Wembley, Relegation…Champions?

Relegation is confirmed and the door to the 2010/2011 season has been shut closed for Swindon Town.

We have debated about the problems all over forums, twitter and even going onto the player’s twitters’ to find answers that no one seems to have. It has been a continuous circle of the sameexcuses and relegation has hopefully put all these discussions to bed.

League Two awaits us in August, hopefully with an away trip to Oxford United. However, the more likely fixture is away to Morecambe, who by the way, have a newish and nice stadium for the trip. So we look ahead to the 2011/2012 season and a very interesting summer with the possibilities of a new manager and new players.

The Kassam Stadium. Old rivalries will reunite.

The main issue that needs resolving is the Paul Hart saga. Hart was given a tough task and has failed to deliver what was needed. He didn’t have the time to turn a team low on confidence into a side that had to win two games in a row that hadn’t been done since September. However, the fans have made it clear that he just isn’t the man we want or need.

Paul Trollope has been spotted at several games which leads to speculation after he was sackedby Bristol Rovers in 2010. Trollope is a young manager with a connection to the club and his name has popped up a lot with fans split on this potential appointment but I’d be happy to get behind Mr Trollope.

We have to first of all realise who we are when we think about potential managers. Gone are the days of Macari, Ardilles and Hoddle. We aren’t the same club now as we were back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. We are fortunate to have a club on a fine financial footing and the future is what we need to be building for now.

Notice the word building. Instant success can be great,but consolidation is much more important. That is the word that has actually avoided Swindon Town for what seems like its entire history. A young manager needs to be appointed to bring a new era to the club and given, mostimportantly, time. If it wasn’t Trollope that wouldn’t bother me, but just a big name won’t do. Big names come and go; we need a time of consolidating at the club and give people time.

Could we see Hart in Swindon colours next season?

We expect a decision very soon about Paul Hart’s future and it seems like Hart has been given a potential role at the County Ground for next season. Surely after Saturday’s scenes, Fitton can’t have him on board as manager and having him even at the club will ruin some of the atmosphereamongst fans as he won’t have any support. It will be the same as when Malpas when appointed, we’ll wait for something to go wrong to get him out as he wasn’t a popular choice.

As I suggested, Champions is a very realistic aim for the club next season already. We will be the team to beat in League Two, without singing our own praises and that is an enormous challenge to whoever takes over and the players on the pitch. Who is though even going to be at Swindon fromthis season’s team? Many of you may sarcastically say ‘not many I hope!’ but actually, imagine Jonathan Douglas, for example, in League Two.

Douglas will be key in our return to League One.

From doing some research, (from http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/swindon-town/startseite/verein_352.html) I believe the usual first teamers who are under contract are David Lucas, Phil Smith, Kevin Amankwaah, Michael Rose, Paul Caddis, Simon Ferry, Matt Ritchie and David Prutton.

However, Alan Sheehan, Scott Cuthbert, Lescinel Jean Francois, Michael Timlin, Jon Paul McGovern, Vincent Pericard and Jonathan Douglas are all obliged to leave the club if they so wish. Douglas did boost every town fan by stating that he would like to stay but a lot can change in the next few weeks. Several League One clubs will be in contact the Irish midfielder, and they would be silly not to.

It’s hard to predict who will stay and who will go as it depends on offers from other clubs and also guarantees on playing next season. The board will be looking to sign Sheehan, Cuthbert, McGovern and Douglas back up but again, it depends on who they can afford to keep. We have a good core of a league two squad, definitely good enough to get us back up to League One but many good and brave decisions have got to be made this summer.

We still need to sort out the issues from this season, even with relegation, which means two strikers to go with Benyon and reinforcements at the back. Frampton on a permanent deal could be possible and Calvin Andrew in League Two could also be a big help as he has shown his presence in games, such as Huddersfield away, can be a big nuisance to the opposition.

