Safe Standing

The Old Shrivenham Road Terrace

My first experience of watching Swindon Town was in the old Shrivenham Road terracing at the County Ground and one of the first matches I attended was the 5 - 0 drubbing of Fulham FC in the FA Cup third round replay on Tuesday 11th January 1977. This Fulham side boasted amongst its regular starting line-up the likes of Bobby Moore, Rodney Marsh and George Best, but Swindon Town drew 3 - 3 at Craven Cottage the previous Saturday to bring the team from the then Second Division (today's Championship) to a cold, crisp night of football in Wiltshire. Swindon Town were playing in the league below them (Division Three or today's League 1) and, despite the Robins' performance at Craven Cottage, the trio of world stars that the West London club had in their first team were expected to lead them to an easy victory over the club from the Moonraker's county.

The Old Shrivenham Road Terrace and the Town End as a Terrace

Despite the silky skills of the World Cup winning England captain and the world class abilities of Best and Marsh, Fulham suffered a thumping 5 - 0 defeat leaving the majority of the 23,883 crowd with a big smile on their faces as they filed out of the ground at full time. I was stood in the Shrivenham Road terrace in line with the 18 yard box at the Town End. I was eleven years old, but had the stature of someone half my age, so, for most of the game, I saw only what was in front of me on the pitch or the backs of people stood in front of me - when the play went towards the Stratton Bank, I had no chance of seeing any of the action!

David Fairclough - aka "Super Sub"

Three seasons later, I still hadn't grown much (my brothers all inherited the "tall" genes), but I'd graduated to the Town End. The experience of the "Home" terrace was that I learned a lot of rude songs, found that on cold days, like penguins, we could all huddle together for warmth and that "bundling" down the terrace when the team scored, or the game was boring, created the waves seen on the Kop and other large terraces at other football grounds, but on a rather smaller scale. Often, people would be treated by the St. John Ambulance volunteers for injuries sustained during such activities, but these were seen as an occupational hazard for the average terrace-dwelling football fan. The crowd would swell or diminish depending on who the opponents were, but, after a thrilling 1 - 1 draw at Highbury when Billy Tucker equalised after coming on as a "Super Sub" a la David Fairclough (ask your Dad/Grandad), Swindon Town hosted Arsenal FC of the 1st Division (today's Premier League) in the replay of the League Cup Quarter Final on Tuesday 11th December 1979.

STFC v Arsenal 1979

A crowd of 21,795 packed into the County Ground and there was hardly room to breathe in the Town End. For someone of diminutive stature, the only chance to see any of the match was to climb up the back and hang in the rafters like a monkey - for those of you that were there, I was the annoying person with the horn that presaged the vuvuzela. The Arsenal team boasted more stars than the Fulham side of 1977 with the likes of David O'Leary, Frank Stapleton, Liam Brady, Graham Rix, John Hollins, Alan Sunderland, Brian Talbot, Willie Young and the mighty Pat Jennings in goal. The score was 3 - 3 at full time and Andy Rowland scored the winner in the second half of extra time to secure another famous victory at the County Ground.

The Stratton Bank Terrace -  as was

The point of the reminiscences above is to illustrate that the terrace experience, standing to watch your football team, is not always the best way to get your money's worth from the ninety minutes of activity on the pitch. If you are of a certain height, elderly or infirm, then standing to watch a game of football has its limitations, especially on the terraces of old which are still prevalent in the lower divisions of the Football League. The view for these customers/fans would be obstructed and crucial elements of the match would be missed due, for example, to the Neanderthal in front getting in the way. These terraces have their dangers as well with turned ankles being the least of someone's worries if they tumble to the ground whilst being pushed from behind by the "bundle" as described earlier; once one of these waves started down the terrace, the only thing to stop it was the crush barriers in front, which was painful if you were stood in front of the barrier as the wave of humanity crashed into you from behind.

Caged Like Animals

The tragedy at Hillsborough on Saturday 15th April 1989, where 96 Liverpool football fans died as a result of a crush at the Leppings Lane end of the ground brought a renewed focus onto the archaic stadia up and down the country and especially the terracing that was standard at the time for all football clubs. The final version of The Taylor Report was published in January 1990. It was the result of the inquiry into the events on that day and it recommended that all major football grounds (Premier League and Championship) be all seater. This led to the Football Spectators Act 1989 in which the Thatcher Regime tried unsuccessfully to force football clubs to introduce membership cards for their fans; you must remember, this was in the days when football fans were looked upon as scum rather than the clubs'customer base. One of the factors that exacerbated the Hillsborough disaster was the fencing that all clubs had around their grounds to segregate rival fans and to prevent them from invading the pitch. Clearly, something had to change within the football community if further disasters were to be averted.

