Trust urges Swindon fans to think of the future (From Swindon Advertiser)

If only the board saw the current situation as a chance to make some money!

Get promoted, higher attendances, more tv coverage, it's a win win!

I'm not one for knocking the board, they saved the club, but Mr Black, Invest today and it will pay you back! Leave us now and you are not going to see any investement back. It's not rocket science.

You will find selling a championship club a lot easier than a 1st division club.

It's got to be worth a small investement, get us into the championship and then sell the club! Plus you will be hero's to most fans, leaving the club in a much higher and better position!

What I find confusing and it's been said many times before. Swindon has a population in excess of 200k, add to that the outlying towns and villages and the club has the capability of filling it's ground week in week out.

Yes there is a serious economic climate which has probably been compounded by a further 800 + redundances at Honda. However to have a mere 3% (approx ) of the available population coming to watch a football team riding high in the league is unbelievable.
The Town have just acheived a great promotion and is on the verge of another , couple this with the attractive football being played and the most colourful , energetic and intelligent manager our club has ever seen , why would you not want to come and watch ?
I think the trouble with many people is they want to "wait and see". Wait and see if we fail and then they can justify not going to games . There has been this apathy for the last 20 years or so , maybe longer.
Of course another problem is too many immigrants from all over the U.K , there arn't that many "Swindonians" anymore, it will probably take another generation, maybe two to reverse this situation. In the meantime we will have to put up with parents telling their offspring that their hometown team of Chelski, Arsenal, Man C, Man U etc is the way to go.
Come on residents of Swindon, come and support your newly adopted town. The club is not just for the 6 - 8k regulars but for everyone, we're all in it together, without you we will probably be in deep trouble.
I await the negative response from the usual suspects, I know they won't fail me !

You never make money out of owning a football club, unless you are Manchester United. You only lose money, whatever division you are in.

Getting more supporters, as Stillloyal says, is the only real hope. But even with higher attendances/revenue, it will only go on more or higher player wages. It always does.

Guv wrote:
If only the board saw the current situation as a chance to make some money!

Get promoted, higher attendances, more tv coverage, it's a win win!

I'm not one for knocking the board, they saved the club, but Mr Black, Invest today and it will pay you back! Leave us now and you are not going to see any investement back. It's not rocket science.

You will find selling a championship club a lot easier than a 1st division club.

It's got to be worth a small investement, get us into the championship and then sell the club! Plus you will be hero's to most fans, leaving the club in a much higher and better position!

What planet are you on? They've put in over 2million already and will never see a profit. Utter lunacy to think that stfc will create profit.

I hear you Al but you also need to bear in mind that many ex-regulars had a gutful during recent decades .The days of Carson, Razor Ruddock , McMahon , and several other similar misfits left many feeling embittered and difficult to re-ignite their interest in STFC.

Stilloyal wrote:
What I find confusing and it's been said many times before. Swindon has a population in excess of 200k, add to that the outlying towns and villages and the club has the capability of filling it's ground week in week out.

Yes there is a serious economic climate which has probably been compounded by a further 800 + redundances at Honda. However to have a mere 3% (approx ) of the available population coming to watch a football team riding high in the league is unbelievable.
The Town have just acheived a great promotion and is on the verge of another , couple this with the attractive football being played and the most colourful , energetic and intelligent manager our club has ever seen , why would you not want to come and watch ?
I think the trouble with many people is they want to "wait and see". Wait and see if we fail and then they can justify not going to games . There has been this apathy for the last 20 years or so , maybe longer.
Of course another problem is too many immigrants from all over the U.K , there arn't that many "Swindonians" anymore, it will probably take another generation, maybe two to reverse this situation. In the meantime we will have to put up with parents telling their offspring that their hometown team of Chelski, Arsenal, Man C, Man U etc is the way to go.
Come on residents of Swindon, come and support your newly adopted town. The club is not just for the 6 - 8k regulars but for everyone, we're all in it together, without you we will probably be in deep trouble.
I await the negative response from the usual suspects, I know they won't fail me !

Well said stillloyal. I comes up from Trowbridge for almost every home game. The flow of cars going back towards ' Vizes on a tuesday after a home game is testament to the loyal fans who come in from far and wide. There should be more support from the town dwellers, but with the young people initiatives e.g. the occasional £1 entry for children bodes well for the future. I used to attend as a teenager with my dad back in the late fifty's and through the sixties until I moved from the area. Let's hope the Supporter's Trust can in the future secure enough shares to ensure a stable and permanent future for our wonderful club!

Stilloyal wrote:
What I find confusing and it's been said many times before. Swindon has a population in excess of 200k, add to that the outlying towns and villages and the club has the capability of filling it's ground week in week out.

