The Ballad of Charlie McGhee – 2nd Stanza

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May 2018 – Coronation



Swindon had averaged a bit of 8k for home attendance this season but with the final match of the season about to happen against Presten at home we had a surge of interest as Swindon fans flocked to the County Ground.


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The game itself won’t be remembered alongside some of their masterpieces from this season but they put on enough of a show to send the punters home happy. A one nil victory whilst showcasing the Robin’s young talent was a good result. Nathan Oduwa with the solitary goal although in truth they really should have had quite a few more.


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So that was it! The season was over and Swindon had run away with things in first place. Their reward for some a remarkable season? Oh, about 25,000 pounds…


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In fact, the club received over ten times that much in gate receipts just for the day!! Although the solidarity payments help all clubs you would think the clubs that do win should be compensated a little better!!


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That was it then. An amazing stretch to end the season saw the Robins win the league in a canter. A mammoth 20 points ended up separating them from 2nd placed Chesterfield.


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Following the final game of the season the Board dragged Charlie in to tell him that they were upgrading the Youth Facilities. A welcome venture that should assist with creating 1st teamers from their own youth program – now just to improve the quality of youth coming in.


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As Charlie started making plans for next season’s push into the Championship the awards season started in earnest. First was the Fan’s award night where young fullback Sean Long was awarded the player of the season. Charlie would probably have gone with 2nd place getter Danilo Pantic as player of the season. He was aslo astonished to see O’Keefe and Winks in the team of the year over Nathan Ake seeing as the young Dutchman had played more games than both of them and performed extremely well in the defensive midfield role!


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Next up was the Press and Player’s awards. McGhee won the Manager of the Year award and O’Keefe picked up the Goal of the Season. Amazingly no other Swindon players won either the Player or Young Player of the Year despite McGhee feeling there was many deserving candidates from his ranks. For as dominating as they were McGhee was a little ****** to see only Winks and ‘keeper Maenpaa make the team of the year… Maybe his rotation towards the end of the season had cost some players in the end… ‘Stuff em,’ McGhee thought to himself. ‘We’ll be showing what we got in the Championship next season whilst they and playing with each other in League 1. I mean how does Chesterfield get 4 – they finished 20 points behind us!!’ McGhee felt slighted but resolved to use this as motivation for next season.


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June 2018 – Downtime? What Downtime?



So this is usually the month that professional footballers look forward too each season for some rest and recuperation. Not Charlie though, he was hard at it all June looking at ways to improve the squad. In the end a focus on continuity won out when he considered all the possibilities.


That isn’t to say there won’t be any incomings. The first of these is Freddie Woodman. The young shot-stopper had been transfer listed by Newcastle and Charlie was delighted to be able to pick him up. It is likely that to start the season he will be providing quality cover behind Niki Maenpaa and playing in the cups but he easily has the potential to supplant the giant Finn and take over the starting role before the end of the season. Also, at only 300,000 pounds he represents a bargain.


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The second player McGhee decided to bring in was Fernando Forestieri. He had also been transfer listed following his time at Sheffield Wednesday. He has significant Championship experience and will add a bit of flair to the squad. Finally settling on a contract nearing 10k a week he will need to perform and perform early or he could find himself shipped out.


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The final new player joining the Robins will be young central defender David Syme. At only 20 he has a long time to go in his career and develop. He already looks a player and it someone that appears to have the quality and compete from day 1 in this squad.


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The other thing Charlie focused on was keeping some of his loan stars from the previous season as they had more than shown they were ready to step up. No. 1 on his list was Cameron Carter Vickers. He looks like he will be able to form a formidable partnership Syme at the back.


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Winks is another Tottenham loanee that Charlie was keen to lock up. He patrolled the middle of the field well for Swindon last season and looks every bit a Championship quality player.


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Next Charlie turned his attention to the Chelsea loan duo of Pantic and Ake. Pantic will likely be asked to play more centrally after excelling there towards the end of the League 1 season and Ake was an ever present in the defensive midfielder role for the Robins last season and looks like he will be so again this year.


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The final bit of business this month was the free transfer addition of Charlie Colkett who will join at the beginning of next season. The former Chelsea youngster has the ability to play anywhere from Defensive to Attacking Midfield and will be given an opportunity to show what he is made of this season. As a free transfer he represents somewhat of a low risk/high reward proposition if he can score a starting spot.


