Where has Swindon's Monkey Gone?

The 1993/94 Premier League season evokes mixed emotions in the hearts of Swindon Town fans. Following the outrageous demotion from the then Division 1 in 1990 after beating Sunderland fairly and squarely at Wembley, the club and supporters finally got the reward of being allowed to be part of the top division of English football by beating Leicester City 4 -3 in the play-off final for 1992-93 (Division 1 = the Premier League when all was equal in the world of football and before Murdoch had ruined the chances of the national team ever winning anything by diluting the top division with foreign imports...ask your Dad). The excitement was palpable, until Glenn Hoddle left to manage Chelsea and Colin Calderwood, the talismanic captain, signed for Spurs. Suddenly, the forthcoming season seemed a little more daunting as the club's leadership was decimated and John Gorman was asked to pick up the reins and manage the team. Although fair reward for the dour Scot for his help in getting STFC to the promised land, his relative inexperience at such a high level was to be part of the club's downfall during the 1993/94 football season. It was 15 games into the season when Swindon Town finally registered their first win at the top level. That match was at home to Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday 24th November 1993 and the Town did the double over them by beating the West London club 1 - 3 on Saturday 30th April 1994 at Loftus Road. That record, 15 games without a win from the start of the Premier League season, has been an ignominious blight in the club's copybook for over 19 years...until yesterday!

The monkey on Swindon's back packed his bags and was seen heading off down the M4 in the direction of The Smoke, a copy of the London A to Z clutched securely in his hands. He has now taken up residence in London W12 and will be seen clinging to Harry Redknapp as, ironically, it is Queens Park Rangers who now have the dubious honour of being the team with the worst starting record in the history of the Premier League. Yesterday saw QPR draw with Wigan Athletic and achieve the dizzy heights (or should that be nauseating depths?) of playing 16 games from the start of the season without a win.  

As a supporter of Swindon Town, I would like to say thank you to QPR for taking this record off us. Derby County have the lowest points tally for any Premier League season, but we just need to lose the goals against record (100 for 42 games) and the therapy will be finished...any takers?

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I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea!

Roberto Di Matteo is probably not surprised at his dismissal, as Chelsea seem to have a revolving door installed when it comes to the manager's entrance/exit at the club. From winning the European Champions League and the FA Cup last season, to facing an early exit from this season's Champions League competition is tantamount to failure in the fickle world of football in West London. Although leaving the competition via the Champions League trapdoor will find Chelsea land in the money-making safety net of the Europa League, this is obviously not good enough for Roman Abramovich and so Di Matteo's head must roll. However, Roberto will do okay as severance pay in the surreal world that is modern day football is akin to a lottery win to the poor souls who fork out their hard-earned cash to follow their team each week. Joe Bloggs does his bit by handing over a hefty percentage of their weekly pay, keeping the "top" players in the comfort that they believe they deserve for kicking a bag of air around a park for 90 minutes...nice work if you can get it! The question arises as to who in the football managerial world is likely to want to take on the poisoned chalice that is the Chelsea FC's manager's job?

Swindon Town Footnote

Well, I gave the Swindon Town boys the kiss of death yesterday. A dire game with Swindon going down to a 0 - 1 defeat at home to a more hungry, stronger Brentford side. In the local newspaper, the Swindon Advertiser, Paolo Di Canio apparently predicted that at least 3 of his players would under perform: Paolo is a Prophet

This beggars the question as to why they started the match rather than warm the sub's bench? Paolo Di Canio is undoubtedly the best thing to happen to Swindon Town management-wise for a long time, but he must go with his gut feeling at times and play those who are going to do the job on the field for the club.  

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Waiting For News

I've sent the manuscripts for Cromarty Biggs Powder Monkey and In Search of the Beast to a publisher here in the UK and am waiting for news. With Rain Publishing out of action for a while, this is an opportunity for my work to be put into the UK marketplace by a British publisher. The obvious advantage is that, being resident in the UK, I'll be able to meet with the publisher as and when required, and also attend any function necessary to market the books. They've had the manuscripts for about two weeks so I should hear something within the next month or so, but it's nerve-wracking waiting for their verdict.

I'm thankful to Rain Publishing for giving me the opportunity to show that my work is publishable, but I think it's now time for it to be seen on a wider front; the object of the exercise is to hopefully give me the chance of changing careers and be able to take up writing full time. As soon as the publisher gets back to me, I'll post it here.