Swindon Town's All-Time England Team

I work with many people who, although they may have been born in Swindon and are resident in the

Wiltshire town, for some inexplicable reason choose to support football teams from elsewhere in the country. Chelsea fans with West Country accents, Manchester United fans hailing from London and "plastic" Scousers from the Midlands, all these fans, supporting teams with which they have no cultural heritage, are Glory Hunters seeking the annual thrill of a trophy win like a drug addict seeking a quick fix; some support Tottenham Hotspur so not all are in it for the honours!

It rankles when these fans talk about the "we" and "us" when referring to the particular mega-rich club to whose pole they have struck their flag when there is a perfectly good professional football club to support in their home town, and it is even more irritating when they deride the lowlier ranking of Swindon Town. Many have never been to the home of their so-called team and would probably get lost on their way to the ground if they were to venture outside the boundaries of their home borough.

This is the background to many a discussion of the beautiful game I have with others whose passion

Banner from www.Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk

is Association Football. One night, the talk got around to who could produce the best all-time England team from the ranks of their team's players, both past and present. Immediately, the Premier League snobs snorted that Swindon Town would be hard-pressed to find anyone to fill such a roster. Rising to the challenge, I asked what the criteria would be for me to come up with a Swindon Town All-Time England team. The answer came back that the players could have represented their country at any level and at any time in their career, but good luck on finding anybody eligible from the Robins squads of yesteryear! A number of players immediately came to mind, but I had to delve a bit deeper to get a full squad of eleven and substitutes. For this, I have to thank Richard Banyard and his outstanding website, www.Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk (possibly the best "fan's" website on the internet); his site is chock full of all the facts and figures that any Swindon Town fan might need to satisfy any thirst for knowledge on their football club.  

Swindon Town All-Time England Team

Goalkeeper - Fraser Digby

Fraser Digby with English Schools Cap

There were two contenders for this spot - Tim Flowers and Fraser Digby.

Whilst at Southampton, Tim Flowers spent two loan periods with Swindon Town, once in the 1986 - 1987 season (2 appearances) and once the following season, 1987 - 1988, making 5 appearances. Flowers represented England at U-21 level (3 caps) and at full international level (11 caps) and won a Premier League Champions medal with Blackburn Rovers in 1993 - 1994. He also won a League Cup Winners medal with Leicester City in 2000.


However, my choice for Swindon's England goalkeeping spot is

Fraser Digby. With 504 (+1) appearances for the club, Fraser Digby can truly be called a Swindon Town "Legend". On his day, he was equal to any other English goalkeeper playing at the time he was with Swindon and it is a credit to him that he remained a stalwart at SN1 for as long as he did when so-called "bigger" clubs were given mention in the press as in the running to sign him. His qualification for inclusion into the Swindon Town All-Time England Team stems from Fraser gaining England U-15 Schoolboy honours Youth honours and 5 appearances at England U-21 level, these last ones whilst at the County Ground.

Right Back - David Kerslake

For simplicity's sake, for my Swindon Town All-Time England Team, I have gone with a 4-4-2 formation . Therefore, some players may be in a position in the England setup which is slightly different to that in which they were employed when playing for Swindon. This is the case for my choice of Right Back. When David Kerslake was on the ball, the crowd at the County Ground always sensed that an attacking opportunity was on the cards. His favoured position was as a right wing back and it is the memories of his forays forward that stand out more than his solid defensive work. He represented England at Schoolboy and Youth levels and had one international appearance at U-21 level whilst playing for Queens Park Rangers.

Left Back - Phil King

Phil King played for the Town during the Lou Macari era featuring in the 1987 League Division 3

Play Off Final. He made 141 (+4)  appearances during his first stint with Swindon between 1987 and 1989 scoring 4 goals. He was signed by Sheffield Wednesday and won a League Cup Winners Medal with them in 1991. He is also renowned in Aston Villa folklore as the player who scored the winning goal against Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup. A second term at Swindon Town came in 1997, but he only made 5 appearances before leaving for Brighton in 1999 having spent some time on loan at Blackpool. His England qualification comes with only the one appearance at 'B' International level, but his commitment to the cause when at the County Ground earns him the Left Back role in the Swindon Town All-Time England Team.