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As June wore down and the upcoming training camp that was to kick off preseason loomed large on the horizon Charlie felt a level of comfort in his squad. Across the park he feels he generally has the quality he needs. ‘Still,’ he thought to himself, ‘I could use one more quality addition if not in this window than in January. One that will really help us put the cat amongst the pigeons.’
 
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July 2018 – Preseason Preparations



The season began with a training camp based in England. The squad assembled and very quickly new faces Forestieri, Syme and Woodward were very much part of the team. Charlie had lined up a very difficult slate of preseason matches. If you are going to be gaining fitness you may as well be learning things from the best along the way. Games against Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal were the highlights of a preseason slate that, whilst not as heavy on the amount of games as last season, should still provide the team with enough to gain full fitness.


To say the results were mixed in preseason would be somewhat of an understatement. Despite being one of the promoted sides into the Championship this season Charlie wants to continue with the more attacking style that saw his team run away with the League 1 title last season. As such, he sent his team out in each of the preseason friendlies to attack and at times paid the price. The highlights were the 3-4 loss to Manchester City and the win over fellow Championship side (CHECK) Bristol City. At the other end of the spectrum the 6 nil drubbing at the hands of Arsenal was the obvious low point.


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Throughout July Charlie was also keeping his eye on a number of the international games going on – predominately in Asia where Charlie is hoping to unearth a few young gems that might fly under the radar of other big European clubs using his extensive knowledge of the area. The main focus of the footballing world though was on the World Cup being played in Russia. Italy ran out the eventual champions beating surprise packets Colombia in the final. Charlie couldn’t help but feel bad that Ecuador, who had done well in his eyes to even make the finals, were named as the underachievers of the tournament by the local media.


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Soon enough though the preperations were all complete and the squad looking out to their first game of the season against Brentford. Now to see what the squad is really made of.
 
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August 2018 – Starting strongly



So here is was. Charlie’s Championship debut. He thought back over his journey to date. The time at Newcastle Jets and then packing up and moving to Scotland with some time with the Australian Under 23’s to now his time at Swindon. It’s definitely been a journey and one he is keen to see continue. To top things off in the week leading up to the first match Charlie got word that he has successfully finished his Continental B licence course he started last season.


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The match against Brentford had dominated the back pages of the local press and interest in the game was reaching fever pitch as it worked it’s way closer. In fact, Lee Power and the Swindon Board were expecting a bumper crowd for the game. As has become his custom Power pooped his head into Charlie’s office to reiterate the Board’s expectations that had been agreed with Charlie at the culmination of last season. Essentially the goal is to beat the drop, Charlie intends though to drop the beat.


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Whilst not a packed house there was a significant crowd turned out for the Brentford match. Swindon put on a show too, finding themselves 3 nil up after the hour thanks to goals from Pantic, Sigurdarson and new boy Forestieri. Brentfod dragged one back midway through the 2nd half but the game was over as Swindon sent the fans home happy.


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McGhee sent a rotated squad out for the 2nd match of the season as they took on Northampton in the Capital One Cup. Still being able to field a squad including the likes of O’Keefe, Ebanks-Blake, Oduwa and Bangoura meant they were all still very familiar with each other the result reflected that – a 3 nil win on route to the second round.


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Over the summer Charlie had been scouting many Asian talents but kept coming up against the same issue – work permits. McGhee, wanting to leverage his expertise in the Asian region as much as possible, went to the Board with a view to securing a feeder club to assist with work permits. Unfortunately none in a specifically suitable country could be found but a feeder club in Belgium was offered and accepted by Charlie.


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For their 2nd league game of the season Swindon travelled to Sheffield Wednesday. Again Swindon skipped out to a lead and again the opposition scored to make things tense. Fortunately again Swindon held on to secure all 3 points. Great start to life in the Championship for the Robins.


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One player Charlie did buy on speculation was Saudi striker Ali Al-Yousif. Charlie believes that, even without a dedicated feeder club he can find a way to get the talented youngster a work permit as he has already featured for the Saudi national team. He will join Jablonec on a 2 year loan to start things off.


