The Lounge

[Singapore Don]

Oh dear, Dom Poleon sharing a picture of an erstwhile Dons mate in Leeds on Instagram. Looks like it’s bye bye Jake Reeves.

[Devon Womble]

George who? for goalie… (apparently “things didn’t work out for him at Sheff Utd last season”).
And after the inevitable loss of our best player (not to mention numbers two three and four) we are now “looking at some midfield players” during pre-season… meaning we didn’t get that target either….
Mutter… mumble… mutter… mumble…
Odds as short as 3/1 now…
Still…. We Wombles love doing things the hard way, so roll on the new season… I’ve missed NA’s lame excuses; they have the potential for being the only thing that gets better this year.
Mutter… mumble… mutter… mumble…

[rob]

Not impressed with the transfer activity so far. Last season was tough but next seems to be getting harder. The loss of our midfield pairing of Reeves and Bulman is a disaster. We must replace Reeves with a similar player. I don’t see anyone currently at the club doing his role and that role is crucial to the team. He’s been our most influential player over the last 2 seasons and has gone for a pittance. A loan goalkeeper for James Shea! I would have stuck rather than twisted. Hopefully we won’t go bust. Who is going to replace Tom Elliot? Not sure we have signed a real replacement there either. I think Neal still has work to do. Optimism fading.

[Colum]

I have to agree Rob. Throw in the couple of “number one” targets from that Kent team who spent most of last season looking down rather than up. Is that really who we are looking to get? Maybe this is all we can expect with our budget, but it all seems a bit of a sorry saga. Especially when you consider who has been let go. With Poleon I can shrug my shoulders, but Reeves and Elliott? They’ll be tough to replace. As for the keeper, my jury is still out. At best he’ll be about the same as Shea.

One thing that has worried me this close season, is the push to relaunch the We are Wimbledon fund. Everyone seems to be going all out. It made me wonder if the club was waiting to see the results of that campaign before offering money to Neal to sign players. I hope I’m wrong, as that is a slippery slope.

[Windlesham Don]

At the moment it is difficult to feel optimistic about our chances for next season. The League will be tougher, with strong teams coming up and down, and with some of last season’s survivors spending big.

Currently our squad could best be described as ‘threadbare’. Twelve contracted players have departed (eight of which could be considered first team starters or normal match day squad members). To date four have been brought in.

I can currently cobble together a squad of 22, but that includes 4 youngsters (Antwi, Sibbick, Kalambayi, Owens), Barnett and Whelpdale (who may have been told they are not in the Gaffer’s plans), and several injuries (Charles, Meades, possibly Soares not match fit).

The squad needs bolstering in several areas: the left side, central midfield and on both wings. It would be great if we could re-integrate a fit Whelpdale into the squad, but I have been hoping for that for 12 months with no joy!

The next month of PSFs is going to be vital and it is important that we unearth a couple of gem signings during this time. Otherwise the 4/1 currently on offer against relegation (9/2 disappeared as quickly as Jake Reeves’ car left KM) will seem very generous indeed…

[Windlesham Don]

Just re-read my last post and it was too optimistic – I forgot to mention that integral to the current squad of 22 are Will ‘sick note’ Nightingale and Kwesi Appiah, who is returning from almost two years out after snapping virtually every ligament in his knee!

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