No, not a pre-match meal for some game tonight, either.
SW19 is back from Germany**, and it seems in the week-and-a-bit I was away from this place, things have happened.
** – only watched games on telly as there were no fixtures in the places I was in, but it was interesting Munich only had one public viewing place and Dusseldorf had more.
Most of the following two sentences will be old news, so you’ll have to indulge me, and try not to point out anything I’ve missed.
Farewell Jack Currie. Hello again Joe Pigott. And we’ve even got a new keeper.
That new shotstopper being Lewis Ward, with a young lad from Palace reportedly on his way as first choice.
Currie leaving us wasn’t really a surprise, although reports the fee Oxford gave us (including add ons) isn’t as high as Brizzle City supposedly offered us has stuck in a few throats.
The truth is, we don’t know what offers were really made from Ashton Gate. Nor do we know how much the Us will actually be giving us for him.
It’s a loss though, and with Lee Brown retiring during my trip away, we’ve still got some rebuilding at the back to do.
Still, news of that was tempered with the return of Piggy. It’s a year loan from Leyton Orient, which almost certainly means he’ll be recalled in January to be sold to Swindon.
I’m in two minds about this, to be honest. My usual dislike about a player returning to the club is tempered by knowing he has been able to score at times when nobody else does.
His record since leaving us has been pretty piss poor, although some players perform better at certain clubs.
Maybe we can reignite his career? If nothing else, he’s better than Josh Davison. And perhaps this time I’ll be able to spell his surname properly…
The most important football game of this weekend remains us against Peterborough in Benidorm, where it was pleasing to find out that not only did we win but also kept a clean sheet too.
The club has highlights on the OS, and while I’m not going to sit through ten minutes of it, Alistair Smith’s goal was a little bit, er, pre-season.
It was described as a deflection, although that’s like describing a twenty-car pile up on the motorway as a blockage.
Oh, and we debuted the new away kit. The trouble is, you can market it as paying homage to the Old Centrals, but most people (our fans included) will just think it’s Wycombe.
Me, I’d like to see a shirt with the 1919 kit on, the one with the big “W” that pissed the FA off apparently. And I’m sure that’s in the works.
Enough of the Gok Wan stuff. Games this time of year aren’t solely about fitness, and having a decent pre-season is under-rated.
I’m not going to pay too much attention if, say, Piggy is missing targets at this stage, because that’s the very point of these fixtures.
I’d be a little bit more concerned if we’re firing blanks by the time we face Barnet, but that’s still five games away.
We also get to see who’s got Derek Duncan Syndrome, named after the very man who was the shit during pre-season and was just shit after it.
Though given that players are properly scouted and given contracts these days, perhaps this is something that should now be retired?
No, I’m not going to do that.
I’ll be honest here and admit I hadn’t a clue when our next PSFs were until I checked just now, and it looks like the usual trip to Imber Court is this Wednesday.
I’m sure there aren’t as many as previous seasons, although I’m glad we didn’t follow what Burton’s new manager felt we should do and only have three of them in total.
And with the exception of Maidenhead on Tuesday 30th July (our official site is wrong, quelle surprise) there’s no midweekers apart from this Wednesday either.
Us playing in Benidorm is as classy as you would expect, although training camps aren’t for supporters.
Many of us would jump at a chance to see us in Germany, for instance, but you look at the facilities we’ve been at this past week and you see why we’ve returned to Spain.
And will probably do so again this time next year too.
Finally, and I totally forgot this happened since the last SW19 update, we’ve parted company with Rob Tuvey and replaced him with Dave Reddington.
Tuvey was part of the Mark Robinson tenure, and like Lee Brown his departure ends that particular era.
Funny how all trace of that time has gone into the black hole of AFCW history, and in the space of about three years too.
Reddington’s arrival is an interesting one though, and perhaps a sign that we’re looking to further boost our backroom staff.
He’s been in Denmark, although he’s returned to England because his daughter has got into a good school, so it might have been a happy bit of luck.
Not just any old club there either, AGF under Uwe Rosler isn’t a bad gig to have.
His Palace links will help as well, and probably for the first time in a long while we have a coach with some genuine pedigree.
You’d have to go back to Terry Brown himself to say that, and as often said on here and elsewhere – more professionalism is always a good thing at this club.
From the snippet I’ve seen of his interview, he comes across well and as somebody underneath said, he’s got instant credibility with the players.
Who knows where we’ll go next season with people like Reddington around? Although the more cynical will say we’ve already got our next manager in…