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Do not adjust your set

AFC Wimbledon does have a “W” next to a fixture played this season.

No, the “W” in question doesn’t stand for “Wankers”, although at times this season it’s been tempting to say that. Instead, it stands for something called “Win”.

A “win”, in case you’re under the age of fifty years old, is something that happens when you score more goals than the opposition. Yes, that is allowed in football.

Other consequences of this rare event involve something called “three points”, which is a reward for your hard endeavours.

This sometimes has the consequences of moving the team position in the table upwards, which can be very confusing when you’re so used to seeing the team name down the foot of it.

Plus it has other unintended consequences. It can lighten the mood, and make you actually feel good for the rest of the weekend and beyond. This may be an experience new to you, and therefore it could be disconcerting right now.

OK, I’m taking the piss (or am I?), but after eleven games this season alone – we’ve finally won a game.

Even more amazing, we were 3-0 up at one stage, with many people saying that’s the best we’ve played all season.

Yes, it wouldn’t be AFCW without nearly fucking it up at the end. That’s probably why people haven’t gone overboard since the full time whistle went, because it nearly went wrong after all.

Imagine the mood this morning if it had gone to 3-3? Or worse?

But that’s academic now. It’s correct to say we’ve got a very soft underbelly at the back, and there’s too much fading late on in games. We know that.

Although in the case of not fully seeing games out – is that a mental thing as much as anything?

Once it went 3-1, the players themselves must have been thinking “here we go again”, and it’s lucky that it went 3-2 very late on, rather than still having to hold on for five minutes.

This morning though, they must be thinking that for once, they did hold on and they did get the three points. It’s a little step, but one that can go a long, long way indeed.

With mental roadblocks come physical ones too, and if that makes us go that bit extra, and we suddenly don’t get fatigued towards the end, then all well and good.

You don’t go 3-0 up at half time by accident, and I think such an opening whirlwind has been coming from us for a while.

Forss proved why we’re lucky to have him, at least until January. It’s good to see the name of a youngster (Osew) on the scoresheet, and Pinnock as well.

Your editor saw the goals on SSN this morning, inbetween doing the day job, and they were three well-taken efforts. Mind you, the less said about Rochdale’s, the better.

But you can’t deny what a win does, and suddenly you’re looking forward to going to Roots Hall next weekend after all.

That’s another six pointer, and then some, but you actually have a bit of confidence that we’ll score goals. At least, enough to limit the damage we cause at the other end.

One of the reasons we stayed up last season was being able to follow a win up with another in quick succession. Remember the week in March where we disposed of Donny, Posh and the Shrimpers in the space of seven days?

I don’t doubt the return of Wordsworth is a coincidence here, nor starting Sanders either.

I also don’t get the sense this victory was like THAT Oxford win last campaign, which still manages to be the worst win I can remember in recent memory. There’s enough in us to make me believe if we could just harden up at the back, that confidence will grow ever upwards.

Though apart from feeding our defence a diet of concrete and Cialis, I’m not sure how to stiffen it up right now.

Maybe we’ll need to start looking into that weird sub-cult called the free agency route? Whether the money issue is so tight that even that’s not an option, but I can’t believe there isn’t somebody out there who’s not on a contract, who could just do a job for us at least until January.

Whatever happens between now and then, I guess we’ll need to wait for the dust to settle first.

Yes, that’s a reference to WallyGate II, something which the conclusion is likely to be very early this week.

The rumour mill has been quite busy since the full time whistle yesterday, and some of it sounds quite interesting. Very interesting, as it goes.

How true it is I don’t know, we’ll find out soon enough. But put it this way – one person there yesterday commented thus : “the players respond to GH more than they did to Wally”.

Which makes you wonder if Walter’s fate might not just be decided by some supposed (ill advised) pin-money bets, and indeed whether there’s something more incriminating after all.

I’m speculating, of course, but if just half-true – every action taken so far makes sense.

There could be absolutely nothing in any of this, and Walter’s return to frontline duties could be interesting, if a little awkward in some cases.

But your editor still remembers some of the Terry Eames saga back in the very early days of AFCW, and there’s something a bit familiar about this current situation.

We suspended him as well, from memory, and that turned out to be the correct decision once the facts came out. We never did hear much from him again afterwards…

This week might prove that nobody is bigger than the club, and bearing in mind the Seedrs thing closes tomorrow, it could remind people that on-field issues are always transitional.

Whoever is our manager is by the time we play Southend, this is the most important thing at the club right now.

To be fair to the Seedrs fundraiser, £2.3m isn’t to be sniffed at. Even if less than seven different donors made all the difference.

There may well be more to come, though they’re leaving it late. If it does settle around £2.4m or even £2.5m, one suspects the club might find that a little disappointing.

That assumes there isn’t the final symbolic donation, from the club/DT (I believe there’s been a push for international donors via them who otherwise aren’t allowed to do it).

It could make for a weird day tomorrow, if Walter is axed but there’s the one final proverbial big cheque handed over. Your editor has a day off tomorrow, and I will curse you all.

But then, when you get more images like we had this week, it makes it all worth it.

OK, the first image might make you think of London City airport than a football ground, but it continues to get more real.

The bar/pub area is more modern than I expected it to be, and a couple of people have described it as sterile. Although mockup images always do that, and besides – as if we won’t have memorabilia on display to give it that personal touch.

Also, it’s a place that serves alcohol. As long as it’s quick to be served (take note, back bar at KM), reasonably priced, the beer isn’t shit and it’s a nice place to drink in, it will do well.

Admittedly, I’ve never been 100% taken by the whole “Fanzone” thing. It’ll be pretty much impossible to visit at half time, unless your seat is right by it, and even then it has the potential to be overwhelming.

I know it’s been put in to recreate the current KM experience of people gathering round before/afterwards. But that’s because there’s very few places to drink anyway, so everyone goes there for convenience.

When we return home, many will have their own watering holes before and after the game. They’ll have a choice, for starters.

I think the support will be more fragmented back at NPL, with many simply doing their own thing again.

Sure, the New Sportsman will be very popular, and it doesn’t look bad to go to during the week, but the days of most people meeting at the ground are likely to be over by this time next year…

One thing we don’t get from the mockups thus far is what the new place will look like from the inside. My guess is that it will resemble Livingston’s ground, at least the three temporary semi-permanent sides.

It’s only slightly bigger than our planned capacity, and if there’s a good game on and people are “on it”, it could be quite intimidating to be at.

Oh, and I note Chelski put up the new scoreboard at KM. Interesting how there’s no room for the names of the teams on there…