I'm calling it now.........

"It's too early to say" must be one of the most overused phrases in football. When I said after seeing him three or four times that Ali was miles too good for League two, loads of people either said I was mental or that it was too early to say. Of course if you never want to be wrong about anything in football, you're far better off never predicting anything early. By now you'll be convinced that Harry Kane is a pretty good striker, that Mo Salah will score lots of goals, and you might even be coming around to the idea that Ali Al-Hamidi is perhaps too good for League two.

I've never been a "wait and see" merchant and I'm not going to start now. So with that in mind, I'm going to make a couple of predictions here and also say what I think we ought to do about it.

1. We WILL get into the playoffs this season if we keep Ali Al-Hamidi in January.

Yep, forget all this "We'll finish mid-table" nonsense, it ain't gonna happen. We've got the best striker (by a country mile) in the league, a solid defence, a good keeper and an aggressive midfield. If we win our game in hand we'd sneak into the playoffs as it is, but I expect us to markedly improve as the season progresses. We are a very good team, and I expect we will comfortably get in if we keep Ali, probably top five.

Disagree all you want, but that's what I think. If we don't keep Ali in January (and I personally wouldn't even answer the phone for less than 1.5 million quid), then it's a completely different ball game. If we make the play-offs without him, it would be an excellent achievement.

By the end of Feb, I expect we will have developed our style into a more fluid 4-4-2.

We've seen glimpses of subtle little tweaks becoming more frequent as the season has progressed, and my guess is that our style is something of a work in progress. The Notts County performance showed both that the management team is tactically astute enough, the players plenty intelligent enough, to make some quite dramatic alterations if the situation demands it. Johnnie Jackson built the team spirit remarkably quickly this season, but we oughtn't to forget that it is still almost a completely new team. Patterns, nudges and tweaks take time. Despite the defeat at Gillingham, my impression/hunch is that we are a team who is improving as the season progresses.

We ought to offer the management team new contracts.

I said a couple of weeks ago that we were approaching the point where we ought to offer, in my mind we're now well and truly there. I know not everyone agrees, but to return to my "It's too early to say" point, we can't wait until the end of a very successful season then expect an out of contract manager to re-sign with us. It ain't in my opinion gonna happen.

If I'm right on us getting into the play-offs, on us developing our own style, improving as the season progresses etc, our manager is going to have lots of offers which financially dwarf anything that we can offer. It's not even as if he lives in SW London, so we ought to do the sensible thing and give him a new contract now, before it happens.

There'll be folks reading this and saying "You're off your head mate", but to those folks I'd urge you to forget totally about last season. Erase it from your mind. If you were to say "He shouldn't still be here after THAT" then I agree he was very fortunate, but he IS here and as I always say, "If you're gonna back the manager you gotta back the manager". 

But put that aside and look at THIS season. We're much higher in the league than most predicted, we beat Coventry and had a great effort at Chelsea in the League Cup, and on Monday night we'll beat Ramsgate and go into the third round of the FA Cup. But for a few missed penalties we'd be higher in the league than we are, and like I say I'm pretty strongly predicting we'll improve as the season goes. To those that aren't happy THIS season I'd be asking what exactly is it you want?

And do I agree with everything the manager does, everything he says? No of course I don't. I think we should go for it more, be less fearful of losing and commit/risk more in order to win. I think his interviews are a bit boring, but then he does get asked the same monotone questions every week. I'd get Morgan Williams back sharpish and give him minutes, and I'd play Aaron Sasu more. I'm not at training every day though, I'm pulling pints, so with the greatest respect you can take my opinions with a bucket of chicken wings.

AND, I've a hunch that once the manager gets a contract, we'll see him become a better manager. There's a natural tendency when someone is fearful of their job to play it safe. Like a golfer who needs to make the cut in order to pay the travel expenses and sort out what he owes the caddie, he'll always lay up short of the water. The one who has already won twice this year though, banked two million quid and guaranteed next year's tour card ain't laying up. He's getting the big dog out of the bag and going for the pin. Every time.

Give our fella a contract and my guess is it'll be the end of him laying up. We might splash it into the water a bit more often, but we'll win more often too. As I keep saying, it's all about winning.

It's not too early to say it, let's get the management team signed up.

