And so, back to business…
It’s July and 30c. Bright sunshine, blue skies, vivid colours everywhere. A period for relaxation, travel, doing outdoor activities and generally making the most of the weather.
So of course, naturally I was at Championship 1 League One 1, along with a couple hundred other souls who forgot to read the memo.
Before I start, it’s a momentous occasion because….
AFC WIMBLEDON : FOOTBALL MANAGER CUP – JOINT WINNERS 2025/26
Yes, there was a trophy with it, and while I couldn’t be bothered hanging around afterwards, it proves that this club is geared towards winning silverware.
As somebody so wryly (?) put it last night, we literally have one hand on the trophy.
This of course is pre-season, so while this is a proper SW19 report, it’s as thin as your typical pre-season programme.
You go to these sort of games primarily to get out of the house, or you just fancy watching a game with zero expectation.
To be fair, those who went to Wealdstone’s ground saw quite a decent display from us.
While you can always overplay what is after all solely about fitness (copyright T Brown), you didn’t walk away thinking we’re already in trouble.
There’s been some PSFs in the past where we’ve played like complete turd and we’ve tried to pass it off as being ring rusty. Except when the season starts, it wasn’t just us going at half-pelt.
We equipped ourselves well against what I think was a strong-enough Watford side.
What helps is that this isn’t a new squad at all. Granted, there’s one or two additions, but not widescale squad overhauls that take up until October to click.
Players kind-of know where each other are, there’s some resemblance of a game plan, and in a way we might have picked up where we left off.
As a very quick aside – it was boiling but you realise just how fit pro-footballers are when they play in that weather for 90 minutes and don’t look like they’re going to die afterwards.
There was no Joe Lewis, for some reason, but whoever was at the back seemed to cope well enough.
Nathan Bishop was in goal for the whole game, perhaps a sign already that he’ll be our first choice.
And to be fair, you didn’t have that nervous feeling of him being inbetween the sticks. And at least he didn’t do what the Plymouth trialist keeper did…
Also, don’t know how relevant this is, but Bishop does have a loud voice. Not as loud as Bayzo’s, but then an industrial diesel generator isn’t as noisy as him.
The game? Well, for what it’s worth – we defended well. Bishop made a good save in first half injury time.
Kelly had a penalty, and it was a shit one to the point you could see where it was going to go. To be fair, he was sharp enough on the rebound.
I think we could have done without the “Dons are going up, ole ole” chant afterwards though.
We changed our defence, to the point where Ogundere was the grizzled veteran at the back. He must have felt like an 18 year old having to look after a bunch of pre-teens.
Our youngsters did all right, for the most part, although their equaliser was a bit shit to concede.
And that really was that. Little drama, which isn’t a bad thing, and at least you can go away afterwards and not completely shit yourself knowing we’ve got to face Luton soon.
We definitely need another striker, and maybe just some competition in one or two areas,
But that’s where I think the loans will come in, and Premier League/Championship managers are starting to decide who goes where.
For 25/26 I don’t really care if we have a decent goalscorer who isn’t ours, this upcoming campaign is one for consolidation.
Although we’ll need to prepare ourselves for any semi-decent striker to leave in January. We don’t need another Piggy.
Anyway, it’s my pre-season too, so excuse some of what is to follow…
Plus points: We didn’t lose. Good workout. Bishop looking OK in goal. Squad looking more cohesive than previous close seasons.
Minus points: We didn’t win. Their goal. Too bloody hot.
The referee’s a…: He didn’t do anything wrong, but if he did – even your editor would almost be hard pushed to slag off an official in a PSF.
I said “almost”.
Them: They had a few first teamers missing, but from my trips to Vicarage Road last season for the day job, they were the ones who seemed to come off the bench.
You have no idea how horrible it was to type Chakvetadze, for example.
They’re under their 18th manager in about 18 months, or something, and I guess they’re adapting to new styles of play.
No doubt they’ll finish twelfth this upcoming campaign and get through another three head coaches.
I guess their place was unavailable, although it’s much more likely this game would be at PL if we weren’t doing our own remedials.
For Watford home games, they come out to Z Cars (no, I don’t know why), and end the game with that weird Elton John/Britney Spears thing they both did a few years ago, so they did likewise yesterday.
No “Your Song” that they also play. Just as well though, it might have sent the crowd into a summer snooze.
Their fans did take the game a little bit seriously on occasions, even giving us a “We forgot that you were here” for a friendly…
Point to ponder: How much of an idiot is Foyo?
