Thetownend.com

So the big question is...will this be on with the cold weather?
If it is on, i predict a barnstorming 3-1 win for the town with another goal from Mr Austin.

I see they have signed Jamille Matt.
Monthe is suspended, which is good news

 :nod:

https://therealefl.co.uk/2023/01/18/walsalls-jamille-matt-is-a-better-signing-than-swindon-towns-charlie-austin-analysed/

Piece of piss, 1-4

1225 Town fans

We play Walsall every other week I'm sure.

On average every 10 weeks over the last year and a bit!

Sure hope its on, not been away for a while, really looking forward to it. We will lose though, 2-1

lows of minus 2 overnight in walsall. surely most clubs at this level have frost sheets available to them.

my first away since exeter last season. i hope for better

Online ticket sales seem to have stopped. Any idea if tickets are available at the ground?

https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/december/walsall-vs-swindon-ticket-information/ (https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/2022/december/walsall-vs-swindon-ticket-information/)


no idea if the allocation sold out

One day Audrey, One Day ……..

Got the piece of piss right last Saturday!

There are 4 or 5 6-pointers tomorrow if all the games go ahead. 3 points would be a massive step for us.

Holds 2,000 that end. Won't have sold out yet.

1225 so far

Put a small bet on Town to win 3-1 at 22/1......you never know !!

Oh my it’s foggy. Glad I’m not driving

Charlie to come out on top in the battle of the new strikers... Walsall 1 Swindon 2

Comfortable three nil win.
Half of our fans singing ‘Gav Gunnings Red n White army’ the other half incandescent with rage at the thought of an internal appointment despite the back to back wins.

No Monthe for them.

Yes they are a big unit, but if we actually go with RHM and Wakeling up top with Austin again, with Williams as a 10, I fancy us to beat them in a footrace. Wouldn't be against Shade playing either but probably better from the bench.

They'll leave spaces. We just need to avoid soft goals from set pieces. Didn't think they were anything special at the county ground, we were just shite that day.

A single Charlie Austin goal to separate the two sides sending the 1378 Swindon fans home happy which will mean we can go on for another week with no new manager appointment/announcement.

Apparently a Pitch Inspection at 11.30.

It was from the Wasall forum, but someone since tweeted no inspection planned.

Game off.

Fuck sake

Pre match no lack of cheap options in The Briar Rose.
Brains SA appointed as the easy & familiar choice for first pint of the day.

So, a quick turnaround with less than a month since the 1st meeting.
Successful sides don't allow many doubles against them in a season.
That should be the aim today. A draw perfectly acceptable but a win not impossible given the evidence from the recent encounter.

Might be a case of earning the right to play today and our backing will be important.
Hopefully the team will be allowed to play with the same freedom as & when the opportunities present themselves, which wasn't always the case under Lindsey.

I'm liking the cut of Gunning's jib so far.
Someone with an aka Mad Gav has potential for cult hero status.
Having said that, hope that he progresses his coaching career at a pace that he feels comfortable with.
I reckon that he could make a go good of it.

Aaaaaand, match postponed as I write.
Never mind. Not the first time & it won't be the last.
I suspect that there are activities to pass the time in central Brum before heading home.
 :pint:

Nooo! Was looking forward to some non new manager chat on here.

What a fucking boring day ahead😡

Was looking forward to this one, train to Birmingham and a few beers.
Mind you it’s freezing here and thought it would be in doubt.

humph

At least the fans never travelled with it being called off relatively early. It looks like you have time to do some jobs around the house to keep Mrs B happy😀

 :no:

Then again a midweek away fixture always presents the opportunity to make a proper day if it.
 :nod:

let's hope our frost covers are better. it's not as cold at night up Tuesday but damage could be done already

Swings and roundabouts😀

Not sure how easy it is to get back from Wallsall - Birmingham - to Swindon on a Tuesday evening by train.

Would have to be an overnighter.
Could drive it, but it's not the same.

It isn't possible as you struggle to get on at the Bescot.  You have to drive or get the OSC coach

Not ideal as there would have been quite a few going up by train.

You always make the best of the situation Bob and love the way you describe your match day experience :pint:

Just heard game off due to frozen pitch.

ITK ?  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I saw on Facebook some poor guy was outside the stadium around 10:30 and wondered why it was so quiet and wanted to know where fans were meeting for pre match drinks😀

In this age of taking minority interests into account, pitch inspections should really be carried out at 5am at the latest before a game. Otherwise cancel the fuckers.

Anyway, 5 pints better off since 9am & heading south on the 13:03.

Brummie cunts.

 :)

It's pretty poor this day & age that a professional football club was relying on cheap covers without any insulation to stop the ground freezing. I remember in 1980 v Wolves league cup semi final we also put straw down to ensure the game went ahead and over 40 years on we haven't found a way to stop a football pitch freezing apart from undersoil heating.

I'm sure that's not true.

But they can only do so much, typically -4 to -6 tops.

what is shit is late postponements. barrow v Salford and Grimsby v Harrogate are late call offs by the referee

If in any doubt both of those matches should have been called off yesterday afternoon

Peterborough just gone (v Charlton)

I know you are in for a hiding if the pitch actually becomes playable, but an hour and a half before kick off??

Barrow - Salford called off by Ref.

Barrow really not happy about it!

Banbury had their game vs Darlington at home postponed at 1430hrs - bit of a pisser, the ref deemed it playable but Darlington had concerns over one corner and wouldnt agree to play

Nothing to do at all with the 5 players they had out injured i suspect ;)

If one side refuses to play and the ref deems the pitch playable, surely that's a 3-0 default?

One would hope so. But its the National League North and they only care about the bigger clubs in the league. Pitch inspected yesterday, deemed playable. Ref inspected at 1pm today playable. Darlingtons manager called their players off the warm up and then had a ‘discussion’ with the ref and was insistent it shouldnt be played. (forgot Danny Rose plays for them now)

Even the referee asessor deemed it playable by all accounts

As always no one considered the fans. Even if only a handful of Darlington fans had made the trip they couldn't have been very happy to see the game called off especially I their own players had refused to play

Rearranged 14th March

FFS i wanted to go to that...clash with work dates...bastard!

