From Bad, to Good, to Very Good, to Killer. One stage to go.

The above is our team when we were beaten 5-1 at home by Swindon in April. Fast forward eight months and I think yesterdays starting line up would eat this one for breakfast, there's been massive progress. The team in the picture won once in the last nineteen league games, this seasons version is gutted to "only" draw 0-0 at Salford. 

Quite who all that progress is down to, depends upon who you ask. If you're asking a "Jackson out" devotee who is unshakeable, it's all down to Craig Cope and his shrewd eye for talent. If on the other hand you're asking a "Where are all the Jackson haters now?" merchant, someone who "knew all along" that even during that run of one win in nineteen that he would come good in the end, then it's all down to the manager. This observer thinks it's down to a combination of things. Better players certainly, but being managed better too. There is no question in my mind that this seasons version of our manager would do far better with last season's players, albeit given that our team back then wasn't that great.

The important thing though, whoever deserves all the plaudits, whoever was "right all along" in amongst the fan base, is that we are currently a very good football team. I've seen us up and down the land this season, and I am absolutely certain that not only are we very good but we are improving week by week too. It is my contention that at the moment, along with Stockport, Mansfield and Wrexham, we are one of the best four teams in the division. I'm not drunk, I genuinely believe that we will comfortably make the playoffs and have a live outside chance of automatic promotion.

Anyway disagree all you like (in my best Catherine Tate voice, "I ain't bovvered") let's look for a moment at how we can improve from here even more.

Goals. We HAVE TO find a way of scoring more heavily away from home. One goal in the last five away games ain't the stuff of Champion nor killer teams, so how do we change it?

Well one aspect of our game which is frankly rubbish, is goals from our centre halves. I love (in a manly way) Ryan and Joe, they are in my opinion THE biggest positive change to our line-up this campaign, but they have one goal this season between them. THAT let me tell you (and them as well if they're reading this nonsense), is shite for two players as good as them. Now I was right behind Jake Reeves when he was delivering second half corners yesterday, the problem isn't the corner itself. He gets good whip, dip and pace (sounds like a trio of kids entertainers in yellow jumpsuits) on 'em, so that ain't the issue. We look to attack it from just about the edge of the box it looks like (which is probably a yard or two further than I'd go for TBH but anyway), but for whatever reason we don't seem to get there. Whether that's because we don't get any blocks in or something I don't know, (I don't study video, I've got a pub to run) but it's an issue. I remember both James Ball and Harry Pell scoring with set-piece headers, so maybe there's a case when chasing a winner for chucking the big lads on. I know it's a bit league 2 two point oh, but it's not "how" you score it's how many. Anyways Skivvers was a demon at getting on the end of a dead ball back in the day, I hope he and the big lads are working on some "Piano falling down a flight of stairs"/"attacking the ball" routines.

Goals from midfield. Jake Reeves takes a cracking penno and scored a screamer against Ramsgate. Armani Little broke the net against Swindon (then a few floodlight lamps at Salford) but neither I don't think will ever score heavily at this level. I know Armani has a bit of history and is the more likely out of the two, but neither have so far looked like they are about to get ahead of the ball or even be there for a cut-back across the six yard box. Although he has barely played and has only one goal so far, to my eye James Ball looks by a distance our most likely central midfielder to score a goal. He's that type, I'd have given him at least twenty minutes yesterday and I hope that when Johnny DOES give him his chance, he takes it. We've looked to me to have played him in a kind of 6 role, I'd like to see us go with the big lad as a genuine box to box 8. Just to be clear, our two central midfielders are playing great and I'm not on about chucking one of them out of the starting eleven. I just think if we are going to become THAT team, we've got to utilize our potential cutting edge a bit better when needed. It was needed yesterday.