For me, the introduction of all seater stadia was a move in the right direction. Comparing even the County Ground of today to that of the 1980's, it is evident that the match day experience is no longer one of enduring the armpit sweat of your neighbour whilst trying to keep your footing as the crowd surges threatened to topple you forwards. You can drink a hot beverage and not fear that someone's elbow is going to knock the cup from your grasp, spilling its scalding contents all over your person. From the County Ground, we can look enviously down the road at the Madjeski Stadium, home of Reading FC, and see what a modern stadium can bring to the community of a footballing town. The stadia that have been born out of the Taylor Report show how good things can be once a club's football supporters are looked upon as customers rather than scum to be tolerated.

However, inherent in the legislation and the provision of seating is that all spectators must, within reason, remain seated for the duration of the game - allowance is made for goals scored, etc. The football club's team of stewards and the police are charged with enforcing this aspect of the law and it can easily be carried out if an individual continually flouts the rules by standing at a game. The problem arises when the whole crowd within a stand at a stadium remain on their feet throughout the match. How does a small team of stewards and police enforce the "no standing" rule when thousands of fans are flouting the law at the same time? Generally, a common sense approach is taken and throughout the country, fans are permitted to stand in a seated area providing there is no crowd disturbance. For the most part, the fans in the Town End remain standing throughout a match and there appears to be no friction between them and the stewards or police. Although some of the fans are standing, because those in front are doing so, thus obstructing the ones behind view, clearly there is a desire amongst some fans to have a standing area somewhere in their stadium.

The Yellow Wall

Liverpool's Kop

So-called "Safe Standing" areas have been incorporated into the designs of new stadia throughout Europe, but especially those in Germany. The Westfalenstadion (or Signal Iduna Park) is the home of Borussia Dortmund. The south grandstand has a capacity of 25,000 for standing spectators. Commonly known as "The Yellow Wall", when full, it is reminiscent of the various Kops throughout the old British football grounds when, especially in the 1970's, they used to be a sea of scarves and banners. The atmosphere that standing fans create behind the goal is greater than that of seated fans and is one aspect of the match day experience that has diminished since the advent of all seater stadia - one reason that some fans feel compelled to stand throughout a game. Another reason is that some people feel that they have to rail against authority and stand only because they are not allowed to. Others are probably too young to remember the decrepit, old stadia of yesteryear and have never had the experience of standing on an old windswept terrace.

An Old Style Terrace

Whatever their reason for wanting to do so, there is a groundswell of support for reintroducing standing areas into domestic football grounds. However, if this is to be done, then the old style terracing is obviously somewhere not to be revisited. Modern "Safe Standing" design incorporates seats that can be safely folded away, allowing fans to stand behind a sturdy barrier with a barrier at their back.

The old time "bundles" are a thing of the past, as the crushes down the terrace can no longer occur.

However, more customers can be accommodated in this sort of stand than one that is all seated and the seats can be used as and when required. These "Safe Standing" areas seem like a good compromise for those wanting to stand at a football match and those concerned with safety. I for one would probably not use one, those "tall" genes never did kick in, but I would rather my kin who wanted to stand did so in a safe area rather than the terracing I endured in my formative years.

Austerity & "Twenty's Plenty"

With the World's financiers heaping misery on the majority of the planet's population, causing fiscal hardship through their mismanaged schemes, Austerity, a term usually associated with the effects of the Second World War on the spending power of Britain in the 1950's, is the watchword of the politicians who kowtow to the businessmen who really wield the power in the 21st century. It's not difficult to witness that the poorer sections of society are once more bearing the more disproportionate brunt of the economic asperity. An 8% rise in utility bills means  that, relatively, a greater portion of the family budget is taken by the "Fat Cats" from those on the breadline compared to that of the higher earners in society. Disposable income is squeezed and the pennies do not stretch as far as they did a year ago meaning fiscal choices in households up and down the country become more clear cut as the ability to pay for school trips, children's new shoes and nights out is taken away. It seems that the definition of Austerity means that the Private Sector can do as it pleases, increasing prices to boost profits, whilst Public Sector spending is cut ensuring welfare budgets, the safety net put in place to alleviate pecuniary suffering at the lower levels of society, shrink to the point whereby families in the UK are forced to resort to charitable donations from food banks in order to put basic meals on the table.