Yes there is a serious economic climate which has probably been compounded by a further 800 + redundances at Honda. However to have a mere 3% (approx ) of the available population coming to watch a football team riding high in the league is unbelievable.
The Town have just acheived a great promotion and is on the verge of another , couple this with the attractive football being played and the most colourful , energetic and intelligent manager our club has ever seen , why would you not want to come and watch ?
I think the trouble with many people is they want to "wait and see". Wait and see if we fail and then they can justify not going to games . There has been this apathy for the last 20 years or so , maybe longer.
Of course another problem is too many immigrants from all over the U.K , there arn't that many "Swindonians" anymore, it will probably take another generation, maybe two to reverse this situation. In the meantime we will have to put up with parents telling their offspring that their hometown team of Chelski, Arsenal, Man C, Man U etc is the way to go.
Come on residents of Swindon, come and support your newly adopted town. The club is not just for the 6 - 8k regulars but for everyone, we're all in it together, without you we will probably be in deep trouble.
I await the negative response from the usual suspects, I know they won't fail me !

Well said stillloyal. I comes up from Trowbridge for almost every home game. The flow of cars going back towards ' Vizes on a tuesday after a home game is testament to the loyal fans who come in from far and wide. There should be more support from the town dwellers, but with the young people initiatives e.g. the occasional £1 entry for children bodes well for the future. I used to attend as a teenager with my dad back in the late fifty's and through the sixties until I moved from the area. Let's hope the Supporter's Trust can in the future secure enough shares to ensure a stable and permanent future for our wonderful club!

you are right, Swindon has the potential to do a Reading, i cant see any reason why we can not be as big a club as them, they are the benchmark and i distinctly remember their dark days when they were a lower league club and no bigger than us. It is achievable, the only way it can come is for the club itself to become of interest to the town population, new state of the art ground is the first thing but success on the pitch dont seem to make a difference here to the fans, god bless the faithfull 6-8000 fans shame on the wembley glory hunters, its supporter apathy and the armchair fan that needs to come week after week. like you say you never know when you got it good, last 3 home games could you wish for better ?

umpcah wrote:
I hear you Al but you also need to bear in mind that many ex-regulars had a gutful during recent decades .The days of Carson, Razor Ruddock , McMahon , and several other similar misfits left many feeling embittered and difficult to re-ignite their interest in STFC.

Fair point Umpcah but I remember those days and for many years after performances were generally poor (aside from a couple of seasons) and attendances were incredibly low... I am sure during one Andy King season we averaged about 4500 or something like that.
But I never stopped going! It was often pretty gloomy but I never fell out of love with the club.
I know that's my own personal experience but it's a great shame that so many people seem to have given up on our club. When the Count Ground is packed the atmosphere is fantastic. I would love for it to be that way every week.

umpcah wrote:
I hear you Al but you also need to bear in mind that many ex-regulars had a gutful during recent decades .The days of Carson, Razor Ruddock , McMahon , and several other similar misfits left many feeling embittered and difficult to re-ignite their interest in STFC.

Cant disagree with that , those morons pizzed a lot of us off. However we are talking 15 years or so ago and times and things have changed down at the C.G .
If people don't dig themselves out of their apathy and come and join the Di Canio revolution then things will change once again, but for the worse.
How many kids have been born in Swindon since those scary days ? How many of those kids have woken up on Christmas day to find a fukcin Chelski shirt in their stocking? We need to get the kids of Swindon interested in the Town , kid for a quid or free entry for under 10's uccompanied by an adult, yes it's been done before but I think we need to persevere with it. Get them kids in the ground while the team are worth watching.

The thing is the world is an ever changing place, and that includes Swindon. The post war years which led into the early/mid 60's was a completely different scenario, which was when we had big home crowds.

Many of the loyal followers then worked at the Railway or in Pressed Steel. They would work their Saturday shift, go to the pub and then on to County Ground. That whole generation has gone now and so has that world in which they lived, its all changed. Swindon has grown massively, but did so when the club was on harder times. The influx of people still probably support their original home town clubs, only work and the dormitory set set up make them Swindonians. Its their children where the club should be aiming its marketing, but then again all of this has been said before but nothing ever gets done about it. The marketing of this club needs to be more vigorous and in the face of the younger population, and with the team playing as it is now, then hardly a better time, but I suspect little will be done, big shame, because we should be capitalising on our current success. We need to be putting things in place now, to get people into the habit of coming to CG, and on the back of our success this year we may see a further rise on the take up of season tickets. Although they alone are not the be all and end all of income it gives the club a better base to work from for the season. You invest today to get a return tomorrow.

Stilloyal wrote:

umpcah wrote: I hear you Al but you also need to bear in mind that many ex-regulars had a gutful during recent decades .The days of Carson, Razor Ruddock , McMahon , and several other similar misfits left many feeling embittered and difficult to re-ignite their interest in STFC.

Cant disagree with that , those morons pizzed a lot of us off. However we are talking 15 years or so ago and times and things have changed down at the C.G . If people don't dig themselves out of their apathy and come and join the Di Canio revolution then things will change once again, but for the worse. How many kids have been born in Swindon since those scary days ? How many of those kids have woken up on Christmas day to find a fukcin Chelski shirt in their stocking? We need to get the kids of Swindon interested in the Town , kid for a quid or free entry for under 10's uccompanied by an adult, yes it's been done before but I think we need to persevere with it. Get them kids in the ground while the team are worth watching.

Here Here!!

Get those kids in the ground now!!

These days will stay with them a lifetime....

Long live the 'Kid for a quid' scheme.

