It's Only Pre Season

Thank God. It's only pre-season.

All of the hope that Dons fans had about this season seems to have evaporated already after the 3-0 loss to Margate on yesterdays first pre season friendly.

Let's not overreact peeps, it is only pre season, did you all really think that we'd start playing as a team straight away?

We've had some great plays join us this year and the calibre of them suggests that Neal is going all out this season. Lets have a look at the squad we have this year...so far.

Goalies
Ross Worner(1) - we al know he's a quality keeper and should be first choice again this season after seeing off Seb Brown last year....if he turns up on time!
James Shea  - NEW SIGNING Apparently brought in to give RW a bit of competition, at 23 he's still a bit green in goalkeeping terms. We'll see what Neals thoughts are for the Chelsea game as i think he'll probably put out his strongest team..
Joe McDonnell - NEW SIGNING Brought in for the development squad which means he may get some game or bench time in the London Senior Cup. one for the future.
Ashley Bayes (20) - Bayso will probably just be coaching this season and by all accounts he's quite good at it so lets hope that's all he's required for!

Rabidbarfly's opinion : Good quality there, can't see Shea dislodging Worner though unless there's a catastrophic loss of form and confidence. 4/5

Defence
Barry Fuller (2) - Right Back - Player of the season last year, quite rightly personally he's the Captain i would choose for the squad, legend & leader after just one season!
Jack Smith - NEW SIGNING Left Back - Experienced left back will probably get the no.3 short this season after being released by Millwall.
Andy Frampton (5) - Surely a season long starter, he's a warrior and leader, we looked really vulnerable last season without him and even at 35 from September he'll be a vital player to keep fit.
Alan Bennett (6) - He's our club captain and he's a good player but a bit too injury prone. If he stays fit he'll be useful. If he does keep picking up injuries i can see him retiring at the end of the season.
Mark Phillips -  NEW SIGNING Solid central defender but by all accounts lacking a bit of pace. We'll see how he pans out, Neal is pretty shrewd so another case of in Ardley we trust?
Will Nightingale (32) - Yet to start a first team game, not even sure he's come off the bench but by all accounts was impressing in the development squad last year, just as assured in midfield too.
Chris Arthur (19) - Left Wingback/Midfielder. If 'Beast' can stay fit he'll be useful again, bombing down the left, could do with being a tad more defensively minded but he's very effective going forward.

Rabidbarfly's opinion : We need more defensive cover in the right back position. If Barry Fuller (do do de do do) gets injured it'll be Francomb at RB and i think he's more effective in Midfield. 3/5

Midfield
George Francomb (7) - Right midfielder - Much in the Ardley mould, oozes quality when he's on form but not good at centre midfield where he was played far too often last season. I hope we can keep him fit and in form.
Sammy Moore (8) - Longest serving player now, has survived the cull due to putting himself about last year, passes it sideways too often to a lot of fans dislike but we need someone who can play a simple ball and keep possession. Underrated for my money.
Dannie Bulman - NEW SIGNING From Crawley, a lot of people got excited about this one, he's a bit of a hard man and may well pick up a lot of cards, could well keep Sammy out of the side. stat 35 he's going to want to start a lot of games for us this season and will probably be getting the no.4 shirt vacated by the injury prone Peter Sweeney who was released earlier in the summer.
Harry Pell (12) - He's sublime or he's awful. Hopefully the former this year, lost form half way throughout the season and only showed glimpses of his talent last year. I really really hope he's bang on this year because he'll be a real force if so.
Jake Nicholson (29) - Can be elusive but didn't really get a chance to shine last year, hopefully the quality will come through this year. Notoriously played, and scored against Cheltenham last season when unregistered, not his fault.
Kevin Saint-Luce (16) - Mercurial winger who is still yet to convince people that he can really penetrate a defence, unlikely to start a lot of games but great at coming of the bench and making an impact.
Chase Jacquart (25) - Unlikely to get many games with Rigg and Arthur in front of him, must have some talent for Ardley to keep him on, likely to go out of loan to the Conference.
Tom Beere (30) - Attacking midfielder - has shown quality and deserves a chance, unlikely to get it unless there are injuries, another case of possible loan out to get experience.
Harry Cooksley (33) - more a case for more development squad experience or loan out, unlikely to get any starts.

Rabidbarfly's opinion - Lots of quality, lots of potential, lots of experience, good midfield that. 5/5.

Attack
Adebayo Akinfenwa - NEW SIGNING - Likely to get the no.10 shirt that was vacated by Jack Midson a couple of months ago. He's all muscle apparently! Experienced, exciting and will provide a perfect partner to the on loan Matty Tubbs.
Matty Tubbs - NEW SIGNING (SEASON LOAN) - Another exciting attacker who will get into the box and score a hatful of goals, we can only hope there's no crisis at his parent club that gets him recalled. Will probably get the no.9 shirt that so many wanted Kedwell to wear again.
Sean Rigg - NEW SIGNING - Lots of quality here, left winger that is likely to be starting a lot of games if fit. Exciting to have him at the club. Will probably inherit the no.11 shirt from the crisp packet.
Adebayo Azeez - NEW SIGNING Apparently a speed demon. Will probably be used as an impact sub this year. Spent most of the last couple of years on loan from his former parent club, Charlton.
George Oakley (34) - hit 5 goals against the Franchise u-18s last season so he's already a legend, hopefully he'll do well in the development squad again and get a couple of sub appearances.

