The Lounge

[onyadon]

Portsmouth will be a distinct step up for the Dons at Kingsmeadow on Saturday. Pompey, who were knocked out of last year’s play-offs by Sunderland (1-0 agg), have made a middling start to the season 3-4-3 and are unbeaten in their last four outings. But the Dons are coming off three wins and confidence has been rising under ‘caretaker’ manager Glyn Hodges. Last start Marcus Forss scored his first professional career hattrick in a 4-1 romp at Southend. Forss holds the key again against Pompey. The Dons looked a different combination with Anthony Wordsworth and Max Sanders in midfield with Scott Wagstaff and Paul Osew providing energy and threat as attacking wing-backs. The trick for the Dons may be to restrict Portsmouth’s attack, but they will have to do it without injured skipper Will Nightingale (hip). Hodges has his supporters among the fans to keep the job as the club decide what they will do with manager Wally Downes, who was suspended on Friday for a further four games by the FA on betting charges. With Wally ruled out of all football activities until November 14 it continues to fall on Hodges to keep Wimbledon’s season afloat. Should the Dons beat Pompey (or even draw) then Hodges star will continue to shine brightly amid the uncertainty over Downes.

[Colum]

A smash and grab result? No, but we rode our luck, especially in the first half. Pompey are a good side in a false position, and will be in or near the playoffs come May. Their game plan was to pressure us in our own half, overload our wing backs and move faster than a bumblebee on speed. They did it well, but not well enough.

The second half was slightly different. Pompey’s game plan didn’t change, but ours did. We started to press them higher up the pitch and all of a sudden we got a foothold in the game. Not much of one, but enough to give us belief that we could sneak it.

MOTM Trott was outstanding as were Thomas, Delaney, and Kalambayi. Forss was well marshalled, but he had a couple of sniffs at goal and always looked a threat on the break.

A bizarre event occurred midway through the second half when Pigott was tripped. A clear foul, but the referee took a VERY long look before pointing to the penalty spot. Or so we thought. A lot of indecision, pushing, and shoving later, and the result was a free kick just outside. It was the right decision, but the total lack of communication on the pitch made for a vitriolic atmosphere.

The longer the game went on, you felt this was a good point. Pompey had a lot of possession, but their radar seems to be faulty as Trott made several relatively easy saves. Then up steps Thomas to thump an emphatic header into the net and another win. When was the last time we won three games on the trot?

[MacWomble]

Fabulous result. I see we now have more points than at the corresponding stage last season, which is a surprise. As you say Rob, this makes the management decision very hard for the club. Is Hodges just benefiting from the rebound and changes in the roster, or has he brought something new? If Hodges is the real deal, then was Wally listening to him during the first few games? But hang about, didn’t Wally come on-board post Ardley and also turn things around? Let us hope that Hodges is not logging into some Vanuatu sport bet account, with a sneaky fiver on Haringey Borough to win the FA Cup. In the meantime, great to hear the Irish fans drown out the self-indulgent hakka. And bring on Stephen Larkham to the Wallabies!

[Devon Womble]

The way I see it is that I think WD hasn’t listened to GH. Thus, as soon as WD was out of the way GH conducted a few of those ‘tweaks’ I suspect WD threw out, and Lo! we almost immediately became a more connected team. GH also picked up on the way we treated the ball as a ‘hot potato’ early season and changed that too. The startling transformation is perhaps best not so much understood by results as by watching a ‘before GH’ and ‘after GH’ match on idontfollow. Trott seems to have found some support at the back, Waggy’s new role suits him (very much in the vein of Fuller in my view with his sudden bursts down the flank) and we now have a mid-field dynamo which had previously been missing. Although the Pig is still not firing, he looked sharper up front Saturday and I think with the challenge of Forss to work with, this partnership will soon be firing on both cylinders.
We owe WD some immortality for last season but IMHO, if he came back I think our fledgling winning squad will lose what it has developed in his absence.
There should be no doubt that GH is respected by all and sundry (club, players, and supporters), and I suspect by the management team he has built around him.
I vote for GH.

[Colum]

It may not be three strikes, but for me also it is time to call “out” for Wally. First there was the tweets, now there’s the bets. This shows an error of judgement at best, and feeds into those who feel he doesn’t have the character required of a fans owned club.