Louis :-)

me thinks the club should go to the schools local football clubs or even schools football clubs in wantage grove abingdon areas more often get more young kids intrested maybe give out more free tickets to the local schools football clubs as the kids are the future and with a bit of luck the kids will keep on at the parents to take them.
mr andrew black and his backers past and present have done a fantastic job and i for one would like to thank them again.

It really hacks me off all these armchair followers of the over rated premier league especially when 70% of the players arent even from these shores and alot of them arent that great anyway.
The premier league to me is very poor this season and they drain the lower leagues dry of funding as all they are interested in is their own league and forget about some of the good things lower league teams do by bringing youth players through who they then poach and always try to do for a pittance to screw the lower league clubs.
I've got no time for the premier league and hopefully all these so called fans of the big clubs will wake up one day and realise.
We are playing some great football under Paolo and he the players and the board to me deserve a bit more support than we are currently getting.
Its funny how the wembley final brought all the people out most of who didnt even know the names of the players or all the people around me didnt and that really gripes with me.
If you want to keep these players and want more success people need to start coming to games we should be getting at least minimum get 10,000 a week but no doubt if we are there or thereabouts at the end of the season the armchair fans will be buying up the tickets so the loyal fans will miss out.

If at some stage we have to sell players then everyone will be moaning but its up to the people of swindon to support our club.

Every home game there are four of us that travel 170 mile round trip to watch the town and yet the local people who live within walking distance cant be bothered. i appreciate were in an economic gloom but even if people went to a few games to support the club given the population of our town it would make the gates higher than they cutrrently are.
If you take Southampton as a city who has the same population as swindon even when they were in L1 they were getting near 20k plus crowds.

Even if the entrance fee was reduced it wouldnt make a difference its just that people have a thing about the premier league in their head and think the other leagues are poor.
Lets face it how many good premier league games do you see, you could probably count on one hand over a season the really good games.

It's all hyped up and yes all players want to play at the highest level and who can blame them as that is where the money is but for our cubs to get there fans have to support the club in greater numbers to achieve success.

louiscassius wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:

umpcah wrote: I hear you Al but you also need to bear in mind that many ex-regulars had a gutful during recent decades .The days of Carson, Razor Ruddock , McMahon , and several other similar misfits left many feeling embittered and difficult to re-ignite their interest in STFC.

Cant disagree with that , those morons pizzed a lot of us off. However we are talking 15 years or so ago and times and things have changed down at the C.G . If people don't dig themselves out of their apathy and come and join the Di Canio revolution then things will change once again, but for the worse. How many kids have been born in Swindon since those scary days ? How many of those kids have woken up on Christmas day to find a fukcin Chelski shirt in their stocking? We need to get the kids of Swindon interested in the Town , kid for a quid or free entry for under 10's uccompanied by an adult, yes it's been done before but I think we need to persevere with it. Get them kids in the ground while the team are worth watching.

Here Here!! Get those kids in the ground now!! These days will stay with them a lifetime.... Long live the 'Kid for a quid' scheme. Louis :-)

To get the kids in the ground you need the adults to take them. Even "a Kid for a quid" offer needs this.

I believe one way of getting the youngsters into the ground is through schools and local football clubs.

The FITC people do a great job on Saturdays with youngsters, tour of the ground, training session, lunch and tickets to the match in the afternoon (with a chance to play on the pitch at half time). They do charge a fee for these activities, around £20 per person, which if lowered could provide the club with fans for the future. I appreciate they have to cover costs but lowering the price with the support of the club could bring 100-200 kids into the CG on a regular basis and pay dividends in the long term.

My eldest brought a group recently to their first ever football match and they loved it. STFITC car stickers now in cars and one youngster went home and told their dad he could stick Manure as they follow Town now :-)

There are probably loads of kids in the Swindon area that have never been to a live match and would jump at the chance. The problem is getting them there and schools/local clubs could be the answer !!!!

COYMR

Good post Wiz.
Yep I used to work at "The steel" do my morning shift have a few pints with other Town fans and then it was on to the ground. Would stand at the back of the Town End with all the other regulars, we always stood in the same place so we got to know everybody else over the years.
Stopped going regularly during the McMahon period and never bought a season ticket since. So he has a lot to answer for.
Moved away from the Town but still travel when I can but to me its not the same at the CG anymore. Apart from the higher cost of watching the Town the atmosphere has gone. Being treated like a hooligan by over zealous stewards, uncomfortable seating with no leg room, poor catering and loud PA systems don't do it for me I'm afraid. The football is great at the moment but the "match experience" is very poor. The Club need to start thinking like Reading before they start building a new ground etc.
Apart from PDC the one guy (J Wray) I thought would get the club going in the right direction was sacked so I think its a case of some things will never change at the CG.
Sorry for the rant

Television surely has to take a huge chunk of the blame. It's just too easy for people to say they support a club when they do nothing of the sort. They sit on their arses, with no intention whatsoever of being real football fans. And they have the gall to say "we" when talking about Chelsea, Man United etc. I agree with LeGod on this (I disagree with him on a few other things). The Premier League is vastly overrated, but its love-in with the media means that, sadly, it will continue to brainwash many people into believing that football begins and ends with itself. Even the BBC, with its excellent Football League Show, seems too embarrassed to show League Football at a civilised hour, preferring to relegated to a graveyard slot - even when the almighty Premier League is not in action!
.
And you get these "fans" talking about "the live game". Funny that - I thought all games were live.

meant to say "preferring to relegate it..."