Missing Fans!?

With the shrinking of earnings in real terms, the ability to pursue interests outside of the family home becomes difficult, especially as the price of tickets for social events increases whilst wages fail to keep pace with the greater expense of the wider economy. Many people look forwards to their social life outside of work, spending time with family and friends, but this precious time can lose its sheen for some people if they are unable to fund time out for leisure activities. Attending sporting events on a weekend is one of those activities. Yet, watching some of the recent football and rugby matches on television, it is clear to see that, where a few years ago, the games at Wembley and the Millenium stadia would have been sell outs, something in today's society stopped them from being so. I understand the pull of watching the match from the comfort of one's armchair, but nothing beats actually being at the game and the chance to watch your national team compete, even in a so-called "friendly" match. I'm sure that there are more than enough fans willing to fill the stadia ten times over, therefore, other matters other than the desire to watch the games from the living room must be persuading fans to stay away.

Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium has a maximum capacity of 90,000 yet, on the 15th November 2013, only 62,953 attended to watch England lose 0 - 2 to Chile, a team that has also qualified for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Four days later, England played host to Germany and, although more people watched the game, the attendance of 85,934 was still not a sell out for what is seen, at least in England, as a match versus a great rival.

The Millenium Stadium

Wales v Argentina

Watching Wales versus Argentina in a Rugby Union international at the Millenium Stadium on the BBC on the 16th November 2013, it was painfully apparent that the fixture had failed to attract a capacity crowd  by the rows and rows of empty seats in the top tier of the Welsh National Stadium. The venue can hold 72,500, but only 46,253 rugby enthusiasts attended the game. Likewise, for the other rugby code, important games have been taking place up and down the country as the Rugby League World Cup is hosted in England. For the quarter final game, England versus France was held at the DW Stadium in Wigan. Taking place in the Rugby League heartland, this game, too, should have been a sell out, but out of a capacity of 25,168 only 22,276 attended. When England played New Zealand in a thrilling semi final a week later at Wembley, there were only 67,545 there to witness the match.

The point of quoting the data above is to show that there have been some major sporting events in the UK in the past month, but each has had a relatively poor attendance in regards to the venues' capacities. Of a theoretical total capacity for all the events mentioned above of 367,668, there was a shortfall from achieving that total of 82,707. Watching "Match of the Day" and "The Football League Show" each weekend further adds to the conundrum of football's inability to fill the stadia up and down the country, with perhaps the exception of the top Premier League sides. Obviously, some interest from fickle fans drops off if one's team is relegated from a higher division, but surely it is better to play your game in front of a full house and the superior atmosphere that a capacity crowd would generate? The answer to this is that, having set a budget for the coming season, a large portion of the revenue must be generated from ticket sales. However, is it lack of interest, or, more probably, the high ticket prices that preclude some fans from being able to attend matches regularly?

The "Football Supporters' Federation" here in the UK has, this season, started a campaign to try and make the match day experience more affordable with their "Twenty's Plenty" campaign (Twenty's Plenty). The call is for all football clubs in the UK to restrict the price of a ticket for

20's Plenty

visiting away fans to £20; take some time to peruse ticket prices for some of the Premier League clubs and you'll see that the price of a match day ticket for visiting away fans can be three or four times this amount. Travelling costs to away fixtures can be prohibitive, but to have to pay upwards of £60+ for a match day ticket makes many fans wary of attending their team's away games. The "Twenty's Plenty" campaign is an attempt to make the joy of following your team away easier on your wallet. In tandem with this campaign, I think that football clubs up and down the country could focus on their ticket pricing strategy as a whole and arrive at a price whereby the budget is satisfied, but the stadia are full. If the total gate is doubled or trebled, those punters will require refreshments at half time and there will be more visitors to the club shops. More cash will find its way into the clubs' coffers by the increased sales from these other revenue streams and, possibly, lower league teams may find that their profits are higher by generating income through other areas of the clubs' operations.

A full house at the National Stadia may not be so important to the Football Association or Welsh Rugby Football Union, but, for the lower league football clubs, every extra bum on a seat has the potential for the sale of refreshments and club memorabilia, not to mention the chance for repeat business from the thousands of extra fans coming through the turnstiles. A complicated financial business, but, if I was a footballer, I would prefer to play in front of a capacity crowd rather than a few hundred diehard souls.          