Centre Back - Terry Fenwick

Admittedly, the role for Centre Back has only one candidate - "Oo" Shaun Taylor (no true Swindon Town fan will mention Mr. Taylor without the preceding "Oo" - I wonder if that's his title in his passport rather then Mr.?). Unfortunately, not having represented his country at any level, Shaun Taylor cannot feature in the Swindon Town All-Time England Team. So, this honour must go to other players who have worn the red shirt of the Robins. In the twilight of his footballing career, Terry Fenwick was signed from Tottenham Hotspur in 1993 to help bolster the defence for the club's only appearance in the top-flight of the Football League. Renowned for hard tackles, Terry Fenwick's 30 (+3) appearances for Swindon Town saw him notably break the leg of Blackburn Rovers' player, Paul Warhurst. Fenwick represented England at Youth International, U-21 International (11 appearances) and Full International (20 appearances) levels.

Centre Back - Neil "Razor" Ruddock

More for his previous experience of top-flight football with Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, Neil

"Razor" Ruddock is my second choice for a Centre Back role. Other than his free kick which saw him score the only goal in his debut against Colchester, his 14 (+2) appearances for Swindon Town pale into insignificance when measured against his legal dispute with the club over unpaid wages. In his day, "Razor" was a formidable defender for Spurs and Liverpool and his banter with opposing forwards could have an unsettling effect on their play. He represented England at Youth International, U-21 (4 appearances), 'B' International (1 appearance) and Full International (1 appearance) levels.

Right Wing - Nicky "Buzzer" Summerbee

Nicky Summerbee was one of the few Swindon Town players to emerge from the Premier League season (1993 - 1994) with their reputation enhanced and in demand by other Premier League teams. With a running style all his own, once on the ball, it took a strong defender to remove it from what seemed like a magnetic force keeping it at Nicky's feet. A legendary crosser of the ball, the right wing was his domain and he made 108 (+27) appearances for Swindon Town. His England credentials stem from his 1 'B' International and 3 U-21 appearances.

Left Wing - "Sir" Don Rogers 

The Ides of March 1969 will live long in the memory of those fortunate to be both old enough to

remember that day and to have had the chance to be at Wembley for the League Cup Final. I was just under 4 years old, so do not remember any pre-match excitement in the town for the Division 3 v Division 1 clash, nor any of the post-match celebrations. What I do remember is being told about the event by the older boys in our street and, in particular, the part played by the legend that is "Sir" Don Rogers (487 + 3 appearances). I've watched the match several times and apart from the heroic display from goalkeeper Peter Downsborough, the contribution by Swindon Town's left winger was the most memorable aspect of the game. The third, and last, Swindon Town goal scored by Don Rogers is, in my opinion, the best goal ever scored at Wembley, new or old. When one considers that the game was in extra time, the heavy pitch, the tired legs and Bob Wilson was in goal for Arsenal for that game, the speed with which Rogers sprinted up the field from within his own half, the ball glued to his feet, and the finish whereby he took the ball around the floundering Scottish international goalkeeper, laying in the mud like a landed carp, and slotted the ball home to end the game, winning the League Cup for Swindon, then the attacking left winger is a must for any team. When leaving the County Ground for then Division 1 Crystal Palace, Don Rogers must have seemed a dead cert for achieving full international honours for his country. Unfortunately, he was never to feature in any of the England Managers' plans, but he does qualify for the Swindon Town All-Time England Team by virtue of representing England at Youth International, League Representative and U-23 International (2 appearances) levels.  

Right Midfield - Mike Summerbee

If persons of a certain age were to asked the question "For which team did Mike Summerbee play?" most would answer Manchester City. However, his first professional club was Swindon Town and in 244 appearances, he scored 40 goals. His natural position was as an outside right, but, for the Swindon Town All-Time England Team, I've moved him further into midfield. I remember seeing him on television playing for Manchester City and England and was impressed when my Dad told me that he used to play for Swindon Town. It would be interesting to see how he would have paired up with his son on the right wing. He played at League Representative level (1 appearance) and U-23 level (1 appearance), and won 8 Full International caps.

