The Lounge

[Singapore Don]

The only ray of hope I can see this evening is that Eric said at the Dons Trust SGM last night (which I attended) that an application can only be called in by a Secretary of State if there is an issue of national, strategic concern to resolve. It’s hard to see how a local council dispute is a national issue, particularly when the local Mayor of London has already taken a broader review of the application and seen fit to hand it back to Merton. Hopefully Eric was right, and the SOS cannot really call the application in on the basis that Wandsworth feel it has not been adjudicated by an impartial and objective authority. Given how awful Wandsworth are being, I have no doubt that if their call for an SOS call-in fails, they will then call for a judicial review. But Eric said at the SGM last night that that could not be done until after Merton had approved the application again on Sept 15th and after the S106s had been signed and sealed, which he didn’t expect to happen until perhaps later October. If Wandsworth do go for a judicial review, a court would have six weeks to determine whether there is a call for the application to be judicially reviewed. So whatever happens, it seems certain our NPL plans face yet another Wandsworth/Tory imposed delay.

[Singapore Don]

Dog with a bone, but this will be my final thought: Wandsworth Council say Merton was not and is not an impartial and objective authority to determine our planning application. Yet Wandsworth’s own planning officers – nothing to do with Merton – also approved the plans! It’s not that the decision was taken by a partial local council, but that a decision was reached that in their view was the wrong one! This really smacks of bad losers refusing to give up and being thorough spoilsports. Hopefully good sense will prevail in the end. In the meantime, more worry and potential delays for us Dons, hardly fair to all at AFC Wimbledon who have acted with such good faith throughout this planning process.

[MacWomble]

Planning processes are complicated, but all the hoops must be jumped through. If Wandsworth have the legal options to challenge planning decisions, then that’s just a fact we have to live with. However, I truly believe the club have been so incredibly careful and meticulous with their proposal that we stand in good stead to eventually return home. The Secretary of State will not register an interested in our proposal, as it is not of national significance. This is the end game, so all Wombles must be brave, but must not yet book their Air Botswana special fares back to Wandsworth International Airport. You know, as an aside, recalling my years living in Wandsworth, it really did not have very much except a bunch of crims living in those big flats and shit Youngs lager and a shit A3. Anyway, we are not playing in 3rd gear yet and we need to see an improvement to have three winds on the trot against the Rochdale. It seems like both teams are in the same early season doldrums, so I have to think that home advantage to the Spotdale/field/whatever outfit will result in a 1-1 draw and a quiet bus trip back from the northern wastelands. Let us hope that our players do not stop off at a roadside petrol station lavatory and claim we wuz robbed!

[martindownunderdon]

2-0 to the Dons today just fill to days the day we start winning a few games now.

[liamwimbo]

Just arrived in London, but not able to make it up to Rochdale. However I share the general mood of optimism amongst Dons fans for today’s game. Meades and Francomb returning will be a boost, so I am quietly confident of a first win for the season.

Obviously disappointed to hear the latest news about opposition to NPL. Other contributors below echo my feelings. I always expected a long, drawn out process but this is getting ridiculous. However, deep down, I know that patience will get us there in the end.

[Singapore Don]

Listening to the 90 mins of commentary, we threw away that win and two points at Rochdale. Gutting. The manager and keeper must burden much of the blame.

Ardley made a bad mistake in putting on Francomb for an injured Taylor mid way through the second half. Never, never defend a 1-0. Never. Poleon is a fiery in form striker who just scored two and had two assists on Tuesday night: why, why wasn’t he put on for Taylor to maintain a real threat up front? We put on Francomb instead (who looked ordinary at best on Tuesday night, so why?), sat back to defend our lead – and paid the price. Error substitution Mr Ardley.

As for Clarke, he made a couple of decent saves, but a keeper should never be beaten direct from a corner. Failure to command his box again, the same old story for this hapless keeper. He could have been a hero for a couple of earlier saves; instead, he’ll be under the spotlight again as an out of form, rotten keeper who is costing us dear. Shea showed his ability on Tuesday night. I’m sure he’ll play against Swansea U23s on Tuesday. Another good performance then, and he should be starting in our league game next Saturday. We can’t afford any more keeper howlers in such tight matches.

I fail to take any positives from today’s game. Yes we played well again, but against a poor team and we failed again to win. It’s becoming a habit, and now being bottom of the table we’re creating a mountain to climb for ourselves, which could become steeper and steeper. Yes it’s only the end of August, but once rot sets in, it can be incredibly difficult to treat. We’re certainly in a rotten place right now. It’s time for some ruthless moves.

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