Swindon Town v Oldham Athletic Official Matchday Thread

[Shaw Rosso]

First time I've ever read one of these write ups.

What in the name of gods green earth does the opposition town's ethnic diversity have to do with football?

Its a snippet of information that's relevant to the opposition's home town/city. Keep up.

[Batch]

Could be a fairly long process, but Walsall are a model that we should be looking at. Same model been in place for a while now, and starting to reap the rewards now, likely to get a play-off place and got a very good team, best I've seen at CG this season.

Walsall financially have lived within their means for a while. They survive with far more local football competition in their catchment area. There is a lot to be admired about that

But for most of that time have they really been building their squad slowly as some bigger plan, or have they just happened upon a good combination the last season or two. I'd suggest the latter.

2009-2010 10th
2010-2011 21st
2011-2012 19th
2012-2013 9th

Not bad, but not world beating. While there are no guarantees money talks, even at this level (see Brentford, Bournemouth). I guess we are trying a different way with the Spurs link coupled (ultimately) with a Walsall financial prudence.

[4D]

But we are a much bigger club with more potential than Walsall. Town of 205k with a catchment of double that within a 20 minute drive. I know there are probably 40-50k,armchair prem fans in that area,  but we should and,always be a bigger club than Walsall. We should be at least on a par with Preston

[Reg Smeeton]

But we are a much bigger club with more potential than Walsall. Town of 205k with a catchment of double that within a 20 minute drive. I know there are probably 40-50k,armchair prem fans in that area,  but we should and,always be a bigger club than Walsall. We should be at least on a par with Preston

No...we've always been pretty similar to Walsall, evidenced by fact we've a 1 win better record in 90 odd FL fixtures. That's not going to change anytime soon. As things stand...recent history has created the situation whereby a fella who tax avoids in Switzerland, owns the club and does what he wants....which leaves the fans with a simple choice...do I still continue to attend with this model or not bother.

ATM, relative to Walsall, who also operate under a similar model, whereby the owner Bonser runs a tight ship, turning a profit most seasons on the back of a car boot sale in the car park, but gets smaller crowds.

Judging by the comments of a few on here...losing to the Latics is the final straw...and we'll be heading for much reduced crowds...not sure a car bot sale on the CG car park will be a winner though.

[Empathy Sloth]

No you really are not in the minority. Cooper is out of his depth. I hope Power is as ruthless with the clown as he was with Moosehead.

Power is in charge you fool, Cooper's the face. Power makes all the decisions, if they go badly Cooper gets the flak. How anyone still doesn't know this by now baffles me, why do you think Cooper got the job in the first place? How many decent managers would agree to have no freedom whatsoever.

[Empathy Sloth]

I'll not get much support, but I'd sacrifice the Oldham game for a better shot at the JPT final. At the moment I don't feel we'll challenge for a playoff spot, and I may be wrong but I don't think we are bad enough to go down. So why not.

Me too.

[Empathy Sloth]

Harley, Byrne and Barker today were up there with the worst individual performances I've ever seen. Harley doesn't really do anything at all, Byrne tried hard but every single thing went wrong for him, and let's hope Barker's performance was just him being overawed by the occasion... Smith was poor but can't blame him when he had no service whatsoever. How Luongo escapes criticism I don't know, he's been awful recently but doesn't get any stick. Reckord wasn't great but I think he'll improve after he gets a run of games, Ward and Archibald-Henville were good, would like to see them play together when both fit, Branco still looks very raw, makes mistakes but also makes some fantastic last ditch tackles/clearances, patience needed with him, I think he'll turn out to be a good signing for us. Both Thompsons were ok, not great, Foderingham played well. Gladwin looks promising, but not ready to be starting games yet.

Wrong formation today, also Ranger and N'Guessan should be walking into this side. Think if/when we see Ranger, N'Guessan, Pritchard, Kasim and McEveley all back the results will start to improve, today's 11 was the weakest town team on paper for some years, probably back to 05/06...

 

[bigbobjoylove]

Yes...that is a bit of a concern, not sure what Mason's contract situation is , but he's a long way from the finished article and could probably do with following the Luongo road to the CG full time.

Mason's deal expires in the summer. Hall has one until 2015 for some reason.

[Benzel]

Harley, Byrne and Barker today were up there with the worst individual performances I've ever seen. Harley doesn't really do anything at all, Byrne tried hard but every single thing went wrong for him, and let's hope Barker's performance was just him being overawed by the occasion... Smith was poor but can't blame him when he had no service whatsoever. How Luongo escapes criticism I don't know, he's been awful recently but doesn't get any stick. Reckord wasn't great but I think he'll improve after he gets a run of games, Ward and Archibald-Henville were good, would like to see them play together when both fit, Branco still looks very raw, makes mistakes but also makes some fantastic last ditch tackles/clearances, patience needed with him, I think he'll turn out to be a good signing for us. Both Thompsons were ok, not great, Foderingham played well. Gladwin looks promising, but not ready to be starting games yet.