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Swindon were looking to make it 3 in a row in the league as Leicester came to visit for the 4th game of August. Despite facing a team that not so long ago was gracing the Premier League the Robin outclassed their more fancied opponents and ran out eay 3 nil winners. Sigurdarson scoring again to take his tally for the year to 4 in 3 games. The match also meant that Swindon had gone a ridiculous 23 games unbeaten in competitive matches – just crazy.


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Preston, who were winless and bottom of the Championship, were next up for Swindon. Despite the game being at Deepdale the Robins dominated proceedings. Another Sigurdarson goal to go with another 3-1 victory.


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The Robins final match of the month was their second round Capital One Cup tie against Everton. McGhee, realizing that a win here was always going to be a tough ask, fully rotated the squad and they didn’t have enough here despite performing admirably. Everton ran out 2 nil winners but


McGhee was quick to point out that his squad will learn more from games like this than any of their wins so far this season.


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An amazing start to the season then for Swindon. Depsite being tipped for relegation they are currently leading the league, although undoubtedly more sterner tests await. For now though they are at least 12 points closer to safety than some teams…


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Unsurprisingly McGhee as awarded the Manager of the Month award for August. His team were flying but their success was in no small part thanks to the efforts of Bjorn Sigurardson. He has been brilliant to start the year and was really unlucky no to pick up the Player of the Month award, pipped to the post by Ryan Kent of QPR who also had himself a month.


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September 2018 – Finding our feet



As the weather began to cool off a little with Autumn rolling around so too did Swindon’s red hot start. The first game in September saw them take on Brighton and Hove Albion at the Country Ground. Swindon started well and took a lead on 26 minutes when new boy Forestieri fired home. The game was quite even from then on and just went it looked like the Robins were going to pick up all 3 points Maguire-Drew hit a stunner to rescue a point for the Seagulls.


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Swindon travelled west to Wales for the second fixture of the fall. The turning point in this match was undoubtedly Carter-Vickers red card midway through the second half. Prior to that the teams had fought out a 1 all draw, but, after being reduced to ten, the Bluebirds were by far the better side and took advantage ten minutes from time as Noone put them ahead for good.

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Fallen giants Middlesborough visited next for Swindon. Boro see themselves languishing just above the relegation spots and served as the perfect opportunity for the Robins to resume their promotion push and they did so in style. Turning it on for a 3 nil victory but it was the performance, not the result, that pleased Charlie the most – they had never looked like losing here.

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They may have ‘only’ earned a point in their 4th match of the season away at former Premiership side Burnley but McGhee wasn’t too worried. They had done well to grind out a draw after seeing Mattock sent off minutes after they equalized.

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The final match of the month saw Swindon welcome Charlton to town. Charlten managed to score early through Willock and then shut up shop, trying to ****** and grab all 3 points. The their credit though Swindon wore down the stubborn defense and equalized just after the hour mark. From that point on it was all Swindon but no winning goal could be found.

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An up and down month then that saw the Robins pick up only 6 points from a possible 15 but with 3 draws, 1 win and a loss against what it pretty decent competition Charlie is still happy with the progress he is seeing from his squad as they finished September firmly entrenched within the playoff spots.

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May of been an up & down month but considering the opposition, not bad at all mate.

Nice to see you back too, know its only been a week or so but time drags on without Charlie! :)
 
Lippo255 said:
May of been an up & down month but considering the opposition, not bad at all mate.

Nice to see you back too, know its only been a week or so but time drags on without Charlie! :)
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Cheers mate - as I'm sure you know Christmas is ****** hectic when you have kids!!!
 
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October 2018 – Are we winning because of, or in spite of…




Desperate to make up for a somewhat underwhelming, but, when all things are considered, decent September Swindon took on Huddersfield at the John Smith stadium. McGhee was happy enough with the performance but again was left bemoaning a couple of late goals that cost his side points. Looking around after the final whistle Charlie began to realize how far this side still has to go. Especially when you consider that so much of their recent success has been built on the back of loanees who he wont be able to rely on should the gain promotion.

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Things got back on track though in the 2nd game of October. A really good result and performance saw them overcome Derby easily 3-1. In fact, the only thing Charlie could really complain about with this game is that they conceded at all.