The season is obviously not even over but it feels like it and the pre season has to be done right this time to ensure an immediate return to League One. Fitton will be tested but I trust in the board and feel, plus only hope, that this League Two status for our club will only be temporary.

Swindon promotion hope to relegation woe

‘‘Don’t worry’’ I said to my mate after the 1-0 defeat to Millwall at Wembley, ‘‘there is next season, we will come back stronger.’’

There hasn’t been a worst prediction of the future in football and it continues to haunt my mind at the end of every defeat during this miserable run.

We all know how we felt after that defeat in May butyet there was a sense of it being Millwall’s day and next year it should be ours. So, it frustrates us all the more to see where we currently lie.

We have heard all the excuses this season from ‘we haven’t replaced Greer, Paynter and Ward’ too ‘Does Wilson even know his first 11?’ and the classic of ‘we just aren’t as good’ and that’s the simple truth. We aren’t as good as last season and with that achievement it’s making this run look a lot worse than if we had just had a season of mid table obscurity before it.

It now stands at 10 games without a win and so where are the faults, the problems and what’s the way out of this mess?

A first eleven

Last season, I could name you the starting eleven every week. It was so consistent that I’ll name it again: Lucas, Amankwaah (Darby), Cuthbert, Greer, Sheehan,McGovern, Douglas, Ferry, Ward, Paynter, Austin.

You look at that and see partnerships along with a real team. Amankwaah and McGovern’s link up was a joy to watch, Paynter and Austin being one of the most successful partnerships since Parkin and Mooney or Finney and Allison. Douglas and Ferry had the right balance of defence and attack to cover each other and support the play. It was ‘liquid football’ as Alan Partridge would put it.

This season Alan Partridge would have a field day at thinking up expletives to describe our teamand performances. Let’s take the team from this Saturday, which was the first time we have had the same 11 two weeks in a row since our last league win at Charlton back in early January.

(442) Lucas, Caddis, Cuthbert, Frampton, Rose, McGovern, Douglas, Timlin, Ritchie, Obika, Benyon.

Straight away it doesn’t strike you with as much confidence as the playoff season and this is the first downfall. The team is full of individuals rather than team players.

Too many players this season are unsure as to what their squad status is, dropping and changing every week. The odd injury is fine, but changes have been made to formation and teams most weeks so the team hasn’t settled. No players have gelled together as one minute it’s a 3-5-2, then a 4-3-3 (4-5-1?) 4-4-2, some weeks it takes me half the match to figure out what we are playing.

‘We never replaced Greer, Paynter and Ward’

The saying that has come out of every Town fans mouth. The statement to start with is a true one. They have pretty much been replaced by Frampton, Dossevi (Benyon?) and Ritchie. These players aren’t as good so where do you begin with the rant?

Greer shouldn’t have ever been sold. From what we know, Greer wanted a contract and he wasn’t offered one. After a season of helping us to a playoff final you should offer him a new deal after a very solid season. It’s no shock that our defence has crumbled without him. Cuthbert isn’t an experienced centre defender and has struggled without the Scot by his side. Frampton might be experienced, but has struggled with injury, only in on loan and isn’t a replacement for Greer. He is barely someone brought in to patch up the back.

Paynter wasn’t a player we could stop leaving. He had one good season at the Town and left. If we had of got promoted, him staying was probably still unknown. So, we had the entire summer to replace him and it didn’t happen. People may say he got in Pericard and Dossevi to try and replace him but they haven’t been good enough. Pericard was never going to make the step up, and Dossevi scored two good headers v Forest and got a contract. It was a last minute ditch attempt signing when you see it from a fans perspective.

Danny Ward was the energy behind towns attack from the left wing. He could get into areas up front and had formed a good understanding with Sheehan. We have almost certaintly tried to get him back to no avail. These things happen, so we signed Matt Ritchie, the player who when he came on loan couldn’t get a game. He was signed for around 200k and came with much hope. I didn’t rate him before, and in a side not playing well, he stands out still. He is a winger with no pace and no strength.

