The Grecians face Swindon Town at St. James Park on Tuesday night. We talk to Vital Swindon’s Rich Pullen.
1) Name :
Richard Pullen
2) Supported Swindon Since?
Consciously since 1989.
3) First Game
November 1990 – Swindon Town 1-2 Port Vale.
The first Swindon goal I celebrated was a Darren Beckford own goal, poetry.
4) All time Hero
I have several. My all-time favourite is Devon’s finest, ‘Ooh’ Shaun Taylor. An old fashioned, no nonsense, gum shield wearing, goalscoring centre back… How could you not idolise this man?
Others are Colin Calderwood, Fraser Digby and Glenn Hoddle.
5) All time Villian
We’ve had a lot of poor players this decade. Tommy Mooney having a fantastic season at Swindon only to go and join Oxford United was irritating.
Colin Todd brought awful players like Juan Cobian, Kim Heiselberg and Marko Tuomela to the club only to ditch us for the assistant manager gig at his beloved Derby County. He didn’t last long there when he got promoted to the managerial post either. Good.
6) Swindon have made a decent start to the season, recovering well after a heavy defeat on the opening day. Do you believe you are strong enough to challenge for the playoffs, and possibly promotion?
We’re not good enough to get promoted just yet. I’d be elated if Wilson and Co could prove me wrong though.
I always say that as long as we give every team a good go this time round. The last two seasons have hardly been great.
We’re playing medicore at times while not losing the game so that’s got to be a decent sign.
7) You have an experienced manager at this level in Danny Wilson. What do you make of him?
Good but quite frustrating, like most managers
I think he’s done quite well since joining us almost a year ago. We’d be in League Two now had Andrew Fitton not made the right choice in replacing Maurice Malpas. Fitton took forever to appoint a new boss and ultimately benefited from Hartlepool getting rid of him while we were failing in our pursuits of other managers.
Now we look like we can compete with the better teams in this division we’re not holding on to leads. It’s up to Wilson to get those strikers scoring.
8) One of Exeter’s best players in recent years was Christian Roberts, and unfortunately had to retire prematurely. How much an impact did he make at the County Ground?
Roberts arrived from Bristol City an alcoholic. He spent some time at Tony Adams’ rehab and he was fortunate to recover from his off-the-field problems.
I’m glad the club stuck by him throughout, Dennis Wise looked after him during his brief spell as Town manager.
Roberts sometimes dazzled but more often frustrated and then the injuries arrived.
‘Oooh Christian Roberts, he used to play for [Bristol] City but he’s alright now!’
9) How many supporters do you anticipate will make the trip to St. James Park?
It’s a shame that it’s a night game because we would have taken a lot more but we’ll take a decent following. We’re not Leeds United but we have a loyal core who will enjoy standing on that tiny terrace!
I haven’t been to SJP since Sturrock took Town down to Devon for a friendly (1-0 Michael Pook) – it was too hot for football that day!
10) Your views on the match, and prediction?
Swindon need to beat the teams like Exeter City in order to compete for Play-Off places
I’m no pessimist, I’m happy with our start this season but for me, a night fixture away at Exeter City screams of a narrow loss. Either way, it won’t be pretty!
Exeter City 1-0 Swindon Town
Thanks once again to Rich Pullen for the interview.
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