Swindon NCFC

I''m a Resource Officer (Civil Service Accountant-Yawn) for a lab near Oxford.

Strangely enough Swindon. It''s a long old trek to FCR but well worth it.

After reading a piece entitled "Let''s find a chant for Fleming" it got me to thinking (which is no mean feat). Now I appreciate this is slightly camp but if the Barclay Boys could add their "F*** Off, F*** Off, F*** Off, F*** Off, F*** Off, F*** Off, melody (from winkers, you''re just a bunch of....) we could have a cracking showtune going. To the tune of hey big spender. The minute he walked on the park You could see he was a man of distinction a great defender Cool Headed, passings refined Craig Fleming is the best defender you''ll ever find Too much shopping at the Canary store has brought out my feminine side. Best go shoot some deer or something. OTBC

I''m with 1st Wiz on this one in that I''m sure if I predict a win we''ll lose. However such is the feeling of excitement & anticipation before a game I usually end up going for a positive prediction anyway relying on my superstitions to counter any negative "hex" effects. Over the last 3 seasons I always have to buy my programme from the same lady using 2 pound coins & a fifty pence. In the main this has served us well with our excellent home form. Unfortunately I tried to overcome the superstition at the Brighton cup game & look what happened (not that I control the weater but superstitions aren''t rational anyway). Thinking it was an one off I broke with tradition & we lost 2-0 to Top of the league at Portman Road, Thankyou very much for the 6 points Ips**t. Does anyone know if there''s a curse on the Barclay based on the fact we very rarely score in that end? Also remember the Cardiff curse & that up until some interfering old witch removed it the home dressing room there was the key to victory (unless you''re Wales of course).

Apologies if I''ve caused offence to any of the stewards. I''m sure if there were more at every part of the ground I''d complain of a stewarding overkill. It was built up from an annoyance at not acting sooner myself & also at the club for not being able to do anything about it (I realise now after the event is not good enough). To be fair to myself on this, this individual shut up at half time (which was when I''d have seen a steward anyway) so nothing could have been done regardless or so it seems. I wonder why it needs a steward to witness this & not a supporter? Also it would be interesting to know what happens when a complaint like this is raised at the game & who has to hear what. Apologies to anyone who has to sit by Neanderthal at the next game but maybe if they know action can & will be taken then they''ll step up & notify the correct person.

I wonder if any other supporters in the City Stand heard the various shouts of "you black etc. etc." directed at Marlon Harewood during the first half of the West Ham match. At the time I really should have mentioned it to the stewards but a lack of them , coupled with an element of concern over how some nutcase might react towards myself & family for pointing the finger ensured that I didn''t raise it at the game. However from the safety of home I contacted the club just to highlight the issues & to back up any comments my fellow supporters might have left with the stewards. I was advised that because I hadn''t raised it at that time, after the match was no use. They mentioned they would monitor it in the future but that''s all they could do. Bearing in mind I didn''t recognize him as a regular I assume he could be appearing in a seat near you soon. I was assuming that as they had information on the seat of the individual they might be able to react but it appears they can only react if a steward hear''s it. Presumably once something like that is heard you get out of your seat, locate a steward, point out the offender & ask the steward to keep a beady one on the culprit until he lets fly again. Now I realise myself or others along the row should have taken this action immediately but I''m afraid being short in stature & built more for comfort than a scrap the last thing I wanted was for some idiot shouting who knows what to know that the guy in front of him had contacted the stewards & possibly have had him removed from the ground. I also had my 9 year old nephew & 80+ grandfather to watch out for too. I''ve also experienced some nutter being thrown out & the threats levelled at the poor guy that fingered him (so to speak) made Phil Mitchell look like Mother Teresa. Obviously the club view this seriously but how do we highlight something during a game if the stewards only appear when somethings kicking off on the pitch? Anyone else encountered something like this.

Sorry getting away from the original thread but onto the "sub thread" & with reference to Gazzathegreats point in particular. Like many others who are not fortunate to live in the area I make every effort to get to games. Despite travelling over 400 miles (round trip) from the footballing backwater of Swindon I still hold a season ticket & until the birth of my son last year I''d attended every home game bar midweek. Not only that but I bring my nephew too who I managed to turn from being a Gunner (Glory hunting father supporting Arsenal but from Northampton-Go figure) into a fully fledged young canary. My son will grow up knowing all the players I can remember & hopefully he will have NCFC memories of his own to pass on to his kids & so on. Just because he was born in Swindon why does that make his opportunity to follow the canaries any less valid than me as I was born in the fine city? Get over it & realise the world is a smaller place & people move not because they always want to but still have a right to hold onto their roots. I''m not looking for a medal (unless it''s a nice shiny one) but we are getting to the stage where we''re endorsing the "your not from round these parts" approach. Regardless of if you''ve followed the Canaries for 100''s of years or travel from the moon to a game each week it doesn''t matter as long as you wear the yellow & green for whatever reason. Why should someone have a degree in NCFC just to come along & cheer them on? Rant over. Lets stuff the unhappy Hammers this Saturday. OTBC.

