Time to start REALLY believing....

First off, if you're expecting posts about tapes self destructing in ten seconds, gagging orders or the club being on the front page of the papers, look elsewhere. I can't be bothered with any of that stuff, I don't do politics (aside from saying that we should reconsider on Ivor not presenting the Man of the Match award. That was a dog's arse of a decision in my opinion). Sorry but I don't know the full facts so I don't really have anything to add to all the stuff on social media.

Anyway, the football (we do play football you know).

We're around 20% of the way through the season now, things are starting to sort themselves out. A few things are fairly clear, Notts County, Stockport, Mansfield and Wrexham look like the top four. Louis Barry (Stockport) & Davis Keilor-Dunne (Mansfield) look early candidates to be the league's best player, Salford are rubbish so far and the league is uber competitive.

And what of us? Well we are obviously a good team and on our day can be a match for anyone in the league. I don't think that our squad is quite so strong as the top four, but we shouldn't have any worries about anyone else. Further, and here's the thing, we are a better team than the vast majority of other clubs in the league. So what? I hear you ask. Well my point is, we should start acting like it, start believing it, because it's 100% true.

See for me it's an attitude thing. Tranmere won last week and have a new manager (their first win in eight). We play them on Saturday and we are comfortably a better team than them. If we draw 0-0, it's not a "good point", it's not a "good clean sheet" and it isn't "nice to keep our run going". If we don't win, it is an AWFUL result, simply because we are MILES better than them. We should strut onto the pitch like we know it (because we do, they know it too). We should look to boss the game from minute one, get on the front foot and get that front foot on the throat. If it's 0-0 after ten minutes, we want them looking at each other going "Sheesh we'll never be able to hold out here". It's an attitude thing.

Same at Harrogate Tuesday. We go, we get off the bus, we kick their arse, take the points, we come home. None of this "tricky place to go" stuff, we're an extremely tricky team to host. Again, if our attitude is right the draw doesn't even come into the equation. We ought to win with plenty to spare.

And the players. Joe Lewis & Ryan Johnson must be among the best centre half pairings in the league, I man love both of em. But one goal from a set piece between em? Not good enough lads, come on let's double that tally either on Saturday or Tuesday. Armani & Jake, a brilliant centre mid pairing and we are lucky to have em. But we need a goal lads, top teams (of which we are one) have central midfielders who score, it's about time our engine room chopped in. And Ali? We waited for the best striker in the league to come good, and now it's happened. He's got one as of today, by NEXT Wednesday morning I went and expect him to have scored AT LEAST three goals.

See that's how good we are. If we keep working, we can stay humble but get nicely arrogant, that's what good teams are. If they concede first they don't panic, they KNOW they are the better team and they know that they'll have chances to win in the end. If it's 1-1 with ten minutes left, they go for it. Top teams hate to draw against lesser teams.

Nice arrogance. It's time for us to realise that we are a good team and to show it by winning every week. Less of this "Let's see where it takes us" stuff, good teams (of which we are one) control their OWN destiny.

Why can't we hold a lead?

Stockport at home, January 28th, 2023. I think that was the last time we held onto a lead. Now before you shout "Ah eff off dickhead!" at your phone (don't do it, particularly on the tube, people will think you're mental) let me explain. I KNOW we've won games since then, but that was the last time we "held on".

In the other games we've won, we haven't really held on. We've been at least two goals to the good. More importantly, (because as we know, being two goals up is no guarantee of success) in all of the league games we've won since Stockport on January 28th, we've scored a goal to kill the game. To save you checking, we've won three league games since January 28th, they are as follows.

Walsall (H) 2-0 March 28th. We dominated this game. We scored two second half goals, the second of which on 75 minutes (Ali) killed the game, we cruised home.

Colchester (A) 2-0 15th August. Once again we were utterly dominant, Tills got the first on 54 minutes, then killed the game stone dead with the second on 84.

Sutton (A) 3-0 August 19th. In a tight match, Ryan Johnson put us in front of 64 minutes. Crucially Harry Pell got the second on 80, while Tills killed it completely on 86.