Our full-backs have gotta chip in too, yes even away from home. I'd like Jack Currie to appear unmarked at the back stick more often. He has done it to great effect occasionally, I'd challenge him to do it more often. He's a superb player and easily good enough to get back, it's time for him to become a weapon going forward. Huss Biler, I want to see those check back inside and dig from distance moves we saw away at Colchester last season. Another fine player, he's fully fit now and easily good enough to chip in with a goal or two to go with his terrier defending.

See we can't rely on Ali all of the time. I know it's hard to believe sometimes, but he IS human and sometimes he DOESN'T score. Yesterday being an obvious example. Omar is a fine foil for him (what a signing), but he's always going to a setter upper more than he is a finisher offer. We can't depend on those two every game 

You see "Killer" teams get the job done. Nineteen times out of twenty when they are as on top as we were yesterday, they win. They find a way. They get a goal from a centre half, a full back scrambles one in, a sub diverts one in off his arse, it matters not. It's never been about how, it's always been about how many.

See the evolution from "very good" team to "Killer" team is the hardest step of all. It's not about any one player stepping up, it's about the whole squad making that 3% improvement which swings games in your favour. Centre backs get a goal here and there, full backs push on ten yards further, the subs come on ten minutes earlier then make an impact. Killer teams find a way to kill, then they get it done.

It's about the fans too by the way. Young Josh Davison is paying a very high price for being not quite as good as Ali Al-Hamidi isn't he? It isn't HIS fault that after we signed him we then picked up a bloke who is miles too good for the division. It's isn't HIS fault that while he was playing very well for us in his first season, we got a bloke in who us even better. Ever seen him moan about being on the bench though? Ever seen him not give absolutely 110% when he's called upon? You never will, give the lad a break and stop the groans, he is a good player at the level and pretty soon we are gonna need him. Killer teams have killer fans, sometimes it's THEM who give the players an extra 3%.

If we can collectively do all of that, in April 2024, exactly a year since we got battered 5-1 by Swindon, we'll be getting roared on by banks of fans wondering where we'll finish up. They won't be wondering about relegation this year though, we'll be asking ourselves if we'll go up automatically or whether we'll have to "settle" for the playoffs.

Becoming a killer team. It ain't easy but if we believe, all of us, we can do it. See you on Friday at Crawley. COYD

My Match Report. Salford City v AFC Wimbledon

Sometimes in life you don't get what you deserve, and to quote Danny Rojas from Ted Lasso, "Football is life". So it was on a beautiful day in North Manchester, even the pink sky joined in with the referee and the cruel hand of fate in favouring the home team.

I suppose if you had to sum the game up as a Wimbledon fan in one word, you might go with frustrating ("bollocks" might be a viable alternative). The truth is that Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Phil Neville, your boys took a hell of a beating. But it was 0-0!

There was so much to like about our performance, from the way we shut out Matt Smith and Elliot Watt to the way we carved out at least three second half clear cut chances. We were much the better team here from minute one, we just couldn't on this occasion put the ball in the onion bag.

Am I worried after predicting recently that we'll finish in the top five? Not even 1%. If Ali Al-Hamidi gets three one on ones per game and the other team doesn't muster a shot, we'll win plenty.

In truth I saw absolutely nothing here to convince me that I was wrong when I said we are currently one of the very best teams in the league. We came, we saw, we conquered, but we didn't score. It won't happen often, we move on and go to Crawley. They'd better watch out, if we play like this they could very well get a good hiding.

Scouting report: Salford City-Watt's all the fuss about?

Salford made the playoffs last season, I'd be very surprised if they did this time. Ask their fans and I'm sure there are a number of reasons, ask me and I'll tell you it's because Elliot Watt hasn't played very often. To my mind the best number six in the league is very sorely missed when unavailable, it wouldn't do us any harm if he misses tomorrow too.