Transfer Dealings

We went into this season as big favourites for the playoffs, so we should have been an interesting proposition too many league one or out of favour championship players. We didn’t strengthen our squad and it has cost us.

The signings of Rose, Sheehan, Caddis, Ferry and Prutton are all fine and necessary but their performances have been another matter. Sheehan was a good signing following his successful spell on loan from Leeds along with Ferry, one of the players of the season.

Ferry though has come in and been behind Prutton in the pecking order. Prutton was a big name signing for us and has played in some good sides like Southampton but hasn’t lived up to his reputation. Simon Ferry still can’t get a chance to settle again with Jonathan Douglas in centre midfield and changing that from last season has been a decision that still baffles most fans.

The signing of Paul Caddis hasn’t worked out so far and at least Michael Rose has scored from goals from dead ball situations. Rose for me isn’t much better than Sheehan, but neither have set the town defence on fire, they have rather made other team’s strikeforces look on fire.

Thomas Dossevi…well that one just hasn’t worked either. An energetic striker, who along with Pericard just can’t play two games the same (that’s if he actually plays one game well.) He has shown signs of potential at least, but it hasn’t happened and he isn’t a goal scorer. Elliot Benyon has now come in with Jonathan Obika last minute and these two are our only hope for goals.

So, Is Danny Wilson the man?

So, we currently sit in 20th, one point above the drop but have played more games than a majority of the sides around us. This has been overly negative, but with the situation being the complete opposite to last, its expected.

Danny Wilson I feel could get us out of this mess, but it’s not what me or the fans think. It’s the players who have got to have confidence and I struggle to see it from the stands. The players don’t know whether they have a regular place or a regular system along with no confidence.

Wilson came in and kept us up before and so why not again? But at least in that squad we had Simon Cox scoring 31 goals in a season, and our man to keep us up, Charlie Austin has gone.

We move onto Southampton away on Saturday, a team yet to beat us since they came down to League One, but that side they faced in those four defeats is so different to the one they will come up against this weekend. A point would feel like a win, and that’s the situation we are in.

Our destiny is in our hands with games against Walsall, Plymouth and Dagenham to come in March. These are games we can’t afford to lose or who knows, we could go from Wembley to the Kassam Stadium in just over 12 months…

Del Rio on the road to Wrestlemania…

But you already knew that! Well I hope you did and tuned in for the 2011 Royal Rumble to see Alberto Del Rio fulfil his destiny.

This year’s rumble was one of the easier results to predict, as seenon my blog, as Del Rio dropped many hints that he will win the Royal Rumble, as many superstars failed to make such a statement.

The Royal Rumble saw some great surprises with cameo appearances from Booker T and Diesel (Kevin Nash) and overall the rumble impressed after a slow start. The rumble was kicked off with the chaos between The Corre and The New Nexus, which makes a potential match at Wrestlemania. Especially after taking Husky Harris out of action on Raw making each group have three surplus wrestlers after their ‘leader’.

We saw cameos from Booker T and Diesel, which was a brilliant move by WWE. We always see the usual old school wrestlers that are getting to repetitive, so to move forward in time to get Booker and Nash was a great move.

John Cena’s elimination was a good creative move by WWE. It was shocking, different and sets up The Miz v Cena at Wrestlemania. However WWE, as suggested in my last blog, might mix things up at this year’s Elimination Chamber.

The Elimination Chamber has taken a different approach to usual this year as the WWE Title will be defended outside of the steel structure. The chamber on Raw will consist of John Cena, CM Punk, R-Truth, Sheamus, John Morrison and Randy Orton to decide the number one contender at Wrestlemania.

Having no WWE title on the line in the Chamber does take some of the surprise element out of the match. Expect Cena to win, with The New Nexus probably costing Randy Orton the match in some way to further ignite that rivalry with CM Punk before Mania.