Rabidbarfly's opinion : pretty good attack although Azeez and Oakley are unproven at League 2 level.  I think there may be another loan coming to bolster the attack. 4/5

Overall i think we have a pretty good squad although a lot of the players that Neal has brought in are ageing and may pick up easy niggling injuries that younger players recover more quickly from. There is scope to hope that the play offs are realistic this year should they start playing as a team by season start on August 9th. If we finish mid table i fear we'll lose Ardley to a bigger club. If we see real progress then the fans will be happy and the Manager will probably stay.

until next time, it's only Chelsea next week!

The Morning After...

It's not often I feel compelled to post on this blog as I'm not a sports writer or commentator.

After last nights 4-3 extra time win against York City in the FA Cup, sponsored by Budsheister though, I feel the need.

This morning, the BBC reported that AFC Wimbledon will face their 'fierce rivals' M***** K***** should the club stealing bastards win their replay against Cambridge City. Umm....fierce rivals suggests that you want to play that team, that there is a local rivalry, a mutual respect, no matter how slight.

No. Our club was stolen from us, ripped away, Elvis had left the building.

I don't personally know any AFC Wimbledon fan that would want to travel to M***** K***** and back again to watch a football match. My opinion is 'complicated' so bear with me. Whilst I want to support AFC Wimbledon and travel where ever they play, there's a validation issue that needs to be addressed.
The aforementioned 'club stealing bastards' should not have a football league place, they should not be validated or recognised in any way shape or form, any AFC Wimbledon fan planning to go to M***** K***** should remember this and think very carefully about what they are doing and what sort of club they think they support. If you spend money on travelling to the game in M***** K*****, money on the ticket to get into the game, and food or drink bought at the game, you've instantly validated a team that should not exist, a team, in all Wimbledon fans opinions, that is 'not in the wider interests of football' to borrow a phrase from that idiotic three man committee.

I will never to to M***** K*****, should the team have to travel there I hope AFC Wimbledon open their bars on the Saturday or Sunday so that we can all come together and watch the game(which is bound to be on telly, given the interest) at our club, spending our hard earned cash in our club, generating income for our club. I hope, should that game come to fruition, that my Dons can overcome the club stealing bastards and, as we did in May 2011 with our play-off win, start putting some well needed ointment on wounds that will never truly heal(until that is, MK **** hopefully go out of business).

We could all be completely over reacting, after all tonight's replay between the club stealing bastards and Cambridge City could end in a Cambridge City win and we could all have a jolly old jaunt up to Cambridge on the first weekend in December. It is the FA Cup after all and every Dons fan knows exactly what can happen in the FA Cup, even if it is sponsored by ButtCrackBeer!

We Are Wimbledon

I haven't blogged about the dons for a while, I meant to keep it up way more this season but then I opened a brewpub and the Womble blog went the way of the beer blog.

We lost to Swindon today and because we seem to be in a bit of a rut, certain AFC Wimbledon 'fans' think it's acceptable to abuse the players and manager on twitter as if we were some lower form of club, like some sort of (wait for it).....franchise.

We're not.

We are a small club but we are better than the hatred that is currently being vented .

Some of us are real fans, some of us don't leave the ground early, some of us applaud the players off the pitch no matter what the score was. Win, lose or draw we will support our team, our manager and each other.

Let's not forget where this club came from, utter despair and anger. We've been lower than most fans will ever find themselves when supporting their club. If we think about it reasonably we all knew that this season would be hard, after all we have one of the smallest, if not the smallest budget in League Two.

We are however, IN League Two. We have arrived at the promised land and I firmly believe that this group of players can and will keep us there! If we finish 22nd in the table the squad and the manager would have done their job and kept us in the division, don't think for one minute that I want us to finish 22nd, I'd very much like us to finish in mid table and not have a squeaky bum finish but hey, if that's what it takes to stay in the league then so be it, I will be there at the end applauding MY team off the pitch along with all the other real fans at the club.

There's something different about this club, where else can you go in the league where the players drink in the bar with the fans after the game. It's not as if they're getting roaring pissed and acting like assholes either, they act professionally and with respect to the fans. We don't have any John Terrys or Wayne Rooneys in the club who go out on the lash and act as if they are untouchable. Our players are down to earth people, that's right, they're people. They have put on the AFC Wimbledon shirt and we must trust that they can keep us in the league because they can.

So give it a rest all you non believers, stop being fair weather fans and show your support, we have the right players, the right manager and a club run the right way.

I believe and I will be there at the end. Because I'm a Womble, Til I die.

Thank You and Goodnight.

