That sounds like something you now have to access via a VPN these days…
So, NCB 2 NUM 0, and all is well with the Womble world this sunny late-August morning. Very well, in fact.
Be honest – how many of you would have even hoped for beating Reading and Barnsley in the same week, and getting kicked right in the knackers against Cardiff.
Well, we have. And while there are bits of games where we definitely look like we could do with the step up – for the most part, we’ve more than held our own.
Indeed, yesterday is a case in point. True, it could have been a 2-0 loss, or a 3-3 draw, or the way it was going it could have been 5-0 to us.
Or 5-5. Or even 0-0.
But we won 2-0 and it wasn’t even a smash and grab. This against another side a bit bigger, a bit stronger and with a bit more nous.
If I was to give the exact moment we won (or weren’t going to lose) the game, it was Bishop’s save of the season thus far.
You’ll have to go some to surpass it, but go on the OS and look at the highlights of it. Then watch it again. And again.
We must be David McGoldrick’s nightmare right now, what with the playoff semi-final first leg as well.
The crowd reaction (including that obscenely catchy chant of his) said its own story. I won’t go so far as to say he’s better than Goodman already, but he’s had a better start than last season’s number one.
It was the kick up the arse we needed, and we returned the favour through Matty Stevens.
I’m still not quite sure what happened, although it’s the sort of goal we’ve conceded in the past as well.
Not that we care, nor Stevens himself. You could see his confidence skyrocketing, and it’s no hyperbole to suggest he could have had a hat-trick.
It was a bit of a strange first half though. A mixture of deserving a second goal yet some desperate defending as well.
To be fair, the second half didn’t exactly get the juices flowing from the off. It was more of the same, really, and if Barnsley had equalised you wouldn’t have been too surprised.
Which is why Hackford’s goal – and our second – was as unexpected as it was welcomed.
Seriously, a bit of pace off the bench and they struggled with it. I guess that’s JJ’s intention, putting on a second set of strikers to not only change things but rotate them too.
I’m not going to say that when they hit the post (or bar) and it somehow bounced out I knew we were going to win, because I didn’t.
But they definitely lost their edge after that. Hell, we could have netted a third ourselves, and wasn’t Omar’s shot off the post a close one?
You got a sense that we’d win in injury time when it didn’t feel like we’d let a goal in. If nothing else, we’ve learned something since Tuesday.
I wonder how many people are now quietly denying they wanted JJ out after his first season this morning?
He’s playing it well so far, although of course the proof comes when we lose a couple of games in a row.
But as said on SW19 a fair bit recently – maybe he’s the League One manager we need?
He’s right in his post-game interview about needing to rest and rotate players for Tuesday. I’d like us to win that and perhaps get another Newcastle, but I’m expecting a loss.
Though perhaps I shouldn’t be.
Plus points: We won. Clean sheet. Stevens netting again. Massive save from Bishop. Feeling that we’ve beaten a good team.
Minus points: Could have scored more.
The referee’s a…: Can’t say too much bad about him, even though he did manage to miss Stevens getting manhandled. And a couple of their offsides.
Them: Another L1 side that probably have the edge (certainly in budget) but are certainly not unbeatable.
As said above, I reckon David “Don’t call me Eddie” McGoldrick must really hate us. Ditto Tennai Watson, who left us to go to Frenzyville.
He knows the score. He’s not that stupid.
I don’t know if it’s my memory playing tricks, but I thought before yesterday that they had played us at Plough Lane (v2) before.
They haven’t. They played us at KM and won 4-1, in the season before Covid reared its ugly head.
Perhaps that’s why 1200 of them went down to t’smoke and returned quite unhappy. And not just for the price of a pint…
Point to ponder: Is this an old skool Wimbledon side?
Quite a few people were saying that last night, and while the whole Crazy Gang thing gets overblown (or just outright distorted) – there’s lots to like about this squad.
Reading their forum, Barnsley fans were taking their (flat) caps off to our organisation, and you always love reading that.
Considering that our success/failure this season depends on being greater than the sum of our parts, it’s a credit to all involved.
You could be forgiven for thinking what happens if and when we get sussed out. And in some games that will happen.
Do we have enough to cope with that? JJ has always been one for having strength in depth, and we might need to see that.
He’s definitely making subs a lot earlier in games now, and I don’t believe it’s because he’s suddenly learnt how to do so.
But he must be pleased with the start we’ve made, as we all are.
Can we keep it up and achieve what nobody thought possible before Luton? I don’t know, but it’ll be fun to find out…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) Being approached by one of those vloggers pre-game, who was a bit taken aback when I asked not to be filmed. It doesn’t hurt to ask permission beforehand. 2) Why do we announce MOTM five minutes before the end?
Anything else? Yesterday morning saw the startling news that Coventry had purchased their own stadium from Mike Ashley and co.
Obviously it must have worked, because they then stuffed QPR 7-1.
It was always a bit of funny business, them leaving Highfield Road for somewhere they hadn’t actually properly owned, and there must have times when they were at Northampton where AFC Coventry was on the horizon.
Those of us who went to their game at St Andrews the last time in L1 will know how wrong it felt them being there, and how it reminded everyone of 1991-2002.
So, what’s this got to do with AFCW? Quite a bit, actually.
Leaving aside their exile was almost uncannily similar to WFC at Selhurst, albeit with a much happier ending for CCFC, it’s a bit of a warning for us or indeed any club.
Your ground is your most valuable asset. I’d even go so far as to say it’s more important than who owns you.
A club can survive a crap owner, but it’s much harder to deal with having your ground (almost literally) taken from under you.
Not just the “spiritual” side of things, which any AFCW fan shouldn’t need telling about, but your gaff is where you make your money.
It’s the beer you sell, the hospitality you rent out, what sponsors advertise or go further and buy naming rights, that kind of thing.
Look at the food stalls and the queues for beer for our games. You have to maximise that, because that’s one of your main sources of income.
The kerfuffle about raising the prices for the food stalls was notable in the summer, and we clearly priced the pitches too low previously.
Yesterday, there was some complaints about the cost of food, and some people are still bitchy about losing MyPie.
But we’re able to make that decision (along with Aramark) in how much to charge for pitches. At least some of it goes back to AFCW.
Imagine being in the situation where we’re buying all that food and drink, and we hardly see a penny because we failed to nail down who gets that money.
I think Coventry couldn’t make any money from their club shop in the CBS Arena, and that’s a situation AFCW must avoid at all costs.
This just hardens my attitude about ownership – I don’t care about whether we’re “fan-owned” or not. Ultimately I don’t think that side of things matters quite as much as some think.
I do care about who owns Plough Lane though, and any further potential sales in equity must ensure it’s still in “our” hands.
Things might move quickly, in the next couple of years or so, and losing proper control over our gaff could happen a bit too easily if we’re not careful.
Whether a Chelski style Pitch Owners is viable I don’t know, but there has to be a move towards securing the ground and all the asset sweating.
Within the next five years we will have to seriously look at adding capacity. It might come with enabling development.
That will likely need to come with some equity sales, perhaps big ones, and we could be shafted big time over it if we’re not prepared.
We do tend to do things at AFCW almost before it’s too late, so I’d want us to be more pro-active over this and protect ourselves.
No fan of ours of a certain age should need reminding of this. But for those who do, maybe a quick chat with a passing Coventry fan should focus minds…
So, was it worth it? Nah, it ruined our weekend winning 2-0.
In a nutshell: League One is fun.