Speaking of "misses", I hope someone has gotten hold of Armani Littles phone during the week. Our chief ratter always plays his best when he has the red mist visibility down to three paces, a few bogus messages to HIS Mrs (see what I did there?), "Hi Mrs Little, love you, Elliot, mwa mwa" should do the trick. After his total demolition job on Swindon last week (including a leg snapper on Jake Young), hopefully our snarly little terrier has been locked in a darkened room all week, been fed raw meat and with thrash metal blaring out of the speakers 24/7. If Watt plays, Armani needs to get a "restrictor" in within the first ten minutes or so.

Other than Elliot Watt, the big problem Salford pose is Matt Smith. I'd back myself against him over ten yards even now (I'm 57), but if we let them put crosses in, me, Johnny, Rob and Skivvers wouldn't stop him between us. I suspect our centre halves won't stop him either (excellent though they are) if we let them put loads of crosses in. Our full backs are going to have to get out quick, snap the tackles in and encourage a re-cycle.

The good news is, if we can stop Elliot Watt dictating the game, and if we can stop loads of crosses, we really ought to be OK. I DO like the young centre forward Junior Luamba, he's started getting to get a look in (VERY pacey) but not that much else. Incidentally Luamba (before Salford got him) would be the exact profile of player Id be looking at for our "we need another striker" conundrum.

They sometimes play a three at the back, with Adrian Mariappa as the middle one. He's 37, if they do that this time then my advice is to take the 80/1 available for an Ali Al-Hamidi hat-trick. I already have just in case, and even if they play a four I suspect that just like everyone else, they'll REALLY struggle to contain him. I like Theo Vassel for them in defence, but if we play as we should they're in for a hard day.

I've said a couple of times that we are a "belief pill" away from being one of the best teams in the league (for what it's worth, I think we currently ARE the best team in the league). It's time to take that pill tomorrow. It's not a "hard place to go" for us, it's not a "good point" if we draw 0-0. We are a MUCH better team than Salford currently, if we go there and believe it then we will win.

Defend high (Keep Smith out of our area), press high, be brave and get men forward. I think we'll get home with something to spare, 3-0 or 3-1, and Ali will score AT LEAST once. I'll be there cheering us on. COYD.

My match report: AFC Wimbledon v Swindon Town.

We've been threatening it for a while and hinting at some kind of extreme potential, but on a wet and freezing Saturday in December, AFC Wimbledon kicked the front door into the door marked "Playoffs" and shouted "WHO F*#***G WANTS SOME?!" 

It was all very well playing really well and smashing Ramsgate. It was even something different to capitalize on some kamikazi defending against Notts County. But to completely dismantle a team of such obvious quality as Swindon, to utterly dominate them from minute one was a statement performance in neon sign capital letters. Ive been saying for a little while now that we are a belief pill away from being a REALLY good side at the level, surely after this the gag reflex is surpressed and we can push on. This is a very good team we are watching, managed by a man who is visibly improving, right on the top of his game (get the contract sorted). I called "Top five AT LEAST" a couple of weeks back, I'm sticking with it.

Our utter control began very early in the game, Ali denied an obvious penalty in the first few moments by a predictably poor ref. VAR would have given that but we don't have it (Thank God). To be fair the dreaded Stockley Park would probably have disallowed our opener seconds later too. Two players lay stricken in the box but the ref "evened up" his earlier error to allow Omar to celebrate in front of their fans. It came from a nifty little Joe Lewis assist, the big man was magnificent from minute one. Our other big man Ryan Johnson had blood spurting out of his head. He didn't care overly though, we just bunged a big slop of Polyfilla on it and he was good to go. He's like that is Ryan Johnson, my kind of centre half and we are very lucky to have him.

From there we set about them and really should have been further ahead even before Connor Lemonheigh-Evans struck a post. We were outnumbered in midfield but it mattered not a jot. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, nor in this case the number of dogs in the fight, it is and always has been the size of the fight in the dog. Jake Reeves schemed as he does, but our chief ratter Armani Little was absolutely fantastic at doing what HE does. He left a straightener on the dangerous Jake Young from which the top scorer in the league never recovered, then bristled with intent and aggression all game, kicking everything which moved. He was THE dominant force in the match, I've never seen him play better.