So, in the WWE title match we have The Miz v Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler. It may seem weird, boring and pointless but it has a reason behind it. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, as stated this week on Raw, has never had a match at Wrestlemania. Classic WWE line to say ‘by the way, I’m going to have a fight at Wrestlemania’ don’t worry though, it won’t be Lawler v Cena for his newly won WWE title. The match will probably (definitely) involve Michael Cole interfering and costing Lawler the match.

On Smackdown, there is the usual concept of the World Heavyweight Title being fought for inside the Chamber. The winner will face Alberto Del Rio at the ‘Grand Daddy of them all’ and Edge will retain to face Del Rio. He does face a challenge from Rey Mysterio, Kane, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger but expect one of these to be a part of and win the Money in the Bank match (which may be scrapped, but hopefully not)

It sounds very obvious, but with Edge being the biggest face on Smackdown at the moment, and Del Rio hoping to be the biggest heel on Smackdown, you expect these two to be put together in the second main event at Wrestlemania.

But where does this all leave The Undertaker’s Streak and Triple H’s soon return?

If you saw Raw, with the promo video that said the date ’21.2.11’ then it would suggest Taker will be back on a Monday Night Raw, not at the Elimination Chamber. It’s an odd one, as it’s assumed he’ll face Barrett, and still will. Why they couldn’t do it one night earlier at the Elimination Chamber to give some added entertainment to the Smackdown title match isn’t known, so we will have to see.

There have been rumours flying around that the date and promo actually relates to Sting joining the WWE. If this happened, it would be good for the one off event. However, everyone on the internet is billing this up to be some amazing match. Surely Taker would win still, Sting probably wouldn't be around long term and so it would be good on the night, but in the long term would it gain anything? putting Barrett against Taker for me would better enhance young talent.

Triple H didn’t return at the Rumble, as said before, to make his impact greater at the Elimination Chamber. When the Raw rumble match was announced, I guessed that Sheamus would face The Miz and HHH would interfere, cost Sheamus the match and we have our Wrestlemania re match. It looks like he may return inside the chamber, (Shawn Michaels style?) and cost Sheamus the

number one spot. Hopefully it will be done with little fuss to add to the drama of it.

The Elimination Chamber last year brought much shock and moved the direction of matches last minute, this year it all seems to be set up at the Rumble, so the Chamber is a mere formality. It’s disappointing that the Chamber may lose some of its shock element but it does make sense for the Rumble to have the major set up of rivalries as it will get many more viewers than the Chamber.

So, through those thoughts you may have noticed where Wrestlemania might be heading, but to make it clear, here are the matches that you might expect to see…

WWE Title

The Miz v John Cena

World Heavyweight Title

Edge v Alberto Del Rio

CM Punk v Randy Orton

Sheamus v Triple H

Undertaker v Wade Barrett

The New Nexus (Otunga, McGillicutty and Mason Ryan) v The Corre (Slater, Gabriel and Jackson)

Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler v Michael Cole

We may also get 2 of the following:

Money in the Bank match

Intercontinental title match

Tag Team title match

Divas Championship match

US Title match

The Awesome and Perfect Royal Rumble

It is now time for the 2011 Royal Rumble!’ It’s the saying at the start of every Rumble that gets the blood pumping and sends shivers down your spine...

This year we will see the biggest rumble in history with 40 superstars rather than 30 along with the WWE Title and World Heavyweight titles on the line but once again the Rumble will command all the attention for your £15 on Sky Box Office.

The decision to increase the number of entrants to 40 is a goodand sensible decision by the writers. The Royal Rumble is the pull of the show, not the matches. The matches are a nice bonus, but the main superstars are usually competing in the rumble match to make it harder to predict who will win. Increasing the rumble to 40 means that we will see men flying over the top rope for at least 1 hour and 18 minutes, with the likelihood of it going on for over an hour and 30 minutes.

