Sir Seton replies...

and he's still very, very pissed off. You'll find, at the foot of the page here, his response to the Trust's letter of Wednesday.

He writes: "it may not have been your intention to criticise or cause distress but many of your statements and actions lead me to think otherwise." He goes on to state it's not the business of the Trust to question his stucturing of the club, and closes with this: "Both James and I would respectfully request you communicate solely through Mark Devlin to let me know how many supporters are members of the Trust together with your proposed Memorandum of Understanding."

That, to you and me, is a message to put up, or shut up.

On the brink again

Mark Devlin is in the Adver today re-stating what he, and the Trust, both warned of last week at the supporters' forum: Town are being pushed to the brink, again, by the growing number of stayaway fans who are boycotting the club's home games. It's a claim which is obviously true, as is his statement that Town would not survive a third period in administration. This is not a bluff.

It's a bizarre situation: this web page has had more unique users since August than the average crowd at the County Ground this season. Indeed, interest in Town - as measured by visitors here - appears to have gone up since last season, not down. Yet when you talk to Town fans - people who have been supporting the club for decades longer than newcomers like me - so many of them have a reason for not coming.

The favourite is not liking King, vowing not to return until he's gone (and Devlin has a pop at them in particular today). Others don't like the board, or think the ticket prices are too high, despite Town having one of the cheapest covered seating areas in the league (although I'd concede that stand seats are very expensive). Others call themselves Town fans, but haven't been back since the first division days, and manage to say "I'm not watching that crap" while wearing a recent replica top.

I wasn't here for the glory days, and I'm told by fans of longer standing that it would be different if I had been. I'd be bitter (even more so?) about the current situation, and more angry with King. Maybe they're right. But I was also brought up to believe, in the football-obsessive west of Scotland, that you support your side through thick and thin. Are things so different here? I daresay we find out against Tranmere a week on Saturday.

What's going on?

There appears to have been a spectacular falling-out between the Supporters' Trust and Sir Seton Wills, the long-suffering majority shareholder and financial backer of the club.

It started yesterday with a slightly strange statement from the Supporters' Trust, acknowledging Sir Seton's investment - or should that be donations? - to the club over the years, which have effectively kept the place going.

If that looked odd, in that it came out of nowhere, it quickly became clear that there had been a bust-up behind the scenes. As the Adver containing the Trust's "we love you, Sir" message hit the streets, Sir Seton published a fuming letter on the club website (although I now can't find it - you can find a copy someone posted, helpfully, here on Rivals).

In it, he attacked - by name - the leading members of the Trust, accusing them of "continual vitriolic aggression", "unwarranted attacks" and of "undermining" the club board's attempts to secure the future of the club.

Now, I keep a close eye on the Trust's public pronouncements, and can honestly say they have not said anything that would qualify as "vitriolic" or even "unwarranted". Maybe a few posts on MyOnlySwindon have gone over the edge in the recent spell of madness, but they have nothing to do with the Trust who, I'd imagine, have better things to do than join in with online chitter-chatter.

Unless something has been said to Sir Seton by a Trust member in private, it sounds like he has either been badly misled by someone, or has got completely the wrong end of the stick about what the Trust is up to.

The Trust says it wants to patch things up quickly. In what appears to be a hastily drafted press release, again re-posted on MyOnlySwindon, Tony Norris and Leigh Collett offer today to fly out to meet Sir Seton in South Africa to try and clear things up.

It's a bizarre episode, but if Sir Seton pulls the plug, Town will not last long: with so many fans staying away, it continues to lose money, and the suggestion from those in the know is that it wouldn't make the end of November without its benefactor's deep pockets.

Notts County 1 Swindon Town 1

A creditable draw last night, although by all accounts Eric Sabin and Danny Invincibile both missed enough chances to have won half a dozen games, not just last night's.

Not that this is stopping last night's scorer Sam Parkin from praising the other two to the skies. He goes as far as to pick out Sabin as having the best game he's seen since he arrived at the club.

That might be seen as damning Sabin with faint praise, but the Frenchman played well on Saturday and has been showing a marked improvement in form over recent weeks. It's been brought about by what appears to be an increase in work rate, which is always good to see. A little more confidence and some practice at heading in front of goal (like Saturday, he missed a good headed chance last night) and Eric could still be a force for us.

Another positive from last night was the continued good form of Alan Reeves. Now, I'm one of the many who can't understand why Adam Willis was dropped in the first place, especially when Reeves was not on top of his game when he first appeared in the side.

But last night, as on Saturday, Reeves was "pick of the defenders," according to Jon Ritson's match report, and that's got to be a good thing too.

Crowd v crowd

What do you say after a day like Saturday? The whole episode of crowd v crowd was unlike anything I've ever seen at a football match. And, having taken every opportunity to take in football all over the place over the years, I've seen a fair few different crowds, and sampled a fair few ugly atmospheres as well.