We’ll have to see if he gets any sort of ban for his betting charge, although if it’s 252 times we might not see him again in an AFCW shirt if he’s found guilty.
Ivan Toney got eight months for similar, although I think he was made an example of, and I’m sure there’s other similar lengths dished out.
Foyo was named as a sub yesterday but didn’t get on (was he even there?), and the club is wisely not drawing suspicion to him.
Granted, it had to mention it on the OS, but it was hidden away.
But I call him an idiot because while I appreciate gambling addiction is a problem for some footballers – it’s not like pro footballers aren’t told about it.
I believe there’s representatives from various authorities warning them about the consequences, and it’s really nobody else’s fault but theirs if they get caught.
Gambling bans affect just about everyone formally involved in football, even down to those who hand out bibs during games.
Now, some will point out the EFL’s chief sponsor is Sky Bet, and there’s a multitude of gambling companies involved with football.
I don’t think that makes much difference, really. I understand bookies are very sharp about who puts bets on and where, and even if you banned every gambling outlet in the UK – there’s plenty of Far East companies that footballers will always seek out.
And it’s up to pro footballers to resist that temptation. Just as it is for them to avoid alcohol, or drugs, or crypto scams.
I don’t believe in banning gambling ads, or alcohol, or whatever, just because a few footballers can’t handle it.
As for Foyo, he does give us a headache if he gets found guilty. Would we have to fire him? If so, that would save on wages, and we’ll have to go into the free agent route.
He might be innocent, of course…
Point to ponder: 1) It was too bloody hot. 2) £15 was a bit steep for a PSF, though I saw Wealdstone charge £20. 3) You just know our FAC 1st round game will be at Grovesnor Vale. And it will be immensely shit. 4) A very dodgy sticker that I really can’t show on here, featuring somebody from York City…
Anything else? The John Green-led £1.1m in this week got many excited, although I don’t think it fundamentally changes our, er, fundamental problem.
Of course, we’re not a club that accepts foreign consortia putting in money with a figurehead leading it.
Just as we never have a sugar daddy putting in money we otherwise don’t have for transfers, unless it’s Mike Richardson…
I suspect Green was asked to put in the money because we need a cash injection PDQ, and presumably he doesn’t have enough money of his own.
You do wonder whether the balance sheets are looking pretty nasty, and whether the money the US consortium has given is to plug some nasty looking gaps.
After all, the money is to pay down debts and put money towards (presumably) keeping the lights on at PL.
There are some questions, like who is in this US consortium. Personally, I’d piss myself laughing if it was somebody related to Donald Trump.
You would hear some heads explode from the other side of the Atlantic ocean.
Is this going to be once-off or does it have to be £1.1m yearly? Especially as we will be plugging debt as much as paying it off.
What does it mean for future share issues, votes on selling down to 50+1? It’s the first time in the AFCW era that an external consortium has come in putting over a million, and it might end up softening some attitudes over that.
As said at the beginning of this bit, our fundamental problem still remains, and I think this is the very first steps of trying to deal with that.
We can make life a bit easier for ourselves, of course, and the club getting real over the food trucks is a step forward.
AFCW only getting £1 (or less) for every £10 of food sold was a fucking awful deal for the club, and at least we’ve finally twigged we have to charge actual market rates now.
It might have taken somebody as ruthless as Aramark to point this out, and regardless of how you think we should get money in – we need this kind of thing in our favour.
Whether we really do have a number of trucks ready to come in I don’t know, although they always seem very popular.
One particular vendor – oh, OK, it’s MyPie – took to social media earlier this week throwing a bit of a strop about it.
Now, I know there’s a fair number of our fans who love to blow smoke up their proverbial pie-hole (get it?) but popular or not – they’re not indispensable.
While I’m not the world’s biggest pie eater, I have had some nice ones inside football stadia from time to time.
MyPie isn’t one of them. The one time I tried them I was quite underwhelmed, certainly not matching up to the hype, and I file them alongside the Khosla samosas and Fat Boys in the “John Bishop” category.
Namely, somebody or something that is very popular but you can’t really fathom why.
Other vendors are available, and MyPie need to realise that if they want continued custom. As do all the others.
AFCW needs to start looking after itself a bit more, and we do seem to have more of a grasp on the commercial side of things these days.
Of course, Satan help the club if MyPie do one, and their replacement is even 0.000001% not as good…
So, was it worth it? It’s pre-season.
In a nutshell: Good to be back, I guess.