After a spectacular bit of timing, along with at least two false dawns and a lot of emails over the Irish Sea to boot, SW19 is back.
I can sense your disappointment in reading that.
The next few paragraphs are technogeek masturbation material, so if you’re not that way inclined, just skim over until I give you the all-clear to start reading again…
***GEEK STUFF KLAXON START***
Right then, basically the account with the old hosting company – who were a bunch of cunts – was not renewed, which is why the account got suspended after I spent four hours writing about the points deduction.
Now, as you well know, the server beforehand has been very slow, and one of the big problems with SW19 is that there’s 14 years worth of material that simply needs to be stored somewhere. It’s one helluva big database.
Anyway, a new server had been lined up – it’s more expensive but a lot better to deal with apparently, so it had to get uploaded in stages, which I think is why you kept seeing that URL redirect page that kept, er, redirecting to itself.
What also didn’t help was finding out that the domain of SW19 (owned by Verio) kept keeping the “old” nameservers despite me updating it. It felt like trying to programme “HAFSOG” into Neal Ardley into and he kept rewriting the info to say “UEFA Coaching manual”…
***GEEK STUFF KLAXON END***
You can come back now.
Anyway, late last night, everything finally started to come together. There’s been a few things that have needed to be changed, primarily the design you now see.
Those who use www.sw19army.co.uk, erm, can’t right now. And if you’ve ever used derrymeeleen.com to go through it – don’t. It won’t work any more.
Yes, it’s only temporary, but I’ll sort it out next week when I finally get a bit more time. I was thinking of changing it this close season anyway, and now my decision has been made for me.
I’ve no idea if it works on smartphones, as I haven’t tested it, and things may be missing from it. No complaints, please.
All the comments bar the four that were salvaged on Tuesday have been wiped, but nobody read them anyway. They’re still open and ready to go again, so you can abuse me again.
And all of this has proven a distraction from the events of a few days ago, so that’s a thing that ends well. Jokes about SW19 employing the AFCW admin staff can safely be made.
Actually, didn’t your heart drop when you read yesterday that the club office was shut? Things really have got to the stage where you read that news and you wonder whose transfer we forgot to properly complete this time.
We’ve probably failed to register Jack Midson, and we will be relegated to the Conference South given all the games and goals he played. On the plus side, we can play against Bromley next season…
I’m joking – at least, I think I am – but it’s been that kind of end to that kind of season. And it’s weeks like this when you realise just much further things need to go – on and off the pitch.
What happened with the FL has been discussed a lot now, and you have to hope there’s no sweeping under the carpet of any of this. But once again, the close season has become yet another one where an overhaul is needed.
Usually, that’s been on the field, and once again we’ll get a new lot of players to recognise come the first PSF. Midfield and (especially) strikeforce seems to be the main area of surgery, and already the rumours are starting up.
There seems to be a rumbling about one Mr D Kedwell returning to KM. And it’s one that never properly goes away, a bit like the Sheringham stories from last time out.
He’s out of contract with his boyhood club, he’s probably on his way down as Peter Taylor is supposed to prefer younger players, and he got Gills into League One. And we would offer him a two year deal, a la Framps.
No-brainer or nostalgia trip? Well, he has been the one ex-AFCW player who has legitimately gone onto better things. He obviously still knows people here, as his return for the charity match on Sunday hints at.
We all know what he’s capable of, and he would undoubtedly improve things up front if he did come. But does NA want him? We know what he thinks about Midson, so what he’ll also think of DK is unclear.
We know our manager prefers loanees up front, so the VFM factor comes into it. Obviously, I assume despite all our constant whines protestations about budget he is affordable (perhaps one of the sugar daddies that we pretend not to have would be funding this?), otherwise the whispers would be dead in the water.
Of course, it could also be that season ticket sales are sluggish, and by starting these sort of rumours many people will renew just in case, bringing in more money.
Cynical? Moi?
As usual, there’ll be strong rumours about players who you think will come but won’t. We are entering that strange time of the calendar year – the next couple of months will see lots of analysing and over-analysing any bit of gossip, no matter how ropey.
