Walsall v Swindon Town pre/Matchday Thread -

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Good post Shrivvy and many will agree with your comments.

[4D]

I won't ever dump my club however pissed off I get.

[DiV]

Honestly mate this summer has done me. I have lost nearly all interest and it is is down to the negativity and absolute bullshit i have seen all summer. Before anyone says things aren't great i am not even on about the players etc . I think we look poor and i also think Lndsey will be a disaster but the shit around the ownership of the club that is going around and the constant sniping no matter what the club does is just boring now. First home game of the season last week and i wasn't looking forward to it.

I have seen this club in much worse positions than this but still got excited over saturdays but now i hate everything about supporting this club, the 90 minutes was enough but i am dreading that now. I know we say all fans are the same but honestly this last 3 months i have known nothing like ours

Mate, honestly - the older I get the more convinced I am that we are all just addicts & none of us actually enjoy it at all. I mean what is there to actually enjoy?

In fact we all fucking hate it and it makes us miserable but we can’t break the habit.

I got clean for 10 years and inexplicably got dragged back in again for reasons I’m still not aware of.

[Pookemon]

Some of the conspiracy theories over the summer have been bonkers and they will keep going because social media is an echo chamber and people will believe what they want to.   You just have to ignore it.

For most of us I'm sure it's about how the club is performing on the pitch, especially those that travel to most away games and to a lesser extent about how the club feels like it is being run operationally, which we primarily see on match days.

It's hard not to have an emotional whinge when we perform so badly.   I think this season it's been compounded as we all feared we would given the lack of preparation pre season, and the expectation set of seeing a side gunning for promotion.

Add to that the staffing issues, price increases etc it creates a feeling of going backwards rather than building for the future.

Now none of us really know what is going on, they haven't finished recruiting yet, the team has barely played together and the coaching team is very new so I'm still hopeful for this season and supportive of what the club is trying to do.

But doesn't stop me calling stuff out occasionally as I see it or having a meltdown.   I try to be rational most of the time but football is an emotional sport.

[Pookemon]

Mate, honestly - the older I get the more convinced I am that we are all just addicts & none of us actually enjoy it at all. I mean what is there to actually enjoy?

In fact we all fucking hate it and it makes us miserable but we can’t break the habit.

I got clean for 10 years and inexplicably got dragged back in again for reasons I’m still not aware of.

Probably agree with that.  I enjoy the social side, something to do with families and friends, but at our level we are shit more than we are good.

But I think I'd prefer that to being a perennial do nothing prem club.  Not only do you expect to lose most weeks, but you get properly rinsed and have matches at totally inconsiderate times

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Sounds ridiculous, but I’ve bought my iFollow ST yet I can’t bear to actually watch much of a game. Salford was so atrocious 1st half I turned it off half way through waiting for news of the inevitable goal conceded on Sky.

Harrogate have gone on to show that they are useless after shafting us 3 zip.

No doubt Carlisle will be a similar experience.

[Pookemon]

Sounds ridiculous, but I’ve bought my iFollow ST yet I can’t bear to actually watch much of a game. Salford was so atrocious 1st half I turned it off half way through waiting for news of the inevitable goal conceded on Sky.

Harrogate have gone on to show that they are useless after shafting us 3 zip.

No doubt Carlisle will be a similar experience.

I've chosen not to go to or watch on a screen.
Have bought Stockport tickets but can't justify Carlisle.

[Pericardinho]

Fucking hell guys, I class myself as a glass half empty person but this is pretty depressing reading.

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

Maybe the years and constant set backs have taken its toll with many of us.

The one thing though that has always kept me going is the fact that there is a decent football club in there. We have proved that if there is a product on the pitch, some hope off the pitch then we can attract decent support.
So many false dawns and selfishly like any other Supporter I crave success. Worse now as the years are ticking by.

It’s already taken over the majority of my life. Like every time when we hit an obstacle it’s the blind hope that keeps me going. How many more times can the loyalty card keep being played?

Port Vale hit me hard that I can say. Honestly was never over excited about this season.
Just hope a few decent results gets us up and running.

[Pericardinho]

I was there at PV away and it knocked me back too. It almost felt a bit personal. Like somebody was taking the piss out of me. To be that close and have it taken away. I just wanted that one moment to be happy. For it to be us for a change. I can understand how it has floored a lot of the fan base.

I find myself challenging the happy clappers a lot of the time, but I now actually realise that I need them in order to keep my sanity. Otherwise, if i'm surrounded by people similar to myself with no positivity, even if I think they are slightly deluded i can try to convince myself they're going to prove me wrong!

[Robinz]

Talking of the Port Vale away match. Watched it on television here in NZ. Yes it was gutting to see those two missed penalties.
But the biggest memory was seeing Clem Morfuni in the stands looking totally empty. I am convinced he was aware that Garner and Chorley were moving on and the opportunity of success had just slipped away.
Could be wrong, but this season does not look good and think Town missed a wonderful chance going forward

[SpeakingFluentPeroni]

Come on lads, got to drag ourselves out of this PV hangover. We’re only two league games in, the squad is definitely deeper this year and we played ok first half vs Harrogate and played well second half against Salford. Plus, it’s only football…I agree with posters suggesting the fan base has been hyper-critical this Summer and thankfully the 9000 attendance last Saturday proves that the vast majority of fans are staying positive.

[Pericardinho]

Come on lads, got to drag ourselves out of this PV hangover. We’re only two league games in, the squad is definitely deeper this year and we played ok first half vs Harrogate and played well second half against Salford. Plus, it’s only football…I agree with posters suggesting the fan base has been hyper-critical this Summer and thankfully the 9000 attendance last Saturday proves that the vast majority of fans are staying positive.

Deeper, yes.

Less quality in the starting 11? on the evidence so far I would suggest so.

[SpeakingFluentPeroni]

A lot of that quality was transient though. Payne injured loads, egbo came late, Wollacott away for Ghana, Tyreece and KKH only half a season.

[Nemo]

The "most played" XI last year was:

Wollacott (39 starts)

Iandolo (46)
Conroy (40)
Odimayo (36)
Hunt (40)

Payne (36)
Reed (45)
Williams (28)
Gladwin (24)

McKirdy (40)
Simpson (28)

Which is probably a better first XI than we have now, albeit it's too early to judge some of the new signings - on paper at least, MacDonald should be a better defender than any of these. Some of the players who you think of as quality last season didn't actually play that much as SFP says - Egbo 8 starts, KKH 19, Tomlinson 10, Baudry 18, Cooper 8.