Wallsall 1 Swindon 2 Att: 5455 (1030 Town fans)

Strangely looking forward to this. We aren’t going up, nor are we going down this season. Would be nice to see some positive performances and results as we head towards the end of the season, so we can enter next year with momentum. Didn’t think much of Walsall at our place, although we certainly were not much better. Will go for 2-0 Town - Austin and Wakeling with the goals and 750 Swindon fans.

binning off ifollow to play badly at snooker

(1-0, 4907)

Expecting nothing but hope to be surprised.

I quite enjoyed Saturday and thought we more than matched Carlisle for almost the whole game until the last minute when we lost concentration.

With Austin in midfield and Hutton not supplying crosses I just don't see where the goals will come from TBH. We can't just rely on RHM chasing long balls down the channels.

Walsall 5 points worse off than us wont be a walk in the park. They demolished our reserve side in the LC early season when we played many youngsters.

In the home game they smash and grabbed a last minute winner from a corner....again...in a game we should not have lost.

On the plus side we are only 7 points behind Salford in the play offs with 2 games in hand so a string of wins and we will be right back in the mix.

Piece of . . .

Oh, what’s the point!

Brynn
Lavinier Brewer Clayton Tomlinson(if fit)
Hutton McEachran Williams
RHM Austin Wakeling

I'd like to see something like this

Depends if Tomlinson is back of course but clearly at this stage we have to 'go for it' and I'm not sure 352 qualifies as that. Assuming Brewitt has the legs after a long time out of the game and that Joe is still out I think 442 could get the best out of Austin. We simply have to be getting the ball into him in the box. In which case:

                                                                          Brynn

Hutton                                Brewitt                                          Clayton                        Lavinier


Shade                                McEachran                                     Cain                              Williams


                                          Austin                                          Wakeling


Or the same XI shuffled into a 433.

RHM as impact sub.

I feel we will start the same formation as on Saturday just with Lavinier for Wakeling and change it 2nd half when it doesn't work

                                 Brynn
         Minturn            Brewitt               Clayton  
Hutton                                                          Lavinier
           McEachran         Cain                      Williams
                                  Austin                                
                                    RHM

Brynn

Hutton
Brewitt
Clayton
Tomlinson / Lavinier (whoever is fit?! If one of them is)

Cain
McEcheran

RHM
Williams
Wakeling

Austin

…it’s still what I’d like to see.
All dependent on having a left back fit

I personally would pick exactly that team too but I dont think Morris will.

I’d leave Austin and Williams out. Get Slim in v his old club and Jeff up top.

I really want Jephcott to be a success but hes not really shown anything to prove he is worth a starting place for me. I have a feeling we HAVE to play Austin if hes fit as part of his contract which is why we have changed the team to accomodate him in other positions. Just my thoughts based on nothing.

Its done, so i will personally be more relaxed about all the games now.

Good opportunity for Morris to fiddle and fart about with formations and players etc.

I get his hands are tied in certain places but seems to favour a 352 with wing backs.

Not a fan personally. Never have been. Just don’t think you tend to get the ball in dangerous positions high enough up the pitch unless you are absolutely dominating the game.

Plus so easy to hit on the break particularly if both wing backs have gone forward. Drop a long diagonal towards the corner and it’s potentially a free run in behind for the opposition (if they are playing wingers / wide forwards)

Totally agree on all of that, yet on Saturday when we shanged to a back 4 we looked way more threatening, but its just not Morris's style.

Did we play with 2 up v Carlisle. Wasn't there but I read posts that suggested it was 1 up top - unless that was because Austin came deep.

We played with Austin sat fairly and squarely in the centre circle when he was on and RHM chasing balls, basically 1 up front but Austin in a free role.

That's crazy if that was by design. He needs to be up and around the box and get balls into him. Which we've struggled to do (and with Jephcott). Thought Hutton's crossing might bear fruit but he doesn't seem to be getting nearly as many in lately.

I'd have him and RHM up top together I think. RHM makes space.

It doesn't help that we have zero aerial ability in midfield, which has been a bugbear of mine for about a decade! Therefore Austin drops back to try and win flick ons, as he did for our goal against Orient, but it leaves us with nothing up top as he isn't going to be doing a lung buster late run into the box at his stage of life. Our midfield largely look like extras from the Hobbit, which is why in time a Clayton or a Brewitt might be an option in there but clearly they are required elsewhere for now as discussed!

Is he fit/mobile enough to play a free role? I honestly don't recall how fit/mobile he was when he was here last time round but he's only 33 so hardly a veteran?

Wrong thread Jimbo.

He blatantly isnt as fit as he should be and it showed in his last few games, he is still much better as a striker and not a midfielder though.

Schoolboy error😀

I also think a 4231 gets Austin and Williams in their best positions & the 3 should provide the legs to do a lot of the pressing meaning less ‘donkey’ work for Austin - as that never has been his game.

Also think we have a lot of players who can be dangerous in the wide positions of the 3: RHM, Wakeling, Williams, Shade, Darcy - even the likes of Hutton, Lavinier and Tomlinson could do jobs in those positions if available players allowed it.

I can only imagine the 3-5-2 is preferred, or variations of it, because the midfield is so paperweight and a lack of street smart Centre Back's up until now.

All the more reason to in effect I split your midfield in two and have 2 holders 3 attackers imo

You've got to think that 4 left backs in the treatment room are a factor in going with 352 as well!

Can't agree with that,Williams and McEachren have tons of ability in my opinion.
Don't get the anti-Williams feeling that's creeping in. We'd be probably fighting the drop without his contributions this season. When he was away we gained1point and scored 1 goal. For me,in terms of ability,he is the best player we have and so far McEachran is not far behind

There’s no anti Williams at all. I just don’t think he’ll be here next season.

There's quite a bit over the last couple of weeks,not by you but by several others who say we should get shot of him or at least leave him out. The post I quoted by inference,said he has "zero ability"

I think you've missed the crucial word "aerial" before ability, which is probably less controversial?