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It had been a little while since Swindon secured an away win but that did just that when they visited the Macron Stadium to take on Bolton in the 3rd game of the month. In the end a late, solitary Ebanks-Blake goal settled it for the Robins.

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Swindon made it 3 wins in a row when they next took on (relatively) local rivals QPR. With a number of loanees from Chelsea and Tottenham this game had even more of a local derby flavor and then Robins sent the home fans home happy with a solid 4-2- win. Sigurdarson continuing his fine form with a double.

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Prior to the 5th match of the month against Sheffield McGhee got word that the youth facilities work he had requested had now been completed. Whilst it represented an improvement, in truth with the exception of the training ground, the standard of the clubs facilities was lagging behind Charlie’s ambitions for the club. The was further highlighted when Charlie guided the Robins to their 4th win in a row over Sheffield in a hard fought game that only saw all three points secured minutes from time when Pantic popped up with the winner.

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To round off the month McGhee secured the signature of young Australian Under 20 starlet Daniel Taylor. McGhee had been referred Taylor by his acquaintance, and current Australian U/20 coach Paul Okon. Okon and McGhee haven't always seen eye to eye over the years but on this occasion Okon put his differences aside to alert McGhee when Taylor’s FFA Centre of Excellence contract ran out. Taylor, who could have had his pick of any A-League club, instead chose to sign for Swindon even though he knows in the interim he will have to be loaned out as he doesn’t yet qualify for an English Work Permit such is the regard the former Socceroo McGhee is still held in back in Australia.

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A really good month had seen Swindon finish it up in 2nd spot. His team was flying high, in the automatic promotion spots – so why couldn’t Charlie shake this feeling that maybe Swindon wasn’t right for him…

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November 2018 – So torn



It was a difficult month for Charlie to keep his mind focused on Swindon. Almost every day he was taking a call from his agent alerting him to a new opening. His recent successes with Swindon were obviously not going unnoticed by the wider footballing public.


The Robins began November taking on Swansea at home. That Swansea are even in the Championship is somewhat of a surprise but even more so was the way they rolled over for Swindon here. Seriously – they were lucky the match only finished 3-1!!

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In fairness Swindon have been severely overperforming this season. This squad really has no business finishing above mid table and Charlie knows it. Their 2nd match of November really reinforced this belief. When your opposition can trot out Danny Ings whilst you’re playing guys who were practically free transfers it’s rare that things will end out good for you – even if the Robins probably shaded the things in terms of the performance today.

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Some key injuries to loanees in the lead up the Fulham match also helped emphasize the amazing job Charlie has done to get Swindon to where they are. They ended up going down 2-1 at Craven Cottage but not before pushing Fulham all the way.

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The ship was somewhat righted in the final match of November when Swindon ran out 2-1 winners over Nottingham Forrest. Forestieri was the hero with a double and in fairness the Italian, along with Sigurdarson, have really been the standout performers in terms of permanent players at Swindon.

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Towards the end of November things really started to heat up in terms of job offers for Charlie. The first was fellow Championship club Middlesborough. They were languishing 2 points above relegation when they offered Charlie the opportunity to interview. Despite Middlesborough being undeniably more “premiership ready” than Swindon Charlie declined the offer – whilst his head is being turned he has no desire to stab Swindon fans in the heart by taking up a post with a direct rival.

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Next came an offer from Sampdoria. The decision here to say no was much, much harder for Charlie. Yes, they were rooted to the bottom of the Serie A table but this is a huge club asking for him to interview and a chance to grow in another nation but he still said no. Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back - Fiorentina came calling. Sitting 16th in Serie A with a squad that should be pushing for Europe – Charlie couldn’t say no to at least an interview.
 
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December 2018 (Part 1) – Going places



Despite the interview going well Charlie knew he had to stick at it in case nothing came of it. Unfortunately his squad obviously picked up on the fact that his mind was on other things as they played perhaps their worst game of the season losing to Blackburn 2-1 in the opening game of December.

