 minutes I think I would have got off the bus 10 years ago.
Nobody would have enjoyed that shambles yesterday. I broke a record mind I left after the 4th went in.

This the pre match and sometimes post match meet up with mates on match day  adds to the experience for me.
As bad it was and it was bad we had a laugh yesterday mainly at the expense of trying to guess what the game plan was.

Had to check back and yep that's the heaviest defeat in a home opener for any season in our history, including the Southern League days.

Football has evolved beyond just playing hopeful balls even in league 2.
It can win games but needs a high degree of understanding of where to be & what to do in certain situations.
Early days yet. We'll see.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQozoUI5Fls

Not sure what I was expecting here but that was dreadful.

First goal, I just don't know what you can do about an experience Championship defender making such a basic fuck up. Despair and hope it's a one off, I guess.

Second one is bad defensive shape, but a decent cross.

Free kick for the third is a really good goal to be fair, but giving it away was pretty miserable between Sobowale and Freckleton (Clarke dives in, but probably has to after they've fucked it up)

Adomah's is a tough deflection.

The worry is how low on confidence our defenders look on the ball already - it's two games in! We keep brining in, on paper, good defenders and we keep making them utterly useless in short order.

Problem was looking at the bench yesterday there was no one there you could say could come on and make a difference...
They say they are looking for additional players

But this will once again probably be loans again as the moneys run out.

We've spent the money of a team of defenders who on that display cannot defend.

Its OK having players who can score upfront like Gkatzel ,Smith or Tshimanga if he comes in but if you haven't got a midfield who can supply decent ball then they won't score..

We had no one who got in a position to put in a decent cross for out 6ft 5 striker....

It’s been spoken about to death already but that midfield is so baffling and a real problem for 2 reasons:

1. I get they’re going for this QB style deeper midfielder but when you’ve got Ofoborh who’s a perfectly good sitting midfielder for this level, having to push up the pitch and play to traits he’s not strong at whilst our player sitting in front of the defence is struggling to cover defensively then it’s a pretty weird system. Bostock would have been a good option in that deeper role and I see why they went for him but at the moment, we’re not playing to any of our midfield players strengths. Please get Ofoborh in front of the defence and move Cotterill (who i don’t think we can fully judge until he’s playing in a more comfortable position but early signs aren’t great) further up if we’re contractually obliged to keep playing him but need reinforcements here.

2. 0 creativity. It stifles us, there’s no one getting on the end of Smiths knockdowns, and the midfielders who are receiving the ball higher up the pitch like Ofoborh just aren’t suited to it. It makes us so easy to defend against as they know to stick a man on Cotterill and each wing back and we’re out of ideas. I understand our primary tactic is (or should be) the wingbacks hammering in crosses but you need to worry teams from other areas centrally so the gaps appears for the wing backs to exploit or it’s an easy job to just mark them out of the game.


Then you look at the bench and wow it’s weak.

I have heard that Clem has already turned down bids of higher than that, much higher.

I know I have made my position clear. What bothers me reading all the chat is how ambivalent I feel about it.

Personally I have never watched us expecting to enjoy a match or to be entertained, not ever in 50 years.

I go or watch out out hope, but not expectation, its a need for me, its not about fun. I want to see us be successful and win games and rise up the leagues, as we all do. Then theres the social element of meeting mates pre and post game too.

But I will still watch, its a form of addiction I know and although when I was 30ish I gave it up for a few years and came back and started it all over again and thats where I am now.

I talked both my sons in their teens (they are in their early 30s now) out of supporting Swindon as their only club, if you want success then support a big club, you are very unlikely to ever get it with Swindon.

I go/watch for that 1 game when everything clicks and everything is great, you beat a bigger club and you live off of that for years mentally and for a while everything in the STFC world is great, it feels like we have that once every 10 years or so.

Haven’t been to a game yet but this seems to be the problems we have:
1) New side needing to gel - same problem for past 11 seasons hence why our cup record is so poor.
2) Incomplete squad - hopefully rectified by end of transfer window- but based on last season maybe not.
3) Ofoborh being played out of position
4) Wing backs not producing goods (need time to gel? Was Jeff a panic signing?)

Oh and 5) Delaney signed with long term injury.

