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...

Preliminary What?

Fizzy Piss sorry Carling Cup winners, Birmingham City are getting a bye to round three apparently even though they've been relegated to the championship because of Europa league commintments.
This means that for the first time in it's recent history(2002/03 was the last time) the Football League Cup will have a preliminary round comprised of the two bottom placed teams in the league.
So this means that we have to go to Crawley on Friday 29th July before the season has even started! Kick off is 19.45.
Bollocks.
Can't Man Utd just pull out or something? They've got previous for that sort of thing! Oh no I forgot, it gives their Mini-me's a chance to play proper football for once!
Anyway, obviously MK Dons should be just be kicked out instead for not being a real club but what ya gonna do? This is the situation and we have to deal with it. Let's just hope we can kick Creepy into touch!
Now, let's see if I can get the night off.....

New Direction...Kind of.

Afternoon all.

Just a quick one, this blog was originally started so that I could impose my views on things other than beer but it's pretty much turned into an AFC Wimbledon blog and so I've renamed it and will be reporting on news about AFC Wimbledon, the football league and of course games which I get to this coming season.

Hopefully we're going this way!

See you on the Tempest hopefully!

When Saturday Comes

I read an interesting piece by Wimbledon Legend, Lawrie Sanchez, stressing that win or lose on Saturday, AFC Wimbledon fans should start looking toward the future of our club.

I have to say that to a certain extent I agree with him, I'm as militant as the next man when it comes to MkDons and their franchise football but look at what we have built! Look at what we have achieved! Let's not forget the fact that in 9 years we seen the club start at the bottom of the FA's ladder steadily climb into spitting distance of reclaiming our rightful league status which was so awfully and illegally ripped away from us! That's no mean feat for a team that's owned by the fans now. And look at the example we are setting for other fan-owned clubs such as FC United of Manchester, clubs from abroad are also coming to Kingsmeadow to look at how we do things. It's great to know that teams are looking up to us as a beacon of how things should be done!
Win or lose on Saturday, we need to start leaving the anger behind or we risk people branding us a 'reactionary club'. I'm not saying we should ever forget the fact that the FA branded us 'not in the wider interests of football' and no-one will be happier if we reclaim our league spot and shove it up the FA's jacksie, but surely we need to make plans for the future and enjoy the fact we're doing it on our own?
As nervous as I am this week I'm looking forward to Saturday, as much or a squeaky bum time as it is this week, I'm looking forward to Saturday, as much as I've lost so much sleep this week thinking about the game, I'm still looking forward to Saturday. I don't think it's any coincidence that once again we are playing Luton Town on one of the biggest days in our history. What price 1-0 to AFC Wimbledon with Seb Brown saving a penalty? What price a glancing header from Luke Moore in the 37th Minute?
When Saturday comes I'll see you at Eastlands!

Two Sides to Every Fan

So there I was sitting in the bar after the AFC Wimbledon game watching the Arsenal game on the big screen and I glance across the room to see a kid in an AFC Wimbledon shirt cheering for Arsenal! WTF?? Come on kid, you come here every home game, what the hell are you doing cheering the gooner scum? Another thing, if you're from South London and you go to football matches in South London, why are you cheering a team from North London?
It does remind me of my best friend though who supports AFC Wimbledon and also 'supports' a premiership side, what the hell is this phenomena about, surely you can only have one team, can't you?
Personally, as you should know by now, I am a Dons fan, I do look out for Portsmouth scores too as my Grandad took me to my first ever football match at the age of about 6 and it was Portsmouth v Manchester City at Fratton Park but I wouldn't call myself a Pompey fan.
Any explanations folks? I really don't understand this need to support a top flight team if your team isn't in the top flight, is it an acceptance thing? A need to be liked? A need to feel popular?
Help me understand.