At some point this close season, I even expect somebody with 100% seriousness to claim that Charlie Sheringham just needs a decent pre-season.
Anyway, the players about to be released will be told on Wednesday, apparently. I can’t say I’ll miss any of them, but the ones I would prefer to stay will likely be here.
I have to admit that I’m not sure if I totally believe NC when he says on the OS:
“Players are fighting for their futures at this football club.”
Because I think their minds have already been made up.
Apparently, at the shirt sponsors shindig this week, NA looked like he didn’t want to be there. He’s obviously wanting the season to end as quickly as anyone else, and I bet he’s really looking forward to a long holiday.
I don’t think that anyone is looking forward to t’Stanley tomorrow beyond the last-game-of-the-season dead rubber social occasion. It’s a shit journey at the best of times, we’ve never even drawn there and there’s always the sense of players switching off when they know they’re departing.
You can tell when it’s been an enjoyable season when you’re sad to see it go. Which given how I feel about it right now means it’s been anything but.
I tell you what this feels like. Remember the first Conference season, when our part time approach finally caught up with us? While we didn’t slump in form this season in quite that manner, there was a wearyness at the end which is similar to today.
Not to mention a real need and desire for the club itself to move to the next step up.
Those going up there tomorrow will be doing so because they want a drink or two with their mates. Nothing is riding on this game, thank fuck, but if it got called off and both teams were awarded a point, nobody would complain.
The three point deduction has more or less destroyed what enthusiasm remained of the campaign. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out we lose 4-0 again tomorrow, because I think we’re now “gone”.
Players, manager and supporters alike.
Your editor is doing Watford v Huddersfield tomorrow – I’ve got a shitload of work on, it’s a 1215 kickoff, but apart from a cursory glance at the score from time to time I’m not sure if I’ll be following procedures like I normally do.
Maybe it’s been because of the “tactics” this season, maybe it was the good start that we found out was the football equivalent of fool’s gold, or maybe it was the reminder this week that too much of this club hasn’t left Turdeyland.
But I’ll be glad when the final whistle in Lancashire goes tomorrow. And there will be very few who won’t feel the same.
It might be a last hurrah, of course. We might finally have that one good performance in us, something to actually cheer us up and leave the season on a high. I would still expect some degree of professional pride, especially after the Morecambe debacle.
There isn’t any pressure or expectation on us tomorrow. True, in the past that hasn’t helped us (remember when we were going to face three of the bottom four sides when we were flying in September? That went well), but if there was ever a time for a swansong, tomorrow would be it.
After all, we have the best ever collection of players in the AFCW era (and probably the worst team), and on occasions they’ve shown us what they can properly do.
And anyway, we’re owed it.
If anything, your editor will be tuning into what’s happening at the lower reaches of the division. Looking at the league table, if you think it’s been shit for us this campaign just be thankful you’re not Wycombe.
When we had to win on the last day of the season in 2013, that’s all we had to do – win. All else was irrelevant. If you’re a Wycombe fan, not only do you have to hope your side do the business at Plainmoor but also hope that one of Brizzle Rovers or Northampton lose as well.
Oddly, that might make it a bit less fraught (if only a bit), simply because it’s out of their own hands. There comes a time when you’ve struggled all campaign when you realise you’re in that position for a good reason.
Jesus, even we put three past them.
It will be a shame that yet another near journey will probably be gone next season. Although for some reason we never seemed to take more than 700-800 to it, which considering it’s just up the M40 was always odd.
If Southend go up, and Wycombe go down, we’ll be left with Pompey, Luton, Daggers and St. Evenage as our near games next campaign. Remember when we had Aldershot, Barnet, Crawley and Gillingham?
Of course, the decline of Wycombe should be yet another warning sign to the club that, like Aldershot and Barnet, if you don’t run your club to the required standards it will catch up with you…
League One looks an interesting one, and your editor personally hopes it’s Carlisle and Tranmere to go down – if only because that’s two away trips I’m (probably) likely to do. If both are evening games, then that’s even better.
And if we do play Tranmere, who is Chris Slavin going to support…?