Few Town fans could think Andy King has done a great job in recent months. Yes, he talks some crap in the post-match interviews - but I'd imagine most of us would if we had to stand up and justify yet another defeat, week after week. Yes, someone really should tell him not to insult the fans on the radio (something which was going on even before it turned really ugly in recent weeks). Yes, his tactics and team selection can leave us all bewildered.

At the same time, the increasingly personal abuse he's taking from a small part of the crowd is abhorrent to me.

For us fans, the fact is it's easy to boo. It's easy to chant "we want King out". It's really easy to vow never to return to the County Ground while he's in charge, and tell all and sundry you're doing it (frankly, I don't know why Wiltshire Sound sticks on all those callers keen to bitch about King despite not having gone to see the game - that drives me up the wall).

But it is a lot harder to remain loyal to the team, and work out a way to communicate your disquiet with the way things are being run without undermining the side. Joining the trust is one way, but it's clear from the Trust's membership numbers that only a small percentage of those who turn up to games have paid a tenner to join the organisation most likely to cause some real change at the County Ground.

It's also hard to imagine someone who (a) could do a better job than King with the resources he has at his disposal (none) and (b) is so desperate for a job they'd take this one, and put themselves out the running for a post somewhere that has a little money.

A large number of the people making the most noise about King post over on My Only Swindon. From hearing Bob Holt and Mark Devlin talking it sounds like they think the posters on MoS, hiding behind their online nicknames, speak for most fans. They don't, and that much was made clear on Saturday when the two stands shouted down the couple of hundred - tops - who were doing the anti-King singing.

MoS posters claim their singing is directed at King, not at the team. Maybe, and we all understand the reasons they're doing it, but they need to understand the players are affected by it too. The heads obviously went down as the Town End embarked on its singalong on Saturday, and Mansfield enjoyed a spell of pressure they were unlucky not to grab a point - or three - from.

Even if the hardcore anti-King brigade thinks it's OK to level personal abuse at their club's manager from behind their anonymous logins, or from the relative anonymity of the crowd, they should be aware it causes the team harm. Harm that could do our chances of staying up just as much damage as a dodgy tactical decision by King.

Trust chairman Tony Norris made the point, after the game on Saturday, that if people didn't stop making their one-person stayaway protests at whatever upsets them at the club, there soon wouldn't be a club to moan about. It's a point well worth remembering. There are better ways to change things.

FA Cup first round

We've got Huddersfield, at home, in the FA Cup...

Swindon Town 2 Mansfield 1

Andy King branded the Town end boo boys "a disgrace" after today's win, when there was as much action off the pitch as there was on.

On the pitch, things couldn’t have started worse: Gremink cleared by sending a low hard pass straight at David Duke. He couldn’t control the ball and gave it away to Liam Lawrence, who shot from some 35 yards out. It rolled past the chasing Bartman, and went in off the far post.

One minute and three seconds were on the clock, officially.

Immediately the chants of “we want King out” started from the Town end and, it’s got to be said, there was a fair amount of anger around the ground at Bart's cock-up.

That could only have been made worse by the fact Reeves had been returned to the side, replacing Adam Willis, despite the team winning 6-1 midweek. You could sense that most of the 4100 crowd feared things could go from bad to worse.

But, to their huge credit, the players lifted themselves and started to pass the ball around. Eric Sabin continued his recent resurgence in form and had a header saved, before the turning point in the 20th minute.

Johnnie Jackson broke and swept a long ball from deep inside his own half towards Sam Parkin. Parkin, racing into the box, rounded the keeper, but it seemed like an eternity before he steadied himself, got on his left foot and shot into the net.

After that, Town pressed on, although the game was always pretty scrappy. It was clear neither side was exactly packed with class, although Mansfield scorer Liam Lawrence looked lively for the visitors.

Town’s winner was scored in the opening minute of the second half. The ball broke to Sabin and he raced through on goal. He took his time, rounded Pilkington and shot home from a tight angle, around six yards out.

A goal up, you would have hoped the crowd would focus on driving the players on to securing the match with a third. But quickly the threatened chants of Lou Macari’s barmy army kicked off (despite Wiltshire Sound earlier confirming Macari had turned the job down), and it clearly had an effect on the players.

It was an astonishing set of affairs. Town were winning, but Mansfield were clearly enjoying an extended period of control, including a shot against the woodwork, while a pocket of fans in one end chanted for Macari, and King out, instead of backing the team.

The north and south stands tried to drown out the anti-King songs with proper support of the side, but the hardcore Town-enders carried on, hurling abuse at their fellow fans in the Nationwide and even shouting down a pocket of kids who had sung for the side.

Andy King descended from his seat in the directors’ box and started gesticulating at the Town end, and for a while it was bedlam – home crowd versus home crowd versus the manager, with the players the spectators.