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In time the press was all over the McGhee to Fiorentina possibility. As soon as the Swindon Board got wind of it they rushed to offer Charlie a new deal. In the meantime Charlie had actually declined the Fiorentina offer to see what the Robins would do. McGhee was more than happy to sign on with the Robins but wanted assurances that the club was willing to invest to capitalize on their recent momentum. Charlie harboured no desire for 2 to 3 years consolidating – he wanted to get into the Premiership ASAP with the knowledge the Board would back him to stay there. As such, given bringing youth through was a stated goal, he decided to test the Board by asking them to increase the Youth Academy level – a test which they utterly failed.

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McGhee was flabbergasted. He had turned down an amazing offer to put his cards on the table with the Swindon Board but rather than show some initiative and press home the impetus they had gained they decided to ***** out and play it safe. To make matters worse McGhee then got the news that his best player, loanee Carter-Vickers, had torn his hamstring in training and was going to miss at least 3 months. Charlie knew it then and there. He could stay at Swindon and continue building and maybe get promotion at some point in the future but it wasn’t realistically happening this season.


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It took a little while for McGhee to get over it. When he had signed on at Swindon he had got the feeling that this club was progressive and wanted to go places quickly – I guess just not too quickly. In the end, another email from his agent containing a link to a news story helped get him over it.

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OGC Nice were sitting in 16th spot in Ligue 1 and looking for a new boss. McGhee was still extremely well known in the region thanks to spending 5 years on the books at Olympic Marseille and then 4 and half years across the way at SC Bastia of Corsica. McGhee still loved the Riviera region and held property in the area – was the time right to move to a club close to where he spent almost a decade as a player?

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McGhee, fully fluent in French, had crushed the interview. He had never felt as confident in getting a job but he still had work to do at Swindon prior to hearing anything formal back. Their next game was against Millwall. If this was to be his last game in charge of Swindon then what a way to go out!!


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December 2018 – Nice


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At the end of the day it came down to a choice between this,

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And this,

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As much as Swindon is a nice place to live Nice is one of the most beautiful locations on earth. The squad is also very decent and has the capacity, in Charlie’s eyes, to compete immediately for Europe.


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But what really attracted McGhee to this job was the young stars Nice has. With a penchant for developing youngsters this job really appealed to Charlie than to the presence of homegrown players Jacques Modeste, Malang Sarr and Mouez Hassen.

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In addition the club had proven its desire to invest in youth by purchasing talent such as Bissafi Dotte from Monaco who, along with Modeste, Sarr and Hassen, look like they could form the backbone of a squad that can challenge on all fronts for years and years to come.

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In terms of facilities Nice have recently moved into the state of the art Allianz Riviera stadium. It seats over 35,000 fans and, although not a centrally located at the Stade Du Ray – Nice’s former stadium that seated just under 19,000, provides the club with a base that will serve them well into the future.

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In the end Charlie didn’t want to leave Swindon for just anywhere but when the opportunity arose to manage in the top flight of a big country and to be able to do it in a place as temperate and beautiful as Nice well then Charlie really couldn’t say no! Now the challenge will be to see if he can continue living the dream.
 
Doing well at Swindon but, nice to see Charlie get a chance in a top league hopefully he can help the youngsters reach their full potential.View attachment 195170
Also does Nice have anything that can rival the stunning Spaghetti Junction, think of what Charlie is missing out on
 
Would of liked to see whether or not you could get Swindon promoted after such a good start, but was understandably very difficult to turn down the opportunity of managing Nice. Looking forward to seeing how you get on in your 4th Country!
 
ninjaskill said:
Doing well at Swindon but, nice to see Charlie get a chance in a top league hopefully he can help the youngsters reach their full potential.View attachment 1003882
Also does Nice have anything that can rival the stunning Spaghetti Junction, think of what Charlie is missing out on
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I don't think anywhere has anything that could rival that!! My head hurts just thinking about how I would navigate through it!!



Nomadic said:
Would of liked to see whether or not you could get Swindon promoted after such a good start, but was understandably very difficult to turn down the opportunity of managing Nice. Looking forward to seeing how you get on in your 4th Country!
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Cheers mate - To be honest I was getting worried that Swindon had a 'soft' ceiling that I was fast approaching. Smallish stadium and pretty average facilities meant it would be a while before I was truly battling with the big boys. I just felt that Nice gives Charlie the chance to get there more quickly. Also seeing as he spent some much of his playing career in France I really wanted to take the opportunity to manage there.
 
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