Our defence kept the much vaunted Young and Kemp utterly quiet save for a few yelps when we smashed them, while our two wide men pinned their 3-5-1-1 firmly into a 5-3-2. Josh Scorched the earth while Connor Lemonheigh-Evans schemed and probed and leapt like a salmon. What a header of a football this lad is by the way.

Up top Omar was Omar, Ali thank God was Ali. Fittingly Armani Little smashed in the goal of the game with an absolute screamer. Ali bagged another brace and terrorised the Swindon back line. He is ridiculous at this level, just miles ahead of everyone else. Being the bandwagon jumping glory hunter that I am, it will surprise few that our performance against Swindon was comfortably the best I've ever seen AFC Wimbledon play. 

Long before the end their players had chucked the towel in, even their excellent support had exited stage left. Mick Flynn was the latest manager to say "In truth it could have been more than four". Like the Notts County manager, he wasn't lying either. My guess is that before the seasons end, many more will be saying it too. Utterly superb stuff 👏

I know. It's only Jacksonball and I like it.

If you get a bloke around to do some plumbing and he floods your house, you bin him off and get a new plumber. If you get a sparky in and the first time you switch the lights on you get a shock which makes you look like the bloke out of Beetlejuice, you get a new electrician. Course you could I suppose say "Tell you what Pavel, give it another crack mate" but few of us would do it given the option.

It's much the same with football managers. Once a fella has mucked it up to a lesser or greater extent, that's normally that. Even when the team being rubbish isn't really their fault, the manager normally bites the bullet when things go pear shaped.

Rewind to the end of last season. After one win in nineteen games I'd say the vast majority of fans would have pulled the plug on the manager. He HAD mucked it up, there WASN'T to my mind any sensible excuses for  a run THAT bad, and it seemed only a matter of time before there was a picture of the mythical "Cowley brothers" holding our scarf aloft on the OS.

The fans forum came and went. I'd say anybody who was there couldn't help but feel a bit of human sympathy for the manager. It wasn't just that he'd lost his better players in January, it was that we got a picture of the structure surrounding him. I spoke with him myself afterwards. I'd been impressed by his bravery in showing up, taking it on the chin. Under some quite extreme questioning from the floor (some from me) he retained his dignity, spoke with conviction. During the quick chat afterwards I told him that I would personally have pulled the trigger, but now that the club had backed him, so did I. I said I wanted to properly get behind him, but "Sheesh Johnnie you gotta win some football matches mate". He knew the score, he knew that he had a few weeks at the start of this season to avoid the chop.

And now this season. Imagine if THIS season had been his first. A trip to and an excellent performance at Chelsea, a cup win against Coventry. Some brilliant performances in the league, the team looking (to me anyway) to be in with a great chance of the playoffs. Just imagine this season had been his first, infact don't "imagine" it, pretend that it actually is his first, forget about last season altogether.

The reason I say that is that I still sense there are those who are struggling to fully row in behind Johnnie Jackson. Perhaps there's a reluctance to be proven wrong, I get that. The thing is though, I'm not sure that those of us who said last season was a disaster and nowhere near good enough WERE wrong. It WAS both a disaster and nowhere near good enough, but once the board decided to roll the dice and stick with the manager, it became irrelevant. If you're gonna back the manager, you've got to back the manager.

And people who say "I just can't take to him", once more I get it. His public stuff last season, from the no socks Zara clobber to the hands in the pockets demeanor to the prickly, defensive interviews were almost as bad as the results on the pitch. Once more though, that stuff is a million miles away from where he is now. It's club gear these days, he spends half the game squaring up to the fourth official with veins on his neck the thickness of hosepipes. I love that. In interviews he is more engaging, in person he is living up to the "tell you what, he's a lovely fella" billing that those who know him tell me.