It also throws up the question of who will the extra ten be? Will we get more surprises than usual? It does give us that excitement and draw to the match but it will be a chance for more superstars to be involved and have more entertainment with some surprises.

Going back to last year and we saw a shock winner in Edge, a moment that I won’t forget along with those who watched it with me as I got a tad excited. Anyway, this year once again has that potential with the upcoming return of Triple H.

The Game has been ready to wrestle for a while as we saw when he fought Alberto Del Rio at the WWE super show in New York. WWE want to use it at the most beneficial time, but even if he does enter the rumble, I can’t see him winning. It’s too obvious that he will fight Sheamus again and with the Irishmen not in line to win the title before WM 27, you’d have to say Triple H is unlikely to win. I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE held on till the Elimination Chamber to build up the suspense even longer and make you tune in for that PPV.

Other Royal Rumble potential winners are John Cena, CM Punk, Big Show, Wade Barrett, Sheamus, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio (No) Kane (where has he been recently?) and WWE once again showed us on Raw that Mark Henry could win. He won’t though will he WWE? So why bother every year to pretend he has a chance? Rant over.

The obvious pick of the winners is Alberto Del Rio. The slight hint has been the fact that for the last three weeks or so he has been on Raw and Smackdown just to say ‘my destiny is to win the royal rumble.’ It’s nearly as bad as when they showed before the 2008 Royal Rumble the 5 minpromovideo of who Randy Orton was.

WWE know that he wouldn’t be anybodies natural choice as he is still new let alone the fact he is a heel. The last heel to win the rumble was in 2009 with Randy Orton but before that it was in 1999 and Vince McMahon. WWE often give victories to the faces so that they will win the title at Wrestlemania, but will this year be the fulfilment of Del Rio’s destiny? I believe it will and here is why using the two main matches.

First of all, I believe a Smackdown superstar will win, and we need to look at the Raw title match of WWE champion The Miz (Awesome!) v Randy Orton to see where I am going. The Miz for me will

win and go into the Elimination Chamber as WWE Champion. WWE have been very happy with The Miz in recent weeks, he builds a lot of heat and splits crowds.

But why does this matter? The Miz can carry the belt as a heel till Wrestlemania. He will only get bigger in the build up to Mania and improve. Raw has an abundant of talent with Cena, Punk and Orton ready to fight for the main title at Wrestlemania as well.

Raw probably won’t do a one on one match and there will be many twists and turns before Wrestlemania about who will be in the main event. With Cena v Punk looking like it won’t last till Wrestlemania, both of them have the chance to fight for the title at ‘the Grand Daddy of them all’. Raw doesn’t need a rumble winner to decide the next title challenger(s), they can be creative in creating its number one contender(s)

This is why a Smackdown superstar will win as they don’t have the same options as Raw. The World Heavyweight title match is Edge v Dolph ‘Perfection!’ Ziggler and Edge will win this as Dolph is merely what I call a Rumble opponent. This is someone who the WWE see as being able to make the jump up to be a realistic Title winner but someone as well who we know won’t win the Rumble. Dolph Ziggler is a great character and has big potential, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he won Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania, that’s if they keep it, which they should.

Edge wins at the Royal Rumble, and with Alberto Del Rio winning the Rumble, we have our Smackdown main event. This is if no titles change at The Elimination Chamber PPV on February 20th, which is a big assumption with WWE as you wouldn’t be surprised if they did mix it up. However, Edge will be in the main event whatever at Wrestlemania.

I have also realised how little the name John Cena has been mentioned, which has been a nice change. Cena doesn’t need the WWE title in his match to make it a good rivalry, much like The Undertaker. If he is in the title match though, it will still add a lot, and as Jim Ross said about Shawn Michaels, but you could use for John Cena ‘whether you love him or you hate him, it’s really irrelevant.’ He still pulls in crowds and I’m guilty as I watch to boo him.