McEachran's defensive ability/physicality on the ground is actually much better than you'd imagine- Williams is as much use as a wet towel off the ball, but I wouldn't lump the two together. McEachran is a right little wasp pressuring people for the ball. Less use in the air for sure though.

There has been a bit recently from several posters suggesting letting him move on to save wages etc.

I personally don't agree I hope we keep him but a fair few fans don't seem as keen to keep him.

I'm a massive fan of both of them. Aerial was the key word!

I guess nobody knows our wage structure/who gets paid what, but if Williams is our top earner (as rumours tend to suggest) then I'm not sure that's a great use of our budget. If he was on an average squad wage, I think everyone would be happy to see him stay.

Absolutely which I can agree on 100% we are woeful in midfield for any high ball threatsm even our 6 foor 3 midfielder on loan from Shitty cant head a ball to save his life.

Which you left out!🙂

Eh? It is there, clear as day.

Oh yeah. Apologies. It's my age!🙂

Liar.

🙂

I'm not sure what Kadji IS good at... Appreciate he is 19 but he's looked miles off it. I suspect he is filed under 'someone we were capable of getting through the door on deadline day' and not much more than that.

I agree with that

Is Minturn going to become a regular? Really hope so. Rate this kid.

Swindon have sold 966 tickets as of lunchtime for this.

I know we have pretty much given up any hope of the play offs it seems but this time last year Bristol Rovers had 1 more point than we have now after 34 games and still finished 3rd with just 1 more goal scored and they had conceded 4 more than we have so far.

We are on 49 points with 36 more points available and we have played 3 of the top 4 teams twice already with just Stevenage at home left.

So theoretically we could still end on 85 points which last season would have taken the title, albeit an almost impossible task.

Here is a list of points to get 7th place over the last 10 seasons.

2012/13 68
2013/14 63
2014/15 69
2015/16 70
2016/17 70
2017/18 73
2018/19 71
2019/20 72
2020/21 72
2021/22 77

The average over 10 seasons for 7th place is 70 point, which is 7 more wins from the remaining 12 games, which is actually possible however very very difficult.

Of the teams above us currently we still have to play Stevenage, Stockport, Mansfield, Bradford and Barrow all at home who are currently above us. All our remaining away games are against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.

Anyway thats enough of my positivity.

Thats some good work JJ.

I cant see it.

Im sure the Town will put a mini run together and smash Stevenage 4 zip at home to lull us in ...then snatch it away.

It's the hope that kills you

No I cant either but as they say it aint over till its over.

Season over in my opinion, now just a case of getting a run of results/performances to take into next season and getting players tied down who perform now till May. Walsall away always a good one, hopefully 3 points.

1000 fans, in arguably a dead rubber, on a Tuesday night away from home, is incredible.

They've not won a single game in league since New Years day.

Odds on tomorrow then!

Don't forget that Scunthorpe gifted them 3 points and a huge GD advantage though..

FFS  :doh:

That was all above board and in no way suspicious ;)

Hopefully we get similar from Crawley  :)

The Scunthorpe chairman had to get his parachute payment somehow..

.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30W9ypNhomY

Sadly, in a pub in York and not Birmingham.
Then again being in a pub should never be a cause for sadness, and in this season neither is missing a game or two.

The team have to keep going (as pros) as the maths say that top 7 is still achievable.

Six or 7 wins on the bounce? Realistically no chance as the best this season has been two.
Would still like to see a strong finish to provide some momentum going into next.
Even that would be no good if not backed up by an astute showing in the transfer window.

On my way to York tonight as well.  Not sure i can justify dropping in to Walsall on the way.  If I felt we were heading towards that stream of wins I might be more inclined but a potential 19 hour day tomorrow and my sensible head says no Walsall for me.

So we will win 3 nil.

Are you involved in the current Suede tour?
Playing the Barbican tomorrow.

Might have had a go at Walsall from York but saw that Robert Forster was at The Crescent tonight so couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend.

Yeah Im doing the Suede tour currently.  Thats my month of March.  Damn good night out it is too.

Does he still stand in front of the mirror before he goes on shouting at himself "you're the best singer in the world"  :D

Out for sushi tonight. Do I just get the result when I get back home or wait until tomorrow and watch it unfold on iFollow?

Piece of piss, 1 - 4

Playing away to a team that’s forgotten how to win a game, clearly that means it’s going to be the most Swindon thing ever to slump to a 1-0 defeat.

Hopefully it won’t come to that & we get back to winning ways

33/1 this time!

Tell me you've watched Swindon for decades without telling me you've....

98th minute Walsall winner, free header from a corner.

1,022 tickets sold. ‘Kin tastic!

Official Insta/twatter says 1,002 still a great midweek turn out.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrM05O4WAAorNAk?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Jephcott in for Austin, Darcy in for Cain and Shade in for RHM, Lavinier in for Minturn.

Makes sense that Austin wouldn't play, but it's still a big call. It's the team we finished with vs Carlisle.

2 games in 4 days is too much for Austin it seems.

Yeah, hopefully that is just rested. Wonder if that means a pre planned sub on minute 70 say?

Not unhappy with that side to be honest

Time to show what you have Mr Jephcott

Side makes sense based on what we've seen to be fair.

It does, the only change I would have made would be RHM for Jephcott who has yet to impress me, big chance for him tonight.

Tom ‘Pratazio’ Brewitt

According to the iFollow team sheet

Patrizio its his middle name!

Am I the only one who has crowd noise and no comms?

Now the yam-yam comms have started

Walsall have started muchbrighter than Town so far.

Shit home crowd, Town must be making up almost a 3rd of the entire attendance tonight.

Town have come back into the game much more in the last 5 mins.

Wakeling cross to Jephcott but his shot is blocked 6 yards out.

Walsall with a synical foul on the lively McEachran.

There is not much happening.

Easy save for Brynn but Darcy is shying away from tackles so far.

Probably better than the Walsall comms, to be fair.

We started badly for the 1st 7 mins or so but its been almost all Town since then but we arent creating much.

Which means Grant is talking more…

Williams has a go from 25 yards high and wide.

Grant is very subdued tonight by comparison to normal.