Best performance since we returned to Plough Lane?

In Sport, the contest is always better if there's a contrast in styles. A puncher up against a boxer is a classic, as was the headbanded maverick that was McEnroe stomping around against an ice cool Borg.

And so it was on Saturday, the delicately symphonic rhythm of Notts County trying to kill you with the deftness of a thousand paper cuts, up against a somewhat more prosaic Wimbledon. We were happy to hang in there, roll with the punches then kick our opponents in the Jacobs at every opportunity. We came out on top in a thrilling encounter, and rather than do a match report (it's a bit late in the day for that), I thought I might write about a couple of points which caught my eye.

Firstly, we've got to talk about Johnnie Jackson. Much maligned last season by all and sundry (obviously including me), this was his finest performance in an official merch' gillet by miles. Although we won it, we could just as easily have lost it but for a worldie save, and although we deserved to win, Notts County showed plenty enough to demonstrate just how dangerous they are. In the diminutive yet hugely talented Danny Crowley they had an arch orchestrator, both wing backs were very tasty while Langstaffe and Mcgoldrick were as good a front two as we'll play against. Our organization had to be spot on and it was. The management deserve huge credit. I actually thought the decision to go with a narrow diamond and to drop Josh into the half space when they had it was inspired. It asked a lot of our full-backs but it worked perfectly, Isaac and Jack were brilliant.

Can this once and for all dispel the notion that the manager is too rigid? I hope so. I didn't feel that before and I don't now. Yes some of his tweaks are a bit more subtle than switching wingers or bunging an extra striker on, but he DOES nudge things around both before and during matches. I said a few weeks ago that we were approaching the point where we ought to offer the manager a new contract, I think we've now reached it. He's clearly improving and learning as he goes, and in my opinion has the team in roughly where we can realistically expect it to be in the league. I'd say the squad is plenty good enough to challenge for the playoffs, and that's where we are. Quick note here, that doesn't mean that if we don't get in he's done a bad job, it'll be VERY tight. In and around though with this squad is in my eyes a par return. He's doing a solid job, we ought to give him job security.

Joe Lewis? My gut feeling is that the fella likes being at Wimbledon and would prefer to stay here rather than go back to Stockport (who'd have thunk it?). He won't be on a free, but I really think we should go down the back of the sofa and stump up the sheckles to try and buy him. He's a top defender and seems like a great lad.

Connor Lemonheigh-Evans is another really good player. I got slagged a bit for criticizing his brain freeze which led to the first goal on Saturday, and probably rightly so. Yes he paused like he had just remembered he'd left the gas on at home, but apart from that he was excellent. We should try & sign him too.

We should also shake the magic money tree and extend Armani Little and Omar Bugiels deals. They have both been excellent and look like Wimbledon players to me.

Where's the money going to come from? Well we have a few biggish contracts running out in the Summer, that'll free up a bit of cash. I'm not an accountant, but these signings would be in my eyes more important than any incomings in January.

Lastly and obviously not leastly, we've got to mention Ali Al-Hamidi. Our star player is getting better and better, Saturday was yet another game in which if our opponents had had him rather than us, then we'd probably have lost. I think we're at the point with Ali where we ought to be letting teams know that we'll listen to offers in excess of 1.5 million pounds in the Summer. Let the bidding begin THEN. If it's to be January though (which would in my view finish our playoff hopes instantly) then the bidding must START at 2.5 million quid. I remain totally convinced that he's good enough to play at least in the Championship, but the deal has to suit us as well as the player and the buying club.

Oh and it WAS our best performance and win at the new Plough Lane. Utterly exhilarating stuff, absolutely loved it. COYD

Quick scouting report: Doncaster Rovers.

I had a couple of quid e/w on Doncaster at the start of the season. That bet has long hit the bin, they started terribly, had awful injuries and the squad isn't as good as I thought anyway. They do have a quality manager in Grant McCann, but I'm afraid for them only the playoffs are a realistic possibility, even then it's an outside chance in my view.

That said, they've won six out of the last nine in the league. They lost 1-0 at Stockport and by the odd goal away at Barrow, and got battered at home by Salford in a game which they dominated the stats. But they've won the other six, some injured players are coming back and they'll come to our ground thinking they've got a proper chance. They drew 2-2 with Accrington in the cup, but really ought to have won it after being much the better team (Accrington came from behind twice, late on).