We got zero half decent crosses into the box yesterday.

If we are going to play with a big man up front then get crosses in for him to at least attempt to get on the end of. We didnt once take the fullbacks on yesterday.

Yeah, mistakes happen. Only really a problem if it continually happens. More worried about when he gets injured.


Still think this is utter bollocks (the idea, not you - though I do hate the analogy).

We haven't got Hoodle pinging the ball about from deep to players who can control it and do something useful further up the pitch. What's the plan, wang it up to Smith and hope we can press and win the the rebound?

Buggered if I know on the limited account I've seen.

Just hope Kennedy knows what he's doing and in a few games time we are all laughing at this thread and how we reacted.

At the moment I'm not exactly convinced.

<2 weeks to tdd

Over sixty years of going with family members and have witnessed some dire performances and this was up there or down! We left at 4:0 and what seemed apparent was the lack of enthusiasm. Hall is awful should be dumped straight away he is a liability. Felt sorry for Bycroft a young keeper and look what he has in front of him. He won’t peak for another 10 years. What was Clarke doing all game and as for the third goal every experienced pro knows you do got give free kicks away on the edge of the area slight of central, as good as a penalty. We are one dimensional with a high ball to Smith every time who can’t hold the ball and flicks on when he wins it! Not in trouble yet but the clock is ticking and going to be a long season.

We will probably need to first 10 games of the season to get up to speed

Got a free ticket for yesterday and surprised myself that I was actually looking forward to it. Amidst the shit show behind the scenes, I've felt relatively excited about some proper stout defensive league two football with an absolute monster up front. The beautiful antithesis of the sideways, dull, lower league tiki taka I've grown to despise.

Poor, poor Mark Kennedy. Undoubtedly the plan WAS to be a big, robust, well oiled defensive unit that is hard to break down and hard to beat but unfortunately for poor Mark, he's ended up at Swindon Town. Swindon Town have been a banter club for as long as I can remember but this latest version has taken on a whole new level of clown show. What on earth was that showing yesterday? Absolutely nothing happening in attack, poor Harry Smith could be an effective weapon if utilised correctly. The same goes for Ofoborh who seems to picking up the slack of being our 'number 10' CAM despite clearly not having the skillset for it. A sacrifice made thanks in part to our "insert nonsense jobtitle" Jamie Russell who I'm not sure could convince his own family to play for Swindon.

Now onto Russell... I don't read these forums much anymore, and I tend to steer clear of STFC related content on social media less I'm in the mood to feel depressed but... when do fingers get pointed at him? We have a small budget, undoubtedly, but he has the keys to the vehicle and nothing he's giving it is working. We're always "close" "a day away" yet somehow we JUST miss out. It happens too frequently to be by chance.

Nonetheless, it is early days and things may improve but my guess is that only happens if:-

1) Kennedy is able to approach his game plan with more dynamism. The way he wants to play doesn't seem to work with the personnel we have.
2) we recruit extremely well in the coming few weeks. And we need real quality, too. There are pieces there, I'll give the recruitment team their due on some of the signings they've made.. but the gaping holes are evident.

Onto the actual game, what is there to say? Walsall were very good and should have won by 7. The much scapegoated Bycroft made 3 terrific saves to keep the score down, severely let down by the defenders in front of him. I think we could have been playing until the morning and I doubt we'd have found a goal, or even a shot on target.

Sigh.. I've seen enough relegations to know a side destined for the drop when I see one. And that is us. Our slide to the national league under Morfuni is inevitable but I did have some hope that Kennedy may hold it off, for at least a season. Nevermind. I have not paid for a home ticket since the early days of 22/23 and I'm doubtful to return as a paying customer for a while.

Disagree strongly, we are zero dimensional!

People saying there were using now tv/firesticks to stream the leeds game in the legends yesterday? Apparently some of the tvs didnt work properly and the wifi was so popr the stream was lagging?

For quite a long time it has been the most enjoyable part of match day.
Going by train to Crewe next week with my eldest lad. Looking forward to that more than the game.
One day it will be fun again but no idea as to when that will be.
Definitely will be hope once these chancers fuck off for good.