It all continued until the final whistle, although Town (against the odds) got a little stronger towards the end of the half. They did well - with the two sides applauding the team and King, and one end booing the manager (who was shaking his fist back at them) you’d have to think we were lucky to get the three points.

The mighty LDV vans trophy draw

In the cup we're gonna win, Town have been drawn away to Kidderminster this morning on Soccer AM. Which could make for an interesting return for Jan Molby, should he take over.

Molby set for hot-seat? Plus... Mansfield come to Town

Updated: Wiltshire Sound and the Adver are both reporting that Jan Molby spent the day at Swindon Town yesterday. He watched the Town squad train at Wanborough with director Bob Holt (the BBC link above has pictures) and the afternoon in talks with the club. Andy King, it appears, knows of the situation and would take up some kind of coaching role if Molby was appointed manager.

Molby, of course, had a fantastic playing career at Ajax and Liverpool, but his record as manager has been a little less remarkable, at least recently. He parted company with Hull City earlier this season after only two wins in 12 games, although (as someone pointed out to me this morning) he did manage Kidderminster to promotion from the conference even if, in three years, he lost almost as many games as he won. At his first managment job, he got Swansea promoted via the play-offs, despite a poor start to his time there.

There are other names in the frame, and Holt says they will interview all the candidates on their "very short" list. Others mentioned are former Barnsley boss Steve Parkin, and former Town captain Colin Calderwood. Former Tranmere manager Dave Watson could be on the short list according to today's Adver. The board seem only too aware that Lou Macari is the fans' choice (click on the link for a really good summing-up of Macari's time at Town in the 1980s, from swindon-town-fc.co.uk), whatever "baggage" they feel he carries from his last time here. They board could also well be made even more aware of Macari's support tomorrow, if posters to MOS succeed in their plans for ground-wide singing of that old '80s hit, "Lou Macari's red and white army".

One stumbling block appears to be the future role of Andy King. In the Adver piece above King makes it very clear he doesn't want to end up as little more than a scout at the club - as he would have done under Mel Machin. He wants to continue coaching, which would seem to remove much of the point of a new man at the helm.

After all, a new manager is not going to be able to bring in lots of new players to freshen things up: any improvement will come largely from what is done on the training pitch, as well as in team selection. How much will the new man be able to change things around if the old manager is still around? It'll certainly take a strong personality to put up with that kind of situation.

All that is certain is that King will be in charge for tomorrow's vital game against Mansfield at the County Ground which, even at this stage of the season, is as clear a "six pointer" as you'll get.

We're equal on points with Mansfield, although we have far superior goal difference, and we really need a win. Why? A victory will not necessarily lift us up the table but it is likely to bridge the gap with those clubs immediately above us, or stop them pulling away further. Peterborough are two points ahead and face Bristol City at home, while Barnsley are four points above and meet Wycombe at home).

But aside from that, if you can't beat a side like Mansfield at home, then you really are destined for relegation - they were everyone's favourites for the drop this year, and so far they are largely fulfilling their (lack of) promise. They've been thumped a good few times this season, although hope has been sprung at Field Mill by two surprising results of late: a 6-1 home humiliation of Tranmere, and a nil-nil draw away to Peterborough.

The warning is there, particularly in that last result, when reports suggest they really should have won. But it's hard to imagine our players coming out the tunnel too cocky, despite Tuesday's landslide win. Isn't it? Here's hoping a decent crowd turns out to drive the lads on.

Has last night saved King?

There's plenty of comment around town and in the Adver that last night's drubbing of Southend might have saved Andy King's position as manager. The speculation is intensified by the fact we'd all expected to know by now if Mel Machin was taking the job of manager.

That we know nothing now maybe has more to do with the complexities of appointing the new man, than any uncertainty that it's time for a new broom. In fact, Devlin pretty much confirmed this last night when he said there was little doubt there was a "need to freshen up the place".

Don't forget: Machin is comfortably retired on the south coast, with shares (we think) in Bournemouth, and he might not feel like taking over at a "crisis club" with no money, on a short-term deal. Going fishing might seem like a lot more fun, so it's possible he's already said no to the job.

In which case the club's management is probably being quite wise in letting King get on with his job while they look around to see if there's anyone else who could do the job better and who - most importantly - is willing to come to the County Ground. A winning run (fingers crossed) gives them a bit of cover while they get the right person for the job. And it keeps us a damn sight happier too.

Don't miss Jon Ritson's entertaining match report from last night. He makes a suggestion towards the end of his piece: "Perhaps training between now and Saturday should consist of watching this video over and over and over again. You can do it lads!" It's an idea Andy King should really follow up.

Swindon Town 6 Southend 1

Right - I won't hear anything said against that giant of trophies, the LDV Vans Cup. What a fantastic result - not enough to save Andy King, perhaps, but certainly enough to raise the team ahead of Saturday's vital six-pointer against Mansfield Town at the County Ground.