It’s an impossible decision for the club’s board to make, as it will divide opinion no matter what they do. For me I was never truly happy with Wally’s appointment. I can’t put my finger on why exactly. Perhaps it is his ascetic sense of humour that can come across the wrong way. Perhaps it is his misdemeanours. Whatever it is, I think it is fair for continue with Glyn in charge.

[onyadon]

In the end it came as no surprise the club punted Wally Downes as manager. The surprise (for me) was the timing of the announcement – around 9pm on Sunday night when you ‘take out the trash’ and announce sensitive things outside the media cycle. Unfortunately (for the club), we live in the age of bare-all social media and it spread like wildfire around the Wimbledon fandom. A couple of noticeable things foretold Wally’s time was up. When the club suspended him at the time the FA made the betting charges public they described “the seriousness of this breach in FA regulations.” It then came to light that Wally was not on a fixed contract because of a disagreement over bonus payment sought for keeping the Dons up last season. There were suggestions of a fallout between some players and Wally. Talk that Joe Palmer met with some of the aggrieved players. Then came news last week that there was no club representative to support Wally at the FA hearing, while the League Managers’ Association produced character statements from Steve Coppell and Dave Bassett among others. In the meantime his assistant Glyn Hodges was in charge of four successive wins (one in a cup game), culminating in the resilient 1-0 win over Portsmouth in stoppage time last Saturday. It really didn’t take much to realise that Wally would not be coming back to his job. And so it proved late on Sunday night, igniting a firestorm of differing opinions among supporters and ex-players. There was a particularly noticeable tweet from Kwesi Appiah just before the announcement was made…

⏳…. 👀

— Kwesi Appiah (@kwes1appiah) October 20, 2019

That didn’t go down well with some pro-Wally types. More disappointing was that Joe Pigott and (for a time before it was removed) Anthony Wordsworth ‘liked’ Appiah’s tweet. That indicates some players were glad to see the back of Wally. For my part, I am dreadfully sad it has come to this just over five months after the uplifting Great Escape, engineered by Wally, which kept the Dons up in League One on the final day of last season. He also promoted youth players Kalambayi, Sibbick and Hartigan to regular first teamers and opened the way for Paul Osew to make his debut.

Only five months ago we were all singing Wally's at the Wheel… now he's gone, he leaves his legacy, the exhilarating Great Escape, promotion of youth players, some very influential loan players… this doesn't sit comfortably… #afcwimbledon pic.twitter.com/9jZl4Cz0r3

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) October 20, 2019

Others will have their thoughts on this development (and I welcome you to make them here) but it has divided the Dons supporters.

Personally upset about this. We have given players from other clubs a 2nd chance for actual crimes. But we can't give one of our own a 2nd chance. Thank you Wally as a player & manager, for last season & your trust in youth helping our future. #AFCW #AFCWimbledon 💛💙 https://t.co/62xJyWXs51

— Dean P (@DeanCP08) October 20, 2019

Very disappointed to see Wally Downes go. Did the impossible & saved us from relegation last season as well as gave us that amazing win against West Ham.This was an opportunity for Wimbledon to show why our club is so special and get behind one of our own. Sorry & thank you Wally pic.twitter.com/WgA0fddIXm

— Hoody (@ewom) October 20, 2019

In the club statement Glyn Hodges was described as the ‘caretaker’ manager. I am sure many of us would want Glyn to continue on in the job as the full-time gaffer. Some fear he won’t/can’t take it on – his family live in Yorkshire – and if for some reason Glyn can’t continue as manager then AFC Wimbledon have a real dilemma to resolve. It comes at a time when the Dons are in their best form after a struggling win-less start under Wally. There is another game away at Burton Albion on Tuesday night. More will undoubtedly come out about this: I would think that as part of the agreed terms of the ‘mutual’ parting of ways that Wally would be gagged from saying anything detrimental about his treatment by the club. This club statement would have been heavily legalled before its announcement. But that wouldn’t prevent his friends and ex-teammates having their say on his behalf. It is all a bit messy and rancorous at the moment. It’s up to the players to be the great unifiers and get the club and its supporters focused on keeping the Dons up this season.

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