Please, STFC board, read the comments above. You'll always be remembered for saving this club and having the guts to bring in a manager that most would have run a mile from.

Stage 2 now is to follow some of these comments above. When I ask mates why they don't come to the County Ground, they say it's a tired old ground, that houses a team that just flits between the lower divisions. None of them knows about cut price tickets. They know our manager seems a bit loopy - because that gets reported by the mainstream media - but they don't know about the revolution he has set in motion here.

You've done the hard work, guys, saving this club and turning the team around. All it needs is for you to start banging the drum - STFC is going places so don't be shy about it!

eddyxx wrote:
you are right, Swindon has the potential to do a Reading, i cant see any reason why we can not be as big a club as them, they are the benchmark and i distinctly remember their dark days when they were a lower league club and no bigger than us. It is achievable, the only way it can come is for the club itself to become of interest to the town population, new state of the art ground is the first thing but success on the pitch dont seem to make a difference here to the fans, god bless the faithfull 6-8000 fans shame on the wembley glory hunters, its supporter apathy and the armchair fan that needs to come week after week. like you say you never know when you got it good, last 3 home games could you wish for better ?

I can safely say that if Swindon had another big town near it without a league club (Basingstoke where I now live for my sins as an example) it would be a help in terms of getting supporters in. Sickening how many Reading fans you get around these parts - they have no affiliation with the club (it's not even with the same county) but as the closest league team it'll attract people in. Lived in Winchester for 10 years and it was the same there, loads of the locals were saints fans.

Also on Stillloyal's point, I'm a bit of an enigma in this respect, born in Ireland but lived most of the early part of my life in Swindon and hence supported the local team. It was the only thing that seemed to make sense. I don't think it's just people moving in from other parts of the UK who maybe already had a team they support who are the problem (although it obviously doesn't help), I think a lot of people just need to say they "support" a club and the least labour intensive way of doing so is picking one that's on tv all the time, whatever your (lack of) connection with the club itself.

Bottom line - most people can't be bothered going to a game or supporting a local club when they can watch "the best league in the world" (ha!) from the comfort of their living room. It just seems to be the norm these days - of all the blokes I know who are into football it's the minority of us that ever actually get to a match. Shame.

When Wray was here I suggested on this forum one training session a month in out lying towns. Where the people of say Trowbridge could turn out with all the school kids and watch the maestro's at work.

Put in the calendar pre season, marketed to the relevant towns and all schools within it. Wray even commented he thought it was a good idea. (great minds you see.....)!

Sum total of it happening. Nil, zero, nothing, naught, zilch, nonexistent.....

Devon I sympathise with your match day experience although it is the lot of football fans generally unfortunately. The idea that I have to drink a beer down below the stand rather than sat in my seat has often stopped me giving the club money. However no matter how dire the food (another never purchase) I will still always go as I'm prepared to over look it to support the Town.

I drove for 6 hours to make sure I was at the last the home game. You're either committed or your not. Sadly too many aren't.

Just seen the fixture with Donny Rovers has been moved for tv to 12:15 on Easter Monday. All good for revenue and should mean we can keep Hollands and Martin but flipping hopeless in terms of getting there to watch...

dreamofacleansheet2 wrote:
Just seen the fixture with Donny Rovers has been moved for tv to 12:15 on Easter Monday. All good for revenue and should mean we can keep Hollands and Martin but flipping hopeless in terms of getting there to watch...

I'll be there, and my old buddy Mr Damp,(don't ask), never mind SKY, it's another pariah driven by money alone, the main cancer being the Premier League .

I really hope we make the Championship, but the PL you can keep. I'd much rather have us as a good solid CCC club that has a good record in the Cups than be part of anything that Murdock sponsors.

Stilloyal wrote:
What I find confusing and it's been said many times before. Swindon has a population in excess of 200k, add to that the outlying towns and villages and the club has the capability of filling it's ground week in week out.

Yes there is a serious economic climate which has probably been compounded by a further 800 + redundances at Honda. However to have a mere 3% (approx ) of the available population coming to watch a football team riding high in the league is unbelievable.
The Town have just acheived a great promotion and is on the verge of another , couple this with the attractive football being played and the most colourful , energetic and intelligent manager our club has ever seen , why would you not want to come and watch ?
I think the trouble with many people is they want to "wait and see". Wait and see if we fail and then they can justify not going to games . There has been this apathy for the last 20 years or so , maybe longer.
Of course another problem is too many immigrants from all over the U.K , there arn't that many "Swindonians" anymore, it will probably take another generation, maybe two to reverse this situation. In the meantime we will have to put up with parents telling their offspring that their hometown team of Chelski, Arsenal, Man C, Man U etc is the way to go.
Come on residents of Swindon, come and support your newly adopted town. The club is not just for the 6 - 8k regulars but for everyone, we're all in it together, without you we will probably be in deep trouble.
I await the negative response from the usual suspects, I know they won't fail me !

great post.