Dons Through to Round 2

The 3rd game I've been to this season, I've got the bug again! Yesterday saw Braintree Town come to Kingsmeadow for the 1st round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.
The game was a wee bit dire to be fair and the 3-0 result was flattering considering that Braintree Town were a man down for most of the game after Michael Alaile was judged to have committed a professional foul on Danny Kedwell. Dons boss Terry Brown also admitted that the midfield needs more bite, you can see his post match interview here. There wasn't anywhere near enough closing down from them yesterday, Wellard and Gregory seemed to let the game pass them by and Luke Moore looked well below his best, when he was replaced by Mark Nwokeji in the 2nd half The Dons finally looked like they had some spark about them. I think Nwokeji deserves a chance start more games than he currently is, think back to how well John Fashanu and Terry Gibson used to play together in the late eighties-early nineties, think Keds and Nokkers up front. The game on Tuesday night against Dulwich Hamlet might be the perfect opportunity to try it out!
Back to yesterday though, the stand out players for the dons were Danny Kedwell who seems to have lost a bit of weight in the last couple of weeks and looks more lively for it and Sam Hatton who just seems to play well every week and when Ryan Jackson came on late in the 2nd half he looked very dangerous although his crossing needs a wee bit of work, if he can get the final ball right the Dons will have a very potent right hand side.
The goals were well taken and well worked, Christian Jolley his chance very well after some great build-up play, Mark Nwokeji rounded the keeper after Sam Hatton put him through from a quick free kick and Danny Kedwell finished well from the edge of the box. Three highlights in an otherwise ordinary game. Still through to the next round, lets hope they perform like we know they can from now!
You can see the highlights here.

And Breathe....

MK Scum Franchise are out of the FA CUP, beaten 4-6 on penalties by Stevenage.

Well done Stevenage, god willing, I will be watching you play AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow on the 27th. You have done us proud.

On the same day that the nation found out about Wills and Kate too! So much good news in one day! I'll drink to that.

Womble 'til I Die

Yes, this is my 14th Tattoo.

I seem to be getting a wee bit 'Womble Militant' with the prospect of the franchise game.

Too far? I don't think so.

My sister did this, she's the tattooist and business owner behind Transfix Body Studio

in Merton Abbey Mills.

I'm sure if you ask her nicely.....

Possibilities

Life's full of them. After the draw for the second round of the 2009/10 FA Cup the world now knows that if AFC Wimbledon beat Ebbsfleet and Milton Keynes Scum beat Stevenage they will be meeting each other in the second round proper of the FA Cup.
Well if you listen to the lazy Journo's at the Guardian, they would have you believe that this is the match that AFC fans have been craving.

I think not. This is possibly the biggest grudge match ever played. This game is about right and wrong, light and dark, Yin and Yang, Morcambe and wis.....wait, not that. Anyway, getting back to the point, when the Football Association agreed that the old Wimbledon could find a permanent home in Buckinghamshire it started a reaction that was nothing short of vehement hate and I'm afraid to say I am one of those people that still feels just as strongly today as I did then.

AFC Wimbledon put the following dignified statement out on their website. Pure class.

I was watching when Wimbledon were relegated from the top flight, I was devastated, I felt lost. What then? we had already been turfed out of *Plough lane by Merton council and the developers and all I could see ahead for the club was a catastrophic fall through the leagues putting out a team of kids every week, maybe even a club going out of business.

Now I go to Kingsmeadow(not as often as I'd like admittedly) and I see the same sort of family friendly club that Wimbledon FC used to be. I see the hopes and dreams of Junior Dons, hoping that they might someday get as lucky as me and see their team in an FA Cup final. I don't see a 'breakaway' club as ESPN lazily described us, we were never a 'breakaway' club we were a murdered club. A club that was sold out by the Football Association and those in charge at the time who had their own agendas.

