Yep, it’s emailing time – just do everything the club suggests. It’ll only take two minutes.
Done that? Good. While it’s obviously going to help if you live in a GLA area, it’s still worthwhile if you don’t – hell, didn’t stop the doggers and stockies from kicking up a fuss, even if most of them lived nowhere near SW19.
While this has undoubtedly been called in because there’s elections afoot, it’s a very good chance to neutralise any political footballing from this.
Your average politician hates looking bad, especially when running for office, and the more of us who email in, the more some campaign manager suggests that pissing us off isn’t a good idea after all…
After the election is when I expect the real pushing to begin. We’ll know who’s in charge by then (which will likely be Khan, especially as the inferred skeletons in his closet will probably end up increasing his vote).
It’s clear we didn’t lobby Boris Johnson enough – or at all – and we can’t afford to be so complacent again. Dare I say that like on the pitch, we’re too nice off it…?
It’s interesting that the club itself is still pushing the line that even now, they don’t understand why it was called in. It’s relying heavily on the planning application already getting approved by everyone else, and you would hope we’ve been properly advised doing that.
While I was writing this up, the OS posted this about a consultation for the NPL design. Again, that sort of thing happens when the time for final permission gets close.
Hubris? Knowing something that us plebs don’t? Or just meticulous planning? Whatever, this sort of announcement doesn’t happen by accident, particularly when it’s been called in.
Sadly, we have to deal with politicians for this next stage, and while we have options beyond this I’d rather it get finally OKed sooner rather than later.
It will involve lobbying of the new bod in charge. The club may not want to play that game, but it will have to. Emails like this will only be the start…
Meanwhile, there’s a trip down to the west country tomorrow, in our fuck-me-we’re-still-in-the-playoffs end to the season.
It’s all been a bit low key, with not much cock waving after Wycombe. Maybe we really have learned about taking it each game at a time?
Our record in Pilgrimland is pretty good, I don’t think we’ve ever lost at Home Park in the AFCW era (and the last time WFC lost there was in the 1990/91 Rumbelows Cup).
So put your mortgage on zero points for us tomorrow, then.
Unlike last week, defeat tomorrow won’t kill off our playoff chances beyond mathematics – we still have a game in hand – although like it’s been for the last month, results elsewhere are crucial.
Wycombe are at York, Carlisle host Mansfield, Exeter go to Yeovil, Orient hop on the tube to Barnet and Cambridge can put themselves back in it if they beat Newport.
You can do the different permutations yourself, though what’s become clear is that the team that makes a break for it will likely get the seventh spot.
Those at Adams Park last week still gush about how good we were, though as the past has shown – we’ve often played like that when we’ve been lousy.
Plymouth are a side who themselves need a victory. Their aim is the automatic promotion slots, and they’re good enough to achieve that.
They aren’t the Chairboys, and this season has suggested those sixth and higher are a step better than the rest. While we in particular have closed on the top sides quality wise, there’s still definitely a gap.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put somebody else’s house on a draw, though that wouldn’t do much for our playoff push. Especially if other sides elsewhere take advantage.
There’s always the possibility of a repeat of Wycombe. You would think (and hope) our slump in form is now over, though this is AFCW.
We’re in the unusual situation where no matter if it’s a win/draw/loss, you wouldn’t be surprised of the outcome. Maybe a 5-0 win or a 7-0 gubbing would raise eyebrows, and we haven’t had either of those for a while.
Anyway, your editor has to spend his Saturday heading towards Frenzyville, and you can imagine how I’m going to feel when I see the signposts for Milton Keynes….
…. especially when I turn off at Northampton to watch them (likely) seal promotion against Brizzle Rovers. Thank fuck I don’t have to cover them at their hovel.
Considering their players didn’t even get paid for two months earlier this season, they’ve done pretty well. And it proves just how getting the right blend of players – with a manager who knows what he’s doing – trumps everything else.
Those at Sixfields when we played them may have twigged that they were in a bad spell at the time, we had to effectively play the best we’ve done in a season or two, and it still wasn’t enough to beat them.
If it all goes to plan, they’ll be facing Franchise next season. I just hope they’ve got the defumigation out again…