Aside from those games, we've drawn when we've been ahead by one, drawn when we've been ahead by two, and lost games when it looked impossible. As much as I can gather though, these are the only three games since Stockport where we have got the "goodnight" goal, the "that one puts it to bed" strike, the "thanks for coming and don't let the door hit you up the arse on the way out" score.

Now it's easy, as we all do, to blame the defence, the goalkeeper (as I somewhat controversially did after Saturday), the "mentality", the manager, the referee or whatever. I wonder sometimes though if we are barking up the wrong tree. I'm not saying we should "blame" the attack, but perhaps a slight shift on our focus as a team might be in order.

When you get in front, the opposition is going to try and get back into it. They'll change systems, make some subs, but crucially at some point they will chuck men forward. Crewe had everyone bar the goalie trying to score on Saturday, what choice did they have?

For our part, I'd just like to see us focus not totally on the desperation of not conceding, I'd like to see us be cold and calculating enough to ping them on the counter, put the game to bed more often. It helps if you have players with pace (we do) but you also need to be brave enough. Brave enough to bring those players on, brave enough to leave players up when defending a corner, brave enough to encourage others to get up and support.

I've a hunch that if we can DO that, we'll win lots more football matches. 

AFC Wimbledon. We do play football as well you know.

It's not often in my life that I've had the opportunity to use the word tumultuous. That's not a complaint by the way. To be honest I'm a bit of a fan of everyone kind of getting along with each other, stuff being fairly boring. I'm not one for walking around punching walls or slamming doors, it's just not really me. This week at AFC Wimbledon though has been tumultuous by any definition, door slamming is just the start of it.

It started with the immediate and sudden departure of Danny Macklin. The club sent out a statement which was slightly longer than "he's gone" but not by much. Danny (bless him) sent out a statement saying he wanted more time to play with his train set or something, but it was obviously bollocks and everyone knew it (he probably hasn't even got a train set). The rumour mill ground into action and by now Danny has allegedly taken pictures of his arse on the office photocopier before sending them to one of the barstaff, been a Russian spy all along, had undeclared shares in a bottle top company, had his office bugged and God knows what else. Everyone has heard the rumours, some people have started them, most are obviously nonsense but probably one or two of the five hundred that are out there have a grain of truth in them.

I was surprised by Danny's departure I must admit. What shocked me more though if I'm honest was how obsessed people were with finding out all the gory details. I personally aren't really interested, but I'm firmly in the minority on this one. Apparently the club should have released a statement spelling out the rationale (in clear contravention of employment law by the way) as well as setting out who was going to replace him, straight away, and when it was going to happen. Social media went into meltdown over the lack of information that by all accounts we are all entitled to, as owners.

Then when a statement about what was happening in the short term DID come out, IT was horrific too. I'm pretty sure I've never met this Kris Stewart bloke. I have no opinion on him other than a dislike for the way his name is spelt (it's a bit Northern town "Nite Club" for my taste), but I've no doubt he is a nice enough fella. Don't hate me for saying that, I truly believe pretty much everyone is quite nice given the chance. Whether or not he is the best person to be temporary CEO I have absolutely no idea. Equally, whether or not it's the right thing for him to step down from the DTB and leave Michelle in charge (never met her) and bring in this other bloke as a floating/just for a bit board member (never met him) I have no opinion on either. Whatever though, I'm pretty sure they've done it because they think it's the right thing to do, You can't go too far wrong in life when you do things that way.

Anyways by all accounts along with a couple of other people Kris was involved in setting the club up. Despite that he is properly disliked by some very vocal people for a reason of which I am not aware. Talking of founding fathers incidentally, so is Jonesy (really good lad who I do know. He designs the shirts and is bloody good at it too). He apparently said that even if we lose we can still have a beer in our new ground. This was an incredible statement as it turns out, blasphemous. As we speak, I think they are making a Worzel Gummidge type dummy of Jonesy so we can all stab it with plastic forks from MyPie before setting it on fire. I'm not sure WHY his statement was quite so controversial, I'm just going with the crowd here.