Nothing beats following your Club both home and away.
I can't believe like you while more don't get to the games.

We can all do our bit. My two lads live North Oxfordshire and don't have a choice. They are Swindon end of.
I love watching them play football wearing their Swindon kits in front of the Premiership glory hunters.
.......Be proud Sons, you're Swindon til you die.

Oi Den! wrote:
Television surely has to take a huge chunk of the blame. It's just too easy for people to say they support a club when they do nothing of the sort. They sit on their arses, with no intention whatsoever of being real football fans. And they have the gall to say "we" when talking about Chelsea, Man United etc. I agree with LeGod on this (I disagree with him on a few other things). The Premier League is vastly overrated, but its love-in with the media means that, sadly, it will continue to brainwash many people into believing that football begins and ends with itself. Even the BBC, with its excellent Football League Show, seems too embarrassed to show League Football at a civilised hour, preferring to relegated to a graveyard slot - even when the almighty Premier League is not in action!
.
And you get these "fans" talking about "the live game". Funny that - I thought all games were live.

Agreed Oi Den. We live in a generation where everyone wants instant gratification and success with little input, so no-one wants to invest time and money supporting a club that won't win a major trophy.

TV has a lot to do with this, as even when they have the opportunity to show a cup game of genuine interest to 'proper fans', they still show the same 4 or 5 clubs, which even their own fans show little interest in.

I have brought my 5 year old lad to a couple of games and utilised the 'kid a quid' for the Macclesfield game and he is gradually showing more interest so will be a fan of the future (I hope!).

To be fair to Town, I believe season tickets for under tens are free providing you pay a £30 fee to join the junior Robins, which is no great hardship.

I think there is also a general apathy around lower leagues football as even Bristol City (admittedly they are currently hopeless) only had 13k on saturday, in a city of over half a million people so it is not just us that struggles to attract fans.

Cost is also an issue as paying £20 plus for a ticket, plus one for your child can make it an expensive day out and I suspect most people find funds are tight making it more attractive to stay in and watch the Premiership on telly.

The club doesn't do enough special offers to entice non goers to watch a game.

I sent this email back in October and didn't even receive an acknowledgement back.



Dear Sir/madam,

I would like to suggest an idea with regards to the Stratton Bank. For years the Stratton Bank has always been empty which always seems like such a waste. It also looks rather embarrassing when watching highlights of our home games broadcast across the nation.

My suggestion would be to offer free tickets for this stand to schools for their pupils. Whilst in the short term this might have a negative affect on the club in terms of finances for extra policing, stewards etc, in the long run this could have a real positive impact of merchandising and ticket sales 5, 10 or 15 years down the line.

To achieve this we would obviously need the backing of schools and the community but for such a large catchment area Swindon has, our attendances really should be higher than they are.

For some home games this wouldn't always be possible as some teams have a large away following but this weekends game would have been a perfect fixture.

I appreciate the club already offers free tickets to under 7's with the purchase of an adult ticket but for some this isn't a viable option. Some adults wouldn't be interested in taking their children for a number of reasons such as financial, lack of interest in the sport or because the adult purely supports another team.

Having 4 stands full would surely have a positive impact on the players also. And hopefully if this idea is followed up with, we might see a few more STFC shirts replacing those Man Utd/City shirts which has become such a popular sight around the town.

Even if only 5 - 10 percent of the attendees became Swindon fans surely the long term benefits from their support would be a worthwhile investment?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

chrystovski wrote:
The club doesn't do enough special offers to entice non goers to watch a game.

I sent this email back in October and didn't even receive an acknowledgement back.



Dear Sir/madam,

I would like to suggest an idea with regards to the Stratton Bank. For years the Stratton Bank has always been empty which always seems like such a waste. It also looks rather embarrassing when watching highlights of our home games broadcast across the nation.

My suggestion would be to offer free tickets for this stand to schools for their pupils. Whilst in the short term this might have a negative affect on the club in terms of finances for extra policing, stewards etc, in the long run this could have a real positive impact of merchandising and ticket sales 5, 10 or 15 years down the line.

To achieve this we would obviously need the backing of schools and the community but for such a large catchment area Swindon has, our attendances really should be higher than they are.

For some home games this wouldn't always be possible as some teams have a large away following but this weekends game would have been a perfect fixture.

I appreciate the club already offers free tickets to under 7's with the purchase of an adult ticket but for some this isn't a viable option. Some adults wouldn't be interested in taking their children for a number of reasons such as financial, lack of interest in the sport or because the adult purely supports another team.

Having 4 stands full would surely have a positive impact on the players also. And hopefully if this idea is followed up with, we might see a few more STFC shirts replacing those Man Utd/City shirts which has become such a popular sight around the town.

Even if only 5 - 10 percent of the attendees became Swindon fans surely the long term benefits from their support would be a worthwhile investment?