So which side of the fence to sit on? On one side there is the dignified, professional manner that teaches us to hold our heads up high and support our club in either muted, well behaved silence or go and vent your anger against 'they who shall no longer be named'.
The other way is to stay away from the game believing that if you do go you will be validating a club that should never have come into existence in the first place.
Now some people have mentioned that if you refuse to turn up you run the risk of dividing the support and therefore success that has built up in the last 8 years since the rebirth in 2002.
Well, I don't want the fixture to happen so I guess I'll be rooting for AFC Wimbledon and Stevenage on the 16th November for the respective replays hoping that they meet each other in the 2nd round proper.
If it does happen, I can honestly say I'm torn as to whether to go or not.

Still, to be in 2nd position in the Conference Premier and 1st round proper of the FA Cup isn't bad for an eight year old club the sports ruling body had deemed 'not in the wider interests of football'.


The When Saturday Comes Website has a great piece by Aled Thomas which inspired this one, another AFC Wimbledon fan that writes better than I do.



*The site is now a housing estate.

Howling at the Moon

Haydon plays to the Crowd with his minder!

So, here I am, sat watching X-Factor with a throat so sore that I can't speak, I squeak!
The reason for this, well, it was the first time in two seasons I've been to Kingsmeadow and I bought the shirt and decided to get all 'tribal'. Rightly so too, the referee was so poor that I had to really rein myself in whilst screaming abuse at him due to the fact that we went with a couple of kids. Still managed to leave the ground with an extremely sore throat though. A comment by one of my twitter followers regarding him made me laugh out loud...well laugh out..er...squeak!

The comment was 'He was dreadful, reckon he won a competition to ref the game'. Liam Daish, the Ebbsfleet Manager even agreed about the refereeing decisions, which he alluded to here.

For the record both sides were a bit blunt in front of goal and a nil nil draw was the right result and it means that both sides are still in the hat for tomorrows 2nd round draw. We should win but it's the cup and you never can tell.

Sweet FA

The Late Great Laurie Cunningham
in his last appearance

Hello folks, it's about half past one in the morning and I find myself wide awake.
As of the end of my shift tomorrow(Friday night) I will be on annual leave so I've been looking for things to do for the next week.
Realising I haven't seen my two best buddies in ages I texted them and asked them if they wanted to hang out this weekend.
It looks like we're going to see AFC Wimbledon take on the mighty Ebsfleet in the first round proper of the F.A.Cup.
If we do manage to get in, it'll be the first time in ages I've been to Kingsmeadow and it should be a great atmosphere!
'MON THE DONS!

Rabid About Wimbledon

The REAL Wimbledon, remember the crazy gang? I do, I was there! I was part of it! I was stood behind that goal at Wembley where everything happened on the 14th May 1988 as a 14 year old who could only live the dream of those times. Good times where the underdogs sometimes beat the big guns. In the days before Chelski, the Gilletts and Hicks' of the world and long before anyone had heard on Ronaldo; in fact the world's most expensive footballer was only 3 years old when Wimbledon won the F.A. Cup.
I was going to plough lane long before anyone had even heard of Milton bloody Keynes and national hockey stadiums.

I rarely get to go to Kingsmeadow(new home of AFC Wimbledon) because of work but I still follow them keenly and look out for their results.
Another good result against tough opposition yesterday, they beat the mighty Wrexham away from home to go just one point behind Crawley who are currently top of the Conference.

Whilst I'm excited about this season, I'm also aware that they went through a blip last season at a crucial moment and fell out of contention for promotion to the league. It will be a massive achievement, beating that of the original Wimbledon Football Club, if we manage to get into the league at the end of this season it would have only been 8 years from being founded to getting into the Football League! A fantastic achievement.
When the dons were relegated from the premiership I was devastated. I knew that I would have to start expecting a different level of upset. I knew we were never going to survive as tenants at Crystal Palace and that proved to be the case when Bradford beat Liverpool to stay up and Wimbledon slipped into what's now The Championship.
Now I await the day when AFC Dons will meet the MK Dons in battle, I'm hoping that it'll be on Wimbledon's way up and Milton Keynes way down. I have nothing but contempt for the MK Dons franchise, it is a poison that has infected the football league and I hope that it will one day soon it go out of business; it has no place in football.