Left Midfield - Glenn Hoddle

Up to the 1991 -1992 season, I had seen some good players wearing the Swindon Town shirt, but,

when Glenn Hoddle wore the red of the Robins, his play was a class above. As Player-Manager, he controlled the field from the sweeper's position, but he was renowned as a midfield maestro before taking over the reins at the County Ground. Pinpoint accuracy was his forte, whether a cross-field pass or direct free kick, Hoddle could pass the ball to feet or hit the top corner of the goal all the time, every time. He played 73 (+2) games for Swindon Town scoring just 3 goals, but he was finally able to lay the ghost of 1990 when the club was denied its rightful place in the top tier of the English Football League, by leading them to a 4 - 3 win over Leicester City in the 1993 Division 1 Play Off final at Wembley. He didn't stay to manage the team in the Premier League, deciding that Chelsea was where his future lay, but he will always be remembered as the man who took Swindon Town to the Premier League. He represented his country at many levels - Youth International, U-21 International (12 appearances), 'B' International and Full International (53 appearances) - and is a must for the Swindon Town All-Time England Team.

Forward - Paul Rideout

Paul Rideout is a "local boy done good". Playing 109 (+5) times for Swindon Town, his home town club, Rideout scored 42 goals and was transferred to Aston Villa in 1983. A spell with Italian club Bari saw him return to English football at Southampton. He was loaned out to Swindon Town before moving to Notts County (then in the top flight Division 1) and then plied his trade north of the border for Rangers. In England, he will always be remembered for playing for Everton, the club he moved to after Rangers. The 1995 FA Cup Final saw Everton take on Manchester United and Rideout played in the striker's role for the Toffees. A counter attack by Everton saw the ball come back off the bar and Rideout was able to head home from just six yards out. At Schoolboy level Paul Rideout notably scored a hat trick against Scotland, a game that England lost 4 - 5 and which was actually televised live. He also represented his country at Youth International and U-21 International level (5 appearances), but never found favour with the England setup to achieve a Full International cap.  

Forward - Harold Fleming

Harold Fleming is the only Swindon Town player to represent England at Full International level

whilst playing for the club; he played eleven times for his country, scoring 9 times, a strike rate of 0.82 goals per game. Part of the successful Southern League Championship winning sides in 1911 and 1914 - the Southern League was the rival league to the northern Football League, so Swindon Town were the best of all the top southern clubs - he made 336 appearances for Swindon scoring 204 goals, a strike rate of 0.61 goals per game.

Substitutes

Tim Flowers

James Milner

Michael Carrick

Mark Walters

Paul Ince

Steve McMahon

Ryan Mason     

So, there you have it, my Swindon Town All-Time England Team. What's yours?

Preston North End v Swindon Town - Post Mortem

Having witnessed their team strive valiantly to reach the League 1 Play Off Final on Sunday 24th May 2015, Swindon Town fans had hoped to be celebrating promotion to the Championship come the final whistle that evening. Failing that, a competitive game with the Town making a good fist of it and losing to the odd goal would have allowed the Swindon fans to return home down the M4 with their heads held high, knowing that their team had given its all in the pursuit of promotion. The result, 4 - 0 to PNE, gave a worthy promotion to the northern club whilst the Robins' abysmal record at the "New" Wembley continued (Played 3 Lost 3) and the club, and fans were left to rue what might have been. Some time has now passed and perhaps, now emotions are not so raw, it is time to open up the League 1 Play Off Final cadaver, poke around the entrails and perform a post mortem on the event that saw the West Country club confined to the third tier of English football for one more season.  

The Tactics

The approach Lee Power, Chairman of Swindon Town FC, and Mark Cooper, the Manager, have towards their brand of football is to get the team playing attractive, entertaining and exciting football. The passing game, moving the ball from the back, through midfield towards the strikers up front has held the interest of all those who have witnessed the team playing this season and, for those of us who can remember (where has the time gone?) the teams of Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle in the early nineties, it has brought back memories of those good times when Swindon Town twice managed to reach the top tier of English football. 