Hutton lovely break after Shade sets him up but he shoots rather than crossing it and its easily saved.

Who is this bloke on Walsall commentary? Voice sounds familiar.

Bit of a pleb, waffling on about all sorts of bollocks while Jeffcott almost had a shot off.

Our midfield 3 looking very good so far.

Williams, McEachran and Lavinier look excellent so far but I think Darcy is a bit off the pace as is Jephcott so far, still early though.

Nearly 1-0 down Brynn fumbled it over the line but offside luckily.

Hutton putting some good work in but his crossing and final ball has been very poor.

Jeez that was bad.

The pitch looks awful in the middle.

It’s not been a classic…

Brynn has 1 mistake in him every game, lets hope thats his 1 gone today!

Goint to be 5 mins added at least with these stoppages for injuries on Monthe.

It's generally been like that from all, good till final ball then pretty pointless

I would rather Wakeling doesnt play left midfield, it just doesnt suit him, get him up front.

Bout time Walsall had a yellow or two

Fell asleep. Woke up when we nearly went 1-0 down

The pitch looks like its been hosting tractor pulling events.

5 mins added.

That No 16 should've been booked by now

Hutton cross to Wakeling who turns but shoots just wide.

Walsall have a shot against the run of play, well wide.

HT 0-0

Started poorly but been almost all Swindon since.

I have... nothing to say about that.

One of the most boring 45 minutes of football I’ve seen this season. Game is calling out for RHM

That was hard work watching that!

Two teams with little quality and offering little threat.

McEachran, Lavinier and Williams all playing well.

Darcy, Jephcott and Wakeling far less so.

The rest look comfortable, we got away with the Brynn fumble.

The pitch is awful.

I only managed to watch the first 15 and last 10 mins of that due to a meeting, not often I am thankful of meetings.

Good approach play by Town,as usual but also as usual not much to show. We are so much the better side but that's also a familiar tale. Our midfield is far superior to theirs and better deliveries from Hutton maybe the key. Clayton and Brewitt promise to be a decent pairing in a 4 I reckon. McEachran once again superb and Williams not far behind

Darcy is very good at making me forget he's playing.

Which I don't think is a good trait for a player to have.

Walsall forum

I want to like Darcy, Shade and Jephcott but it is hard to find a reason to

I think Darcy has done well. Making neat passes, showing lots of effort. Don’t recall him misplacing a pass.

I've watched every game this season and I still can't work out what Jephcott offers.  Hoping this comment will come back to bite me...

I was thinking he's definitely a step up from Cain to be honest

i agree totally.

Interesting, I don't remember him completing many passes.

Yeah sadly I haven’t seen much from him.

Brynn saves us after Lavinier gives the ball away cheaply at the back from the KO.

Dicking about at the back hasn't stopped. Jesus.

Who do we bring on to change this?

RHM for Jephcott. Austin for Shade/Wakeling.

Ref forgot his fucking cards?

Yeah because I can't see Austin getting more than maybe 15 and it needs something before then.

Only issue is we wouldn’t have an ‘out and out’ striker on the pitch as such, although think Wakeling is much better up top. Plus Jephcott doing sweet fuck all anyway

Wakeling is wasted wide left.

The McEachran - Williams set piece short passing thing is... not going quite to plan.

That 16 should've been yellowed ages ago

Williams and Shade both fouled in about 2 seconds.

Is everyone still awake?

Walsall struggling to get close to us when we have the ball and resorting to a lot of fouling.

I decided at the last minute to watch on ifollow, sorry all.

Barely, despite the first half snooze!

I’m struggling and I only got up at 19:30

Its certainly not a classic but this game is winnable. IF we have a few shots.

Not sure if Jephcott has even kicked the ball more than 3 times all game, the experiment has not worked, get RHM on for him asap.

Lovely move by Town but Hutton totally wastes a cross. Sums the game up.

sounds about as high quality as my snooker playing currently is

Walsall had a shot!

This is fucking dogshit from both sides.

‘Shade playing in an unusual position’ say that Yam-Yam commentators

70 mins time for a change Jody.

Surely a yellow for that challenge on Lavinier

The only reason Austin can't be on the pitch right now is that he's still half cut from Cheltenham.

Typical Flynn side TBH.

Austin on for Jephcott.

Lavinier and Shade off.

Minturn and RHM on.

This is poor

It isn’t even that good.

Not sure that’s the change that’s going to up our tempo & intensity.

Not sure we need intensity as much as we need a little bit of quality.

1 goal will win this if any side can actually get a shot on target.

Cain on for Williams, who has had a good game for me.

This is terrible

This is all set up to concede a last minute winner again, isn’t it…

Att: 5,703

(most of them must be hiding.)

Has Austin touched the ball yet?

Just thinking the same

Cain should have had a fucking shot there when he had the chance FFS.

RHM with a shot thats blocked 3 yards out.

RHM with a header wide of the goal.

Changes looking positive and we're attacking more and going for the win.

Which means we'll lose last minute.

Darcy with a shot from 20 yards, saved.

McEachrans set pieces today have been poor.

Yep, MOM for me so far

Let's be honest, everything about this game has been poor from both sides.

The game has been nothing more than chewing gum.

Calyton down injured now, holding his arm/shoulder.

Think Wakeling has been really poor tonight. Not completely his fault, as it’s clear he’s not a left winger

The positive is that we have longer to wait prepare for next season than most other teams. The planning starts now.

Agree totally.

There’s a reason they haven’t won for 11 games.

Austin shoots wide from Wakeling cross.

FT 0-0

That game will live long in the memory....

Both teams flattered by the 0.

Great point away from home, and we’ve closed the gap on the play offs.

So glad I've dialled in from Lahore at 2:30am for this. Poor doesn't cover it. Absolutely shockingly bad. A toilet bowl of ineptness. Is this what we've come to? We'd struggle against Rochdale or Harrogate on this showing. :crash:

I just don’t think the players are very good, and we most certainly don’t have the players to play the way Morris wants too.
Too many out of position.

Poor against a very poor side

We won’t have long to wait to find out ;)

Atrocious quality on show from both sides, turgid Div 4 stuff.

