Is this thing still working?
Yes, an SW19 update. Just as the Euros are in full swing, and actual summer has started.
Which as the club has reminded us for the last month, means the fixtures are out in about three days time.
It’s almost like they had absolutely no other information to give us.
Granted, that’s only semi-snarky. As far as I know, they didn’t announce Armani Little deciding our decent offer wasn’t so decent after all.
Come to think of it, we haven’t even been given any heads up whether Lee Brown and Biler have committed to us for another season.
That might be a tad unfair, as contracts expire this time tomorrow (Monday) so they might both be weighing up the better offer working for KFC.
And in truth, it’s been quiet anyway.
Since your editor’s fun and games at Heathrow airport** in the last update, there hasn’t really been a lot going on full stop.
** – you’ll be pleased to know I got a replacement passport within a week, and have decided to go to Germany in just over a week’s time.
Surprisingly, it’s reasonably priced to get out there, even if it’s a host city, although it’s no doubt different if there’s a game on…
As Craig Cope (PBUH) is taking a break from single handedly keeping AFCW’s transfer policy together, things have actually started happening.
This past eight days alone, there were two in, one out, and maybe next season is starting to gear up.
So, a belated welcome to AFCW Callum Maycock. A welcome back to AFCW John-Joe O’Toole.
And fare ye well to Josh “Manbun” Davison, who has left for Tranmere Rovers. We hardly knew you.
Maycock is from Solihull, quelle surprise, and I kind-of share those with suspicions that rebuilding with players who failed to get out of non-league isn’t great.
He’s supposedly the best in his position in the National League last year though, and Chesterfield/Bromley also wanted him as well.
Your editor covered the Non League Finals day, and he didn’t stand out to be honest. But then, I wasn’t really paying much attention.
Perhaps he’s the proverbial non-league gem? Or maybe somebody who can get the best out of Josh Kelly? I hope he proves some doubters wrong, your editor included.
I have to admit, JJO’T was the kind of player that a) I hoped returned to SW17, and b) would actually do so.
Reading back on comments made about him during his initial spell here, it seems I’m not the only one thinking that.
It’s a one year deal, which is probably sufficient. I don’t find it a coincidence that his arrival coincided with the post-January slump not happening this time around.
Not as a regular starter, but put it this way – I’ll be glad to have him as an option rather than not.
As a quick aside, I notice Alex Bass has signed for Notts County. That’s a genuine shame, and one suspects our hampered ability to pay decent wages is a major factor in that.
That said, and I write this without any of our two goalie positions filled, there are plenty of decent keepers about. Even youngsters on loan from Premier League sides can do a good job if we select correctly.
Speaking of those here last season but not now, getting a transfer fee for Josh Davison is probably the best bit of business already this summer.
He was a pre-Cope signing, and it showed – especially for most of 23/24.
Maybe it was because he was down the pecking order when better strikers joined the club, or whether he was ran into the ground too much in his first year here and never recovered I don’t know.
Manbun ran around a lot, undeniably tried hard, and kept the hair care section at Lidl on Plough Lane in profit.
Maybe we could have used him better, although when he did make appearances off the bench he never did much to justify starting the next game.
It’s probably a best-for-all-concerned type move. We get money and a sell-on fee, he gets to reignite his career under Adkins, and we’ll all cheer if he gets the winner when Tranmere play Franchise.
You just know he’ll net two goals when they play us at home.
I suppose really there isn’t much else to write about. Paul Strank is back, and is sponsoring the away end next season.
Didn’t he fall out with the club or something when we moved back home?
Brentford fans will get to christen the North stand when they come to a PSF which we’ve arranged, although their B-side are hosting Sutton that afternoon too.
I almost feel sorry for those in SM1 that they’re back in the backwaters of non-league, though that’s their natural position.
We’re playing Peterborough in Benidorm, which sounds quite anti-climatic, though going to that part of the world appeals to me as much as going to Milton Keynes.
Actually, the PSFs aren’t too bad. True, it’s the usual game at Met Police, but Charlton at home, and Maidenhead then Barnet away are at least a bit different.
Wonder if we might get one or two more? If we do though, it will be Woking away. It’s as much contractual as playing each league game home and away.
And in case you’ve avoided every single club communication since April, the fixtures are out this week.
The next SW19 update will be after they’re announced, so I predict we’ll be at Bromley over New Year, Franchise away in some shitty evening game where we lose 4-1, and we’ll host Chesterfield first game.
Watch none of that happen, except the gubbing.
Oh, and the Carabao Cup draw is this week too. Some admittedly potentially decent away trips there – QPR, Millwall, Watford, Birmingham will be fun too.
Which has already guaranteed it will be Cheltenham at home. Or another trip to Stadium:MT…