However, the season has been long and what might have been surprising, new and difficult for opponents to contend with in the first few games in which the young team played, with analysis, teams were able to assess the Robins' tactics and adapt their own style of play to nullify Swindon's passing game. Playing with three at the back is a dangerous ploy when the opposition has a fast attack and leaves a team vulnerable to a counterattack, especially if the other team plays with three up front. The goal difference at the end of the season of +19 is decent enough, but the top three teams in League 1 had goal differences of +58 (Bristol City), +57 K Dons) and +39 (Preston North End) - Swindon Town may have scored 79 goals in the league competition, but the team let in 57, a testament to the vulnerability of the attacking football style adopted for the past season.

That being said, the team were full value for the money spent watching them and the view of some

(not mine) that they were relegation-fodder was ill-founded. Top of the league in January 2015, Swindon Town seemed destined for automatic promotion until it became mathematically impossible after the season nose-dived over Easter. However, a play off place was assured and this led Mark Cooper to decide to rest key players over the following weeks. Defeats followed and, to some, the feeling that Town had lost their momentum going into the play offs did not auger well, especially when it became clear that Nigel Clough's Sheffield United would be the opposition in the Play Off Semi Final. The away win was tight at 1 - 2, but the home leg produced a phenomenal 5 - 5 draw after Swindon had been leading 3 - 0 after only 18 minutes. The way Sheffield United was allowed to get back into the game and boss the home side once again highlighted the defensive frailties of the team.

Jermaine Beckford

Meanwhile, Preston North End had seen off Chesterfield with an aggregate score of 4 - 0 having won away 0 - 1 at the Proact Stadium and 3 - 0 at Deepdale. With the euphoria of getting to Wembley blinkering most Swindonians to the attacking prowess of the Final opposition, it shouldn't have passed the Swindon Town management team by that Jermaine Beckford, a loanee from Leicester City, had hit top form for the most important game of the season.

The Play Off Final

The day of the final saw thousands of Swindon Town fans descend on the home of English football, Wembley Stadium, a jewel set in a rancid sea of industrial estates, inadequate road transport links and car parking facilities. Optimism was high, but there was the nagging doubt in many a Moonraker's mind that the "real" Swindon Town would fail to turn up. And so it was to be.
A previous incumbent of the Swindon Town manager's hot seat would have been up 25 hours a day analysing the opposition ensuring that the team he put out would have had the best advantage of defeating them on the big day - Paolo Di Canio may have his faults, but doing his homework is not one of them! However, it would seem that this part of strategising passed Mark Cooper and his team by as Jermaine Beckford was allowed to roam the field and score at will. As for the players, with many of them coming to the end of their loan spell or contract, or having whimsical thoughts of moving on and playing for a "bigger" club, it could be argued that their hearts were not in it; defeat was inevitable before the team had even boarded the coach for London.

2015/16 Season

Mark Cooper

The team that saw so much success in League 1 in 2014/15 is no more. There are some familiar faces, but essentially, the Swindon Town squad of last season has been decimated and a new setup is being formulated as I write. Whether this season's team will be as adept at controlling the ball and finding the net as last year's crop of players remains to be seen. However, from his two seasons in charge of Swindon Town, Mark Cooper must learn to adopt his tactics the better to outwit and outplay the different opposition he is to meet each week. This was the major failure of last season and the biggest learning point for Cooper and the rest of the County Ground team from the debacle witnessed at Wembley on Sunday 24th May 2015.

BBC - Swindon Town ARE Top of League 1

Who Really Killed JFK?

Do UFO's Exist?

Conspiracy theories abound, from the existence of UFO's, to how many people were involved in the assassination of JFK, to did Man actually land on the moon? The debate on these topics can help while away the long, cold hours of a boring night shift or help the slightly inebriated nurse that final pint before last orders down the pub. However, there has been one aspect of the football news that has had me wondering why the BBC is loathe to give credit where credit is due. Is there a conspiracy among the the BBC personnel to play down the great season Swindon Town are having in League 1?

Swindon Town - Top of the League!

