[Devon Womble]

As I write this, it’s 8am in South Carolina, US of A; a country that has finally woken up after six weeks of denial. Yet, I shall go to work today in the knowledge that many customers will decide it’s their ‘constitutional right’ to spread coronavirus to everyone, whether they want it or not. Oh well, I made my bed as they say.
On the bright side, I have toilet roll… (Thinks… I wonder if Lionel Messi is short of the stuff? Perhaps I could offer him a roll or two in return for a couple of games in a Don’s shirt?)
Back to reality then and the thought of finding some alternative grounds for a few weeks. Kind of brings back a feeling of ‘Deja Vu’ and those uncomfortable days at Selhurst Park. Oh Well, it’s the Don’s way. Maybe we could be more creative this time though? ‘Dons on tour’ has a nice ring about it. In fact, there’s a decent pitch available just over the border in North Carolina. Liverpool and Man.City have played there to a 60,000+ crowd. Fund-raising anyone? It might be preferable to some dour, unwelcoming hovel in the wrong end of London.
At least NPL is still progressing, as is the financing apparently. Which reminds me, we may have furloughed some of the staff, but how are we keeping the players together? Anyone? At least we have Rudoni for next season, and that’s a flying start for sure!

[Devon Womble]

Well said Windlesham.
From your words it is my confident belief that these three ‘investors’ are indeed asset strippers who have identified the club as a soft target.
If we are to prevent them taking over the club the first thing we have to do is REMOVE the current DTB. This, simply because they may well have been ‘persuaded’ to support whatever this ‘Gang of three’ want through their voting powers in the proposed new structure. That will cost us NPL.
With a new board to face, these Investors will have some hard questions to answer. If their intentions are indeed honourable, they will answer them. If not, then their identity as asset strippers will become apparent.

Candidly, on learning of our annual loss, I am also confident that there will not be, nor will there ever have been, a commercial funding offer. That we should be assured of.

I suggest our only hope is to labour on with a minimalist stadium and work on building a large enough fan base to inject the cash required to deliver the desired end result… This, of course, also requires an improvement on the pitch…

There endeth the dream? Possibly, but then, we are (still) Wimbledon… just.

[Devon Womble]

Having spent some time in commercial financing, I believe our problem has nothing to do with the Business Plan but everything to do with the failure by the FA to ensure Due Diligence of its member’s finances. Vis-a-Vis… With several major collapses already witnessed, and more than a few other clubs close to collapse and/or struggling to refinance, Banks see football clubs as high risk ventures. Thus, regardless of how resilient our Business Plan is, we were never likely to raise the necessary funding through the traditional routes. Personally, I would have expected the club to have seen this coming a long time ago. Perhaps Erik did?
The fait accompli is that our future is now de facto in the hands of private investors; the very thing we hoped to avoid.
I can see an almost unanimous desire to say “No” to outside investment at the SGM, but what is the alternative? Being sued by the builders? Having NPL turned into more apartments – the hallowed turf finally gone forever? Playing at Kingstonians with 4,500 fans, cash strapped and struggling in L1 or L2 for the rest of our days?
If these investors are the John Green’s and Richard Bransons of the world, we might be OK; but it’s hardly likely they will be that philanthropic. At best we might hope for a 51/49 control split, but that my friends, will not happen.
We stand to lose control of our club, or stand to lose our future. What a god awful shambolic mess.
Yet again, the unfit to govern FA has crapped all over our soccer boots. Perhaps it’s not the Premier League that should break away from the FA, but all the little clubs who play for the love of the game, and not for the love of a bulging back pocket.

[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.

[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!

[Devon Womble]

At the risk of being an armchair critic, I watched the Coventry v Dons match on ifollow (which as usual, broke down for several minutes).
Of the game, the result doesn’t surprise me one bit. We don’t play 3-5-2, we play 8-0-2. We are dreadful at free kicks, and even throw-ins from the critical final third are poor. Vis-a-vis Reilly and O’Neill. SO many wasted opportunities, especially considering that Coventry’s defence looked shaky on more than a few occasions. So little creativity or flair on our part to take advantage of that.
Forss coming off doesn’t surprise me either. Finns have an ice cold temperament but getting a card shows his frustration at having to go fetch the ball himself rather than receive a service. Guinness-Walker’s card is also understandable. Coventry ran riot through his side of the field because no-one stopped them before they reached him. He just broke.
Appiah is also bone lazy. When Waggy sent in a cross and it went through to the other touchline, it wasn’t Appiah who tried to recover it from his position halfway closer to the ball than Waggy, it was Waggy himself.
Ultimately, apart from the indomitable Nightingale/Kalambayi partnership most of our players have little ability to read the ball or their colleagues intentions. There is no link up whatsoever. Passing is all long hopeful balls, nothing is short and snappy, thus making it so easy for the opposition to read.
Nor is there any sign of effective cover when someone IS going forward. If a tackle comes in, we lose the ball and rarely win it back. We also rarely pick up loose balls for the same reason.
We have only amassed three points. Given that we are already three points adrift and yet only have to beat two other teams (or possibly just one) to stay up, I’m already of the opinion that we are in trouble. Deep trouble. There was so much promise for this season, and yet so little has been delivered.
The clock is now running down…

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