To have become Div 4 mid table fodder is a shocking state of affairs.  There really isn't anything about us - lots of similar technically sound players, but nobody with a presence that is going to frighten defenders or bully attackers.

Reminds me so much of Wellens 18/19. Clear we have nothing to play for this season with all eyes on next year. In saying that we picked up some decent results during that period - wins at Bury and MK. Fuck knows where we pick up any results of the like this time round

We’ve got quite a few injuries and suspensions, but the fact that we rarely looked like scoring is a real problem. Something needs to change, and hopefully will do before next season.

Better side by far on ability but that counts for not much. Positives for me,Clayton and Brewitt as a pair in a back 4. Midfield 3 impressive,Darcy moreso in second half. Williams and McEachran good throughout.
To be truthful,I'd be more worried if I was a Walsall fan on both teams showing tonight

Is it too late to appoint Gav Gunning?

As a footnote,I truly prefer Hockaday to Grant as a co comm. He's that bad

Not Morris fault is it? Blokes been sold a pup this season i reckon.

Focua on next season now, sort the recruitment out and i think we’ll be ok next season

On the way back now.

Very poor quality game from both teams.
Final ball was shocking. Can't tell if our defence was decent or their attack was shite for the clean sheet.

Absolutely no urgency at all in the final stages.
No atmosphere at all, game sucked any atmosphere there was was very quickly.

Two shit mid-table sides based on that.

I miss the Gav Gunning days.

Brewitt and Clayton looks to have the basis of a solid partnership. A fit FBT at LB soon hopefully and switch Lavinier to RB as Hutton needs a rest.

Interesting. I thought both sides were poor but Walsall looked the more threatening and the most likely to score. The emphasis was on Walsall as they played at home. Swindon looked happy to settle for a point away from home.

Whilst Garner ball was frustrating, we dominated so many matches and mostly looked the better side in all the games we played.  Can’t say the same about this season.

Walsall did miss an absolute sitter.

Agreed. This season has a similar to feel to when Wellens joined. We will have some good results between now and the end of the season. Hopefully Morris will then have a better understanding of the players he wants to keep and the areas where we need to improve.

On a roll, one game unbeaten.

The summer recruitment needs to match that summer rather than what we have seen the past 9/10 months.

Probably in a minority here, seasons over. I wouldnt play the players that dont want to be here next season. Fuck em.

Imagine Morris won't play the players he dosen't want her next season as well the ones who don't want to stay.

Really disappointed with that
Khan could have made a difference
Simply crap game and a crap season and another year in this crap division.

I imagine Morris will play whoever is fit enough to play.
Which will be all of about 7 players the way we are going.

How will Morris know though?

Let’s take Williams as an example. Does he want to be here next season? I don’t know.
Does he even know yet?
Let’s make the assumption that his desire to stay probably hinges on the term offered by ourselves and / or any other club who might be interested.
We aren’t going to know much about any of that till we’ve put an offer on the table and we’ve forced him to say yes or no….and even then a yes is still no guarantee he’ll actually signed it. As per Manny Egbo last season.

…and considering how long we take to do anything (usually badly too) behind the scenes I can’t imagine we are already at the point where we are sitting down and talking contracts with players

can we even afford Williams

And Austin

We we are paying them now - so we can afford them currently.

All relative to our budget and what they what in a new deal v what they earn now.
Again, which is why we probably aren’t in a position right now to start focusing on the players who will be here next season - because no one knows

I envy your positive thinking.   
 

A point nonetheless but that was incredibly poor. Not really much to comment on the match except it felt like a fitness match to get minutes into reserves.

Post match was even worse, the Wakeling interview sounded like a wrist slitting exercise and the Morris interview seemed like he was talking about an u23/development match; regarding thinking players put in a shift like Shade and Jephcott...I understand that it was great several players got another bunch of minutes in the bag but it almost feels like Morris has accepted defeat and mid-table mediocrity for this season already.

I am sure he doesn't want to be the manager with potentially Town's lowest league finish but when his hands have been tied in such a physically unyielding way then I guess it can drain any positivity he may have. It's getting close to hilarity stage and I await the post match interviews where Morris just laughs because it'll be harder to cry or be upset at that point.

============================================================
The following is largely me projecting outcomes of Town's final games of the season and are full of conjecture. If you don't want to read it, then absolutely by no means don't - either way, you won't get the time back via whatever else you do :D
Please move on but I know some people will indeed be interested and since this match was so shite, it seems like an ok place to extend upon and continue the matchday fred without really derailing anything - since the match has finished and there's not a lot to discuss about such a dull match.
============================================================

With upcoming fixtures it could be some welcome positivity but Rochdale and Hartlepool will likely be false dawns with a tough Stockport wedged in between (no doubt Town will end up getting something out of it), so Town could have 7pts from the next 3 games. Sounds positive and they then will go into an absolute season defining ''6 pointer'' vs Mansfield. I would wager a huge guess that the winner of that fixture likely goes on and finishes in the POs; so it'll be a draw no doubt.

Trannies follow that and even if Town have gone something like WDWD, with possibly at that stage, an opportunity to break into the final PO spot - they would probably lose in glorious Town fashion. Yet the hope would still be there with just 6 games to play.

Barrow next and although a potential banana skin, I have the inkling Town would win this but it would become their next ''6 pointer'' and things would look rosy-ish with the POs again at Towns mercy before...

Another ''6 pointer'' in Bradford. However if their results have ticked along nicely they could be in the unique position of not being able to obtain autos but more or less cemented a finish in 5th or 6th place. Maybe needing just a point or two to secure the POs, so Town could be in luck and nab a win but a point would seem likely.

Onto AFC Wimbledon or whatever their name is, just Wimbledon possibly but never MK. With Town still giving the faithful a chance of sneaking into that final PO spot this should definitely be a fixture that Town should win. Wimbledon having nothing to play for and aspiring to everything that Town shouldn't be; in terms of mid-table mediocrity. Good for them as a phoenix club but not good enough for Town. A win is/should be a must/priority.