Nice one. Wimbledon 1 (13 mins) Anyone who''s left. NCFC 3 (26) McVeigh (56) Makay (88) McKenzie

Just to back up Windy''s point Master Green on ruining the thread. Your posts always head towards a holier than thou stance incorporating insulting or abusive wording such as "Blinding Arrogance" or "My dad''s bigger....". I''m the chap you called a "luddite" by the way so it''s not a one off. We are all here to voice an opinion without trying to humiliate or attack the other person. The idea is to build up a debate & to look at other''s opinion''s rather than being so single minded & disregarding someone else''s point of view. (Yes it sounds like Hippy Tree hugging cr*p). We all appreciate it''s not ideal to criticise players but in the heat of the moment if a player does something badly or plays poorly most people would comment. This is our only chance to make our feelings known as I don''t think Ian or Nigel would read our message board so during a game it''s an opportunity to get the point across. If you shout "Henderson you''re rubbish" & you''re the only one then you look stupid but if others agree then maybe a point is being made. Can you honestly say you''ve never shouted at a player at a game when you''ve been? Personally I don''t think Ian merits a starting place because I don''t feel he has strength on the ball, doesn''t tackle well & doesn''t always track back but that''s my opinion. He reminds me of Chris Llewylnn (apologies for spelling) in that so much was expected & chance after chance was given & he never quite delivered what we thought he was capable of. The crowd got on his back & he was off. At Bristol Rovers he banged in a corker & then went off the boil only to go to Wrexham where I think occasionally he may do something spectacular. At this level we need the quality week in week out & not sporadically so if he needs a rest give it him but don''t blame a poor performance on being tired because as a manager Nigel should see this before & not after. And no I don''t expect Nigel to have a cystal ball but he should be aware of a players'' fitness & what they can & can''t do.

I noticed last night that Hucks was back in Manchester for the game against Leeds. Wonder why?

Scotty & Susie Just spoken to the ticket office & because it''s a season ticket they have to offer the seat to the next on their waiting list so unless you''re the next one on it I don''t think I can help. Sorry I did try but they have their proceedures I''m afraid.

If you can arrange anything with the ticket office you could use my season ticket in the City Stand. Wouldn''t be able to get you the ticket posted in time though so the ticket office would need to be obliging.

Will be happy to discuss economics & finance with you again though Master Green. I will prepare a paper & post it to you. Thank you for your points & a more informative than insulting discussion. Bravo. Apologies but off the thread a bit. Hi Swindon Canary. I have seen a few of us in the local area but yours is the first posting I''ve seen.

From reading your posts it appears that your opinion is always correct & anyone who wavers from the party line is insulted & of course wrong. If only I knew what a luddite was I may well be offended. However from a Financial point of view I''m afraid your comment is somewhat wide of the mark as only £2.5 million (of a £4.6 million loss) was down to ITV Digital. That would explain the reduction in turnover from £15.4 million to £13 million except that the non playing areas actually increased their turnover by £1.1 million. So lets recap. Last season turnover of £15.4 million & a small profit so say expenditure of £15 million. Reduction from ITV Digital of £2.5 million & playoff Income of £1.5 million but off the field increase of £1.1 million so you''d expect turnover to be in the region of £12.5 million so were not far off. Now here comes the science (I may be a luddite & vacuous (my words on vacuous) but I can rememember L''Oreal advertising which is good as I have little hair). If the budgeted spend was based on the Income & what was known we''d expect to see (Say £15 million less the playoff Income of £1.5 million as we wouldn''t bank on that again) we''d be looking at costs in the region of £13.5 - £14 million & not the £17.6 million actually spent (£13 million Income + £4.6 million loss). However we did have a cash surplus made up of a significant amount of share capital which obviously isn''t a profit & loss issue but an interesting aside none-the-less in terms of how that cash was spent. The simple fact is that to fund the £200K for Hucks could we not take a slight risk that come the annoucement we have bought Hucks then a few people may well delve into their Christmas stocking & offer the canaries some cash for shares. Does the share offer close before the transfer window opens? It makes an interesting point that us happy punters plough some cash into the club only to find Hucks is unavailable but Akinbiyi fancies a return. After all is doing it on the cheep (parden the pun) is the idea then why not him or some equally poor replacement. Sorry but the 3 fantastic loan signings are a 1 trick pony & there''s no way Worthy will be able to get the same sort of group that gel so well. After all if we can''t afford £200K now how will will afford the £400K wages it would cost to bring in 3 more players of the calibre we''ve had. We missed out on Windass (thank God) but missing out on Hucks or Crouch is a big blow for the club. The annual losses will only diminish if we offload players because as they are on set contracts between 1 & 5 years there costs are set for that time. Are you suggesting when their contracts are up we offer them less. In the case of McVeigh, Green & Drury (arguably 3 or our best) they will be off make no bones about it. Leaving it till the last minute is not a reason to give them credit. What if we decide we''ll have Hucks in 2 weeks time but Man City have loaned him out for another 3 months to Wigan. As for selling the house that may be all we have left if all our horses have been put out to pasture instead of being allowed to race (Did you see what I did there. Clever Eh?). I am deeply concerned about the state of our club & am a realistic type of guy (not a glass half full/empty type as sometimes half a glass is good enough) but it appears (appears is not a statement of fact just in case) that the club are going to lose Hucks or Crouch or both & that has a knock on effect on the rest of the players as they are playing better as they have better players to play with. Easy. It seems that your basis for argument is based on the old US Nuclear warning of if a Nuke goes off then sit under the table & cover your head & you''ll be just fine. So it could be that we buy Hucks, he gets injured, we don''t go up & hav