So tomorrow is no pushover. One of their biggest losses injury wise is George Miller, the young striker who plays every game. He's still out, but in the towering figure of Mo Faal (on loan from West Brom) they have a very able replacement. The 6ft 5in 20yo is really starting to find his feet, the kid can play. Alongside him Joe Ironside (ex Cambridge) is a very useful and hard working foil. They'll give us plenty to think about when they have the ball. They have a few decent players in midfield, lads like Harrison Biggins, Luke Molyneux and Zain Westbrook are all good at the level, all can hit it from range if not closed town and can pick a pass.

In defence I think like every other team in the league, they'll struggle to cope with Ali Al-Hamidi. Their normal stalwarts (Tom Anderson, Owen Bailey and the like) are typical no nonsense stoppers. They'll be on toast for pace though up against Ali, I suspect they'll play young Joseph Olowu (ex Arsenal) in a central three to give them a bit of legs. The full backs will push on though, they'll not be sitting in a 5-3-2, they'll have a go.

This is a really tricky match in my opinion. Doncaster will provide MUCH stiffer opposition than either Cheltenham or the Palace kids did. Before our trip to concrete city a win here would be huge (and would make a draw there a decent result). I've a hunch that we might not get it though. We've a history of 2-2 draws against these, this might be another.

Johnnie Jacksons contract-The elephant in the room?

It's been a good few days for us, a good few days for the manager too. There were rumblings and grumblings after two batterings in a week, but the good ship AFC is seemingly tacking into calmer waters after two cup progressions in four days. Obviously the league is "where it's at", but if we aren't already into "let's talk about the manager" season, we will be real soon.

The mood in the pub I'd gauge as 10% "I don't like him or his football, I would not offer him a contract" evenly matched by 10% of "Yeah I think he's doing well, keep him on". In the middle the 80% overwhelming majority are the, "Let's wait and see" fraternity. In amongst those are a fair number that change camps from week to week based on results, but in the main they are the "Let's wait until Christmas/the end of the season" types.

On the face of it, the 80% would appear at first look to be the most sensible. Not rushing into anything is not a bad mantra for life, neither is "let someone prove themselves before you reward them". Stick to those two things and you won't go far wrong in this world.

Unfortunately of course the football world is not the real world, in the football world that's not how things work. In the football world, if by now Johnnies agent isn't asking the club for clarification as to where his man stands and/or sounding out other options, our manager should get a new agent. Unreasonable? Not really. You've got a young fella with a wife, kids, a mortgage to pay who doesn't know whether or not he'll have a job in six months. Whether or not anyone thinks he's done a good job is by the by, it's not beyond the realms to think Johnnie will be getting twitchy. If we DON'T offer him a new deal over the next month or two and someone comes in to offers him three years elsewhere, he'll be offski (like Schirofsky). Who could blame him? I certainly wouldn't.

So all talk of "let's wait until the end of the season" is for the birds, it don't work like that I'm afraid. That's like saying that we should let Ali's contract run down then expect him to sign a new one when it runs out. Not gonna happen in a billion years. The ONLY circumstance where the extreme "wait and see" approach makes sense, would be if we end up doing really really badly (last season for example). Then, the manager for sure would sign a new deal, he'd be short on options to do otherwise. You have to ask yourself though, would you WANT him for another two years under those circumstances?

So the extreme "wait and see" is pie in the sky. Short term "wait and see" probably makes sense, but by short term I'm talking January at the absolute latest. I think if we haven't "offered" by then, his agents phone bill will rival a lovestruck teenagers. We are going to HAVE TO make a call, and soonish.

My opinion? (I know nobody actually asked nor cares but I'm going to pretend they do). I think if he continues as he is, we ought to give him the very best chance of being successful. All people in my experience do their best work when they feel secure in their employment. We ought to offer him a new two year contract, and budget into our thinking that if it doesn't work out, we have enough to pay the fella off and shake hands further down the line.