Then Stevenage beckons and in similar thoughts to the Bradford match, Town might play them at the ''right'' time as they will likely be in a position of already promoted/very close to sealing promotion but likely won't catch Orient. This would be the game in hand that both sides currently have over most. So it'll be good to see the picture of the table before going into the final two matches. If St Evenage are pretty much across the line then Town may be able to pinch points off teams who are effectively already on holiday/negotiating contracts/talking to other clubs etc. Hopefully fortune smiles nicely upon Town meaning somewhat of a surprise win but a point would be welcome.

Crewe. This should effectively be similar to the Wimbledon match but you just know that, with Town at this stage, potentially now in 7th spot with a win meaning something like only a point needed on the final day...Town lose. Hopefully we've been put out of our misery by then though and hope fading nightly is only associated with the album of a band that hardly anyone else will know (they're called Tellison, you really should check them out) but myself.

The final curtain call of the season - Crawley. At this stage, both teams may already have their fate sealed. Town, a middling inexperience who pass the ball a lot and Crawley, relegated back to echelons more befitting of their side and of those who jumped the ''not-so-good-but-surely-a-better-prospect-than-fucking-crawley'' ship STFC. It'll more than likely be in Reg's words 'a bit of a ''dead rubber'' maybe.' or possibly a match to see who can win ''Rookie of the Year'' - players and managers included...If though by some stretch Town do appear to be (by my audacious suggestion) in with a chance of going into the final game needing a win, I'm not even going to put myself through the potential of the nearest of misses. A win though would see Town (as loosely prophesied by myself and hopefully relegating Crawley) finish the season on 69pts and an 11 game form of WDWDL WDWDL W

It would show some kind of uptick in form did happen and even then it's not overly impressive at about 1.7ppg but impressive enough in this dogs turd of a division. 69pts might not seem like enough and seemingly 70pts would be needed for 7th spot but I feel that the former would just sneak in, by a point or even GD...In any case it would make those last 6 or 5 games interesting; especially with something definitely worth fighting for.

The question then is do Town, the fans and anyone else concerned with the fortunes of a bottom division side from Wiltshire, have any fight left in them to even want to get into the POs? If not, we might already be resigned to defeat and might it then be time to write a letter to the team (after another imperfect season).

The title of this song, will probably sum up life as a lower league football fan and the sense of repeated failure that hangs around something which we all most definitely love and yearn some level of sustained success for...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SH1GhehJm8

Glad I missed this one. Sounds it was real Luther Van

Whatever happened to high tempo? Is high tempo even possible when the ethos is tippy tappy keep ball?

Not sure a clean sheet v Walsall is much to write home about either.

Athens for the weekend so Rochdale can do one as well.

There was tempo. Just no quality nor attacking threat (by either team)

We are crap.   The players know it, the manager knows it, the fans know it.

Our plan to score still remains the same as it was at the start of the season.  Get it out to Hutton and cross into an empty box, there's just no variety.

We're also hopeless at set pieces and I'm pretty sure we haven't scored a corner this season (We must have had 200 odd by this stage), our attacking free kicks go to Brynn far more often than the oppo keeper, yet other teams score both regularly.

It's turgid stuff and one of the worst seasons in our history.
Sadly it was foreseeable in the summer.   An inexperienced manager/coach with an inexperienced DOF was never going to work.   Awful squad build, playing style, tactics etc, no flair or discipline.   Just nothing.

On the plus side we haven't been relegated and we can't be this shit next season

Biggest disappointments.

Failure to build on last season - especially as this league this season is dire.

Appointment of Lindsey.

Failure to sack him earlier.

Injury rate.

Fans with no patience. It’s obvious Morris has something about him - give him time.

Recruitment has been haphazard - but not as bad as people keep banging on about.

Next season is a tipping point for the club.

True, especially Austin.

Got the impression Williams would be after more money from his comments in that press conference the other week

something about wanting to stay but having signed when under 'embargo' (restrictions due to EFL loan)

could be wrong

Personally I've got him down as 'hopefully good'

seems to be making the right noises
seems to know what he wants

unlike some, I'm still struggling to see intended style on the pitch but I've not seen us in a couple of weeks.

But we simply have to forget this season and see where we are with him next. Which I think is agreeing with you

Well that was dire, more like a last game of the season with nothing to play for. Running through last nights squad I would be surprised if more than fifty percent of them were still here next season which means a rebuild once again and JM having to work magic if we are going to get out of this awful bloody division.

I agree for what it's worth. Apart from maybe Kadji,who looks a bit of a non footballer,who has been a really poor signing compared to some of the dross we've had in the past, especially under Di Canio?
FBT,Tomlinson,Brewitt,Austin,McEachran,Khan all good signings in my book. Injuries have played a major part and we may have signed some prone players but that was fairly unforeseeable to be honest

Similar view here.
I’ve not seen anything so far from Morris to suggest we should be talking about massive strides & promotion next season - that’s not to say that he can’t or won’t - just I’m not convinced as of right now.
Obviously he needs time and we probably shouldn’t be judging him till the end of the year.

I just think the way football is now - elite academy coaches who coach the best youngsters money can buy in state of the art facilities with a plethora of back room staff who are probably some of the best at what they do is so far removed from the realities of ‘real’ football that it will be a massive adjustment.

For example - we’ve picked up a lot of injuries the last few weeks. Could be a number of things but I do wonder if Morris is training them like he would train 18 year olds who train on perfect pitches & after training go to the state of the art multimillion pound gym for a recovery session, a sports massage and a healthy lunch made for them by a top chef rather than division 4 footballers on a muddy field in Calne who go straight home afterwards and probably stop for a meal deal from Tesco’s on the way…

For me the most promising thing about Morris has been his in-game tactical switches and substitutions - we've had a couple of managers now where if Plan A hasn't worked, we've tried Plan A again. Morris has, on several occasions, changed the flow of the game by changing our approach to it, whether that's formation or personnel.

Two dull boring mid table sides with nothing to play for.

No style of play evident, set pieces a joke, just a whole 90 minutes of meh.

Morris has a lot of work to do in the summer, hopefully he can do it.

I actually thought we played quite 'well' first half. I thought the effort, passing and intensity was certainly an upgrade on what SL was trying to do. Unfortunately, a la SL we created the square root of fuckall.