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

Great idea.

if the council cant suport the club how do you expect the board to keep throwing money at a club they dont own,same old crap from the council

Stilloyal wrote:
Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

Will I be here tomorrow ?
Onwards and upwards and stop using that word a drop in the ocean, it's puts people off, we'll it did me, as those word sound ungrateful.

eddyxx wrote:
you are right, Swindon has the potential to do a Reading, i cant see any reason why we can not be as big a club as them, they are the benchmark and i distinctly remember their dark days when they were a lower league club and no bigger than us. It is achievable, the only way it can come is for the club itself to become of interest to the town population, new state of the art ground is the first thing but success on the pitch dont seem to make a difference here to the fans, god bless the faithfull 6-8000 fans shame on the wembley glory hunters, its supporter apathy and the armchair fan that needs to come week after week. like you say you never know when you got it good, last 3 home games could you wish for better ?

Well said Eddy, I've been banging on about this for years, Reading are a prime example of what can be achieved when a club moves to a new ground. (Brighton could follow suit). I remember going to Elm Park on many occasions, and thinking what a hole, now my Reading friends taunt me about the CG.

If Swindon really are thinking about becoming a bigger club and regularly getting 15K+ attendance's we need a new ground. We never achieved decent gates when Hoddle was manager, even with an 18K capacity, how often was the ground filled that season? West Ham & Play off semi spring to mind.

All the plans that Black and his consortium had in place when they took over were based around a new stadium or redevelopment, I feel with that no further forward today as it was when they took over, it is the main reason for them to look to pull out.

Guv and Stilloyal's comments are correct, I'm with them. COYR

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote: Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

Thats across the board , some clubs benefit whilst others don't. You can't tell me that attendances are up at either Bristol club, because they are down.
It depends on individual clubs performance and the number of available home fans.
Villa gates are down while Barnets are up.

HOOKEY wrote:
if the council cant suport the club how do you expect the board to keep throwing money at a club they dont own,same old crap from the council

Sorry Hookey but you are wrong to blame the council.....it appears that you want the council to fund an external business.
Local Politics has nothing to do with football so don't start spouting such cr@p on a footballing forum.
If we can't attract more people from the town through the gates then the people of Swindon are not interested in STFC.
The Council Tax payers of Swindon would not be happy to see the council spending money on STFC, and in all fairness why should the non supporters pay for our 'hobby'
The board chose to invest with private money, so there is an argument about the 'same old cr@p', but from a different board but that argument does them no credit and would be,frankly, very ungrateful.
Like the rest of the regular support I CHOOSE to spend my disposable income on STFC......We should not try to force our choice on other people.

Stilloyal wrote:

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote: Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

Thats across the board , some clubs benefit whilst others don't. You can't tell me that attendances are up at either Bristol club, because they are down.
It depends on individual clubs performance and the number of available home fans.
Villa gates are down while Barnets are up.

Using city and rovers as examples is daft as they are both in trouble so its no wonder fans wont turn up. Your point was that TV is looking football and other sport when it isn't. More people are going to football than before, and TV is giving other sports coverage that previously were not seen.

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote: Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

Thats across the board , some clubs benefit whilst others don't. You can't tell me that attendances are up at either Bristol club, because they are down.
It depends on individual clubs performance and the number of available home fans.
Villa gates are down while Barnets are up.

Using city and rovers as examples is daft as they are both in trouble so its no wonder fans wont turn up. Your point was that TV is looking football and other sport when it isn't. More people are going to football than before, and TV is giving other sports coverage that previously were not seen.

Killing not looking

As I tell my suppliers it takes 5 minutes to get a bad name , it takes 5-10 years to get a good one . Enjoy the moment . COYR

would be interesting to see how close we are to building a new ground and how the present board see how important it is to the clubs growth and long term future and why there seems to have been no movement on it or if there has it seems to be kept under wraps.

how can you build a newground if the council wont let you

HOOKEY wrote:
how can you build a newground if the council wont let you

How can you prove that ? all they need is the land the money and planning permission, the cg site is a goldmine to the council and they know its worth

HOOKEY wrote:
how can you build a newground if the council wont let you

The council have never had a problem with us building a new ground, it's just we don't own the land on which the CG sits.

eddyxx wrote:
would be interesting to see how close we are to building a new ground and how the present board see how important it is to the clubs growth and long term future and why there seems to have been no movement on it or if there has it seems to be kept under wraps.

I'm guessing that if you removed the wraps there wouldn't be anything underneath, i.e. the whole thing has been shelved and that's why we get nothing but evasiveness from the club when the question is asked.

its been like it for years, the only site we had. all the do gooders put a stop to it that was a few years ago it wont happen, we got agroung thats a mess in side and out

If STFC was a run as a proper business it would either pay its staff less or would have closed down yonks ago. Football is living in a bubble - no clubs except a special few makes money but players and managers still expect to earn sheds loads of money for kicking an inflated haggis around

Lots of good points about support early on in the thread but I fear the 'new ground' angle is a red herring. Redevelop parts of the current one, yes. Both ends need updating, granted. Maybe redevelopment is what people actually mean? To me, 'new ground' means a different location and I'm 100% against that.

Also got to say that the Supporters Trust building up their (our) share of the club is the only real way to have an actual say in how things go in the future. I don't want my club passed from one investor to the next. I want something sustainable.

