Archive for: March, 2012

The Irene Irritation

Mar 31 2012 Published by under Swindon Town

So it’s Saturday and time for another visit to the Theatre of Dreams ( a.k.a. The County Ground , Swindon ) to see the local derby between Swindon and Bristol Rovers . After Swindon’s defeat at Wembley in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final on Sunday Swindon fans were anticipating a good performance from their team but slightly wary as the games between Swindon and The Gas ( Rovers ) rarely produce free flowing football and tend to become a war of attrition rather than “the beautiful game ” .

And so it proved – Swindon had the majority of possession , missed a few chances and had difficulty breaking down a resolute Rovers defence resulting in a 0-0 draw . Not the result that Swindon wanted as league leaders but clearly the result that Rovers had come for in their short journey down the M4 .

However , due to other teams near the top of the league also having mediocre results Swindon are still in a great position to gain automatic promotion so all in all not a bad afternoon’s work .

The only downside of course being the inevitable rendition of “Goodnight Irene ” from the Rovers fans – quickly countered by a chant from the Swindon fans suggesting that Irene was in fact, a lady plying the oldest trade in the book .

So it’s Goodnight Irene and frankly good riddance !

In Paolo we trust……

Up The Town

 

 

 

No responses yet

The Paint Pot Perplexity

Mar 28 2012 Published by under Swindon Town, Utility Warehouse

A slightly delayed blog post on this subject due to pressure of work but also the pain involved in writing it……..

So , after a good day out at Telford on Saturday for the Utility Warehouse Express Day conference on Sunday matters turned to all things Swindon Town and a day out to Wembley for the final of the Johnstones Paint Trophy , a.k.a. The Paint Pot Trophy.

The game between Chesterfield and Swindon had been eagerly anticipated by Swindon fans and indeed lots of people in Swindon who suddenly remembered that they were Swindon fans resulting in a 30,000 strong army of fans heading for Wembley all anticipating a straightforward win for Swindon against Chesterfield .

 

The logic went like this – Swindon , top of League Two and playing some great football this year , Chesterfield ,bottom of League One and struggling – what could possibly go wrong , surely all we need to do is turn up ?

But as in life sometimes football can sometimes surprise you and despite playing some good football Swindon lost 2-0 to a very well organised and focussed Chesterfield team .

 

Cue much wailing and knashing of teeth from Swindon fans ( me included ) who had now experienced their second defeat at the “new” Wembley . The disappointment of losing was only matched by the disappointment and anguish of  paying the gross domestic product of a third world nation for a burger ,chips and coke at the Wembley catering stands – talk about catching a captive audience !

So , a disappointing day – I can only say to the guy that I spoke to on Sunday morning who said ” If you win , bring us back a tin of Magnolia” – maybe next year !

 

Up The Town

 

 

No responses yet

The Telford Tribulation

Mar 26 2012 Published by under Utility Warehouse

A busy weekend started with a trip on Saturday to the International Centre in Telford for the annual Utility Warehouse Express Day event  . A two hour drive from Swindon but a relatively easy trip despite an early start and a slightly fog bound M5 .

A great event – some great announcements of  improvements and simplification to existing Utility Warehouse services as well as a motivational keynote address from Darren Hardy of Success Magazine .

The one tribulation ? the food ! it’s always a trial feeding a couple of thousand people in a short time frame but in this subject I have “previous” namely :

Massive Action Day Event – Cheltenham September 2011  – go to assigned “food station” to find that they had run out of food , spend 30 minutes of the 45 minute lunch break walking around Cheltenham Racecourse searching for a sandwich !

Big Kick Off Event – Bracknell January 2012 – same deal , rows 1-10 get allocated a point to collect their food – I rock up to find once again the cupboard is bare and spend the majority of the lunch break trying to find a sandwich !

So on Saturday I was looking forward to some hot food – the Coq Au Vin looked a good choice – end up queuing for ages only to find that the Coq Au Vin was no more and the only food remaining was the “veggie” option of Mushroom Risotto which was basically a bit of rice and a few mushrooms in a sauce !

Mental note for next year’s event – as well as checking route from Swindon to Telford also check out the vicinity of the nearest Maccy D’s and KFC !!

 

 

No responses yet