Second half we started very poorly and gave the ball away from kick off. It was pretty rotten after that. Wakeling kept getting into good positions and then running the ball out of play. The football in my eyes is better than under SL but we still have that age old problem of not being able to work opposition keepers much. Jephcott and Austin I don't think would be the type of players Morris would recruit and the summer will be interesting to see who he retains and who we bring in. I like what Morris is trying to do, I just think the hand he's been dealt isn't going to be enough this season.

I'd add ill discipline to this list, which otherwise absolutely mirrors my thoughts.

Until we have a largely fit team with no suspensions we won't know what Morris wants to really implement tactically. There hasn't been a single game where he hasn't had at least one hand tied behind his back. As he said last night, he couldn't play RHM because he had done two back to back 90mins and his last 90mins before that was two years ago! We haven't had a fit left back etc etc. Not excuses but context. The Gunning argument is a bit ridiculous. We beat Grimsby who were down to 10 men for 60 mins and were 1-3 down at home to a poor Gillingham side as a result of playing a suicidal formation. Long term he was not the answer.

I think Morris/Brand is a great appointment at this level and feel confident in them going forward. They've been munching on a sh1t sandwich served up by head chef Sandro.

Agree with all of the above. In terms of shitness I would compare it to the 10/11 season when we ended up with Paul Hart in charge *shudder* The only player I will be genuinely sorry to see leave is Brynn. There are others who are OK but I'm not bothered whether they stay or go.

In terms of the positives...we're not going down - massive positive, relegation would be potentially catastrophic.

We can't be this shit next season - you would certainly hope not. We can't carry on being this shit, otherwise we will be leaving L2 at the wrong end (see above for consequences of this)...if they can't improve on this, Morris and Brand would themselves have to conclude that football management is not their thing.

Another positive is of course the ground purchase, which is massive in the long term.

And finally, the support this season which has been consistently excellent. To be getting 9,000+ last Saturday and taking 1000+ to Walsall for what was, let's face it, a dead rubber is dumbfoundingly good support (and of course the 1200 or so at Orient). I have a very short attention span when it comes to stats so I've not studied this* but looking at the crowds we were getting in the late 90's when we were last in the Championship or whatever it was called then, this season's crowds compare very favourably indeed. We regularly got sub 8,000 attendances back then but this season we've only had that once for a league game when we got 7,500 midweek for Sutton, whose fans no doubt travelled down in the proverbial taxi. In almost every game this season I have been amazed at the support and gives me hope for the future.

Anyway, back on subject. We are undoubtedly shit and this season has been utterly dire and clueless, one of the worst ever.

*credit as always must be given to the phenomenal http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/

Listening to him, the way he speaks often sounds like he is speaking in his second language. From the way he tuts and moans and his arrogance I can understand why you wouldn't want him near a team full of young players, he would knock the confidence out of them in 15 minutes.


How has he been sold a pup, he would have known who was in the squad before he signed and if he didn't do any due diligence on them prior to signing more fool him, its hardly rocket science to note their strengths and weaknesses from watching every game, its not like 20 years ago whereby unless he had seen them in the flesh he would never have seen them play.

Likewise on transfers he will invariably have discussed this with the hierarchy before signing and bar the Tottenham lad fuck up (the source of which remains unclear despite the FACTS) which has been  addressed by way of the signing of Brewitt I can't really see what was unknown of unforeseen before he signed.

He is doing OK and it all looks promising, (albeit if I were wanting to stir the shit I would note that we were 6th when SL left and we are now 11th  ;) ) and he does seem to be able to change up a game, although he could done with doing it last night 15 minutes before he did as it was obvious that we weren't going to score as it was from about the hour.

Where he does seem to be getting a pretty easy ride on is perpetuating the approach of his predecessors in appearing to want to play to a style rather than play to the abilities of the players he has, our two top strikers are fox in the box types but as the ball rarely goes into the box they are basically wasted (Austin is great but as it stands we are paying big money to a striker to play as an AM at best, I was actually pleased that when he came on he got as little involvement as Jephcott had had as it illustrated the problem was system rather than player), likewise Wakeling isn't a winger.

On the plus side I would sign up Brewitt for as long as we can as he seems a decent hard defender and organiser (both which we have been lacking), likes a maraud and can play a pass without it having to be a (failed) Hollywood one, and I get the impression has the potential to be come quite a fans favourite, he and Clayton looked pretty tidy (albeit they were helped by what they were against!), McEchran looked brilliant until they kicked him a fair few times and then he faded a bit, but the midfield generally was a lot of huff and puff without much product (not helped by it being one of those nights when ricochets (and fuck there was a lot of that) didn't seem to drop our way).

Get 'em fit and keep them and don't think defence needs much for next year, its just getting some balance in midfield and sorting out a system that plays to players strengths rather than some sort of coaching manual.

How anyone can put any of this is beyond me. The players he's signed in an extremely limited Feb/March free agency market have been our better players since he come in which tells you everything you need to know about previous recruitment.

As others have said he's been dealt a shit sandwich between spreadsheet Sandro and the injury crisis and is doing the best he can with it.

I'd usually be up for being ruthlessly planning for next season and only starting players likely to be here, but two problems.

1. We're still mathematically in it and not far off enough to clearly be doing that without an uproar
2. We're still in an injury crisis and in some positions we just have to play whoever is fit

We all know we're not going up though, because even if we manage to scrape the play offs at 7th spot with a decent run and results go our way, we'd need a miracle three performances to win them with the depleted and haphazardly put together squad we've got.

So far Morris had recruited well, speaks well and had shown a willingness to change things logically when they're not going right tactically. I'm confident we appointed the right man for the job outside of the shit show in getting his assistant.

Man fans thought us signing Austin that he would be our saviour and score loads of goals.

How wrong. Could we have done better? Maybe.

The team is clearly low on confidence. A lot of very poor passes last night, lack of communication and lack of leadership across the board.

Not sure what the answer is to be honest.

Austin has suffered in the same way as Jephcott suffered. Lack of supply.

He's missed a couple. But who doesn't. The issue is if that's your only chance in a game.