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British Halloween

The Winter Solstice at Stonehenge

The British have always been a fun-loving people with a desire to party at the drop of a hat. Culturally a farming society, for thousands of years, the agrarian calendar has been the driving force behind the rationale to drop everything, clear space in the barn and have a knees-up. The autumn harvest, the winter solstice, the onset of spring and the summer solstice were, and still are, reasons for celebration in Britain. However, when the Roman Christians administered the country, the British penchant for a damn good party, and the debauchery that no doubt went with it, did not go unnoticed and the religious authorities adopted the Pagan customs into their own calendar. Two reasons for this were an attempt to ingratiate themselves with the newly-conquered indigenous population of these windswept islands and also an attempt to temper the shenanigans that go hand in hand with any alcohol-fuelled rave.

Halloween, or Samhain, was one of those Pagan festivals. Samhain was halfway between the

Samhain Bonfire

autumn equinox, when the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west, and the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Celebrating the harvest and the onset of winter, the dark half of the year, Samhain allowed people to enjoy themselves after the hard work of bringing in the harvest, fetching the livestock down from the pastures and preparing themselves for the harsh weather to come. Bonfires were lit to cleanse the world and there was a widely held belief that the divide between the spirit world and the living blurred, allowing communication with the dead. Witnessing this, the early Christian authorities usurped this festival into their own calendar, calling it "All Hallows Eve", the day before "All Saints Day" when the lives of long dead "Saints" were/are celebrated (for other Christian hijacking of Pagan festivals, research Easter and Christmas).

The traditional Halloween party game of "Bobbing for Apples" was part of the Samhain festivities. It was believed that the first person to successfully take a bite out of a bobbing apple (apples floating in a barrel of water) would be the first to marry or find their sweetheart in the coming year. Similarly, when peeling an apple, the length of the peel achieved would signify how long that person would live. Variations on the theme would exist depending in what part of the country you lived, but the Samhain festival would essentially be the same. Most ancient cultures had a celebration to welcome the onset of winter and these have survived in one form or another to the present day, with Mexico's "Day of the Dead" being one of the most notable.



The sad aspect of Halloween for Britain is that the "Marketing Men", like the early Christians, have

hijacked the festival. When I was a child, carved swedes were the traditional British lantern, not pumpkins, and trick or treating was a bizarre activity seen in American films or Scooby Doo. Demanding money/treats by menaces (tricks) seemed like some sort of criminal activity of which any typical East End gangster would be proud. Now, due to the incessant need for supermarkets to wrest our hard-earned pay from our wallets with any excuse, their marketing people would have us believe that allowing gangs of fancy dress clad children to roam the streets, disturbing the elderly by banging on their doors and terrorising them if sweets are not forthcoming is a socially acceptable pastime. I am all for celebrating the festival that is now known as Halloween, but I prefer the British tradition rather than the American one that is being foisted on the rest of the world.

Mark Cooper's Swindon Town

Mark Cooper
Swindon Town's Manager

After the semi-final play-off defeat to Brentford, despite Aden Flint's superb equaliser (Aden Flint's Superb Equaliser), and with Kevin MacDonald deciding to quit his job as Swindon Town Manager for personal reasons, the whole sorry mess that unravelled at SN1 after Paolo Di Canio's tenure seemed to be coming to its inevitable conclusion. With the hysteria that surrounded the Italian and the refusal on most Swindon Town fans' part to see anything wrong with the management of the club so long as the team were winning on the pitch, and I include myself as one of those swept along by the Di Canio Circus (hindsight - a wonderful commodity with which to analyse past events), there was a sense of incredulity that Swindon Town could find itself in the position of having new owners and a caretaker manager at the helm at the start of the new season. In these rural parts of the country, the West Country instinct (we're Moonrakers after all) to be wary of the strange-sounding outsiders from down the M4 (Londoners) came to the fore when Jed McCrory, armed with the accent and vernacular of a barrow boy, headed up the consortium that saved the foremost team in Wiltshire from sliding into the administration mire that could have had fatal repercussions for professional football in Swindon.