As I've said many times, I wouldn't have kept Johnnie on this season. I wouldn't have, but we did. I've also said and continue to say, if we were going to back the manager then we've got to back the manager. Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp he ain't, but he's doing a solid job right now. If that continues until Christmas, it is my opinion that it is time to back the manager and offer him a new contract.

Whether or not folks agree with me though, the important thing to consider is that the wait and see isn't really a viable nor sensible option. If we AREN'T going to offer, we may as well shake hands and pay him off. Having a manager "seeing out" the last three months of his contract is to nobodies benefit, least of all ours.

Match Report: AFC Wimbledon v Cheltenham town.

"One of these days someone is going to get a battering" is one of the oldest cliches in football. You don't normally have that feeling after being on the wrong end of two four goal maulings in a week however. So my guess is that like me, most AFC Wimbledon fans weren't expecting THAT performance.

In truth the first twenty minutes or so WAS typical us. Our skirmishes in the first twenty minutes are almost always "bloke looks at another bloke from fifty yards away then forgets about it", rather than "kebab shop punch up", this was no different. Cheltenham passed it around a bit, we ran around a bit and the whole thing was flatter than slowly drunk lager. Around the ground, discussions were just starting to veer off onto the merits of Jake Reeves chopping the man bun, Omar Bugiels impressive moustache etc when out of nothing we scored.

Alex Pearce did what he does and punted it forward, Omar did what he does and flicked it on, Ali did what he does and buried it. It was a goal of beautiful simplicity, and like when a 24 handicapper creams one down the middle and says "Why can't I do that every time?", it looked very repeatable but probably isn't. Before long we were two up, the excellent Connor Lemonheigh-Evans putting Tilley through, the wee man did the rest. Tills looked relieved to have "finally" scored one, he hasn't for about three games or something inconsequential. He should worry less, he owes us nothing.

As we took a walk around the concourse in the (as it turned out mistaken) belief that as there were less people there we might be able to get a beer, most expected a backlash from the league one team. Quick note here, the "sorry you can't have a pint at half-time unless you miss ten minutes of football" thing is getting a bit wearing now. God knows how much revenue we miss out on.

Anyway there WAS a backlash, but it came from us. Tills lashed in the third with a cracking volley, Josh came off the bench looking sharp as a tack and smashed in the fourth. Then Connor L-E absolutely broke the net with our goal of the season for the fifth. I know the season is only a third of the way through, but if anyone scores a better goal than that I'll show my arse in Elys window (let's all hope it doesn't happen).

After that they woke up a bit, Josh rattled the bar (I forgot that Armani Little did too) and Ali could literally have scored six. Unfortunately though for us and him, although he's brilliant he can only do it if someone passes to him. On numerous occasions he had a tap-in waiting to happen, only to see whoever had the ball preferring to shoot themselves. Tills did it many times (too many in my view) then Jimmy Ball did it in the dying seconds also. There's not much point in having a top striker if we don't feed him when he's in. It will probably have driven Ali mental, and it is my only criticism of what was a brilliant performance.

Anyway, we absolutely took them apart. "The gold cup, the book festival, Dom Joly (I Googled it), your boys took a hell of a beating" etc etc. Some reflection? Two defeats didn't mean we were shite, and a 5-1 win doesn't mean we're going to win the Champions League. The deep pan Bristol car showroom thing on Tuesday will run its course, but Doncaster at home next week will be a stern test. They are a good team who've made a poor start, but they ARE getting going now. I think it'll be a tight game, the fans need to enjoy this win but not get too carried away. The players might well need us to get behind them for periods next weekend, hopefully we step up.

COYD

Ivor Heller. A Dons story and how I fell in love with the club.

I'm quite good at doing pub quizzes, not answering the questions, setting them. I've been doing it for years. I guess I was a bit nervous at first, but over time much like anything else, if you stick at it you become better. These days I kid myself that the whole thing is quite entertaining, that people actually enjoy doing "my" quizzes. Secretly, I've got this little ambition that when I stop running pubs, I'll keep doing quizzes. Maybe I could have a little side-hustle doing a couple of nights a week to pay for a few beers when I've retired. I could maybe go round old folks homes for free of an afternoon, cheer em up a bit and have a giggle with them.

It's not much to have on your gravestone "He did a bloody good quiz as it happens", but at least it's something. It's my little thing, I really like doing a quiz.

