New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[Nemo]

Yeah I'd regretfully agree with that. Loved his first spell, but he simply hasn't been very good - I think we were all prepared to give him a bit of slack on account of being run into the ground over the season, and yet he says:

“On paper, the squad was better than that finish. On paper, I felt we were strong, but then all these opinions started coming up.

“They were saying people can’t play two games in a week, they were mixing it and matching it, making four or five changes, which was far from ideal because the team couldn’t gel or find a rhythm.

Maybe he doesn't mean himself, but it comes across as him suggesting the problem was not playing him enough.

It may just be my back going immediately up at him describing (presumably) Joey Barton as a friend early in the interview!

[Pericardinho]

Joey Barton did an interview and said they had Austin in for a trial and decided not to give him a contract.

Austin seems to suggest he chose us over them.

I'm inclined to believe Barton to be honest.

[Nemo]

Having just put both of those posts up, I think "was Austin a good player for Swindon second time around" is a distraction from the key issues

“When I arrived it was really nice, I couldn’t have asked for a better reception. And at the time, the direction the club was going in was up.

“Fast forward two years and I knew the club wasn’t trying to get in that direction.

“Clem is the owner, he’s not the ultimate football guy, and the people that are below him are not football people or not the right people, he needs football people to be running that club, it’s hard to run a club from the other side of the world especially when people aren’t telling  you what you want to hear.”

“But look, he’s the owner and he does have to take some responsibility for what has happened.”

[UTR]

I think playing wise he was alright when he was being asked to do on the pitch what he should be doing, not playing everywhere. Granted he still missed some sitters but when he was in the box and receiving proper service then he was fine. I don’t blame him for the playing side of his stint not going as well as it should have done as he was rarely utilised like he should have been.

Off the pitch is more unknown but I did come away from reading that interview finding myself not disagreeing with too much, the DoF is our most experienced football staff member and he’d probably go into most other clubs as someone who is still learning the senior game as his background is in academy football, that paired with no other experienced football minds around means that things like how the releasing of players was handled (incorrectly in my opinion if it did happen like that) goes through without anyone else contesting it.

That’s nothing against the DoF and nothing against anyone taking a step up promotion but it’s hammering home the repeated fact of these guys (whether first time manager or first time DoF) needing help from experienced football people that this club just doesn’t have.

[reeves4england]

Whether Austin was the right recruit and whether his attitude is what we needed is neither here nor there. The important thing from this interview is confirmation from yet another source that there are too many voices dictating things on and off the pitch, and none of them actually know what they're doing. It's one thing for Clem to have made those mistakes, it's another to continue with the same strategy while the club is, as Charlie says, "on a knife edge".

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

It wasn’t that long ago Charlie was of the opinion that Gunning was definitely the right man for the job.

[Wobbly Bob]

The right man "at this time".

[Mooneyraker]

Charlie Austin's priority has always been Charlie Austin. Nothing wrong with that but let's not pretend he is in the Don Rogers bracket.

This interview is hardly a smoking gun. I'd file it more under getting his excuses in (however valid they might be) whilst fishing for a deal elsewhere.

Okay the DoF might not have the best soft skills but for this club, in recent times, letting people go in a face to face interview actually denotes progress!

I'm glad this interview has ratcheted the pressure on the ownership a notch but I think it is important to see it for what it is.

[TailBetweenLegs]

Interesting how similar opinions from 2 different types of players leaves a different response isn't it. Austin at 34 i would say gave everything still until the last game but his personality gets a different reaction, whether he was good enough i suppose isn't the point but i do think we got the best we can at this stage of his career. FBT who was horrific the last 4 months threw the towel in and couldn't get out quick enough for the same reasons (rightly so) is wished all the best

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Happy to see the back of him.

Yeah sure, he's right on some things.

But he doesn't strike me as a positive character to have around when things aren't going well.

I am on Jody Morris' side. He played Jephcott because he worked hard and would press. That was the 'style' he was trying to implement at the time. Austin strikes me as somebody who'd go to the chairman complaining the manager 'isnt right for the football club'   no Charlie. He just wasn't right for you.

Having Austin on the pitch has too often felt like playing with one less player. Take sentiment out of it. He's not good enough anymore.

Unless you are going to fully build the team around him, play 2 up front and have constant service into the box with genuine quality, then you are going to be a worse team with Austin in it than without.

I don't disagree with this at all, but I'm glad he is speaking out about what a shit show we are behind the scenes. Getting harder and harder for people to bury their heads.

[Mooneyraker]

Interesting how similar opinions from 2 different types of players leaves a different response isn't it. Austin at 34 i would say gave everything still until the last game but his personality gets a different reaction, whether he was good enough i suppose isn't the point but i do think we got the best we can at this stage of his career. FBT who was horrific the last 4 months threw the towel in and couldn't get out quick enough for the same reasons (rightly so) is wished all the best

Agree that FBT threw the towel in completely. One of the reasons I liked Brewitt TBH. Came from years at an elite youth level, so will have seen the state of our club through that lens, but never stopped giving 100%. You might say his career was more in the last chance saloon but he was a professional to the end.

I've said before, I don't blame any of them. The club is in disarray. But those who play the press game will have their reasons for doing so, and I don't think altruism towards STFC will feature highly on that list.

[BenTheRed]

It's great he's speaking out, but no smoking gun.

I almost think there's bigger battles to fight than Gunning - he needs to go, in a package that includes all the wrong'uns.

[DiV]

Interesting how similar opinions from 2 different types of players leaves a different response isn't it. Austin at 34 i would say gave everything still until the last game but his personality gets a different reaction, whether he was good enough i suppose isn't the point but i do think we got the best we can at this stage of his career. FBT who was horrific the last 4 months threw the towel in and couldn't get out quick enough for the same reasons (rightly so) is wished all the best

I wish FBT well based over his entire tenure here…but…then I also wish Austin well, as well…

I felt we didn’t play to Austin strengths and as alluded to Gunning changed the forward players are a lot.  So I can see why maybe his performances weren’t what they should have been, through little fault of his own. The effort was still there…

FBT on the other hand…

[iParadise]

Found myself nodding along in agreement in parts and wincing in others but either way it puts pressure on the ownership of the club which is only a good thing.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

The right man "at this time".

He was never the right man.