Protest Plan

[Fred Elliot]

I voted against the pitch invasion last night and I will not be participating in the area of the protests

i assume that was meant to be that

correct

[Arriba]

i'll participate in the march if it happens and after match demo.the other two ideas are ridiculous as the pro board-neutrals-drivers will see those involved in those two activities as trouble makers and yobs!
banners on the roundabout-yes ,blocking traffic and stuff-no.
invading the pitch is illegal as is causing an obstruction by the way.

i'm not having a go at people but it all seems a bit of a shambles to me.four ideas carried with no organisation and not all in favour or prepared to participate in all of the ideas.
it could all get rather silly on saturday.hope not

[herthab]

You don't need masses of people on the magic roundabout as, if the banners are large enough, they'll get the message across (Assuming the OB allow it)

I think the biggest event by far will be the protest after the game. 200+ were there after Cheltenham basically by word of mouth. With the Adver and other local media letting people now, I wouldn't be surprised to see a helluva lot more on Saturday.

[stfctownenda]

i'll participate in the march if it happens and after match demo.the other two ideas are ridiculous as the pro board-neutrals-drivers will see those involved in those two activities as trouble makers and yobs!
banners on the roundabout-yes ,blocking traffic and stuff-no.
invading the pitch is illegal as is causing an obstruction by the way.

i'm not having a go at people but it all seems a bit of a shambles to me.four ideas carried with no organisation and not all in favour or prepared to participate in all of the ideas.
it could all get rather silly on saturday.hope not

Disagree the magic roundabout idea is an excellent idea if done right.  It's Swindon's most famous landmark so for example if we were to get banners up all over it and fill the centre roundabout with fans the publicitiy could be huge, I would expect that to get national media coverage.  Organisation will come either later today or tomorrow with places / times to meet for the march released, what the trust will / can back etc.  

Personally I think the march, magic roundabout invasion and traditional behind the Arkells stands protests should get enough coverage to keep things firmly in the spot light.  The pitch invasion I will consider if enough people go on, stuff like banning etc only comes in if numbers are too small.  When we wanted McMahon and Hunt out we got threatened with life bans then but we got them out and didn't get banned.

As has been said a few times numbers will grow through word of mouth so tell as many people as you can and get as many people to go as you can.  I can understand objections to the magic roundabout idea and pitch invasion due to personal repercussions but cant understand those who will not attend the march as they think it wont work, we need the numbers and by marching it will put everything in the faces of ordinary Swindon people who weren't aware how serious the clubs plight was.  

Saturdays a big day another chance for us to say we will not let our club go under, I took no negativity from last night to get 200 out on a Monday night was encouraging.  Momentum is switching in our favour, lets keep things going.

[STFC_Gazzza]

I think banners and all that on the roundabout are fine as people will slow down to look and see the message but blocking traffic would make people think we are out to cause trouble IMO. People who may sympathise with us may be put off if traffic etc is stopped.

[ghanimah]

Agree, any protests must be peaceful, otherwise it will detract from the message we are trying to get across and also may discourage some fans from joining the protest. Any pitch invasion, in my view, should be discouraged - we'll just look like a bunch of yobs.

[STFC_Gazzza]

I think the general concensus really looking through the threads is, people want to do different things. The people who want to do a pitch invasion will do a pitch invasion, people who want to play in the traffic will play in the traffic etc, no on HAS to do everythiong, they are just different forms of protest.

[red macca]

i'll participate in the march if it happens and after match demo.the other two ideas are ridiculous as the pro board-neutrals-drivers will see those involved in those two activities as trouble makers and yobs!
banners on the roundabout-yes ,blocking traffic and stuff-no.
invading the pitch is illegal as is causing an obstruction by the way.

i'm not having a go at people but it all seems a bit of a shambles to me.four ideas carried with no organisation and not all in favour or prepared to participate in all of the ideas.
it could all get rather silly on saturday.hope not

Disagree the magic roundabout idea is an excellent idea if done right.  It's Swindon's most famous landmark so for example if we were to get banners up all over it and fill the centre roundabout with fans the publicitiy could be huge, I would expect that to get national media coverage.  Organisation will come either later today or tomorrow with places / times to meet for the march released, what the trust will / can back etc.  

Personally I think the march, magic roundabout invasion and traditional behind the Arkells stands protests should get enough coverage to keep things firmly in the spot light.  The pitch invasion I will consider if enough people go on, stuff like banning etc only comes in if numbers are too small.  When we wanted McMahon and Hunt out we got threatened with life bans then but we got them out and didn't get banned.
As has been said a few times numbers will grow through word of mouth so tell as many people as you can and get as many people to go as you can.  I can understand objections to the magic roundabout idea and pitch invasion due to personal repercussions but cant understand those who will not attend the march as they think it wont work, we need the numbers and by marching it will put everything in the faces of ordinary Swindon people who weren't aware how serious the clubs plight was.  

Saturdays a big day another chance for us to say we will not let our club go under, I took no negativity from last night to get 200 out on a Monday night was encouraging.  Momentum is switching in our favour, lets keep things going.

Different board members and different football liason officer. If people enter the pitch they will get banned this board will make sure of that.



Also the blocking of the traffic after the game is a good idea but surely its pissing the wrong people off.We need fans like tranmeres to support us and sympaphise not be pissed off for delaying a already horrendous journey

Good luck to those who do it i know the intentions are right. I just hope we dont end up offending the wrong people

[pauld]

We have spoken to the police this morning and as expected they have ruled out the idea of a pitch invasion - we will accordingly advise people against such action. They will get back to us later re Magic Roundabout ideas but are understandably not keen on disruption to traffic. However I'd hope we would be able to arrive at some compromise that would allow a protest at the MR within acceptable parameters.

[Give us an S]

At the moment there are a million ideas being thrown about. We need one protest that EVERYONE understands and can get behind. Remember the 1st not 3rd Protest? That was a protest! And now we face something far more serious - We could lose the club we all love completely.

I hate to be pesimistic but having a few people on the magic round about with banners, a few people run on the pitch at the end of the game, a few people protesting by the directors box, a few people behind the arkells stand just will not get the point accross. Thats why i said we need someone (or a group of people) to take leadership. I agree with what people said though and these people can be made a scapegoat.

But if you want something thats anywhere near the scale of the 1st not 3rd protests then we need to choose one idea that everyone can legally get behind and make sure every single swindon fan knows about it, why we are doing it and what it will achieve.

EDIT - Just read about the protest march. Sounds a good idea, hopefully we can get everyone behind this!

[red macca]

Well the march has to be the idea that really gets it going, maybe start it at 12 so people who want to go to the pub still can or for a added twist march straight from wherever to the back of the arkells and protest before the game?

Just a thought

[Give us an S]

Well the march has to be the idea that really gets it going, maybe start it at 12 so people who want to go to the pub still can or for a added twist march straight from wherever to the back of the arkells and protest before the game?

Just a thought

Can we march with a beer in our hand? I like the idea of marching to the back of the Arkells stand as well.

[Sippo]

If people disappear after the march then thats against the point of the protest? We don't want to turn up say 500 of us then half then go to the pub...

[axs]

if it starts a little later, say 1.30ish then there is more chance of picking up people who will be in the pubs at the bottom of town or wherever. and that would give people time to go to the pub beforehand. we could then go straight to the back of the arkells at 2.15 or whenever we arrive there.

[Simon Pieman]

All you need to do is start off threads like Alan and Ben have and proper ideas come out of it.

Better than whinging about too many things happening.