My guess is that Ivor was a bit like that with the Man of the match presentation. He did it every time I went to watch Wimbledon at Kings Meadow, long before I was an actual fan. I love football, would quite happily watch two kids teams if I had the time, and on the odd occasion I took the kids to an AFC Wimbledon game, Ivor embodied (to me) what the club was all about. He doesn't (in the nicest possible way) look like your average compere, and he certainly doesn't talk like one. Just like being able to have a beer in the clubhouse and tell an actual player that he'd done well made me fall in love with it, so did the funny little bloke doing the Man of the Match too. I loved the food kiosk doing hot chips that burnt your fingers, the stewed tea served in two plastic cups which just about meant you could carry it. I squirted on the shite ketchup from the big catering bottles with glee, all of it reminding me of when I was a kid and used to go watch Scarborough with my brother. We cleared the snow off the pitch once to get the game on, me and my brother Tony. There was a picture on the front of the local paper. We had these bobble hats on that my Mum had knitted, it was probably fifty years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. There'll be kids going to AFC Wimbledon games now that'll say the same in half a century.

Time moves on though doesn't it? They've got a plastic pitch at Scarborough now, you can probably clear the snow with a golf buggy fitted with an ingenious front attachment. It doesn't even snow like it used to, time moves on.

Time moves on at AFC Wimbledon too, and so it should. Ivor isn't any more the commercial director bod now, he's moved on and become a freeman of Merton borough. I know him enough to say hello to, not much more, but he deserves that acolode no doubt. What he and the other founding fathers of the club did has enriched my life at least, whatever else they've achieved.

I like it at AFC Wimbledon that even though time has moved on, a certain Marc Jones still designs our kit. He does a brilliant job, does it for free too, so why replace him? Similarly some people who Im lucky enough to consider friends, Graham Price, Xavier Wiggins, Danny Norris etc (I know there are countless others) give THEIR time for free and do brilliant work as well. Why on earth would we pay someone else for the incredible expertise they bring (we couldn't afford it anyway) when they do it for free? It would be nuts.

And back to Ivor. Why would we pay someone to do the man of the match when he did it so well, for free? Now I'm acutely aware that I pour pints for a living and have literally no knowledge of the behind the scenes stuff, the politics and all that. For all I know there might be excellent reasons why the change has been made. Equally, I'm aware that perhaps it's not appropriate to make that reasoning public.

See, I wouldn't ask the question on the blog (I'd stay schtum forever) were it not the case that I was told a few weeks ago that Ivor WAS coming back to do it. I was told by a prominent person at the club, to my face. Since then, I've asked around and that appears NOT to be on the agenda. So am I being fobbed/mugged off, and if so why? 

Honesty and transparency, they are things.

We've got super Johnnie Jackson.

Twenty-Nine days ago it was my birthday. I think it was probably the best birthday I've ever had, you appreciate em more as you get older. The kids came back from Uni for the day, we went to the football and watched us demolish Tranmere 4-1. Ali Al-Hamidi scored a hat-trick, and I had a fiver on it at 80/1, (I also had a few quid on him scoring twice), it was a beautiful day all round.

We went in the Phoenix after, it was one of those pinch yourself and drink in the fact that you're so happy moments. Then, a Wimbledon fan came up to me and said "Let's sack Johnnie Jackson eh?". A cheap shot perhaps, but one I took on the chin. I did make no secret of my feelings at the time that we ought to have called it quits with Johnnie at the end of last season, so I suppose someone taking the opportunity to "rub my nose in it" was only to be expected.

My reservations about sticking with a manager who had won one league game in nineteen weren't simply tactical nor results based. They weren't just that I doubted whether he could take a bunch of new players and make them a fighting unit (a doubt which he has categorically proven to be unfounded). No, my chief concern was that I think a manager needs credit in the bank, political capital if you like. My worry was/is that Johnnie had spent all of that credit last season. As soon as we hit a bad run I thought, people would inevitably turn on him.