"The Comms are tragic" they screamed. The Dons Trust need to appoint a "Comms expert!". They must have listened as they advertised for one, but this was ridiculous too. Apparently, "you couldn't make it up" and everything has gone to pot.

All the while a bloke calling himself "Trigger finger" or something is saying everyone is a c***. I'm not going to argue with him (I've no idea who he is in any case), in my experience everyone has the capability to be a c*** within their character. Even the best of us lapse sometimes, and this by all accounts has been one of those weeks. Fair play to old Triggs for pointing it out.

For my part, I'm well aware that all of this angst and arguing is no doubt fuelled by long felt mistrust, soundtracked by the stomach churning crunch of noses being put out of joint. There'll be those who think THEY should be on the board but aren't, those who think there shouldn't be a board at all. Some who think we should sell out to a rich Russian or a petroleum fuelled Arab, others that we should bin off the volunteers and get "the Professionals" in. Not Bodie & Doyle, the actual folks who do this kind of thing for a living (although there maybe someone somewhere who yearns for the calming hand of George Cowley on the tiller, gawd knows).

My opinion for what it's worth (and I know it's not much) is that the people in charge DO do this kind of thing for a living, except they normally charge hefty fees for their time. I'm not really into selling out to anyone, I quite like stuff the way it is. I don't agree with everything, nowhere near it, but broadly speaking stuff could be a lot worse.

My hopes, perhaps we should go there? Well, I wish people online were a bit nicer to each other, a bit more respectful. I wish they could accept that not everyone agrees with their point of view all of the time. It's OK. Try and remember we're supposed to be on the same side, there would a thing.

Lastly I hope people remember that it's actually the football that we're here for. We're playing Crewe on Saturday and it really would be quite handy if we got the win. I'm personally more interested in THAT than the other stuff.

Is it starting to look "A bit like last year"?

I'm lucky enough to talk to lots of Dons fans who come in the Alex. For that reason I guess I've generally got a fair sense of what the prevailing mood is, in a kind of "Ask a black cab driver whether the government is any good" kind of way. After the defeat on Saturday (our first of the season in fairness) I detected a worry developing amongst some punters that they were getting that "I think I've seen this film before" feeling.

They weren't concerned I should say about how good the squad is. EVERYONE can see that it is much stronger this season than last. Nor are they bothered about individual players, it is as obvious as the hooter on my face that we have better ones than last season. They're not agity about the manager either, he has solid support right now. No, it's the tendancy to give leads up which is making some uneasy. I think we set a record for the most points given up when in front over the last couple of seasons, and obviously it'd be quite nice for everyone if we had a bit of an "off year" in that regard this time.

So is it looking like the same?

Well in my eyes I am firmly of the belief that we are NOT the same, not even similar. We have recruited brilliantly in the Summer, Craig Cope deserves huge credit for that, and the whole squad has an energy about it which is completely different to last season.

If you'll remember in the Summer before last we recruited the likes of Chris Gunther, Alex Pearce, Harry Pell and the like. Johnnie felt the team was lacking in experience (it was) and brought in some much older heads to balance things up. Those three played practically all of the time, and along with the likes of Woody meant that come the last twenty minutes of matches, we were running on the fumes from a rag which cleans the pumps. Not only that, our goalkeeper was less reliable than the one we have now, and the group of players (which weren't anywhere near so good as this group) were devoid of confidence. Are we similar to that? Definitely not in my eyes, no.

And are they right to be worried? 

Again, from me it's a no. Although I DO understand the concerns, I DO get it when people say "hang on here, we haven't beaten anyone any good/we've only won two matches/we haven't won at home in our three games" etc. I get that, simply because it's partly true (Colchester are far better than where they are in the league right now). I hear those points, but it still feels mightily different to me than last season. We've picked up points in games we surely would have got beat in last season, not got bullied in situations we would have crumpled in, it IS different.

