Let Me

[Parkin09]

Is it because we won and no one can start a 'THE END IS NIGH!!!!' thread so we've resorted to having a go at eachother instead?

[bassett boy]

I respect anyone who travels long or short distance to home games, Unless you buy a season ticket where you have to commit 18-19 plus games a season to justify the cost.
Football generally has become really expensive to go week in week out, Rotherham game on the TV, still charged £25 for an adult ticket if you also take 2 juniors that is £49 before you arrive in the ground, this saturday against southend same prices, therefore you can see why the average supporter picks the games to go to £100 for 2 home games more if you also include the southampton match
To attract more people the club should lower the prices then along with a winning team people will attend more regular

[walrus]

Ouch we're all a bit down on Swindon....

I've never lived in Swindon - closest I got was Chippenham.  Being 105 miles away, it's £30 in petrol before I've even started.  When I was a student I used to make about twenty games a season, split evenly home and away, although I have to admit to prefer the away games - especially some of the season's under King - there was never a dull moment, we were either shit or amazing but never in between.

Now I've moved out, got a job, etc. I cannot justify £60 on a weekend to Swindon.  Whilst I love going to games, the money is better spent on a few jars down my local (and keeping the change), or taking the other half out for a meal.  I even had a tough time justifying the Crawley game(!) which is less than half a mile from me as I've just bought a holiday.

Life in general is too expensive at the moment.  I'm lucky - I landed a decent job, my girlfriend's got a job, and we've been continuously employed for the last 18 months, but the economy doesn't like the youth who try and support themselves.  Maybe once she pops out a few kids I can become a season ticket holder....

Ultimately we all support the same team.  Like others have said, I reserve criticising individuals unless I've actually been to the game, although I don't tend to criticise individual players full stop.  The team that played on Saturday should be immune to criticism for at least three months.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Shrivenham Road since I was 8, Portsmouth Street before that, both a stones throw away.

[Ardiles]

Having lived in the centre of Swindon, a suburb of Swindon.....

Cracking post, Spence.  Agree with pretty much every word of that.  Like you, I've also lived in central Swindon (lower reaches of Old Town, really), suburban areas and, for the last 12 years, out of town.  I don't think my enthusiasm dimmed while I was living in town, but the place was a little more appealing back then, I think.  There was a thread (started, I have to admit, by me) from a few years ago that discussed the decline of central Swindon in some detail.

Swindon Town Centre

Makes me so depressed, even though I don't live there now.  Central Swindon has never been pretty, but successive generations of politicians have failed and failed again to kick start a rennaissance.  It's not all bad, and I still love it that the club is based centrally and not pushed out to a soulless retail area on the periphery (of which Swindon has many).

But it should be so much better than it is...especially given that there are still vast areas of new suburb planned on the outskirts.  How can the town continue to grow like this when the core is so dilapidated and underinvested?  As your original post says, there need to be massive infrastructure investment for a start (which, of course, will never happen).

[chalkies_shorts]

Ring doughnut

[Don Rogers Shop]

Lived in swindon all my life Parks/Walcot. Absolutely love it in Swindon and still support the club no matter what.Not quite sure on what where you live has to do with it tbh.

[DV]

I can sort of see Spencer's point but did Reading, Swansea or Wigan re-generate their town centres before their crowds increased?

Its a simple formula, the more you win the more people you'll get through the door.

I think you could turn Swindon Town Centre into the best Town Centre in the world but if the football club were still mid table in L2 we'd still get the same crowds we're getting now.

[Saxondale]

Left Swindon at the age of 2 days when I was released from PMH.  Have lived in chip a long time and it does seem that football fans of lower levels in chip turn either towards brizzole or swindon, very much a choice.  I feel I made the right one.  However I used to go out in Bristol more than I ever would in Swindon purely because they have the gigs.

[yeo]

I like Swindon but then im not young and thrusting so im easily pleased.

[Spencer_White]

Lived in swindon all my life Parks/Walcot. Absolutely love it in Swindon and still support the club no matter what.Not quite sure on what where you live has to do with it tbh.

It was only ever a very brief time that I felt like I was trapped in Swindon and I wanted to get out on weekends rather than go to the County Ground (I still kept going to games). Just think it offered me an insight into why some of the Swindon population are so stubborn about not supporting the Town (3,000 fans a week out of 180,000 people). In general Swindon people do have a bit of a confidence problem. I love where I live now, in Swindon.

On that other thread there is a bit of an overreaction about the state of the Town centre. The problem is that it doesnt compare very well to other Southern Town's, but compared to England as a whole it is fairly average. What really pisses me off is the lack of roads and planning for the sprawl that is North Swindon. The inevitable congestion.

If you go to Reading, Madjeski built loads of stuff, not just the football ground. He started their regeneration. We need someone like that to get us out of this cycle, because Swindon council are not capable of doing it.

As for our support, what we need is reasonable matchday tickets. Sorry club, the prices are a joke, and Ive heard multiple instances from fans waiting in the queue at the ticket office of seeing people going in and leaving without any tickets because of the prices. Not even paying it once. That is a business failure, and they should be ashamed. Swindon is a large working class Town and to be successful we have to somehow tap into those numbers. But at £19 / £25 there is no way.

Im happy with the CG as it is, I think most of our real fans are. But looking forward and trying to tap into our population we do need a change. Shiny new ground, bit of glamour for the plebs. Unfortunately not enough people in Swindon have the bollocks to stand up and say they support their local club. Too many cowards taking the easy way out supporting Premier League teams. We need to give them something they can be proud of to change that.

[Simon Pieman]

I think people attach themselves to premiership clubs because we're generally poor and often unexciting to watch

[sonicyouth]

Swindon is like some kind of magical fantasy world compared to Coventry...

[skin_im_buzzer]

Swindon is like some kind of magical fantasy world compared to Coventry...

 

well played

[Ardiles]

I think people attach themselves to premiership clubs because we're generally poor and often unexciting to watch

According to Martin Kellner in the Guardian, people attach themselves to Premiership clubs because they're middle class.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/sep/04/paolo-di-canio-swindon-town?INTCMP=SRCH

Idiot.