Ask Away...

[JTomlinson]

Cllr JT,

Can you answer me this then.  Whilst watching the Liverpool v Chelsea champions league match a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the majority of the Liverpool fans were standing throughout the whole match.  Now can you confirm that at the next Anfield match all home supporters will be issued letters stating that if they continue to stand Liverpool City council will have no alternative but to shut the stadium?  Or can STFC stop threatening Swindon supporters with the same letters?  As I believe it is the council that make STFC make the threats to the fans in the Town End.

Many thanks

Err, I have no idea what Chelsea and Liverpool will do?  (Though still can't understand how Liverpool managed to beat Chelsea)

My understanding of the STFC letters, is that it was the football authorities had threatened the club with closing the Town End, therefore they took action.

As a fan, I am one of the people who tends to spend most of the match standing.  Normally as it is easier to make it clear to various players my 'displeasure' at having spent £x (large sums of cash), that they are not giving 110% blood, limbs and guts.  Also, being 6ft, it is a paid to sit for 90 minutes in the cramped space that makes Easy Jet seats look like the top end of the market.

[janaage]

I just think the way the Swindon fans are treated is disgusting.  Live on TV 40,000 scousers stand all the way through their match, and nothing gets said.  About 200 Swindon fans stand up and get threatened with ejection from the ground or closing the stand down.  From the letters I have read it is the council making these threats.  One rule for one, one for another.

[Titch]

I agree with Titch about the town centre.  Much work is being done on the potential redevelopment (led by the New Swindon Company).

www.newswindon.co.uk makes for some interesting reading.  Obviously these are overview plans and look as though they could be interesting.

Are there any detailed plans available and is this alll really going to happen or is just more hot-air?  Also what are the realistic timescales for all this?

[Reg Smeeton]

I just think the way the Swindon fans are treated is disgusting.  Live on TV 40,000 scousers stand all the way through their match, and nothing gets said.  About 200 Swindon fans stand up and get threatened with ejection from the ground or closing the stand down.  From the letters I have read it is the council making these threats.  One rule for one, one for another.

 SBC have always taken an excessively draconian position with all things STFC.......as the landlord they feel compelled to bully the club.

 Take as a recent example the drive up to the CG past the CGH.....the tarmac was breaking up so the Council insisted this constituted a hazard. potential missiles.....rather than traffic related,

 You might have thought as landlord, and being in possession of the necessary kit SBC would have fixed this....but not unless STFC pay....which of course we cannot afford.....so the solution was for various STFC employees to do it themselves.....a passing convoy of Gills fans offered, but even they were too expensive.

[le god cuervo]

On a more serious note, what will the council do with the land when the club goes bust? Weve got about 2 seasons left now, so you might as well start licking the lips. Will it take 3 months or 4 to approve planning permission for 400 flats and houses on the area? Every time I see a councillor campaigning about a stadium its for the 'forest' or the 'newts', 'the noise', 'the soccer louts', or 'the traffic  :x  :x ', or someone connected to STFC farting in the wind. Yet the houses and the warehouses and the offices, the supermarkets and the bowling alleys, they get built.

To be honest I dont think weve got a hope in hell. Fuck me, we couldnt even put a roof on the bank.

thats exactly what pisses me off about this whole thing aswell! people moan about taking up the green space & whatever, yet when the club does go bust houses will be built on the site with no objection at all! then what will the locals say?

same with the front garden thing. not allowed a stadium there because of the fucking newts! yet its ok to build a university & more houses there? i'm sure that would cause more noise & polution on a daily basis than a stadium

one rule for STFC & a different one for everyone else

[janaage]

Exactly, well le God.  The council will end up with a nice big pay cheque at the end of all this, when the land finally gets the 100's of houses it's destined for.  

Funny that when the Town got promoted every thing was premier this, premier that in town, but when it needs some real support at a crucial time no one other than 4,000 or so of us are there.  This club is in dire straits, the council should be doing everthing in it's power to make sure of it's survival.