So is it all rosy and happy clappy then? No, not really no. For my part, I'm obsessed about WINNING football matches. It concerns me that sometimes we are overly concerned with not getting beat. At 1-1 with 15 minutes to go, we should in my opinion be bringing the cavalry on, sticking an extra man up top, going all out for the win. Win one lose one is better than draw two and remain unbeaten. The teams which outperform their potential in League two WIN more matches than it would be realistic to expect of them. We ought to be less fearful of losing in my view, more gung ho in seeking out the three points.

Other slight concerns? Well Josh's goal in Saturday was our first by a striker this season. We don't create huge amounts of chances, and unfortunately for us and him, so far those that we HAVE created Ali has missed. That obviously won't continue as Ali is a brilliant player, but it'd be quite handy if he burst the seal soon. In many ways it's been a saving grace that James Tilley has been so amazing, but it would be unrealistic to expect him to carry on in his current "goal a game" form. We are obviously going to need goals from elsewhere pretty soon.

And my final "Do this and we'll all feel better" request is that we DO hang onto a lead. I'm not counting the two league games in which we've won, simply because when you are two nil up or three nil up you ain't hanging on. Stockport closed out the last half hour on Saturday while 2-1 up. Although we had a right good go, I think Tilleys one in the dying seconds was our only real chance. THAT'S hanging on, if we can do that, get the job done a couple of times, it'll calm everyone down.

Same as last season though? Nah not for me. MY biggest worry is that if we don't WIN against Crewe on Saturday, we'll be on either ten or eleven points after eight games. Both of those totals are a travesty up against how well we've played. We've been FAR better than that, even if we win and have thirteen points even that is barely what we deserve in my eyes.

No, its NOT the same as least season. We are a good team, and really ought to be aiming for top ten. I think we'll get there with a little bit in hand.

COYD

My match report, AFC Wimbledon v Stockport County.

Firstly, football in England is not supposed to be played in weather like this. It was at a ridiculously hot Plough Lane that we finally lost our unbeaten tag, but not without giving it absolutely everything in the Sahara heat. 

It was obvious pre match to anybody who knows about the league that we weren't playing a genuine "20th place" team, and so it proved. Stockport got the win (and in my view just about deserved it) but there is no shame at all in being narrowly beaten by a team which will be AT LEAST in the playoffs. 

For so long it looked so different too. We'd shaded the first half, Josh Davison had poked us ahead with some part of his body or other, and Alex Bass was left contemplating whether or not the factor 100 was really going to be enough to prevent him getting third degree burns. On the one occasion the visitors strung a few passed together, Alex Pierce denied them with a heroic block. As the players trudged off at half time we were left to ponder TWO things only.

First obviously was how much of a Trojan Dean is inside the Womble costume (note for kids, not THAT Womble inside the ground, that one's real obviously). The second one was whether to treat our water bottles with lids as "missiles". Incredibly nobody did, they probably needed the liquid too much.

The first four minutes of the second half is the best I've seen us play all season. We were all over em like midgies on a highland camp site, and the second goal looked inevitable. Then, we lost the ball on the edge of their area and Isaac Olafe decided it might be fun to run with it. So he did, then he ran some more. James Tilley was onto him, but like trap six chasing the greyhound at the old Wembley dogs, he was never catching up. Olafe ran some more, and just when Tills was realising that he really should have fouled him when he had the chance, the striker squared it to Louis Barry who buried it with aplomb. It was a good goal for them, a really poor one for us. That a fella can carry the ball sixty yards over the centre circle from one end of the pitch to the other and not see a challenge from a central midfielder indicates something was out of kilter.

 

The second wasn't a great goal for us either. Isaac Ogundere had played Barrie well, but the one time he got skinned by one of the best wingers in the league, Will Collar arrived as he does to bury it top bins. In the time it was taking for a bead of sweat to run down my back into the crack of my arse (not long) we had given up a lead and were behind.

We chucked on our subs, ALL of which did well, and gave it a right good go. We so nearly grabbed a point (which few would have begrudged us) right at the death, but for once Tills hit it wrong side of the post.

So a defeat it was, but absolutely no shame. We ran a really good team really close.

One final note. The ref was shite, didn't cost us the game or anything but he was shite all the same.