Southend were not that bad: it was just that Town rediscovered the previously lost arts of passing, running - and shooting, of course. It's got to be good for morale that there were six different names on the scoresheet, and a lot of individual performances which had improved over recent displays.

Dave over at Rivals has a good write-up of the match (I'll add links to the other reports as the day goes on), and it's worth popping into the forum over there just to check out the fairly amazed reactions among fans.

A good trust meeting on Monday, a thumping victory midweek... three points on Saturday would make it feel like we really have turned the corner.

Club confirms board seat for a fan

Blimey - less than 24 hours after the fans' forum, and the official website is pretty much confirming (login required) that a fan will be appointed at the AGM, as reported below. If anything, things have got a step more definate: last night a few bets were hedged, while today things seem much more certain.

Meanwhile, despite the lovely weather, tonight's game against Southend is on, for sure.

A feisty night at the fans' forum

(This entry will update as more information and links come in - do check back later on)

A packed Supporters' Forum last night heard Town's top brass commit to putting a fans' representative on the club's board of directors, possibly before the end of the year.

Director Bob Holt warned that any new director would have to face their legal responsibilities in running the club - and that failure to do so could see them being banned from directorships, or even sent to jail.

But he said the "most appropriate vehicle" for getting a fan on the board would be the club's annual general meeting, now due to happen either later this year, or very early next year.

It would then fall for the Supporters' Trust and other fans' organisations to lobby shareholders - and, crucially, the Wills family - to get backing for their candidate.

The commitment came towards the end of the two and a half hour-long forum, held in standing room-only conditions at the GW Bar. The evening saw fierce questioning of Holt and Town chief executive Mark Devlin, while Holt warned that the Wills family were close to stopping their flow of cash into the club because of the criticism they have faced from fans.

The evening kicked off with an hour-long presentation by TrustSTFC chairman Tony Norris had raised serious concerns about the way the club is being run.

In particular, he voiced worries about the role of businessman Mike Diamandis, a banned director who plays a leading role at the club, and who set this season's ticket prices. Diamandis is credited as being the main reason the Wills family continues to fund the club - without their help, says Norris, the club would barely last a month.

Holt and Devlin refused to discuss in any detail the likely appointment of a new manager this week. Holt, initially, tried to claim the talk of a new manager was simply press speculation, but this was greeted with laughter by the audience.

Devlin was slightly more open, although he also refused to discuss specifics, saying only that Andy King had been kept informed of what was going on - a claim which contradicts King's repeated claims that he has been kept in the dark about the appointment of any new manager.

During the night it also became clear there had been a serious of communications blunders by both the Trust and the club. Both sides appear to have kissed and made up, and have been working much more closely in recent days, but at one stage communications appear to have almost completely broken down, with the club ignoring the Trust and the Trust threatening legal action against the club.

-- I've put up a fuller (1300 word) report on the night's events here, arranged in a Q&A format so you can find the issue you're most interested in. Feel free to comment below, or drop me a line if there are any omissions or cock-ups (much of it was done through an early morning, pre-coffee fog, so go easy :-))

What's going to be announced tonight?

It's the TrustSTFC Fans' Forum tonight at the GW Bar, opposite the Swindon station, at 8pm. I'll be there: aside from being a useful excuse to get out to my local on a Monday night, I suspect we may get some kind of announcement on a manager.

Mark Devlin, Town's embattled chief executive, is going to be attending tonight, and today's Adver reports that Mel Machin is to decide, by 5pm tonight, if he wants to take over as manager. His task will be to keep Town up, without spending any money, and the deal will last until the end of the season.

If he says no - and a few Town fans will be hoping he does - then the other names mentioned by the Adver are Jan Molby and former Town captains Colin Calderwood and Shaun Taylor. I'd love to see some kind of pairing of those last two - two guys who were both inspirational players in their day, with strong STFC links. But I suspect it won't happen, because they would also be slight gambles, and safety first is the name of this board's game.

Either way, it looks certain Saturday's match was Andy King's last match in charge of the first team. There will be a new broom for our home meeting with Mansfield Town on Saturday.

Bristol City 2 Swindon Town 0

Today's Adver on another defeat - Town's ninth in 14 games: "Defeat is becoming a way of life and shaking the habit is proving a tough challenge." And few could argue with that analysis, having watch David Duke's laclustre attempt to mark Scott Murray hand his fellow Scot the opening goal.

The fans had pretty much expected some kind of defeat at Ashton Gate, and a few were even reasonably happy it wasn't four or five. The fear is the players felt the same.

Over at MoS Dave Hanley highlights the increasingly cringe-worthy post-match interviews on Wiltshire Sound. It was Ed Hadwin's turn to face the wrath of Andy King on Saturday, and the manager managed to sound even more like a man under pressure than last week, if that's possible. To be fair, it must be hard work to come out and justify another pisspoor performance every few days. But the petty insults he hurls at Hadwin, in particular, make you wince. Not for Ed, who's just doing his job, but for King, who doesn't come out of it well.