Twenty eight days after we smashed Tranmere 4-1, Morecambe did the same to us. I hope the manager has the good sense not to look on Twitter and has not sneaked onto a fan WhatsApp group under a pseudonym. If he has, he'll know that many folks are salivating over the prospect of getting Gareth Ainsworth. The only surprise is that nobody has said "Cowley brothers" yet. Probably most bizarre of all is the fact that many of those calling for the chop are the self same people who have been going around asking where "The Jackson haters are now". It truly is as someone once said, a funny old game.

My own feeling is that sometimes in life you have to gather yourself, take a deep breath and think. This is one of those occasions. I said before the season started that if we were going to back the manager (which we did), then we have to back the manager. I wouldn't have done it myself, but that matters not a jot. All the stuff about people "wanting to be proven right" was and remains nonsense, we must take the course of action which best preserves the viability of the club in the EFL.

We HAVE a manager, one who has shown encouraging signs this season of finding his method. Yes at times we aren't the easiest watch, and yes we've had our arses kicked twice in a week, but we ARE tenth in the league. We've gotten there by being a bloody good team, managed very well by Johnnie Jackson. We did until yesterday's game have the best away record in the league (let's not talk about the home bit for now), and the team is really obviously better than last season. Craig Cope has recruited well, and the players don't look (to me anyway) like they're downing tools as far as Johnnie is concerned.

So my call, such as it is, is that we should stick with the manager. We've hit a bump in the road, but in League Two pretty much everyone gets banjoed at some stage. Everyone has a dodgy spell, this is ours but there's no need to litter the concourse with lobbed out toys. Stick with the manager.

That's not to say obviously that the "Get out of jail free" card is everlasting. I totally disagree with those who said last season's debacle was unavoidable given the circumstances. Yes we lost players in January (which L2 club doesn't?) but we did pick up Ali Al-Hamidi and a kid who in a Leicester shirt is one of the best in the Championship. We didn't in that player turnover lose any of our "marquee, signed and on top money in the Summer" recruits (Alex Pierce, Harry Pell, Chris Gunther), nor did we lose our record signing (Josh Davison). I know someone will say "injuries!", and I know we had a lot. Infact, the "injury index" (remember that method where you add together the shirt numbers of the players who have missed games, divide it by the number of minutes, add twelve then subtract your last three house numbers) came up at 24.87 or something. Apparently that's the highest number since anyone thought of it.

But despite all the injuries, the rubbish squad, the floodlights not being bright enough, the home and away kit being too similar, the grass being too long and all the other reasons put forward, we continued to take the lead pretty much every week. That despite taking the lead each match we were singularly unable to ever "see it out" was to mind on the manager.

This season though, things have been different. Because of that, and because I'm not convinced that a change of manager right now makes sense, I think we shouldn't get trigger happy. Johnnie and the management team will know that they ain't gonna get nineteen games this time to turn it around. They'll know that an FA Cup exit and defeat away at you know who might prove very sticky, even IF we beat Doncaster in between (which is no gimme). We need results, and Johnnie needs one sharpish.

How to get one? Me, I'd be working the defence all week. They've gone from superb to shambolic in a week, let's get that sorted. We KNOW they are good players, let's do some fine tuning. I'd get Morgan Williams back off loan straight away (it was a bad idea in the first place), and I'd get James Ball into the team in a 4-3-3 formation. We are getting overrun in midfield, Tilley in the 10 slot behind the front two makes sense to me. Williams then becomes first change option, Larkin and Lemonheigh-Evans are good players but not ours. They can wait for injuries.

Most of all though, Johnnie has to look in the mirror. I'm convinced that his inability to arrest the tailspin of last season was caused at least as much by his haunted, hunted gait as it was by an injuries. He had that same look about him in yesterday's interview. He's got to lose that, get a smile back on his chops. Lift the mood in the camp don't drag it down, take the lads out for a game of golf, a few beers, a curry. 

We ARE a good team at the level, we DO have good players. We also have a manager who is obviously piecing together the kind of boss he wants to be. He deserves to be given a chance, deserves to be allowed the opportunity to turn around a worrying decline. 

So in answer to the question "Where are the Jackson haters now?" this one is still here. No of course I don't "hate" Johnnie or indeed anyone else, but I still have my views re last season. This isn't last season though, it's THIS season. We've stuck with the manager, so we should stick with the manager.

Come on Johnnie, time to prove people like me wrong again. Get us firing again 👊