Watched Adam Hart wobble back to the station, he left before the end as well.
Could only hope that one day all that lot will be just a nightmare memory.
Very similar we were laughing at the performance rather than getting that upset over it. Far more important things in life. My fishing makes up for that shit. Recommend it.

Fished the Hampshire Avon 2 weeks ago just magical.

For those that don’t want to know the score look away now.🤣
Absolute shite.

The brief moment we looked like assembling a proper squad last season I was going almost every game and realised how much I missed it in the Power era.

I hate what this crooks have taken from us.

Don't know what they were using, but it was particularly shite.

As you said most of the TV's didn't work & of the ones that did they were buffering quite a lot

Someone else now mentioned no food and drink in the Town End?

Might of run out, but from the DRS you could see people queueing at the hut in the corner.

However, there wasn't anything selling food & drink outside the ground anymore

Thats so you buy everything from the club

Sounds like a fair few haven’t been able to remove themselves from the bog after eating food from the concourse yesterday.

Really ?

Probably, although maybe they wanted the stall holders to pay too much for a pitch.
Just need to buy food before you get to the ground if that's the case, just a shame that Phillips has closed

I guess it depends on what you eat, I usually go for a pasty, which to be fair isn't too bad and I've never had a problem.

The problem with WiFi is that once you have 200 people all in the same room and all with the password, you are going to kill its performance. More than likely have tried to do this on their own without speaking to a proper IT or AV company.

 

Apparently so. Perhaps the liquid mush in the sausage roll wasn’t up to molten magma temperature.

Everything about the club is shambolic at the moment isn’t it? If you can’t even safely eat a sausage roll at the ground then there are major issues. My friend had a sausage roll and to my knowledge he is okay today thankfully.

I had a joke with the guy doing bag inspection on my way in. “4-0” says I. 180 fucking degrees out😠

Not me,  not putting money into crooks pockets, used to but not now,  no beer, no pasties. Nothing, buy anything I want for myself before I get to the ground, and much cheaper too.  

Exactly.

That's why you reserve bandwidth for specific purposes, and use cables wherever possible too.

There is fuck all change they are using dodgy streams. It'll be legit sky+ streaming struggling to play.

Oh, and I thought it a positive from the game.

Bycroft has removed some of the building pressure on him with a reasonably good display (which is damning given the 4-0 score).

When it comes to catering food, like a sausage or sausage roll, you’d be surprised at how low the meat minimum threshold is. As a butcher by trade and now in the food ingredient manufacturing supply chain I ought to know. Therefore I won’t buy stuff like that. I’m not sure they’d know how hot to heat pre cooked food and for how long. As for cooking burgers and sausages from raw, god no.

That or just as likely the club jacked the prices up for them to pitch.

But I think the reality is it wasn't making enough money so hasn't come back. We started the season with 3 or 4 food outlets outside at the start of last season but it quickly reverted to just the loaded fries stall.

Can't say I use it except when pissed which is rarely these days.

I tried one of those big sausage rolls inside the ground once. My god that was grim. If there was any meat in it at all I'd be amazed. It's just greasy shit pastry with sludge in it. Never again.

They did have a thermapen to check temps though

If they are using NOW TV - they dont do commercial packages

A slight aside. Do you know what a packer brisket is and if it's got a UK name?

You can get them online, but it's a US term and we seem to roll ours up and it's much smaller - assume it's butchers differently here and split up

https://www.traeger.com/learn/how-to-cook-brisket

Sky do though. And almost all of sky+ is streamed even through sky.

Good morning all fellow sufferers.
I didn't renew but thought I would go and see what the latest 5 month team looked like. Glad to see some height in the team but there is no creative spark in midfield. I've moaned about having a lightweight team for many years. Now we have fixed that but forgotten to keep some creativity and mix a blend of artistes and gladiators. The result was a turgid afternoon. If Walsall win the league then fair enough, but I doubt they will. We were miles off being competitive. The last forty minutes reminded me of the Quinn season except that was two divisions higher and we were better then. Never thought I'd ever write that!
We have a short period of time to fix this but I have lost any hope that that will happen with the current regime. I don't blame the players or the coach although happy to see most replaced by better asap. I didn't clap at the end but some friends did because, I guess, they want to lift the players heads up after what had been an awful home debut? I'm well passed all that bollocks personally, but salute those that feel that they might help. Those others that still excuse Morph and his cronies will not be turned. Sad.
I have been offered spare season tickets when available, which is very kind, but on this showing I won't be rushing to the County Ground soon and certainly will not be spending £25.
Great to see long-standing comrades there but they were fewer. The general view was that this may be the season our luck runs out. Hope it isnt.