Even though The Royal Rumble does build up to Wrestlemania, The Elimination Chamber will once again bring us shocks that will ultimately decide Mania. With that type of match, it does give the opportunity to turn things on their head as we saw last year with Batista winning the WWE title after the match from John Cena and Jericho winning because of an interference from Shawn Michaels.

Check back in February for thoughts ahead of Elimination Chamber, including me probably eating my words after Mark Henry wins the Royal Rumble. I don’t even want to imagine what that would look like…

Transfer Window: The Movie

Its January, Beckham’s on the move again and Sky Sports News is on your TV 24/7, it can only be the joys of the transfer window.

Over the years we have seen some great drama that movies are made of, or at least I know a movie based on that would be better than High School Musical.

Ashley Cole going to Chelsea and the saga going on till 3am, now that is good TV. Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United, Carlos Tevez to Man City, Rafael Van Der Vaart to Tottenham Hotspur and for some reason, Eidur Gudjohnsen going to Stoke was given coverage.

You could make a film based on a big transfer move or even a documentary. You have the fundamentals to make an action film like the secret phone calls to find out what the enemy is doing, (a bit of tapping up or enquiry) the initial confrontation (meeting of the two chairman’s) the war negotiations, (the player’s contract) the fight (player or agent demanding more money)the aftermath (the official unveiling press conference)

To be honest it doesn’t sound that exciting. I wouldn’t expect Danny Boyle to ring me and go further in depth but you get my point.

The transfer window brings drama to the football season. For the Premier League it brings a concentrated time in the season when the big clubs can buy players. For us ones who follow the little clubs it brings an excitement where we can see if the board will pull out that 100k for a half decent striker.

Many managers and fans criticise this novel idea as teams lack players due to injuries or need to improve. That’s what is great about this time that you have to prepare your squad and play with it for the next few months.

It makes it harder and makes sure that the clubs with the big money don’t justsign players here and there or knick the football league hotshots when they feel like it. Every signing has to have a purpose.

Also, it brings over the top drama and incredible TV viewing. It turns deals that aren’t that big into massive ones on slow days. Sky Sports reporter Bryan Swanson comes out with his Mr Incredible mask on going from ground to ground chatting about transfers.

It’s so popular, he has even built up a core faithful who go with him to watch his reports. Fans always seem to be hanging outside the stadium with him. Unless they don’t have much to do and actually wait for the signing to turn up, sign a piece of paper, to go home again. Nah, it’s got to be the Swanson factor surely…

Anyway, I have had great fun looking up potential deals as some of you may have seen on my twitter including Kenny Miller going to Fiorentina. That’s why the transfer window is good, silly rumours and ridiculous signings. As long as your own team isn’t the one doing the silly deal it’s fine.

Here are some deals that have caught my eye so far…

Liverpool and Oxlade-Chamberlain

If Liverpool pay £10 million for a young player when they need help now, you would have to say that club is out of control.

Liverpool and Negredo

Liverpool probably won’t have European football at the end of the season so any good signings are out of the window. Maybe just the name is that attractive still.

Everton and Abdullayev

An Azerbaijan defender…The team always gets drawn to play Wales and struggles in the qualifiers for any tournament.

Benzema and Aston Villa

Aston Villa are struggling and Benzema is a top class striker. It would be the coup of the transfer window. However, Real Madrid want Adebayor on loan because Higuain is injured. Madrid need the cover so couldn’t let Benzema go.

If you have enjoyed some of these links, then you must visit the website below which shares people’s own rumours. You know the ones, like ‘my mate is at Heathrow airport and just saw Carlos Tevez, must be going to Arsenal.’ Or the classic ‘my mate is a taxi driver and just drove Wayne Rooney to Liverpool.’

Have a look at the Football Rumours Website to add your own rumour. Who knows, it might turn into a Bryan Swanson story that is then developed into an Oscar nominated movie.