Swindon Town's latest run of good results has seen them overtake their West Country rivals Bristol City to top the League 1 table. Although level on points, Swindon Town are above Bristol City on merit by the virtue of a better goal difference. The "Goal Difference Rule" was introduced into English football for the 1976 - 1977 season and is the difference between the goals scored and goals conceded for a team. The League 1 Table above shows that, as of 24th January 2015, although both teams had 54 points, Swindon Town's goal difference stood at +27, whilst that of Bristol City was +26. Therefore, by virtue of having a better goal difference by +1, Swindon Town are worthy table-toppers. Why, then, does the BBC insist that there are joint leaders of League 1?

The football League Show

Football Focus

During "The Football League Show" aired on Saturday 17th January 2015, Manish Bhasin stated, wrongly, that Swindon Town and Bristol City were "joint top". Then , today, on BBC's Football Focus, Kevin Kilbane made a similar mistake in his statement saying that the two clubs were joint leaders. Perhaps the BBC needs to send its employees on a GCSE Mathematics course so that they can add and subtract? Then, Swindon Town Football Club will get the recognition and praise that it deserves...hopefully!

The Most Exciting Title Race is...Not in the Premier League!

The world's attention may be focused on the two-horse race for the over-hyped, over-priced and under-English-represented Premier League, but a glance down the lower reaches of the English football pyramid will highlight the more exciting and competitive nature of football supported by the majority of fans in England. The race for the Championship title is bubbling along nicely, with the top five or six teams still in contention for automatic promotion. League 2 is more open still with seven or eight teams in with a shout of promotion halfway through the season. However, being a Swindon Town fan, I would like to focus on League 1 and assess the title race that sees, at Christmas, four clear contenders for the two automatic promotion places up for grabs at the end of the season.

The graph below shows the progress of the top four teams of League 1 since the start of the season - the dates denote the days when any particular match was played in the league and each of the four teams' position on that date after the matches were played.

Scrumpy the Robin (Bristol City)

Bristol City would appear to be the clear favourites, but with 45 points before the matches to be played on Sunday 28th December 2014, the club is only one point ahead of the three clubs below them in League 1. However, the Bristol "Robins" have held top spot since September and hung on to it tenaciously despite defeats to promotion rivals Swindon Town and Preston North End. 

Rockin' Robin (Swindon Town)

Sunday's games may well see a change at the top. with the leaders away to Gillingham, a team that has started to find a rich vein of form. Nothing short of a win will be good enough for City as MK Dons, who still have a game in hand to play, are at home to Walsall, who sit currently 15th in League 1 and who were beaten at home on Boxing Day 1 - 4 by Swindon Town. The Swindon "Robins" face Port Vale at home with the visitors to the County Ground 12th in the league. Preston North End go to Crewe to play a team who are the only other side to beat the leaders Bristol City (1 - 0 on 20.12.14) and who won on Boxing Day away to Oldham Athletic (1 - 2).

If the current top four teams are still in contention come the Easter fixtures, then Swindon Town's two games at that time (Good Friday and Easter Monday) could be pivotal to the decision on who finishes top of the league. On Friday 3rd April 2015, Swindon Town are home to MK Dons and on Monday 6th April, they face Bristol City at Ashton Gate. Those six points may prove crucial to the decision on which two teams are promoted automatically to the Championship and who lifts the trophy as League 1 Champions on the final day of the season proper on Sunday 3rd May 2015 

The Football League Championship on Football Knowledge Website

The 2014 - 2015 Football season kicked off in England with Blackburn Rovers entertaining Cardiff City on Friday 8th August 2014. The score was a 1 - 1 draw with most of the possession going to Blackburn Rovers (65% according to BBC Sport). The first game of the season is always a cagey affair, so it's no surprise when most football matches in the first week of August end up as a draw or a narrow 1 - 0 win.

Nathan Thompson
Swindon Town Player of the Year 2013 & 2014

In League 1, Swindon Town take on Scunthorpe United at the County Ground and Robins fans can only hope for a season similar to the one just gone. Mark Cooper and Lee Power seem to have the know-how to get the best out of younger players and it's heartening to see Nathan Thompson, a product of the club's youth academy and still only 23, being given the Captain's armband for the coming season. With missing out on the play-offs in May a disappointment when, at the start of the 2013 - 2014 season, relegation fears were uppermost in most Swindon Town fans' minds, the story unfolding at the County Ground this coming football year will be equally as interesting as the one told between August 2013 and May 2014.