Jed McCrory
Swindon Town Chairman

For his part Jed McCrory has proved his mettle and the improvements around the club, from the bricks and mortar projects in and around the stadium, to the improvements in purchasing online tickets, the matchday hospitality, etc. has shown that the Chairman is holding up his end in the bargain of his ambition for Swindon Town Football Club to be a truly sustainable business and community leader.


When, at the start of the current season, the club was left managerless, the quiet spoken and unassuming Mark Cooper took over the reins. The team that had almost achieved another Wembley visit had been dismantled and a team of youngsters, some homegrown, some borrowed from other clubs, and some signed at short notice were assembled to take on the rest of League 1. For a number of Swindon Town fans, their distrust of Mr. McCrory and the rest of the new board still to the fore, believed that relegation was on the cards and that the only way to avert such a disastrous end to the season was to appoint a "name", someone who had had extensive experience in football management and who could steer the Swindon ship on a course away from the rocks onto which it seemed to be heading. However, after a handful of games under his belt, Mark Cooper was awarded the role of Swindon Town Manager on a permanent basis. I would like to put on record that I supported his appointment. He had worked with Kevin MacDonald for the few months leading up to the end of last season and he knew the players that were left to him for the start of the new season. From these foundations, in my mind, the club was better off with Cooper in charge, as he could gently build on the work that had already been put into moulding a team for the assault on League 1 promotion. One question on the lips of all Swindon Town fans was what sort of football would be played by such young players, many of whom are short in stature?

Bert Head

"Bert's Babes"

Having experienced first hand the football played by the Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle Swindon Town teams of the early 1990's, the passing game that Mark Cooper has instilled into his charges bears comparison to those eras and is a breath of fresh air in a division of the football league that can suffer from the long ball game. However, being a child of the 1960's I missed one of the Swindon Town teams that is legend in this part of the West Country. "Bert's Babes" was a young Swindon Town team managed by Bert Head and included the likes of Rod Thomas, Ernie Hunt, Mike Summerbee, John Trollope and Don Rogers. Bert Head assembled a team of youngsters and drilled them in an almost military style, ensuring that his team was amongst the fittest in the league. (Link to "Six Days to Saturday" - Bert Head & Swindon Town) He achieved the first promotion in Swindon Town's history when the club was promoted to the then Division 2 at the end of the 1962/63 season. The foundations he put in place saw these youngsters go on to win the only domestic trophy Swindon Town has won when the club beat Arsenal 3 - 1 to lift the League Cup in 1969 under the stewardship of Danny Williams.

Yesterday's win versus Notts County (2 - 0) sees Swindon Town in a play-off position after a quarter of the season has passed. Plaudits are starting to come in from around the country regarding the team's style of play and, now that the players have gelled together, promotion this season can now be thought of as a very real possibility. Some of this can be attributed to the steadying hand of Jed McCrory who has put the club back on a stable footing. However, when the dust on this season has settled in May 2014, Mark Cooper can fly away to his summer holiday retreat, satisfied in the knowledge that his first season in the manager's hot seat has been a success, whatever position Swindon Town finish in League 1.  

  

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The Wipers Times

Ian Hislop

I work a night shift, so, come 9 o'clock, when the best television drama seems to be scheduled, I wend my way to work down the A419 and feel like I'm missing out. Thankfully, BBC iPlayer is a boon in catching up with such programmes when I'm off work and can't sleep due to the night shift pattern playing merry hell with my physiology. In such a fashion, I caught up with the recently broadcast The Wipers Times written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. With the 100th anniversary of the onset of the First World War rapidly approaching (for Great Britain, 4th August 2014) there is no doubt a myriad of television programmes coming our way detailing the first truly global industrial conflict (the American Civil War experience would have it as the contender for the first industrial conflict). However, as one of the vanguard, this drama was entertaining, amusing, spiritually moving, educational and a must-see for anyone interested in the history of early twentieth century history.

With Ben Chaplin as Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Fred Roberts and Julian Rhind-Tutt as his subaltern, Lieutenant Jack Pearson, the feature-length drama tells the true tale of how the two officers of the 12th Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) published a satirical magazine whilst under fire on the Western Front at the Belgian town of Ypres - the British "Tommy" quickly renamed the town Wipers for obvious reasons. On a foray into the battered, but still intact, town to plunder materiel with which to construct and repair the trenches, the Pioneer unit stumble upon a printing press. Their non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Harris (Steve Oram), being a printer in civvy street, enthuses over the machine and the idea of publishing a magazine "like Punch, but with jokes" is rapidly seized upon as a means to relieve the boredom of army life. The magazine features spoof advertisements, stories and poems in the vein of the British Music Hall tradition, an entertainment medium that would have been redolent in the minds of every man serving at the front - with no wireless (radio) or television at that time, the major source of light entertainment was the Music Hall as epitomised in the BBC programme The Good Old Days.

