The Exiled Robin

Two defeats in two, albeit both with excuses or reasons of sorts, have dented City’s lead at the top and you’ve got to think a win at London Road in front of the Sky TV cameras is necessary to keep us there with Swindon and Preston breathing down our necks.  It's the least they could do on my birthday, after all!! That won’t be an easy task though. Peterborough remain one of the favourites for promotion, despite a patchy start that has led to some unrest amongst fans and the now much-anticipated post-match Twitter tirade from outspoken owner Darragh MacAnthony. Stu Radnedge caught up with friend of the blog, Jamie Jones – one time host of Posh podcast ‘Standing on the Glebe’, which sadly hung up its headphones in the summer and for the music buffs amongst you now hosts an intriguing looking blog (and published book!) named I Blame Morrissey! http://iblamemorrissey.wordpress.com/ Big thanks to Jamie for this detailed overview of the situation. "The Posh – They ...

And there it is. A first league defeat in controversial circumstances at old rivals Swindon Town.  Now comes a true test of this team’s seemingly strong belief and character, moreso than during games where a defeat had looked on the cards as this team now needs to show how it reacts to a loss, especially one which angered and frustrated manager, players and fans alike. Steve Cotterill’s temperament and approach will be critical this week.   If he has spent the week getting the players to channel their emotions productively, then Preston could feel the backlash.   If it’s been a week of feelings of injustice and despondency, the outcome could be somewhat different.    Being 'up for it' seems to be most fans' desire after such a defeat, but without control, that can sometimes be an approach which loses you the sense of purpose and planning with which we have achieved so much this season.   When you throw in the loss of your captain and midfield lynch...

After a brief hiatus from the league and an all-too-rare level of success in the two cup competitions, City return to league action this weekend in the first of a trio of mouth-watering clashes at the top of league one.  Preston North End and Peterborough United are on the horizon, but for now a classic local derby looks to be on the cards, as Steve Cotterill takes his unbeaten league leaders to the County Ground to face Swindon. Stu Radnedge caught up with Dan Johnson www.twitter.com/danwjonson - a blogger for the Swindon Advertiser, to get the other Robins’ take on their own great start to the season. “As the new campaign got underway in August it was hard to predict what sort of season was on the horizon. Due to a courtroom battle over the clubs ownership the club had only signed a handful of players in time for the big kick-off. However, despite suffering a chaotic pre-season, Town began with a win, beating Scunthorpe 3-1 at the County Ground.  The opening mo...

With two cup games in four days, I fully expect boss Steve Cotterill to give some of the players who have been on this amazing unbeaten and ever-present run a break and get some of the fringe players involved, with the likes of Adam El Abd, Karliegh Osborne, Greg Cunningham, Marlon Pack, JET & Wesley Burns likely to feature prominently and try to propel City into the next round of the respective competitions. First up is another cup trip to Kent as Gillingham have once again been drawn out of the hat as our opponents, as they were in the league cup last season.   Stu Radnedge spoke to Gills fan James Tong https://twitter.com/jamesthegill to find out more about our potential banana skin. “After scraping our way to a respectable 17 th  place last year after promotion the year before, most fans were hoping for a slight improvement this time around, without necessarily pulling up trees. Reducing the number of goals conceded was a priority – we had the joint 2 nd ...