Nice to be back doing this, I don’t think.
Apologies for not updating this time last week like I planned to – a mixture of unexpected things to do coupled with some weird head cold that wiped me out did for me.
Unfortunately, I’m back compos mentis again and fully able to take in the latest shit show that is our club right now.
November is a shitty month, isn’t it? The nights are drawing in, it doesn’t have the charm (even if superficial) of the buildup to Xmas, and we’re only a week into it already.
And we’ve got another loss to deal with.
This time, it’s the FA Cup, where we’ve absolutely stank of shit the last few years, and we carried on that tradition yesterday at Crewe.
At least somebody other than Stockley scored, although it was Yiadom.
I can’t really bring myself to look at the highlights (sic), or indeed read anything up on the game itself, because I know what it would be like.
What’s perhaps worse is that people kind-of expected it. Less than 400 travelling away fans for a fixture that isn’t the worst place up north to get up to, and the supporters coach getting cancelled beforehand too.
Although perhaps supporter’s coach would be a more accurate bit of grammar.
Make no mistake, we’re in a lot of trouble right now. Mentally, we just can’t seem to up our game at all.
I know we’ve got injuries in key positions (Sweeney, Browne), and chronic losses of form in others (Johnson, Smith), but many of our fans are also aiming their ire at JJ.
What is he doing to remedy this slump?
Four wins in 30 games now, isn’t it? I know there’s mitigating circumstances at the moment, and having a paper-thin squad at the best of times doesn’t help, but that’s the arse-end of the Ardley era stuff.
JJ losing Reddington to Everton and Terry Skiverton to a nasty health condition isn’t helping, although our best form of defence right now is attack.
And we don’t seem to do that either.
One has to sense the players don’t “feel it” either. For them, it’s got to be demoralising when there’s no obvious light at the end of the tunnel.
When somebody like Tilley returns from injury and it doesn’t jolt us into life, the players know that too.
When only Jayden Stockley is capable of finding the net, the players are definitely aware of that.
When it doesn’t matter if we go ahead in a game, because we’re not coming out of that with a point (not three) – the players are very mindful of that too.
So, now what? Unfortunately, losing yesterday wasn’t the worst news to hear.
After the game, the rumour mill suggested that Dr Omar Mir, the guy funding the consortium had pulled out.
First things first – it’s a rumour at this stage. Nobody official has said it’s true, at this time of writing, and as far as we know the planned EGM this Tuesday is still going ahead.
The Dons Trust is sending out comms this morning, but it’s for the upcoming elections that may or may not be a bunfight.
Or, more likely, something that gets ignored by about 80% of supporters.
The blurb has apparently said it’s going to be a “pivotal” year, with it being “exciting”, so perhaps they know something different?
Then again, it is the Dons Trust. They’ve probably only just realised we lost to Plymouth in the very last minute.
One of the Bertrand Boys, Hugh Rosen (an individual who seems to be getting a lot of unprompted good comments) was in the away end yesterday.
If Mir has pulled out, he wouldn’t have done it after the game started. So Rosen would have known beforehand if anything was awry.
Maybe he put a phone call into Dr Omar after the game? Especially if it’s true our fans were chanting his name…
Second things second – why would he have pulled out? There’s some gossip that some of the scrutiny over where the money has come from has spooked him.
A few of our fans can be, well, over-focused on anything like that, and that particular section of support can be much more a hindrance than a help.
I’m more inclined to think if there has been a withdrawal, it’s because stocks in AI have plunged and there’s less willingness to put the money quoted into something like us.
Let’s assume the worst has happened and our big investor has pulled out. Firstly, it’ll be a massive kick in the teeth.
At a time when we’re clinging onto any sort of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel would have been a train coming in the other direction.
People generally have treated the current shit as a kind-of limbo, but knowing something good and exciting is on the way, but it’s possibly been taken away from us.
What’s that going to do with the mood? Or motivation?
Secondly, it’s important to remember that it’s an investor pulling out and not the people like Bertrand, Rosen and the others.
They sound keen to come into us anyway (why would Rosen in particular go to a small stand in Cheshire yesterday if not?).
One would hope this would be a kick in the teeth for them too, if correct, although in their case they’re able to do something about it.
If it’s true they were going to put some of their own money in (before Dr Omar said he’d fund it all), they obviously have something spare.
Is it the £87m headline figure though? Doubt it, and I expect we’ll get a much lower figure out of it.
Enough to keep the lights on and make us a bit more competitive. But it’ll be a massive comedown if it’s nearer £8.7m over five years.
If they decide to pull out, then we’re in trouble. And we’ll have to go back to the others we were negotiating with.
Which would be a bit of a humiliation in itself, but what will make it worse is the lack of time we now have.
Personally, and as said many times on SW19, I’m lukewarm towards fan ownership at the best of times, but another investor is going to want more anyway – and will have us over a barrel.
The end point here is administration, which we should avoid if at all possible because that’s going to cause un-necessary grief.
By that stage, everything is out of our collective control. Administrators don’t care if “we own our own club”, because they’ll want whoever comes in with the most money.
And if that’s a partnership of Sam Hammam and Peter Wankelmann, you’d better bend over and smile while taking it.
There is a part of me that wouldn’t be upset if that happens, because a number of people around AFCW would deserve it.
Some people even now value “access” over AFCW being a functional professional football club, and them losing that would give a bit of satisfaction.
I don’t particularly want administration, but it would ironically give us the clean break we so desperately need.
And no, I don’t believe the club would disappear either. Though I can imagine a few trying to start AFC AFC Wimbledon, and proclaim themselves the “true” Dons.
We’ll have to wait and see if there really is going to be something you hoped wouldn’t happen, and this is going to be an uncomfortable few days until some confirmation one way or t’other.
No news may be good news here, and we can hope that there was some kind of misunderstanding (perhaps Mir will still invest but not put so much in?).
But it’s something we can do without right now, and the mood isn’t great as it is.
I’m starting to wish I’d never come back from eastern Europe a couple of weeks ago (though I managed to miss this by 24 hours).
As the song “November Rain” said though, nothing lasts forever. Even if right now it doesn’t feel like it…