Wrong formation today, also Ranger and N'Guessan should be walking into this side. Think if/when we see Ranger, N'Guessan, Pritchard, Kasim and McEveley all back the results will start to improve, today's 11 was the weakest town team on paper for some years, probably back to 05/06...

 

Summed up pretty well. Harley is a pussy afraid to do anything and you're right about Luongo, he's been bad for quite some time now.

[Batch]

To me Luongo, a bit like mason at times, seems to go through the motions rather than with maximum effort. Fatigue? Confidence? Not got the right player beside him? Who knows.

He is a good player not playing his best. Hopefully form is temporary...

[sonicyouth]

Reg's prophecies of doom are spreading judging by some of the comments on here.

[Bathtime]

Harley, Byrne and Barker today were up there with the worst individual performances I've ever seen. Harley doesn't really do anything at all, Byrne tried hard but every single thing went wrong for him, and let's hope Barker's performance was just him being overawed by the occasion... Smith was poor but can't blame him when he had no service whatsoever. How Luongo escapes criticism I don't know, he's been awful recently but doesn't get any stick. Reckord wasn't great but I think he'll improve after he gets a run of games, Ward and Archibald-Henville were good, would like to see them play together when both fit, Branco still looks very raw, makes mistakes but also makes some fantastic last ditch tackles/clearances, patience needed with him, I think he'll turn out to be a good signing for us. Both Thompsons were ok, not great, Foderingham played well. Gladwin looks promising, but not ready to be starting games yet.

Wrong formation today, also Ranger and N'Guessan should be walking into this side. Think if/when we see Ranger, N'Guessan, Pritchard, Kasim and McEveley all back the results will start to improve, today's 11 was the weakest town team on paper for some years, probably back to 05/06...

  

Good summing up on yesterday - not sure what`s happened to Byrne - today confirmed that last week`s poor showing wasn`t just a one off - it was woeful. Presuming there must be more to Barker game as there wasn`t anything today so that shouldn`t be too difficult. Get Luongo out as he needs to find out he isn`t as good as he thinks he is...I am going away for 2 weeks in the middle of the month - I won`t miss the football....

[Flashheart]

Reg's prophecies of doom are spreading judging by some of the comments on here.

It's becoming inherent.

We were woeful yesterday and it's obvious that performances need to improve. Despite our current poor form, however, we are a good team that is only 5 points adrift from the playoffs. Teams do improve/worsen as the season goes along and although some would have us think otherwise it is not beyond the realms of imagination that we can return to form. Something like Troy coming back could provide the catalyst for that. It's also possible, of course, that we could capitulate but without a crystal ball it is not yet possible to say which way it will go.

To write us off now is incredibly premature and myopic. For the sake of balance, I'd be equally critical of anybody claiming that we are certain to make the playoffs.

[Peter Venkman]

To write us off now is incredibly premature and myopic. For the sake of balance, I'd be equally critical of anybody claiming that we are certain to make the playoffs.

Cannot disagree with that. Mid table is the likely scenario I feel.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

It's becoming inherent.

We were woeful yesterday and it's obvious that performances need to improve. Despite our current poor form, however, we are a good team that is only 5 points adrift from the playoffs. Teams do improve/worsen as the season goes along and although some would have us think otherwise it is not beyond the realms of imagination that we can return to form. Something like Troy coming back could provide the catalyst for that. It's also possible, of course, that we could capitulate but without a crystal ball it is not yet possible to say which way it will go.

To write us off now is incredibly premature and myopic. For the sake of balance, I'd be equally critical of anybody claiming that we are certain to make the playoffs.

Correct. Most people on here have been following the game for long enough (although you wouldn't think so at times) to know that football is a gloriously illogical, inexact science. Teams who, up to a certain point have been playing abysmally badly can suddenly go on a long unbeaten run and there's no telling what the spark for that might be (could be a player coming back from long term injury - who knows?) In previous seasons, the squad has had too many players who just aren't good enough. This season, we've got good players who are just not playing well right now and there's a world of difference between the two.

Football fans in general (not just STFC) have the attention span of Goldfish. After we've had a decent win it will be...."Oooooh, hopefully this will shut up the 'I'll be happy with mid-table brigade' once and for all, this team is headed for the play offs, minimum"....then, after a few admittedly crappy displays it's..."Ooooooh, if anyone thinks we have the slightest chance of getting anywhere near the play offs, they're a complete fucking moron"

Personally, I think we will finish somewhere around 8th-10th but I'm certainly not going to write off our play off chances - far stranger things have happened.

Edit: What JJ said but using a lot more words