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:
Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

if football wasnt on every night of the week more people would want to come out and watch a game tv is killing the game

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:
Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

if football wasnt on every night of the week more people would want to come out and watch a game tv is killing the game

Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25.
At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells.
Onwards and upwards

alchafreds wrote:

Davey Gravey wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:
Like the internet is killing the High St, T.V is killing football (and other sport ) .

How? Attendances in all divisions are flourishing.

if football wasnt on every night of the week more people would want to come out and watch a game tv is killing the game

Did you even read the post you quoted? Gates are up across all the leagues. How is TV killing the game?

Another view wrote:
Please, STFC board, read the comments above. You'll always be remembered for saving this club and having the guts to bring in a manager that most would have run a mile from.

Stage 2 now is to follow some of these comments above. When I ask mates why they don't come to the County Ground, they say it's a tired old ground, that houses a team that just flits between the lower divisions. None of them knows about cut price tickets. They know our manager seems a bit loopy - because that gets reported by the mainstream media - but they don't know about the revolution he has set in motion here.

You've done the hard work, guys, saving this club and turning the team around. All it needs is for you to start banging the drum - STFC is going places so don't be shy about it!

Another view of your comment would be that they are your mates - so why don't YOU bang the drum???

We all have a responsibility to get others involved, and if you do that often enough they will develop the habit and before you know it they have a season ticket.

I have 10 people that now sit next to me that I have brought along over the last two seasons and now they are all season ticket holders.

Its all very well asking the Board to keep doing the work and putting the money in, but if everyone brought one other person to a game that would really make a difference!

Davey, it depends what you mean by "gates are up". Up from when? What is your starting point?
.
I think television has had a stranglehold on football for a very long time. IMO there is far too much football shown "live" on TV. I know this is an old-fashioned view (yes, again LR!), and I'll probably get a kicking on here for it, but I believe it was far better when the only games shown live on TV were really big ones like cup finals and important internationals. It meant that the highlights of other games shown on Match of the Day, The Big Match etc were something to look forward to. They gave people a taster of what the game was like, but without spoon feeding the whole thing (minus the atmosphere of course) to them.

smirg kcab wrote:
Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25.
At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells.
Onwards and upwards

Blimey Grim and I should know as I sit next to many of them. I think they call the Arkell's the morgue. To be fair we sit at the back and do try to get things going but cardboard seems to do what it wants when it wants and not very often so its probably one of the hardest things to achieve in getting the Arkell's in full song. May be when that lump of cardboard Wilson was manager the disease spread through the Arkell's like woodworm and there is no cure.

smirg kcab wrote:
Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25.
At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells.
Onwards and upwards

Nice one Smirg best post of the.....er hold on i sit in the arkells" bah".

It would be a fantastic sight to have the majority of the fans at our games in League One holding up scarves, imagine the County Ground looking like the fans were at Bradford last season.

We need the townsfolk of Swindon to support us, but the club need to do more.

Although I am exiled in North Oxfordshire I would like to see local retail outlets put a scarf, fixture list etc in their shop window to help promote STFC, so wherever people shopped they would see local businesses promoting their local football club and hopefully the first football team they think of is Swindon Town Football Club rather than Prem teams.

The club need to go out there and encourage fans into the CG rather than sit back and hope they will come.

Flood the town with images of STFC it might bring a few more fans to the CG if nothing else it will remind people we do have a football team in the town.

smirg kcab wrote:
Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25. At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells. Onwards and upwards

Poor idea - We already have 1,000 cardboard cut outs in the Arkells :) :)

TheDukeOfBanbury wrote:

smirg kcab wrote: Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25. At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells. Onwards and upwards

Poor idea - We already have 1,000 cardboard cut outs in the Arkells :) :)

Remember they are fans and pay their money . Many of them started as Town Enders when we filled it every game and sang throughout the match.
Today the T / E is less than half full for most games and the singing , if thats what you call it these days is sporodic and usually consists of "We do what we want " or "We hate Oxford" a total lack of imagination but it's what is to be expected of todays hapless bunch.
There's Grim the hypocrite who a couple of seasons ago threw his toys out of his pram over ticket prices now advocating paying 25 quid for a piece of cardboard, something he wasn't prepared to do a couple of seasons back.
Come on you lot we're all Town supporters , if you want to have a go then have a go at the fukcers who don't come.
Years ago we were proud to be a Town Ender but it's not like that now with hardly anyone in there and you know what , you can't sing

Stilloyal wrote:

TheDukeOfBanbury wrote:

smirg kcab wrote: Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25. At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells. Onwards and upwards

Poor idea - We already have 1,000 cardboard cut outs in the Arkells :) :)

Remember they are fans and pay their money . Many of them started as Town Enders when we filled it every game and sang throughout the match.
Today the T / E is less than half full for most games and the singing , if thats what you call it these days is sporodic and usually consists of "We do what we want " or "We hate Oxford" a total lack of imagination but it's what is to be expected of todays hapless bunch.
There's Grim the hypocrite who a couple of seasons ago threw his toys out of his pram over ticket prices now advocating paying 25 quid for a piece of cardboard, something he wasn't prepared to do a couple of seasons back.
Come on you lot we're all Town supporters , if you want to have a go then have a go at the fukcers who don't come.
Years ago we were proud to be a Town Ender but it's not like that now with hardly anyone in there and you know what , you can't sing

That's a fair shout stillloyal, I also served my apprenticeship in the Town End and I remember singing loudly throughout each game.

