The Lounge

[Windlesham Don]

We are indeed desperate for the return of both Will and Woody, but their absence has demonstrated the paper thin nature of our squad. I’m still hopeful that we could pick up a cheap loanee before the window closes, but we are short in midfield as well as up front.

Several recent signings have simply not stepped up to the plate, with Connolly, McLoughlin and Roscrow barely being seen (and not contributing when they are). This means that injury-free we may have a decent starting XI, but we cannot cope with injuries or suspensions.

I’m hoping for a performance similar to Tuesday up at Sunderland, but not expecting any points.

I’m also hoping for the Bury and Bolton situations to be resolved so that we know exactly where we stand. Although I have sympathy for the fans of both clubs, the financial mismanagement has been plain for all to see for years. They have lived beyond their means and cannot be allowed to prosper. I’d like to see both clubs expelled from the EFL for the season, but no chance that the lily-livered gin swillers in charge will be strong enough to make the necessary stand.

[Cape Cod Womble]

I’ll be at Sunlun tomorrow. The weather is nice this Bank Holiday weekend however there is industrial action on the trains on Sunday, so if no-one has heard from me for a week or so, put the search party out for me. I might be stuck in Mackem Land talking some strange dialect that sounds like I’ve got a mouthful of fish.

As for the game itself, we will be lucky to get a draw, probably a 0-0. I was at the Accrington game and just as Oxford at home last season was the worst win that I have ever seen AFC get, Saturday’s draw was the worst point.

That’s not the first time that AFC have had no clue how to break down a ten player formation. My mate Mark Lever (Grimsby Town legend) said that teams are trained to play in ten and can be very hard top break down. But like Charlton last season, Accrington scored with a player short, which must have really pissed Wally and Glyn off.

Where is this first win going to come from?

[MacWomble]

The fanatics at WDSA HQ (i.e. Oz) may be buoyed this weekend after an evening’s bonanza of England wickets. Anything is possible we realise. Even an Ashes win after 3 tests. And look at the commentary box and grounds – stuffed full of old captains – Hussain, Atherton, Vaughan, Strauss, Gower – who don’t seem to have found day jobs like the rest of us. And to think that Joe Root will no doubt follow on, despite you and me also being able to score two ducks if we were allowed to be so piss-poor for the money. What Wimbledon needs is the spirit of Jofra this weekend. Can Wally instil this is the squad. Goodness knows what a hard ask that must be. Who wants to sit in a bus for the best part of one year to go up some awful motorway through flat terrain to horrible Sunderland. It would take one of Jofra’s bouncers in the box to kick you our of the malaise, and inevitable 3-1 loss, even 3-0. Will the Nightingale sing? But luckily Bury and Bolton are doing us a favour. What sort in business is it that does not pay its workers and then thinks it deserves to survive? The good citizens of Bolton and Bury may be better off without having to endure that garbage week-in, week-out. Maybe they can go support Rochdale or more likely Manchester Utd instead. But didn’t Holdsworth once play for Bolton? Jeeze, how we could do with the Deano-of-old upfront for us now. At least he could knock them in. That’s kinda the point of it Wally and the lads. COYD.

[Windlesham Don]

So 1-1 in the Ashes then…
😉

[Cape Cod Womble]

I got up super early to get the 6.22 from Hull to York then Newcastle and then the Metro to Sunlun. Coming out of the station I took a wrong turn and walked a mile away from the city centre before a friendly local pointed me in the right direction of the Travelodge. Eventually I found my way to the William Jameson Spoons pub and settled in with another Dons lad to watch the cricket. I set off around 1.30 to walk across the Wear bridge and walked into the Fanzone area. It was cracking weather all Bank Holiday weekend.

I went for a cider and when I came back and as I was wearing my old Crazy Gang Elonex shirt I was spotted by the Fanzone comperes and invited up onstage to give some opinions from an AFC perspective. I like wearing my old WFC shirt to traditional clubs like Sunderland as their fans remember us with a lot of affection.

I climbed up on top of a 20ft container (not a bad effort with my bung knee) and answered questions for about ten minutes. I thought I didn’t do too badly in front of a crowd of over 500 Black Cats fans. In fact one fan later said “I did a canny job”. First up of course I introduced myself as being Australian which received a mixed response. I explained how I became a Dons fan and that was my cue to advertise WDSA and the longest running Wimbledon fanzine in the world. I mentioned a few of our new players like Luke O’Neill and Nathan Trott and the connection between Carlton Fairweather who became Manager of Sunderland Ladies team. The question of the MK came up and I put it to the compere as to whether he would actually have a Franchise supporter up on stage later in the season. That met with an embarrassing silence from the MC who said that they would have to consider that later! I got a clap from the crowd and went off to check the score on the cricket.

There were about 300 AFC fans in the gods at SOL which was a reduced number due to train maintenance and strikes out of Kings Cross. I thought the result was fair – we were in the game for a while but poor fending cost us once more. The fans were getting on Wally’s back about not sending on the Pig. Not that Wally could hear us as we were a million miles away. I went out in Sunlun Saturday night in my WFC shirt and met many friendly local fans.

Travelling back on the Sunday I checked the score in the cricket leaving Darlington it was 9 down with 68 to get. Then I entered a black spot for the internet. When I arrived in York it was 2 runs to get!

Two losses over the weekend but all in all a cracking time.

[Cape Cod Womble]

What to make of the Bury debacle? A crushing disappointment for the fans and the town and the history behind the club but also a massive lessons learned for the rest of us in the EFL. They hugely overpaid their squad in the last few seasons. I can remember they signed Jermaine Beckford who must have been on big bucks and then he got injured and was out long term. And Bolton have also had something of an open cheque book policy for the last decade beyond their capacity to be sustainable.

Wimbledon fans have lived through the pain of disreputable and dodgy owners and in the AFC era we live every day with the constraints of our budget and constantly having to put our hands in our pockets to scramble our League One survival. At times it is very difficult to compete against the likes of Blackburn, Sunderland and Wigan but we have survived.

Laurence Lowne highlighted in fb that there is a knock on effect for AFC with the revenue missing from the Bury fixture.

I am sorry to see Bury depart (and potentially Bolton in the near future) but it won’t happen to us because we are fan owned.

[Author]

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