The Dunwoody mystery

Maybe Town's current mess forces us all to be conspiracy theorists; to fear the worst about what's going on. But I'm not sure what to make of today's news that Dunwoody Sports Marketing is no longer going to be running a large chunk of Town's affairs.

The background: Dunwoody was brought in to manage all the "customer facing" stuff at Town: everything from selling tickets to flogging the half time pies. As part of the deal that brought them in this summer (and as a part of the recovery plan after the period of administration), they took over many of the salaries at the County Ground - salaries which, only on Thursday night, Mark Devlin was saying the club could not afford.

These activities were losing money, so Dunwoody was not going to make money at the start of the deal - but it was due to last for five years, so they must have hoped that by improving things enough (like doing up the club shop) they could increase the amounts spent, and earn enough through their cut of revenues to make a profit over the lifetime of the deal. But Dunwoody didn't have a great start: they got caught up in the row about ticket prices (which were set by the board of directors, not them) and the strips fiasco (most likely caused by Town's dodgy-as-hell financial status, not them), and were quickly being blamed by some for all Town's woes - or, at least, those woes not caused by Andy King.

Today, it has been announced that they are walking away from the deal. Mark Devlin praised the move, telling the Adver: "The company has made a brave decision which it feels is in the interests of Swindon Town Football Club. There has been mounting criticism with people quite wrongly engaging in a whispering campaign about the Dunwoody role at the County Ground."

So Devlin blames the fans for the ending of the arrangement, and suggests the company has done something which it feels is in the best interests of its client? Call me cynical, but there's little room for sentiment in most business relationships. Maybe, on review, Dunwoody felt it couldn't make money from the deal. Maybe, on review, the club felt things weren't working well enough, and it wanted a closer relationship with its customers. Either reason is a good one to end a business relationship.

But, if it's either of these things, it's completely wrong to blame fans for forcing Dunwoody out - especially when the fans are just trying to fill in the blanks caused by a deafening silence coming from the club they follow.

Devlin was praising the Dunwoody deal in a radio interview taken on Thursday, and broadcast on Friday on BBC WS. Even if Dunwoody are feeling they have been forced out of the club, questions have to be raised about how things are being managed at the County Ground. He's made a rapid turnaround, after all, and is hinting fan power caused the change.

It's not unreasonable for a football club to out-source "non-core" things like catering and marketing, so the management can concentrate on footballing matters. Swindon fans are angry, yes, but mainly at the form on the pitch - not at the quality of commercial management. They're hitting out at Dunwoody only because a handful of people wrongly suspect they run the club (the Newbury address lodged at Companies House as being Town's registered address is actually that of the club's auditors, not of Dunwoody, although they are based in the town too).

The point is this: if the club is drastically rearranging its apparently sensible commercial arrangements just to try and appease a handful of fans, it's heading for disaster. Is there anyone planning long-term at the County Ground?

Machin - the latest

There were talks today between Town and prospective new manager - sorry, "first team coach" - Mel Machin, but no appointment has been made yet. According to local radio, this is because the board wants to consider all the options. Or could it be they... er, ran his name up the flagpole, to see who'd salute? Or his shareholding in the Cherries is causing grief?

Either way, nothing announced this evening, and there's bags of time for things to go drastically wrong in true STFC style. Upping the pressure, there's even a story in the local Bournemouth paper (I suspect this link will expire overnight) saying Machin's going nowhere - and promising an exclusive interview tomorrow. Much more fun to come in this one, sports fans. Stay tuned.

Mel Machin set to be new Town boss

Both BBC Wiltshire Sound and the Adver is claiming an exclusive this morning: ex- Manchester City, Barnsley and Bournemouth manager Mel Machin is set to come to the County Ground as the new first team coach. Andy King is expected to be moving up to become Director of Football.

A few folk are already asking: who the hell is Mel Machin? He's certainly not one of the bigger names mentioned in recent days (not a Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne or Peter Reid, for instance). But Machin, 57, has a reasonable track record at the clubs he has managed. He won promotion to the old first division at Man City in the late 1980s and had a period at Barnsley where he did OK, before quitting over the club's policy of selling their best players. He joined Bournemouth in 1994 and steered them through some troubled times, saving them from relegation to the third division and going on to build a side that played some decent football, and brought good young players through the ranks (see links at the foot of this entry for more).

The surprise of today's move, should it come to pass, is that Machin was supposed to have retired earlier this year (he had been director of football at Bournemouth for a spell) and is/was a director of the south coast club. It seems he remains a shareholder - my understanding of FA rules is that he would have to get rid of those shares before becoming formally involved with Town.

He is agreeing personal terms this afternoon, but will not be involved in tomorrow's derby match at Bristol, according to Wiltshire Sound. Ed Hadwin, who has an interview with Mark Devlin for tonight's Sports Talk on WS (6pm), is also saying he expects "boardroom level" changes at the County Ground, although it's not clear yet what those will be.