So it's happened, we all knew that it was going to but yesterday saw confirmation that former AFC Wimbledon skipper, Danny Kedwell and midfielder Steven Gregory leave the club for Gilligham and AFC Bournemouth respectively.
Gregs goes to a club with everybodys thanks and best wishes and goes to a League One club that will probably be pushing for promotion.
Kedwell leaves to go to his hometown club and AFC Wimbledon League Two rivals slightly more contentiously, all because he handed in a transfer request. Just that one act alone would have cost him a few fans thanks.
Personally I'll never forget the kick that sent us into League Two and but I'll always remember that it was his last kick for the club. What a difference a month makes, after all a month before handing in his transfer request he was pledging his future to the club.
It does show just how fickle footballers can be though when it comes to money.

Jack and Reece re-sign!

Afternoon all,

good news from Kingsmeadow this afternoon that Goalkeeper Jack Turner(18) and Midfielder Reece Jones(18) have both signed new contracts!

I've been impressed by both these players when I've seen them, particularly Jones who I think has a really big future in football! You can follow these lads on twitter with Jack Turner being @Jackturner20 and Reece Jones being @reecej100.

On the down side it looks like AFC Bournemouth have finally got their man in Steven Gregory for a reported fee of 50K and Danny Kedwell looks like he's chosen Gilligham over Crawley. Still my thoughts with players that leave are if they don't want to be at our club, we shouldn't really mourn their loss, more say thanks, get as much cash as possible and move on quickly, after all, disruptive influences we do not need.

Until Next time...

Signings!

Not one, not two, not three but five! FIVE players have put pen to paper today for AFC Wimbledon.

Legendary (at 21) 'keeper Seb Brown has signed  a contract extension - was there really any doubt? He is Womble through and through!
You can follow Seb on Twitter too : @Sebbrown1

James Mulley, 22, who put so much energy into so many positions as a non-contract player last season has signed agreed terms and signed a deal today. Top stuff, this young man is a great player, bags of energy, extremely versatile and scores goals too. He was definitely one of my players of last season.
You can follow James on twitter : @JMullz10

Chris Bush is back this time permanently. He was on loan from Brentford last season and did really well for us at Left Back before being recalled to Brentford in January.
Good to see him back, at 19 he's already a quality left back and he'll do really well for us this season.
You can follow Chris on twitter : @chrisbushkin - be warned though, he retweets everything that you mention about him! ;-)

Ryan Jackson is due in to update his contract to a league one and he's a big bonus for us too. He's a tricky, speedy winger who gives full backs all sorts of nightmares, when he's on song. He was one of those players last season that I was thinking was one for the future and at 20 years old, he still is, but I think it's time for him to really step up a gear and deliver that awesome potential on the pitch.

The last player to sign today was Charles Ademeno, 22, from Grimsby Town. You may remember him scoring against us at Broadfield for Creepy back in March 2010 and we're all hoping that he can return the favour and score against Crawley this season.
At 5ft 9ins he's barely taller than me and what I have and he doesn't is a beer gut and what he has that I don't is talent, speed and strength.
AFC have themselves a good striker.
He apparently scored the quickest hat-trick in non-league history, so more of the same please.
You can follow him on twitter : @charley_boy

Dunno about you folks but I'm really starting to think good thoughts about the coming season!

Away News

I go to Wales for 3 days and the fit has hit the shan!
We get the news that Danny Kedwell wants to leave for 'personal reasons' (money probably) and if we should happen to see of Creepy in the Fizzy Piss, sorry Carling Cup we have to play Crystal Feckin Palace in the first round!
Then it was fixture Friday today and I was nowhere near an internet connection to write anything about it!! Bugger!
Let's deal with Kedwell first, citing personal reasons for wanting away from a club usually means the player wants more money or he's fallen out with the manager(Unless you're Wayne Bridge). Now as fans we'll probably never know the real reason for DK wanting to leave but we can assume that he's looking for that one last decent move before being put out to pasture, after all, at 28, he's no spring chicken. Odd though that just a month ago he committed himself to the club for this season. Now I'm an old cynic and it just reminds me what fickle creatures footballers can be. It also shows that tapping up is rife in whatever division you happen to be in. There are two teams that have been mentioned on twitter in the last couple of days, the first one was of course Creepy Crawley, it's public knowledge that them and their handful of fans are big Kedwell admirers and will probably have offered what ever DK asked for. Second team was Gillingham and it's less galling for me because rumour has it DK lives quite close to Gillingham and it would be more convenient for the player.
Should he go to Creepy I don't think even that penalty would be enough to have him forgiven because he would look like just another football mercenary.

The second event this week was the draw for the Fizzy Piss, sorry Carling Cup. Now should we go to Creepy and get a result we'll be facing old rivals Crystal Palace. Bollocks.
I say bollocks because I'm fairly certain that whilst we'll give them a good run for their money, we'll get beat at Selhurst Park and my Deputy Manager is a Palace fan, I'm in for all sorts of abuse.

New bit of news is the Signing of Striker Jack Midson from Oxford Utd, he was in the Oxford side that won promotion to League 2 last summer and by all accounts he did very well for them and their fans have wished him well. Not Kedwell then....

Fixtures coming up...