One thing that has kept my football interest going since the end of last season, the FIFA World Cup notwithstanding, is the ongoing development of my  Football Knowledge website. All the teams for The Premier League and The Football League Championship for this season now have an entry and their histories, notable players and other facts are now just one click of a button away. The idea has always been to give football fans a brief overview of, not only their own team, but the other clubs in the world of football - it is an ongoing project with the whole of the football world to map!

Fulham's Bedford Jezzard

Sheffield Wednesday's Redfern Froggatt

The Football League Championship, for me, is going to be a more fascinating league than the Premier League this season. It is such an eclectic mix of teams whose rich histories and past glories will see ex-European Champions rubbing shoulders with teams who last saw top drawer action in their formative years when the Football League was in its infancy. The names of players such as Fulham's Bedford Jezzard (3rd Top Goalscorer) and Sheffield Wednesday's Fedfern Froggatt (3rd Top Goalscorer) evoke images of Hobbits in Tolkein's Middle earth rather than the rain and mud of a mid-week football match in the depths of  an English winter.

One of the most notable of all the Football League's former players must be Steve Bloomer of Derby County (and Middlesbrough) fame. An England international, he was interned at the Ruhleben civilian detention camp at the onset of the First World War having gone to Germany to coach Britannia Berlin 92. His story is a fascinating one and is probably deserving of more than the traditional song, Steve Bloomer's Watching, played at Derby County. I would encourage all true football fans to research his story.

The next phase in the development of the Football Knowledge website will be League 1 - the chance to discover further stories of the teams that make up the Football League makes the journey a joy rather than a slog.

Penalty Shootout Misery - Again!

Swindon's Woe

Posh's Joy

On Monday 17th February, Swindon Town failed in their bid to get to the  Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final for 2014 when they lost 3 - 4 in a penalty shootout to Peterborough United at the County Ground. There is a myth in this part of the West Country that the club's record in this aspect of deciding the outcome of a match is that they always fail at that particular hurdle, but what is the truth?

Alternative Method?

The excellent website, Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk, is, for me, the definitive source for all statistics and information on Swindon Town - I would go so far as to say it is probably the best "unofficial" website on the internet for any football club as a source of facts and figures, but you be the judge. From the Stat Attack page of the website, a quick glance at the table for Swindon Town's penalty shootout record (Swindon Town Penalty Shootout Table) shows that the club has a success rate of 47.8% in all competitions when it comes to winning the match through this mode of deciding the outcome of a game. With nearly a 50% success rate, this would suggest that, to save the long-suffering Swindon Town fans the stress of having to sit through this "lottery" at the end of a drawn match, both teams may as well call heads or tails and decide the result by the referee tossing a coin.

Did We Win?

Chris Waddle - Italia '90

However, to expand this logic to the National team would prove beneficial to England when facing the prospect of the players having to make the long walk to the penalty spot to attempt to get the country nearer to the holy grail of winning a first major trophy since the World Cup success of 1966. Of the eight penalty shootouts in which England have been involved (England's Penalty Shootouts), only one, England V Spain, Euro '96, has resulted in an England victory. The success rate of 12.5% is woeful for a national side and is probably indicative of how unprepared the England team always is for this aspect of the game.

I appreciate the need for a definitive way of deciding the outcome of a football match and can understand the reason why the penalty shootout is seen as the fair way of arriving at a result. However, this is fine for a match played over one leg such as a knockout competition; if the scores are level after extra time what else is there to do? But, for a match played over two legs, I've always felt that the "away goals" rule was a better and fairer way to judge the best team of the two protagonists. After all, if one team is more attack-minded and scores away from home, then the just reward for their endeavours at the end of a drawn, two-legged match should be to go through to the next round. If this had been the case on Monday, Swindon Town would have been safely through to the final having scored twice at London Road during the first leg of the Area Final against Peterborough United. Perhaps the organisers of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy should consider this for next season.

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.