And what of King? Assuming he accepts being bumped upstairs, which his recent interviews have suggested he would, it's both a dignified exit from first team affairs, and a smart way to keep hold of someone who is (if not a great manager) a very talented scout. This is certainly a better arrangement than having co-managers which, as I said earlier in the week, don't tend to stick together too long. There are likely to be a few fans upset that one of the household names bandied about are not coming in, but Machin looks like a safe pair of hands. I hope.

Find out more...
Machin used to play for Norwich - there's a good summary of his career to date at Ex-canaries.co.uk.
The link above leads to a Bournemouth club website page, which sums up his most recent moves and reports on his retirement.
From BBC Sport online - Machin quits Cherries. An interesting quote from further down the report: "But despite only having nine points on the board by Christmas, Machin steered the club clear of almost certain relegation to finish on 50 points. Over the next few seasons, he signed talented youngsters like Matt Holland and Ian Cox, and made inspired loan signings such as Rio Ferdinand."

We could do with a bit of that.

Holt and Devlin set for fans' forum

Well now, here's a thing: Town director Bob Holt, and chief executive Mark Devlin, are both going to attend the Trust STFC fans' forum on Monday night. The news comes from supporters' trust stalwart Leigh Collett in an email just sent out to the membership. It makes the meeting all the more interesting - and raises the possibility that we'll get some answers on what's happening at the County Ground. I wonder if they were persuaded at all by Jon Ritson's column today, warning them about the dangers of a lack of communication? Whatever, well done to Jon for pointing it out, and to the Trust for applying the pressure in the first place.

Adams out, Reid in, King in too

In, out, in, out, shake it all about... life at the County Ground is one big hokey-kokey. Tony Adams, reveals today's Adver, has turned down a role with Swindon because he's taking a year out to study (its sports science at Brunel Uni in Norf London, since you ask).

But Kingy's still keen to talk about it because it shows "I am trying to do everything I can to help bring this football club success," he says. He briefly considered calling for Gazza, before approaching old mate Peter Reid, who recently parted company with Sunderland, with the suggestion he be manager at the CG - with King as his assistant.

It's an interesting idea, and one which the Adver suggests might give the clearest pointer to what happens next: King stepping (at least partially) aside to let a new man come in and share managerial responsibilities. We've seen that happen at Charlton and Liverpool, mind you, and it never lasts too long.

What is clear is that things have got to improve over the next month. Mark Devlin refuses to set any deadlines today, but you can take the talk "of the next month or so the picture [becoming] clearer" as a fair hint of the timescale the board is considering. It also turns out that Andy King's current contract would make it reasonably cheap to sack him: the only reason he is staying on is because the board thinks he's still the right man for the job.

You can only admire their loyalty, and pray that it's rewarded, but they're quickly becoming the minority at the County Ground.

Ruddock out, Macari in?

Two "maybe" stories today, one marginally more likely than the other, I suspect. First is the Adver's report that Neil Ruddock could finally be on his way out of the County Ground, after negotiations between him, the club and a PFA representative. The plan on the table would still see Ruddock get his money, but over time rather than in one go. The twist in the story is that Ruddock clearly fancies a management job: we knew this already, after he threw his hat in the ring when Roy Evans walked out last year, but there are plenty of fans (if not me) who'd like to see him in charge at the County Ground.

On that subject, we also have the Rumour Du Jour: Lou Macari in charge by the weekend, according to "rumours coming out of the County Ground". If it seems unlikely, it's mainly because we're unused to anything much coming out of the County Ground at the moment, other than Andy King's rambling post-match monologues. But dreaming about what might be is lots more fun than than dwelling on what is at Swindon Town these days.

Crowds crisis

Here's a link that's not made too often - to the Western Daily Press where a story reports what Mark Devlin noted on Saturday: our new break-even crowd figure is 5,500. That's bad news given we haven't managed that kind of crowd since the start of the season. October has been a bad month, and the next two home games - against Southend midweek and Mansfield on Saturday week - are unlikely to have 'em flocking in, even if we're playing well.

Our saviour!

It's a well-known fact that when you're in the desert, parched, sunburnt and near death, you get the cruellest hallucinations: an oasis of blue water on the horizon, bordered by shady palm trees, or a comely maiden pulling you a nice pint of Arkells. Or so I'm told.

So it comes as no surprise to learn that Stuart Pearce - yes, that Stuart Pearce, all English bulldog, Nottingham Forest legend, snarling after that penalty - was spotted down the County Ground today by someone on their way to work. This is the second sighting in the last few days - he also took in Saturday's game, supposedly on a scouting mission. Ladies and gents, we can but dream, and in the meantime the vultures circle.

Swindon Town 2 Colchester Utd 2

'Fess up time - I ran away to Scotland for the tail end of last week, thus missing the game at the weekend and that most precious of collectors' items, an Eric Sabin goal (although I did get to see Scotland win on the telly, which is almost as rare these days).