It was recently reported on the NCFC website that the money raised from shares was to go towards finacing transfer fees etc. Then the Pink ''Un reported that over £300,000 had been raised. According to TeamTalk (who are usually right) Man City are to sell Hucks for £500,000 to promotion chasing rivals Wigan. So for the sake of a £200,000 shortfall in transfer fees, which if the club stated they were buying Hucks, I''m certain would arrive in terms of shares & then possibly £10,000 a week wages we are to lose one of the players who has not just helped the team individually but also improved the players around him. So we are left with Iwan leading the line after Saturday. I''m sorry but thinks just stinks of a lack of ambition & desire. To all those posters who go on about if you only earned £1 a year but want a £500,000 house take the risk but you''ll end up homeless etc. etc. look at the title of this post! The way it is going if we don''t get promoted soon the club will continue to make losses which will eventually shut us down or we do a scum & shaft the local businesses. Despite following from afar I''m still a season ticket holder (3) & attend virtually every home game (excluding midweek) & although that has no baring on my entitlement to an opinion it does show I''m a loyal supporter & not a Davey. Come on City sort this out otherwise next season it''ll be bye bye McVeigh, Green & Drury & hello to the likes of Swindon Town or Peterborough. As for the financial mismanagement of turning a small profit to a big loss regardless of ITV Digital the club should hold its head in shame regardless of the excuses. The is absolutely frustrating & disheartening & absolutely makes my blood boil. OTBC

The decision on these players could make or break our season. This is arguably our best chance of going up in many a year. And it''s not just the loan players having an effect. McVeigh is definitely playing his best football for a long time because he has a quick thinking set of forwards to match his invention. Also look at Mullers, last season the only passes he made were backwards but now with some quality to aim at his talent is shining through. We have some good players at the club but by playing with the loanees it seems to bring out the best in them. By not signing them it shows a lack of ambition but then if we do sign them no-one can guarantee that we''ll be promoted so it''s a tough choice for the board to make. However it wil be a lot easier buying them now rather than looking for replacements for the next 3 months & to replace Macca, Greeno & Mullers when they decide to move on if we don''t go up. By the way sort out Macca''s contract, if it hasn''t been done. He''s a great asset to the club & we need as many of those as we can get.

Not so long ago we were stuck in the lower half of the Division getting beaten by teams like Port Vale, selling off our decent players & seemingly having a new manager every few months. However we are fortunate enough to now be in a position when we''re unhappy that we''re not top, we''re beating the likes of Sunderland & have managerial stability (we just need him to pick the best side now-Why Holty at right back?) so my question is are we asking for too much? After all going up in 2nd place wouldn''t be too bad would it? I for one am dissappointed that yet again we''ve thrown away 3 chances to be top of our Division. So it''s November & although it counts for nothing in the grand scheme of things it does show the other teams in the Division that we''re capable of hitting the top & could stay there. Unfortunately we appear to choke when there is an opportunity to make a mark(Birmingham (harsh but true) - Almost against Stockport - Wolves (Scum number 2) last seaason - Watford/Preston & Coventry this). In fact as far as I can remember going through at Molineux has been the only time in recent memory when we''ve stood up & let ourselves be counted. I love this club & it would be great to be able to chant "We are top of the league" even around Swindon. I realise that sounds shallow but it would be such a great feeling to see our club topping the Division rather than the constant comments that "Norwich could go top for the first time since 1999" but we don''t. My other point is to do with our ageing Central Defence. Malky is a great servant to the club but is he now getting a bit like Ewan (too old for the job full time). Then there''s Flem. Both of them are fantastically aware but are both so slow on their feet that no amount of tactical awareness can save Greeno from being left one on one with the oppositions strikers at least twice a game. If we don''t give the younger guys a run then surely we need to invest here too. We''re not really a swashbuckling side who will score 5 if they get 4 so we need to be realistic. As for Hucks I still think Crouch would be a better bet if had to choose one but would dearly love to keep all 3. Come on you yellows.