The Dons Trust, and stuff.

Anybody who's been in the Alex and talked to me about all things AFC Wimbledon will know that I don't "do" Dons Trust. Nor do I "do" CEO's past or present, I don't get involved in who works in the energy control department (I'd be surprised if there is one), who the safety officer is, whether or not the carpet in the Bronze Lounge fairly represents the club's heritage, all that stuff. Mostly I don't talk about that kind of thing because I either know bugger all about it or I'm not massively interested (or indeed both). I like to talk football, THAT'S my thing. DLAG I get involved with a bit, their paths and ours at the Alex cross sometimes and wherever we can, we love lending a hand.

On this occasion though, what with Dons Trust "renewals" being back on the agenda, I'm going to break with tradition. So here's my views on the whole thing love them or loathe them, and I should add that I AM going to join this year. I tried to last year but in a way which remains a mystery to me fucked it up somehow. In the end, they DIDN'T take my £25 and I DIDN'T get a vote. Despite me mistakenly thinking all along that I HAD joined. Once more, it was entirely my fault.

So anyway, Dons Trust. Firstly, it is obvious to me that the entity has a lot of problems if it seriously wants to call itself representitive of the fans. For starters, I would estime that less than 1% of the fans know what the Dons Trust actually does (and that tiny number consists entirely of people who are either on the board or have been on it previously). Very important point here, I'm NOT SAYING THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. I'm friends with a few ex and current board members and have seen the stress is causes. Clearly they do stuff, it's just that nobody knows what it is.

Another observation. Nobody really knows it seems to me what the actual point of the Dons Trust is. Very important, I'M NOT SAYING THEY DON'T HAVE A POINT. What I'm saying is, people don't know it.

Let me give an example. You wouldn't for example as a Dons Trust member complain to the board if Johnnie Jackson continually picks Lee Brown right midfield over James Tilley. Obviously the manager wouldn't do that, but even if he did you KNOW that the DTB isn't the place to vent over it. Other stuff though? Grass being too long? Turnstiles not working? Flat beer? Poor parking? How much we're spending on transfers? Whether we sell certain players and how much goes back into playing budget? Whether or not we sack the manager at a given time? Whether or not we release a video? Are they in charge of or have a say in ALL of that? Some of it? None of it?

So I think a good start would to have on the Dons Trust website page, at the front, first, a "This is what we do" bit. And I don't mean a "provide an integrated platform for fans to engage with..." load of shite, I mean this.

1. Hold a meeting for members, every month/two months. (This will be followed by a meeting between the CEO, Mick Buckley, the first team manager and the DTB representitives. Minutes of THAT meeting to be published promptly). 

2. Answer fans queries as and when we can. (Note, we all have jobs and lives, a reply via email may take up to ten working days). If your enquiry is more immediate, we have a "meet the board" tent at all match days.

3. We guarantee that as representitives of the fans, we'll look at all contracts/legal stuff, and ensure the club isn't compromised or ripped off. We are YOUR eyes and ears.

What we don't do...

Pick the team (that's the managers job).

Decide on beer prices (CEO)

Influence how fizzy the beer is (Bar manager).

Cut the grass (groundsman)

Etc etc. So please don't bombard us with lots of queries about a load of nonsense that we have no influence over.

We are there to ensure the club is run properly, and we'll do our best to make sure that happens. Cheers.

Something like that ought to do it. There should be at least one DTB board position held by somebody under 25, one by someone under 21. Stop with this "Well if you don't like it, why don't YOU stand?" nonsense (I don't like the government, doesn't mean I want to be an MP), and work towards integrating the membership into the season ticket price. The fact you can spend £500 on a season ticket and not be in the Dons Trust is nuts, utterly mad.

Lastly I apologize. I know I've only been around five minutes, and I'm NOT trying to tell you how to run YOUR club. Sometimes though it takes an outsider to see things. AFC Wimbledon is brilliant, far better than many lifelong fans realise in my opinion, but the Dons Trust is one of the bits of it that needs a bit of a refresh. All IMHO obviously.