So, in my place, "anonymous fan" attended to report on proceedings.... these are his words. I'm sure we'll all extend our thanks to Anonymous for being among the few to go along, and let us know what happened.

"This was my second game of the season and my last until Boxing Day, when I'm willing to suffer anything to get away from the relatives.

A poor team would have beaten Colchester easily - unfortunately Swindon weren't that good. After an hour of patternless play, Swindon found themselves two down thanks to a couple of very early Christmas presents from Bart Griemink. Let's hope his generosity doesn't continue - there are a lot more matches before Christmas. During the first half, the most memorable moment was when some sections of the crowd (ie those still awake) started chanting "off off" when the referee reached for his cards after a foul by Reeves.

After Colchester's second goal, there was a slight 'reaction' amongst the crowd. Apart from the normal Andy King chants, we were treated to renditions of "You're not fit to wear the shirts" and "Stand up if you're walking out". Looking at the size of the crowd, it appeared to me that most people hadn't even walked in.

Incredibly, Swindon then had a relatively good spell and scored twice in as many minutes. At that point, we looked as if we had learnt how to play again and would go on to win against what was clearly a dire team. When Sabin was clean through and about to shoot for the second goal, I was convinced that the shot would end up in the Town End or possibly the car park. To be fair, though, he took chance really well. Unfortunately, although we did create further chances, the finishing reverted to its normal standard.

We had enough chances to win this game and we really shouldn't have conceded two goals against a team that had only scored 6 all season (doesn't bode well for next Saturday!). In the end though, this was a game between two poor sides who deserve to be where they ended up after the game - both in a relegation spot."
-- Anonymous Fan

You'll find the full Adver report here, with an interesting reference at the end to Stuart Pearce sitting in the stand during the game. There are also some rumours doing the rounds that there has been some sort of fall-out between Adam Willis and Andy King which, if true, would only have to increase the pressure on the manager to quit or get out. King says he didn't want to put Willis on the bench for fear of him getting a (warm) response should he have to replace Alan Reeves who, as Anonymous notes above, got plenty of abuse during the match.

£105,000 for Sol

No surprises in today's transfer tribunal, which met to decide how much Luton Town should pay us for Sol Davis. We wanted £150,000, they offered £50,000 - the board went a little more than half way. We get £60,000 now, and a further £45,000 after a certain (unknown, for now) number of matches played. That's a good price for a player I always had a few doubts about - the only worry is that the money now goes straight into Neil Ruddock's back pocket, as part of the loyalty bonus he's due.

Why the Tories are the new Swindon Town

Guardian columnist Rod Liddle writes today that the Tories are just like Swindon Town - losing all the time, with a leader who is always having to explain why his players are doing really badly. Miss out the political stuff at the end - Liddle's analysis of Town's position is worth reading by itself. (And no - this had nothing to do with me, for those already asking).

"...as each match draws to a painful close and the boos ring out from the ground, mobile phone calls start coming in from fans screaming for the manager, Andy King, to resign or kill himself, or, better still, move to Oxford. A little later poor Mr King is hauled before the microphone and he apologises with quiet dignity for the ninth defeat in 10 games and the commentators sympathise and say to the spluttering, enraged callers: what do you expect him to do? How can he do anything with no money? And the callers go quiet, then, or just mumble."

So, farewell then...

Steve Coppell is off after only a few weeks, having signed a one year contract to manage struggling first division newcomers Brighton. It brings to a close a pretty short, and pretty unsuccessful, experiment, during which Town have continued their abject form - apart from one positive blip - despite whatever the players might say about the new man bringing some fresh ideas to the training ground.

It maybe gives us some pause for thought about Andy King's role in the continuing disaster that our season is. While he is certainly to blame for the poor tactics, and some astonishing post-match interviews in which he has blamed everybody but himself (including players, fans, mysterious men in the background after his job, etc etc), Coppell's inability to turn things around in any clear way shows the problem might be a bit deeper than just the manager.

Of course, some will say it would have needed Coppell to be in charge properly, without King's influence anywhere nearby, but that wouldn't be the whole story. Coppell was quoted as saying Town need at least four new players to get the team going. It's possible the players we've got simply aren't good enough, or this season are not fearful enough of losing their place in the side, to turn it on week in week out. And who is going to come in to replace King when there's an embargo in place, and the purse strings are tightly closed as Town tries to get through its CVA?

Swindon Town 0 Oldham Athletic 1

Should have gone for that root canal treatment. Town started brightly, and in the first five minutes looked as though they might make a contest of it. But Oldham, in their first attack, went ahead when the ball fell at Lee Duxbury's feet, just inside the box. With David Duke on the wrong side of him, he was left with all the time in the world to shoot past Bart Gremink. It was the sixth minute, and from then on the atmosphere - and the game - turned against the Reds.