Most of all though, I've always liked an underdog story and this a classic example. I thought it was a bonkers decision to keep him on, but as soon as we'd made it I wanted him to succeed. It can't have been easy coming into work when he knew the fans were against him, and when the players let him down not just on the pitch but at the end of season do as well, he must have wanted to lock himself in a dark room. It would have been really easy for him to walk away, go back to coaching, but he didn't. He stuck at it, he kept going and I like that.

And here we are today. I'm only a recent Wimbledon convert but the Johnnie Jackson story reminds me of when they were in the Premier League, beating the big boys with players that everyone had written off. He was damaged goods at the end of last season, had he gotten the bullet he wouldn't have gotten another gig anywhere else as manager. But he kept going, he kept listening to the fans, stayed humble and this season he is doing a fine job.

Whether or not you think I'm right about him getting a new contract is by the by. More important than that in the short term is finding a place in your heart to appreciate a fella who has dragged himself off the canvas when everybody thought he was finished. I think he gets AFC Wimbledon now, and I think he deserves every scrap of success he gets.

Scouting report, Swindon Town. It's not JUST Jake Young & Dan Kemp you know.

Swindon are a good team who seem to have gotten over their blip and have won their last two league games. Excellent wins as well, being the first team to beat Mansfield this season (2-1 at home) before winning 4-3 at Accrington Stanley. The last result is deceptive. They led 4-0 on the long trip up North, only a couple of stoppage time goals for Accy made it look close. As we know only too well, John Coleman's men are a good team, while Mansfield are one of the favourites for the title. So let's get this straight, this is a proper team we are playing tomorrow.

They seem to have settled upon a quite funky 5-3-1-1 formation. The "1" and the "1" are Dan Kemp (MK loanee) and Jake Young who is on loan from Bradford. Both, much as it pains me to admit it in Kemp's case at least, are excellent footballers. The thought process seems to be to give those two the freedom to go wherever they see fit. Given they have TWENTY SIX goals between them (Ali and Tilley have fifteen for context), you can see why. Young is more the fox in the box poacher, Kemp pops up everywhere and will hit it from distance. They are VERY dangerous and appear to have a bit of football chemistry.

It isn't JUST them though. In number 8 Saidou Khan they have arguably the best in his position in the league (him or Stockport's Will Collar for me), and it's easy to see why Wrexham are willing to pay 350K for his services. George McEchran at 6 was the best player on the pitch when they smashed us last season, and while I'd prefer Salford's Elliot Watt over him he is once again an excellent player at the level. Liam Kinsella as the other midfielder is a republic of Ireland international, an excellent player who knows his onions.

The wing backs are both pacey up and downers, almost regardless of which ones they play. Rameoao Hutton though down the right is one I like and especially good at the level, Jack Currie will need his wits about him.

So they are a good team. I like the young centre half Harrison Minturn, And the young lad to his right Udoka Godwin-Malife is promising too. He's not frightened of marauding forward with the ball.

So they are a very good bunch of players. Any good news?

Well, Swindon try and play. They WILL try and bring it out from the back, pointless them launching it to Kemp and Young. I think if we're brave enough to defend high enough (neither Kemp nor Young will burn us for pace) I think we can get properly in amongst them. I'd be getting Armani Littles phone off of him, send a few bogus text messages to his missus from "Dan from Swindon" before kick off. Our chief ratter is going to have to get in and around McEchran as well. The ex Chelsea man is slippier than Boris Johnson in the dock though, catching up with him ain't easy. I'm looking for Omar to drop in and get amongst Saidou Khan, when the Swindon man breaks forward with the ball Jake Reeves needs to be engaging him early. The full backs (particularly Jack Currie this time) are going to have to be bang on it, and our communication when we're passing Kemp over as he drops into pockets is going to have to be really good.

I DO though think Ali will scare the shit out of them (Why should they be any different?) and if we're brave enough to press high, I think we can nick the ball and kill them.

They beat us 5-1 here last season, it won't happen this time. 3-1 to us, Ali with AT LEAST two goals.

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.