Apart from some amusing ditties about 'telling the South Stand when to sing' and 'he waves with his foot', the Town End and Smirg have been very quiet this season in comparison.

Stilloyal wrote:

TheDukeOfBanbury wrote:

smirg kcab wrote: Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25. At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells. Onwards and upwards

Poor idea - We already have 1,000 cardboard cut outs in the Arkells :) :)

Remember they are fans and pay their money . Many of them started as Town Enders when we filled it every game and sang throughout the match. Today the T / E is less than half full for most games and the singing , if thats what you call it these days is sporodic and usually consists of "We do what we want " or "We hate Oxford" a total lack of imagination but it's what is to be expected of todays hapless bunch. There's Grim the hypocrite who a couple of seasons ago threw his toys out of his pram over ticket prices now advocating paying 25 quid for a piece of cardboard, something he wasn't prepared to do a couple of seasons back. Come on you lot we're all Town supporters , if you want to have a go then have a go at the fukcers who don't come. Years ago we were proud to be a Town Ender but it's not like that now with hardly anyone in there and you know what , you can't sing

IM STILL PROUD TO BE A
TOWN-ENDER mate...
BUT your right its nothing like it was,,
And when they start signing about oxford it does my head right in...

DarrenSTFCRomain wrote:

Stilloyal wrote:

TheDukeOfBanbury wrote:

smirg kcab wrote: Why don't we buy 1,000 cardboard cut outs ? then people can pay £25 to sponsor one and stick it in the Stratton bank, then we will have two stands full of cardboard cut outs paying £25. At least then the bank will sing loader than the arkells. Onwards and upwards

Poor idea - We already have 1,000 cardboard cut outs in the Arkells :) :)

Remember they are fans and pay their money . Many of them started as Town Enders when we filled it every game and sang throughout the match. Today the T / E is less than half full for most games and the singing , if thats what you call it these days is sporodic and usually consists of "We do what we want " or "We hate Oxford" a total lack of imagination but it's what is to be expected of todays hapless bunch. There's Grim the hypocrite who a couple of seasons ago threw his toys out of his pram over ticket prices now advocating paying 25 quid for a piece of cardboard, something he wasn't prepared to do a couple of seasons back. Come on you lot we're all Town supporters , if you want to have a go then have a go at the fukcers who don't come. Years ago we were proud to be a Town Ender but it's not like that now with hardly anyone in there and you know what , you can't sing

IM STILL PROUD TO BE A TOWN-ENDER mate... BUT your right its nothing like it was,, And when they start signing about oxford it does my head right in...

Hi Daz , yes mate I know you are a proud T/ E'r but sadly there aint enough of you these days. I miss those good old days but I'm really happy being part of Paolo's revolution, I just hope it can be sustained.
Bl00dy Pox songs get on everyones nerves dopn't they .
Hope you had a good crimbo and new year buddy.

Yes mate spot on..and the same to you mate

DarrenSTFCRomain wrote:
Yes mate spot on..and the same to you mate

Must go and put my electric blanket on now and make myself a milky Horlicks, nite , nite hahaha

If we are trying to increase the viability of the club, I really can't see how slagging off those that used to come but don't come now will help. Nor slagging off those who have never come, nor slagging off those who do come but don't sing, or hold their scarves up at the right angle.

I suggest we stop whingeing and, as someone suggested, pay for a mate to come along, join the Trust and help increase the fans shareholding.

I suggest the board ( to whom I will be forever grateful), if they wish to move on, position the club as best as possible for future growth. Even the redevelopment of one side of the CG would go a long way to making a statement.

And I hope the Council can use its influence (because it has no money) to attract other, suitable investors to provide a future for the Club and the CG attractive to all people from Swindon.

The best way to pursue this dream is through the Trust. I would encourage all Town fans to join (it's only a fiver) and I'd encourage the Trust to raise funds for another share purchase linked to the redevelopment of the Town End.

If we own the Town End, then no-one will be able to take it.

HOOKEY wrote:
its been like it for years, the only site we had. all the do gooders put a stop to it that was a few years ago it wont happen, we got agroung thats a mess in side and out

Don't take this the wrong way but you really need to educate yourself on the issues being discussed before posting - it's been nothing but drivel in the past few you've put on here - the council's obligations are to those living in the borough and their remit is massive in scope - their priority is not, and never will be, the tiny minority of Swindon dwellers who bother to go to the county ground (and rightly so). Yes, we'd expect them to support any plans we had for moving grounds if it worked for the majority and if it was good for the borough as a whole, but beyond that they don't have a duty to STFC any more than they would to any other business. If Swindon had the money to build a new ground, it'd get done. We don't. That's not the council's fault. Try putting the shoe on the other foot, if you had no interest in football would you be happy with a rise in taxes, or decreasing standards of public services to support someone else's indulgence? I seriously doubt it.

On a side note, Mancrobin, great last post and take on board all that's been said.