Most embarassing of all, Oldham defender Baudet was sent off at the end of the first half for hauling down Danny Invincibile, yet we looked even worse in the second half. Not helping matters was the fact that, with Sam Parkin starting his three match ban, we didn't have a striker on the pitch. That's not to say Eric Sabin and Danny Invincibile played badly, but neither can be relied upon to get the bread and butter goals which we needed today. There was precious little inspiration coming from the midfield, and the comic capers at the back continued. You'll understand if I don't want to run through the grim details here: if you like wearing a hair shirt on a Saturday night, there's a blow by blow BBC account here, or a shorter Manchester Online report.

What of the manager? Well, during the match the Town End and parts of the Nationwide made their feelings known about Andy King. "We want King out" was the most popular chant of the day, increasing in frequency and volume as the match wore on. There was also a protest from a group of fans outside the man stand after the final whistle which, apparently, ended in some trouble between Town and Oldham fans.

While all this was happening, in one of his rambling, long and slightly bizarre interviews, Andy King railed against the fans who called for his head and even those out of work managers waiting in the wings to take his job (in a particularly jaw-dropping moment, he said he wouldn't be surprised if one was trying to "take the wife" as well, as he spoke). He re-stated that he was as good as any manager going, and added that we could "take that to Alex Ferguson".

Of the game, he admitted "we never looked like scoring", but was still bemused as to how we lost. Overall the performance, he said, was better than against Luton, even given a second half show that was awful. "They didn't do as they were told - they were taking individual decisions", he told Wiltshire Sound. "The people on the park have got to take responsibility for their job."

Referring to the fans calling for his head, he insisted he would not resign. "They're after me", he said. "But I'm not walking away - I'm not a quitter." That said, he then suggested that he would "do what is best for this football club" - which sounded to me like he could resign if asked to by the board. But it's difficult to tell exactly what King is thinking after the match, and the reporter made no attempt to clarify.

Mark Devlin also spoke tonight: he said King was still being backed by the club, and said they would struggle, anyway, to find someone to take on the job. He pointed out that the club's three top earners - presumably Ruddock, O'Halloran and Parkin - were unavailable to King today, and said that there was money - if the embargo could be sorted out - to bring in some new faces.

Lovely day...

for a game of football. Shame we're probably all looking forward to it as much as a nice bout of root canal treatment.

It's amazing to think that professional footballers might not be up for every match, but all reports from last week's away defeat at Luton suggest that was the case. So today's Adver sees King issue an ultimatum to his players: show the required effort or be "unceremoniously hauled off the pitch and left out in the cold".

It's lovely to think that could happen (and King has been too slow to make those changes in the past), but perhaps some of the problem is there's no real squad at the County Ground. Who is going to take today's first 11's place? Assuming the players can't motivate themselves simply through being honest pros, or (at least) playing for their own pride, maybe the lack of competition for places is a problem. What's the incentive to burst a gut if the only person who could take your place is an 18-year-old with no first team experience?

I daresay we'll find out a lot about the character of our team today - Oldham present a stiff test, and any kind of result would be good for us, even under normal circumstances. But this afternoon we're without Sam Parkin, who starts a three-match suspension for his absurd sending-off against Cheltenham. Steve Robinson's ankle problem is likely to keep him out, and Jimmy Davis is not fit enough to play. The only good news ahead of the game is that Stefani Miglioranzi is fit, so is likely to start.

Gubbing? Que?

An apology: on Monday, I used the word "gubbing" to describe what Oldham Athletic will likely do to Swindon Town on Saturday, miracles notwithstanding. A few readers have suggested that this word originates from a place some distance from north Wiltshire - probably, in fact, Scotland. And they're right. Funnily enough, when you need to describe a real hiding on the football field, Scots parlance appears to have all the good words. Don't know why that is. So - in the first of an occasional series - a few dictionary definitions for all those left mystified by the dodgy words used in the blog:

Gub n. 1 To strike, hard, usually with fist or forehead 2 To beat heavily (esp Scottish national football team)
Gubbing adj. 1 To have been struck, hard, several times 2 To be suffering from a huge or excessive defeat ("this is a right gubbing, Bob" - "Aye, Jim, yer no wrong")

What's the score?

Normally, Swindonlog would rush to the support of staunch Town fans like Mark Davies, who tells the Adver today that he's going to lead a campaign to raise the £5000 needed for a new scoreboard to sit above the Stratton Bank. You couldn't have found a more obvious outward sign that the club was going to ruin than the empty "punch and judy box" staring blankly out over the pitch. More recently, wags suggested it was, in fact, our chairman's private box. Either way, Mark could bring a little more dignity back to the club by raising the cash needed for this very standard piece of stadium furniture.

But this week we have to question Mark's timing - does he reckon he's going to get many offers to help when the scorelines are so depressing? During the recent run of thumpings perhaps our only consolation has been that we don't have the score up in bright lights, ramming defeat even further down our throats...