[Asher]

I will refuse to pay council tax as it is the only thing I use exept rubbish collection.  I use teh roads but pay road tax as well.

SBC - Bunch of clowns!

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

I agree with Titch about the town centre.  Much work is being done on the potential redevelopment (led by the New Swindon Company).

I personally would like to see lots of provision for smaller unit, so independent, unique shops could also be catered for.  This would give the town character, and help attract shoppers.  Otherwise, we will just be like all other town centres.

to be fair though JT one minute we are getting a new library and the next we are not! same with the shopping centre! whats going on?

[BANGKOK RED]

Yet the houses and the warehouses and the offices, the supermarkets and the bowling alleys, they get built.

Damn right!  Get in as many people as you can without actually bothering to provide anything for them.

Being from out of town, the only thing that Swindon has to offer me is the football club.  Without a football club it has no soul.  How any councillor can be against something that the club NEEDS so desperately is beyond me.

 Swindon is a wonderful place...consider this last fortnight  we've had Jon Lewis called up to the England test squad, David Howell nearly winning the British Masters and Billie Piper starring in Dr Who.....plus the return of two Labour MP's

I went to School with both John Lewis and David Howell, they were both in my year and some of my classes at Churchfields school, nice lads and I wish them every success.

And a small claim to fame, I once threw up on David Howell's parent's carpet once when he held a party.

[Batch]

I will refuse to pay council tax as it is the only thing I use exept rubbish collection.  I use teh roads but pay road tax as well.

SBC - Bunch of clowns!

But that is silly. Do you know where road tax/petrol tax goes. Into a big pot for the chancellor to div up come budget it doesn't go on the roads directly (some does).

[Boeta]

Yet the houses and the warehouses and the offices, the supermarkets and the bowling alleys, they get built.

Damn right!  Get in as many people as you can without actually bothering to provide anything for them.

Being from out of town, the only thing that Swindon has to offer me is the football club.  Without a football club it has no soul.  How any councillor can be against something that the club NEEDS so desperately is beyond me.

 Swindon is a wonderful place...consider this last fortnight  we've had Jon Lewis called up to the England test squad, David Howell nearly winning the British Masters and Billie Piper starring in Dr Who.....plus the return of two Labour MP's

I went to School with both John Lewis and David Howell, they were both in my year and some of my classes at Churchfields school, nice lads and I wish them every success.

And a small claim to fame, I once threw up on David Howell's parent's carpet once when he held a party.

Lewie's a dead set fucking legend

He's always up for a pint after the game

Shame we'll see little of him as he'll be ripping out the Aussies

[JTomlinson]

thats exactly what pisses me off about this whole thing aswell! people moan about taking up the green space & whatever, yet when the club does go bust houses will be built on the site with no objection at all! then what will the locals say?

Valid arguement.  When the scheme comes to planning, if local residents you have a chance to put the counter arguement in.

With Shaw Forest, the local residents were far, far, far more vocal than the supporters.

With anything related to the Council, if you feel strongly, let them know!

[Spencer_White]

It was a crap place for a football ground to be honest. Front Garden would have been ace, but Shaw was miles away. No pubs, busses to games, hostile locals.

Not ONE of my mates wanted to move to Shaw. Theres your answer as to why Town fans didnt get involved.

[Reg Smeeton]

It was a crap place for a football ground to be honest. Front Garden would have been ace, but Shaw was miles away. No pubs, busses to games, hostile locals.

Not ONE of my mates wanted to move to Shaw. Theres your answer as to why Town fans didnt get involved.

 The Shaw site was infinitely better than the Front Garden site,  I'm not sure many people took the trouble to go and look at it, but it was a scrap of land wedged between the M4 railway and Blagrove industrial estate....the only acces being through the industrial estate.

[Asher]

Batch it was tongue in cheek!