Swindon Town 2 Luton Town 1
Back at the start of it all last August, we might have hoped we’d end up mid-table. By the end of October, reaching tenth seemed a hopeless impossibility. By January, a few of us thought we’d be going up.
You can’t argue this was a boring season, that’s for sure.
The final game of the term summed things up perfectly: Town flattering to deceive, not taking chances and then suffering a complete sucker punch. But then, just like the story of the season as a whole, we got our act in order and came back strongly.
An absolute peach of a goal from Stefani Miglioranzi – celebrating, perhaps, finally getting a longer-term contract – brought us level. And then Sam Parkin, who took so many player of the year awards before kick-off it was getting embarrassing, put us up just before the break with a great header.
But, as is often the case with these pretty meaningless final games of the season, it was what was happening on the periphery of the match that was most entertaining.
Most people at the match will remember most clearly the harrowing scenes long after the final whistle, when Miglioranzi removed first his shirt to throw to the crowd, then his socks and then – God help us – his shorts, before jogging the width of the pitch to get indoors.
But there were also the farewells to Eric Sabin (best chant of the match goes to the Town End, with a rendition of “Are you watching QPR?” after an Eric Special spun high over the crossbar) and, of course, Danny Invincibile. The Aussie, with still no news of where he’ll play next season, made his farewell a few minutes from the end. Given the chance for his own cheer by a substitution, the crowd obliged with a standing ovation. I’m sure most of us remember his goal, two long years ago, that pretty much kept us up, even if we also recall a few infuriating, lethargic displays as well.
We shouldn’t forget that day two years ago, or the following midweek when we were all glued to our radios to hear Bristol Rovers cocking things up at their game, to make our final match at Stoke meaningless. To be well clear of that this season, on a drastically reduced budget, is a testament to Andy King’s abilities as a talent spotter and, yes, a manager.
For all the time I’ve written this blog, I’ve been gently chided by longer-standing Town fans for not having been around during the good ‘ol days of the mid 90s, when Town briefly made the top flight. And they have a point: I remember the team, I’ve got the videos, and to see Town fall from those heights to where they are today must have been tough.
But I suspect that for Town to really rally and recover to where it should be, it’s going to require both the club and its supporters to accept the way things are, rather than how things once (briefly) were. The club has only recently realised this – after two bouts of administration – but many of the fans, particularly the stay-away fans, are still in denial.
If so, they're not the only fans in the league who have chosen to dwell on a glorious past rather than the more miserable present. There's a piece in the Guardian today about Nottingham Forest - now there's a team that's fallen a way - that states: "there is the unmistakable feeling... that Forest have finally re-invented themselves as a club that wants to look to the future rather than dwell on the past." And that's my big hope for Swindon Town next season.
You can’t argue this was a boring season, that’s for sure.
The final game of the term summed things up perfectly: Town flattering to deceive, not taking chances and then suffering a complete sucker punch. But then, just like the story of the season as a whole, we got our act in order and came back strongly.
An absolute peach of a goal from Stefani Miglioranzi – celebrating, perhaps, finally getting a longer-term contract – brought us level. And then Sam Parkin, who took so many player of the year awards before kick-off it was getting embarrassing, put us up just before the break with a great header.
But, as is often the case with these pretty meaningless final games of the season, it was what was happening on the periphery of the match that was most entertaining.
Most people at the match will remember most clearly the harrowing scenes long after the final whistle, when Miglioranzi removed first his shirt to throw to the crowd, then his socks and then – God help us – his shorts, before jogging the width of the pitch to get indoors.
But there were also the farewells to Eric Sabin (best chant of the match goes to the Town End, with a rendition of “Are you watching QPR?” after an Eric Special spun high over the crossbar) and, of course, Danny Invincibile. The Aussie, with still no news of where he’ll play next season, made his farewell a few minutes from the end. Given the chance for his own cheer by a substitution, the crowd obliged with a standing ovation. I’m sure most of us remember his goal, two long years ago, that pretty much kept us up, even if we also recall a few infuriating, lethargic displays as well.
We shouldn’t forget that day two years ago, or the following midweek when we were all glued to our radios to hear Bristol Rovers cocking things up at their game, to make our final match at Stoke meaningless. To be well clear of that this season, on a drastically reduced budget, is a testament to Andy King’s abilities as a talent spotter and, yes, a manager.
For all the time I’ve written this blog, I’ve been gently chided by longer-standing Town fans for not having been around during the good ‘ol days of the mid 90s, when Town briefly made the top flight. And they have a point: I remember the team, I’ve got the videos, and to see Town fall from those heights to where they are today must have been tough.
But I suspect that for Town to really rally and recover to where it should be, it’s going to require both the club and its supporters to accept the way things are, rather than how things once (briefly) were. The club has only recently realised this – after two bouts of administration – but many of the fans, particularly the stay-away fans, are still in denial.
If so, they're not the only fans in the league who have chosen to dwell on a glorious past rather than the more miserable present. There's a piece in the Guardian today about Nottingham Forest - now there's a team that's fallen a way - that states: "there is the unmistakable feeling... that Forest have finally re-invented themselves as a club that wants to look to the future rather than dwell on the past." And that's my big hope for Swindon Town next season.