This is going to be controversial, but while Morris is building to "his way", is that the best way for the players we have *this season*?

I think no. But I suspect it doesn't matter. We aren't good enough to go up, so may as well start the change to where we want to be sooner rather than later.

Austin and Jeffcott both have good scoring records. The common dominator in why they're not playing well is the team they're playing in.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/swindon-town/top-scorers

FYI

Better players is the answer simple as that. When the players get the supply right Players like Austin and Jephcott have shown they score. Obviously they have missed a few but not loads, i am struggling to think of loads of chances they have missed.  

Last night infact was a game that summed it up perfectly..When Austin was on the bench there were 4 crosses in about 1o minutes, then nothing when he came on. Hutton and Wakelins final ball last night was absolutely horrific

That over-hit attempted first time cross from Hutton after a really good move, when he had loads of time and space to take a touch or even drive into the box, was borderline criminal! His form has really collapsed. Needs some time out of the team once the left back treatment room starts discharging its inmates.

People can moan, and rightly it seems, about the game last night, but - in the scheme of things we gained a point on both Sutton and Mansfailed, a couple of the teams we need to overtake to make 7th. Strangely, reading reports from all the fans of clubs that played last night every single one of them said their game was dire. We are not alone!

I haven’t given up all hope, mainly because more than a few above us ain’t great shakes. Get Khan back, FBT and Tomlinson and that’s a good improvement on last night already. Problem is we are running out of games and unsure how long the latter 2 are likely to be out for.

After watching last nights game it was clear that the current STFC team is so far away from the team that Wellens gelled together in the promotion year..
For example, just comparing Yeates and Doyle to Wakelin and Jephcott. There is such a difference in determination and skill level.
Last night we were just pathetic against a team so low on confidence we should have beaten them easily.
The reality is Town could have lost  !!!  
Over 1000 away supporters still travelled and surely the team could have given a far better performance.
 :badmood:    
  

    

Dross. Fucking dross. Back line solid  against an attack offering nothing. Mceachran some player, didn’t even need anonymous darcy, JMc did the job of both. As for darcy, I still have no idea what he offers, or what he’s good at, he can’t pass, tackle, head and has no turn of a pace - just plays like a weasel chasing a shadow. Shade- I thought was turning a corner with his sub cameos, think he should stick to those, better when he’s free roaming, offers nothing when he starts- Manny Monthe had a very easy night. Enjoy Williams whilst he’s here because he ain’t staying is he 😭. Wakeling is an asset for sure, and the fact he’s on 7 odd goals and assists individually is extremely encouraging, but he’s far from being where we need him imo, wasted a lot on the wing yesterday. surprised to see Jephcott. We didn’t try win the game till last few mins- bizarre. Atmosphere not great from either end- pitch action didn’t help. Left after the Austin miss so no idea what sort of reception players got.

1000 odd supporters is a unreal turnout, this club doesn’t deserve it. Just hope Morris gets backed. Still confident he’s the right man for the job next season. This season has been a fucking sham, top to bottom.

Officially 883, which means almost 140 didn’t bother, obviously knew what dross was going to be served up.

The worrying thing is that we seem to have reverted to playing well against the better sides and poorly against the crap ones. Another similarity to the Wellens team

I agree with this.

And yet, despite all the above, we have still been largely in the mix for a playoff spot all season.

Which just goes to show, you only need to be slightly above 'crap' to get out of this league.

Fair play to them, wish I did the same 😂.

Ha yeah that was me in the end. Far too busy and just think theres a few going through the motions already now. Problem is for me it is our better players, Hutton Williams and even Brynn have been a shadow of their early season form

Even the early Austin bounce had disappeared and can't put that all down to injuries.
No doubts it's a learning curve for Morris plus a frustrating one as he's always worked with players with more quality and academy players who are taught from a young age and understand the possession game.

top 3 goals per minute are

Tomlinson
Austin
McKirdy

All players that have only been here a tiny portion of the season.

Didn't the early Austin bounce coincide with the halcyon buccaneering days of Mad Gav?

Interesting stats for Darcy last night
32 passes of which 28 were successful giving him a pass completion rate of 90.6%
2 shots on target (one blocked,one saved)
5 tackles won
2 headers won.
I suppose stats can be misleading but I don't think he was as bad as all that

1 assist from Williams is a disgrace tbh

Did it start going wrong when we sold Mcirdy and didn't replace him with an adequate replacement - that spoke volumes about our recruitment, even though he wanted to go we should have had a suitable replacement lined up knowing there was the big risk he would be gone

I think that was Jephcott, but clearly not worked out. Not as a like-for-like but as a goal scorer.

Last night as has been stated on several posts was two mid table sides going through the motions and if you were a neutral you would be disgusted for the 800/900 travelling fans having to witness the lack of oomph in the side.
Two things summed up last night for me -
1) when we had a free kick, throw in or corner in the second half our ‘fans’ chanting back to Brynn, back to Brynn
2) bloke stood next to my Son and I when we defended a corner at the end of the first half shouted out to Johnny Williams “ Johnny you’re captain tell the whole team and the coaches you won’t get a bloody nose bleed by playing in their half”
Same final comment as Saturday - disappointing………

Don't be fucking silly. The club asks someone like you or I to pick the meal deals up for free with no specific courier/reward insurance and deliver them to the relatively privileged souls.

All the while someone tries to carve out a football career, loaded with false promises and bullshit on a dried out yellowed field in Karachi. Zav/Xav would probably have more luck harvesting poppies than he would trying to harvest the bountiful talents of Pakistan's youth and whatever motivations led him to select that part of the world in the first place...where next when this project ''fails''? A project in Colombia...

Been off poorly but did watch the game online.

My summary:

Two reasonable sides that arent going up and arent going down...

The play was congested and at times it looked like 15 a side on a primary school pitch.

STILL tapped it around at the back too much for me.

Pitch was shit.

Both teams scoring one of their chances would of been a better result for the fans that attended.

Cain did well when he came on.

Deserved draw for both sides.....not quite a mid table bore draw BUT im sure we will be witnessing a few more like this.

Sigh!