The magazine was extremely popular amongst all ranks and its name changed several times as the unit was moved up and down the frontline, but the content remained a constant. However, its popularity was not universal and rankled with some members of "The Staff" stationed many miles behind the frontline. Some Staff Officers felt that, not only should the publication of the magazine be stopped, but also Captain Roberts should be tried at a court martial for inciting insubordination. Thankfully, this viewpoint as expounded by Lieutenant Colonel Howfield (Ben Daniels) was overruled by General Mitford (Michael Palin) who saw the worth of humour helping to relieve the drudgery and terror of the lives of those soldiers manning the trenches.

The magazine is evidence that the British sense of humour was then, as now, a source of satirical fun, giving two fingers to authority, but simultaneously driving home a serious message. The fact that, post-war, the editor of the magazine was unable to secure a journalist's role speaks volumes for the problems faced by many of the servicemen who returned home to a "land fit for heroes" only to find that the promise of their politicians to make their world so was as hollow as the one made in August 1914 when they were told that the war would be "over by Christmas".

This programme will no doubt feature in the BAFTA's and deservedly so!

Footnote

When watching this programme, look out for a "cameo" from Winston Churchill who served in the army before returning to Blighty to continue his political career. 

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Jed McCrory on Twitter

The Chairman of Swindon Town Football Club is Jed McCrory. I've never met him, but I've seen and heard his many television and radio interviews and the one thing that comes across from him is his obvious delight at being at the helm of one of the long-standing members of the Football League. He has the demeanour of a boy who's been given the keys to the sweetshop for the night and who cannot hide his pleasure at such good fortune. Personally, I'm one of those fans who believe he and the rest of the incumbent board are doing a good job. Compared to the Andrew Fitton and Jeremy Wray eras at the County Ground, when, as Chairmen, they managed the organisation safe in the knowledge that, whatever the footballing world threw at them, they had the Andrew Black millions to fall back on as a safety net, Jed and his board have to cut their cloth according to the income they can generate through day-to-day footballing activities and sponsorship.

The summer has seen two concerts at SN1; they may not have been top drawer or that successful financially, but the experience has proven that the County Ground can generate income during the summer months. Other income streams are needed to help the fiscal health of the club and I'm sure the Board led by McCrory are working on these. I would advocate some sort of Asian tie-in a la Cardiff City; the one advantage Swindon town has over the newly promoted Welsh Premier League club, who had to change their "bluebird" identity to appease the Malaysian owner, Vincent Tan, is that the robins already play in red, the lucky colour of Far East countries. How many Cardiff City shirts are now being worn by the inhabitants of Kuala Lumpar with the proceeds from their sale now swelling the coffers at the Cardiff City Stadium? How about a Rockin Robin soft toy under the arm of every toddler in Beijing?

Jed McCrory's Twitter Picture

However the future of Swindon Town unfolds under his stewardship, Jed McCrory seems to want to connect with the one constant of any football club, the fans. He is amenable and mixes with the ordinary punters before each game and, by all accounts listens to, and acts on the viewpoints whether from The Town End, The Arkells Stand or the Don Rogers Stand. He is ready to be interviewed by the local media and is a common voice heard on BBC Wiltshire on matchdays. The one area where Jed McCrory is always accessible is on Twitter. Looking at his Twitter account right now (Saturday 06:55) he's already conversing with the fans and looking forwards to the game at Shrewsbury Town's Greenhous Meadow. The nature of this part of the social media networking community is that the messages have to be short and concise, so familiarity is rife, even when messaging someone you haven't met before. The lack of the usual social convention and etiquette of letter writing is done away with and addressing someone by their first name or online moniker is the norm. However, this lack of etiquette leads some people to believe that it is acceptable to be abusive to the recipient of their message, a trait that is at best displeasing and at worst disturbing.