Not a term I’ve heard used in the U.K. However, you’ll have to go to a butchers that break down whole quarters of beef. In this case a fore quarter. Not many about, as boneless and trimmed boxed beef primals are used by the majority of butchers. However, Crumps in Bassett, Andrews in Highworth or Marlborough. With boxed beef the points are sometimes on sometimes off. And all the fat has been stripped. In the US, their beef is generally half as big as ours and the primals will also be larger. I’d try Andrews at Marlborough first you may have to send or show them the web page.

Haven't read back yet, it's not going to make happy reading for sure! True story, over breakfast we were talking about leaving games early. As far as I can remember I've never left a game early, I like to give the players a clap etc as I'm trying to get out of the DRS. I joked 'even if we're 4-0 down I'll not leave.' Fast forward to 72 minutes of the game on Saturday and I was contemplating whether to do it. We agreed as soon as the injury time board went up we'd skip the 'queue'. I should have put some money on a 4-0 defeat given my bacon sandwich prediction earlier that day!

I suspect all has been said on the pitch. Bycroft aside, who made 3 very good saves it was diabolical. Walsall were a pretty good side but we made them look much better than they were. My dad and I were trying to work out how on earth a 20 year old on his third football league appearance basically had midfield to himself, whilst the defence and forward lines decided to split into two. It was comically bad.

As I was walking up the stairs for the second half it was announced Drinan was coming on for Ofoborh and the young steward and I had exactly the same thought, the midfield was awful first half so take one of them off for a lump, that will help!

Even before the game kicked off, there was a lack of buzz about the place, more empty seats than usual, a jovial chap finding his seats telling us how bad the new Legends Lounge was. There was no anticipation, no excitement. Harry Smith's shot off the post briefly lit a spark. That was exhumed over the course of the rest of the game. Abject, no plan, no cohesion, frankly it was embarrassing. Under the current ownership I can't see much changing. We need an overhaul or were going to stagnate, or worse.

I've not read all the post match contributions but while i've been impressed with Kennedy to date, i didn't like his post match review. We didn't just lose because the team (which now has experience) lacked game knowledge, we lost because we were rubbish and barely had a plan.

As a butcher by trade, we normally sell the point end and the flat end separately. Packer is the brisket in its entirety as I understand it

Yeah that's exactly it. But the last butcher I asked didn't get what I was asking about.

I usually just buy the point

Some brutal numbers in the Moonraker - very early for actual success rates but in terms of what we're actually trying to do. Won't copy and paste it all but..

Across 180 minutes of the new league campaign, though, Swindon have attempted just 12 crosses. That’s eight fewer than anyone else, and more than four times fewer than the league leader in this discipline, Carlisle (50).

For a team with wing backs and a massive target man

We've won 2 corners in 2 league games as well.

Makes for some grim reading. Who would have thought adding zero creative players, would mean creating zero chances. Have they seriously gone into the season putting all our eggs in long ball football, and all our creativity on the shoulders of a 19 year old that wasn't good enough for League Two last season  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: good job we're not playing that creative midfielder as a defensive midfielder... oh wait...  

Interested to know whether this is exactly what Kennedy did at Lincoln?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67161710

https://staceywest.net/2023/10/18/mark-kennedy-departure-more-reaction/

Not sure, but he actually managed to win some games there

I can’t imagine we have fared well in any discipline after the first two games other than thunderbastards scored completely out of the blue by a centre half whose run 30 yards with it.

Just read this:

https://staceywest.net/2024/05/30/mark-kennedy-lashes-out-in-first-interview-since-sacking/

So hopefully, he is versatile and doesn't just stick with hoofing the ball over a non-existant midfield.

Perhaps we just have an above average number of colour blind players in the team? https://x.com/dsj_itv/status/1825933068370325951

I’ve seen half and half scarves but a half and half split screen for a football match 😃