The Lounge

[MacWomble]

Funny old game this football. Just when you think you are down, then lo and behold, a miracle. So, I’m going to put my $5 on a win at Peterborough and at home to Rochdale, in the firm expectation that one or both will eventuate. The omens are right: the surprise wins coming just before we get to the Wally-out stage. Fingers crossed.

[Singapore Don]

Fortunately I had a couple of weeks off the misery of following the Dons, with a wonderful holiday in Zambia – only to return to see us beaten 1-3 at home by Bristol Rovers. It was a strange experience.

Forss’ goal was superb, but I felt little euphoria, expecting the inevitable reversal to come. At the final whistle, I just felt numb, and I woke up on Sunday morning little bothered. Such is the lack of hope and expectation around the club that there was just no surprise at the defeat and instead a sad resignation that it was likely to be – as it has been week in, week out, and will likely be for the foreseeable. Players with no real quality or character, a manager stubbornly sticking with a hopeless formation that has delivered one win in sixteen games – it’s hardly any wonder I like so many others are beyond being fed up and angry. There’s no point in getting upset any more because there seems no way out. Everything just feels so flat, so meh.

Of course I desperately hope I’m wrong and our fortunes will change for the better, but it’s really hard to see how that is going to happen. We are a club and team with no passion, drive or ambition right now, and I’ve accepted that this is going to be yet another difficult season in League One, a League which has failed to deliver any real fun or excitement or hope in the three years we’ve been in it. I’ll still be there week in/week out, supporting my team, but with zero expectation and so no dashed hopes that in past seasons have caused me such angst and upset at weekends. The predictable poor performances and results are perversely quite liberating.

[Singapore Don]

No sooner had I written of no prospect of anything changing, and the club announces that Wally Downes has been suspended after being charged by the FA for betting misconduct. Perhaps Glyn Hodges can now turn around our fortunes! Peterborough has a new interest….

[onyadon]

As if this season couldn’t get any worse. News this week that Wally Downes has been suspended from his managerial duties by the club after he was charged by the FA for misconduct in respect of eight bets placed on football matches between 30 November 2013 and 12 July 2019. His assistant Glyn Hodges has been put in charge of the team while the club and Dons Trust boards look “at the allegations more closely and make a further announcement in due course.” A couple of things out of this. The Sun reported that the club were alerted to the FA investigation over the summer, but it wasn’t made public until this week. I understand from various sources that the football board are divided in their support of Wally in the midst of a win-less start to the season. Also intriguing is how the FA became aware of Wally’s alleged betting breaches and whether this is an opportunity by some on the board to remove Wally without having to initiate his dumping by themselves. There have been reports in the press – presumably planted by people in the know – that Wally has been working on non-contract basis for the club. It stems from a disagreement over potential bonus payments. The Daily Mail says Wally’s failure to sign a contract is understood to have been the result of a stand-off over a bonus he was seeking in the event of keeping AFC Wimbledon in League One last season. The club refused to budge however and as a result Wally has been operating without a fixed contract for the last 10 months, which the Mail said will make it easier for them to sack him. The Sun — from whom Wally’s son Wally Downes Jnr is their boxing writer — have trivialised some of the bets Wally supposedly made, including one for just over one pound on an accumulator on women’s games, and the newspaper said Wally is expected to ‘confess’ to the charges when he is called to officially respond to the allegations by Friday October 4. Given the club’s actions already to suspend Wally it doesn’t look as if he will be able to continue in his role, which poses another question: will Glyn Hodges be prepared – if offered the opportunity – to take over the manager’s job from his close friend Wally Downes? In the meantime, Glyn is preparing the team for the visit to ninth-placed Peterborough United. It is another testing game for the Dons, who have three draws from their opening 10 league games. Indeed, AFC Wimbledon have come to a fork in the road so early in the season, some of it by their own hand and some by outside forces. Increasingly, this season is becoming a nightmare, unless somewhere there is an unexpected twist. .. Interested in others’ thoughts….

[Devon Womble]

Thought provoking.
My take on this comes from listening to Glyn talk about the Peterborough game. He mentions “Tweaking” a few things, and about how he wants the team to “get comfortable” on the ball rather than treating it like a hot potato.
These are not the words of someone looking for a short term ‘caretaking’ job, IMHO, these are the words of someone who is, at the very least, putting himself in the frame for the manager’s job.
The latter comment is a very observant one on how we’ve played since the start of the season. Since WD has not tackled this problem, and now his No.2 is, I think we might yet see Glyn at least take the job for the balance of the season… assuming the power struggle in the board doesn’t favour a recall for WD.
It is my gambit that WD will be kept out of circulation for a few weeks so the board can see if Glyn can do any better!
What a Carry on!

[liamwimbo]

Another Saturday, another defeat for the Dons. And, yet again, a loss by only one goal. And another game where we played well for half a game.

As for Wallygate, I think it might be a blessing in disguise. Hard to see Wally Downes coming back, so I think we will see GH in charge for the rest of the season.

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