I don't do Facebook, but I have an underused Twitter account which is there simply to collect the pearls of wisdom from the aforementioned Mr. McCrory and the representatives of the Swindon Town community, and garner up-to-the-minute information of the comings and goings at SN1. In doing so, I have seen many foul-mouthed, objectionable tweets to the Swindon Town Chairman which, to his credit, he has dealt with with much aplomb. He will, no doubt, suffer many such tweets today, and for some time to come, over his signing of the ex-Newcastle United forward, Nile Ranger. There is much to debate about Swindon Town's signing of this footballer and the subject matter would fill a blogpost in itself, however, I would encourage the reader to watch Jed's Twitter account to witness the sorts of tweets he receives and how he deals with them; I can guarantee that some will contain the sort of language you wouldn't want your grandmother to read!


The point to all this, is that Jed McCrory has put himself in the firing line by taking on the role of Swindon Town Chairman and has to answer to his customers, the Swindon Town fans. That being said, he and no-one else deserves to be subjected to abuse over cyberspace. The abhorrent and cowardly acts of social networking abuse and the effects of it on the victims of such obnoxious acts have been  to the forefront of British news this week. Those who hide behind "anonymous" tweets, texts or vicious attacks via other social media sites on the internet obviously have mental inadequacies such that the "social" aspect of the media they are using is a facet lacking in their own intellectual make up, with an almost probable inability to mix socially in the real world. Retreating into cyberspace, these bullies harass vulnerable individuals, people they have probably never met or know, and drive some of them to the point where the torment is too much and the victims feel that they have no other recourse to action than to take their own lives. Such baiting conducted in the "real" world, with the tormentor known to the victim, is distressing enough, but to have to suffer abuse online from complete strangers must be alarming to those victims whose vulnerability has been exploited by the bully. The perpetrators of these reprehensible acts lack any moral fibre or dignity to get on with their own lives and instead seek out people on which to inflict mental torture. I would encourage anyone who knows of such abusers to report them to the appropriate authority and help stamp out this vile facet of communicating over the internet.

Wiggins v Froome

Sir Bradley Wiggins

Chris Froome

Like buses, you wait over 100 years for a British winner of the Tour de France and then two come along in quick succession. However, I can't help but think that Chris Froome may forever have the Buzz Aldrin "second man on the moon" feeling about his own 2013 Yellow Jersey glory.

Buzz Aldrin

Neil Armstrong

After Neil Armstrong took his first tentative step onto the lunar surface and spoke the immortal words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," what was Buzz Aldrin going to do for an encore? After Sir Bradley Wiggins' triumph in 2012, becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France General Classification and the coveted Maillot Jaune, any subsequent British success was always going to be met with "Wiggo did it first!"

But, 2012 could have been very different for the French cycle race, the premier cycle race in the world. At times, Chris Froome was patently stronger than Wiggins up the mountains. On Stage 11, Froome was called back  from attacking the leaders of the day's race by the Sky management to help Wiggins climb La Toussuire (TDF Stage 11 La Toussuire). On Stage 17, Froome was held on a tight rein by Sky to help Wiggins finish at Peyragudes (TDF Stage 17 Peyragudes), but could easily have won the stage. Froome showed loyalty to his Team Leader by sacrificing his own chances of glory to protect the Yellow Jersey and, ultimately, bring about the first British General Classification win in the race's history.

This year, unfettered by the absence of Wiggins due to illness and injury, Froome was allowed to show the world what he could do as Sky's Team Leader in the 100th Tour de France. Once in the Maillot Jaune, Froome never let it go and was helped by his own lieutenant in the form of Richie Porte who carried out the same sterling job of supporting his Team Leader up the mountains as Froome did for Wiggins a year earlier. Crossing the line arm in arm on the Champs-Élysées, the Sky Team were united, basking in Froome's glory and a third Sky triumph in 2014 cannot be ruled out.

However, what most cycling fans want to see is a Wiggins/Froome head to head, winner takes all Tour de France. The 2012 course was more suited to Wiggins' time trialling, whereas the 2013 one suited Froome's climbing skills. A more neutral course, designed to enhance both riders' specialities would be a contest most people in the cycling fraternity would love to see. Not since Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett's rivalry on the athletics tracks of the world in the 1980's, or Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank meeting in the boxing ring in the late 1980's/early 1990's, has British sport had two athletes at the pinnacle of their sport at the same time. Unfortunately, this may never happen, as long as both Wiggins and Froome are members of the same team. It may mean that one or other of them has to leave the Sky Pro Cycling setup and have another team build around them in order for this battle to commence, and for the spectacle to played out in the land of the Gauls next summer.

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