I am not a great football fan, which might explain why I have been to four Swindon Town games in the last month or so. Yesterday's home match against Exeter was a little different - I watched it with a good friend sat amongst the away supporters. There were 950 of us in the green seats shown above. This gave some protection against the cold breeze, rather than being in the open Stratton Bank seating behind the goal (also known as the Adkins Family Stand and oddly sponsored by Divorce-Online.com).
A strange experience having to show contradicting emotions to those felt inside, but I justified my presence as both my parents hail from Devon and one of my grandmothers once died in Exeter . Though she was just a rubbish comedienne.
Fortunately, a 0-0 draw prevented too much chance of inappropriate reactions and nobody suspected a thing, even when I didn't join in the chanting. Sadly they used neither of the songs I had researched - Bob Marleys ' Exeters - Movement of The People' nor The Pointer Sisters 'I'm So Exetered'.
The away fans were generous in their comments toward Swindon and particularly for the rapid winger O'Brien who repeatedly skinned the right back. If only he could learn what to do with the ball from those positions. I have seen just one Swindon goal in the four matches, and now without Charlie Austen they have to do something about this to avoid relegation this season.
It is over 39 years since my first visit to The County Ground, where I watched Arsenal beat Swindon 2-0 in the FA Cup. The photo below is me, in my Arsenal Corner, from that time.
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