GUESTBOOK

NOTE: Don't try any funny stuff like trolling, flloding and other such internet-related abuse. You still don't want to find out why. What I do find odd is both Rob's and Ronan's almost evangelical zeal to find something "wrong" in what is going on at our club. I suppose I can understand it given the years of lies and deceit that characterised the old club. Martin D - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:49:34 Is mis-organisation one of the Little Missus books? ;o) Seriously, if you're referring to that bloke who set-upon Kris at the SGM, he just turned up to deliberately cause trouble. Have we seen any more of him? Martin D Perhaps people are just being honest when they say "things haven't been chased up". There is only a finite amount of time you know. - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:47:21 Rob, you do make me laugh. In one sentence you say the DT/AFCW has a problem with letting people know what is going on and in the next you say you don't go to meetings anymore. Perhaps the two are in some way related in your personal experience? Martin D Surprised you haven't been disowned yet TBH :) - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:43:38 Rather than tracing through the entire row below (which for once I hardly got involved in), it seems like the DT (and AFCW) seem to have a problem with announcing what's been done and what hasn't. For example, we don't know if what Dr Wu (for it was he) said about Koppout was followed up. It might have been, and was dismissed. Problem is, the ordinary punter doesn't stand much of a chance finding a lot of the more queriable stuff, and here is where distrust is starting to set in. At every DT meet (which I am going to less and less of them, TBH) at least one person asks what happened to an idea they approached them about, and the answer is the same two responses : "Can you send it again?" and "we're looking into it". Whether this is just innocent mis-organisation or something more sinister I wouldn't like to speculate, but it DOES cause more problems than necessary. As for the share issue, I think having it backed by somebody like Erik (probably the person outside WISA who I trust and genuinely respect most to run our affairs) helps enormously. But then, I doubt if Ronan is alone in his beliefs about the whole thing, and ignoring/dismissing/patronising them is suicidal. REPD And yes, Sunlover is my mum (even though she has denied being my mum on at least one occasion) - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:27:50 As an aside, do you remember that tall medical student (sorry, but I've forgotten his name) who said he had spoke to Koppel and been offered cash to help for AFCW? That came out of a meeting and was debated at length. Did anything come of that? Martin D I would rather deal with stuff that actually exists - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:10:28 As for experience of these things, do you really have experience of a small scale share issue in a sports club like this, because I don't (and have only met a few people who have - Jon East being one of them) Martin D Democracy in action. There was a clear preference from the survey for an investment with a return, and that's what we've given people - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:07:49 Ronan, I'm not saying you're lying. I don't doubt someone suggested it as you said in a meeting. I just have serious doubts that they/we could have raised £1m that way in return for not giving them any influence. I guess where we crucially differ is your opinion that we have "sold half the club". I reckon that we haven't, except in theory. All the power to do anything within the club remains in the same place it was last summer - in the hands of the democratically elected DT board. Why are you so hung up on "ownership" on paper when it is this that really counts? (and will stop another Noades/Hammam/Koppel IMO) Martin D Genuinely interested in your opinion. Sorry if I come across as bombastic, it's just my way - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 16:03:53 On a side issue, given your 'seriously doubt' and 'highly dubious' comments - I'd much prefer if you just called me a bald faced liar if that's what you are trying to say, rather than insinuate. Ronan - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 15:44:57 You may have missed the smiley face in my last post. I believe the decision regarding selling half the club, and/or whether to issue shares or bonds should have gone to the owners of the club, not people who pledged money. As for Kingsmeadow, as I have continually stated, I was in favour of purchasing it from the beginning. Alternatives? I've covered some here already - hell, that option re: freeholds could still be used, and even if the people involved want something back, I would suspect it would be a lower rate of interest than the khoslas. As for the future, I believe a rights issue will be severely restricted (and complicated) as a result of the current share issue. It is just my feeling (and experience) on issues like this that a bond OR loan approach now, with a share issue in the future would have had better long term benefits, but still achieved the short term requirements. Nobody is questionning the success of the share issue, I'm questionning if selling 50% of the club now was wise (and if it's something the dt board should have decided). And no, I don't want to be proved right in the future. Do you feel that it was necessary to sell a percentage of the football team, given that the official explanation that this was key to the success, did not figure in any of the marketing? Ronan - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 15:42:30 Cheers Barbara! Martin D At least someone in the Dunford household has some sense ;o) - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 15:40:14 I agree with Martin. We are fortunate to have a group of people with the expertise and inclination to take this through. When we get very rich we can have a share buy-back. I don't expect any return from my investment that is not what it is about sunlover morden - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 15:37:49 Mate, if you want to use the fact that I didn't "hear about this" (highly dubious IMHO) offer as a rod to beat me with, then fair enough. Your posts seem to imply that not enough research or work was done in coming to the conclusions that the FWG came to. I don't expect that was your intention, but that's how it comes across. I would point to you the amazing (and predicted) success of the recent share issue as to how much careful planning and research went into all the realistically available options. I didn't much like the conclusions of the Stadium Working Group, but I accepted them as the product of their expert research. Your bond suggestion is futile and unnecessarily complicated. Whenever we issue bonds they would still be bad for the club in the long-term. And of course they would have raised more money because they would have been a much better "investment", for us of course and not the club. As for using the responses from the pledges as a guide to how best to raise the money and to how much we could raise, are you seriously suggesting that was the "wrong" thing to do? Surely the best way to find out these things is to ask the people who have thoughfully and kindly pledged money to help. Do you think asking people without any money would have helped us do this? Maybe you think we should have concentrated on non-football fans? If you want to buy a book, you go to a bookshop IYSWIM. The decision was also based on the financial survey we performed in January(?), and that was a totally open and (hopefully) random sample of our fans. I really don't see what this constant tummy-gazing attitude comes from with regard to the share issue. We would all love to return to Merton (well Wimbledon actually - ask the webmaster for his opinions of T&M and other parts of Merton) and may well have to have another major campaign or share issue in the future. But as things stand the easiest part of that would be the financials (i.e. the NIMBYs and politics would the hardest part as you well know), and we would have to raise TEN times what we have done *just* to buy a plot of land like Plough Lane. In short, it is simply not realistic given our fanbase at the moment. Yes, things can always be better planned, timed and marketed, but I would like to think the share issue has been a major success, largely because of the large amount of hard work (and professional guidance received) people like Erik and other members of the FWG, including me, and AFCW/DT boards put in over the winter and spring. Finally a few simple questions, do you not think what we have done was the right thing to do, and, if not, what was the realistic alternative? Do you think we should have bought Kingsmeadow or not? Martin D You don't get something for nothing in this life - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 15:22:04 Well, that was my understanding. however, the fact that you didn't hear about it is a case in point - I.e. there was a possibility for it - but it doesn't seem to have been chased up. I could be catty and say 'if I had known that was going to happen, I would have noted the guys name and number - but I incorrectly assumed the DT would take note' - but I won't. ;-) As for the bond/loan/share issue argument - the converse of all those arguments is true - I.e. bonds/loans now, and a share issue later on, when the club is more stable, higher in the leagues etc - attracting more investors. I do honestly believe the idea of doing bonds/loans ('you will get your money back') would raise more money than shares ('very unlikely to ever get your money back') in the present situation. Of course, the decision was based on those canvassed as part of the pledge process, rather than the owners of the club - so only those promising money were involved. I believe that while we have a solution, it may have been slightly short-sighted, putting the club in a difficult position when it comes to raising the money to return to merton, or, as it was originally stated, raising the £1m to bring the ground up to league standard (which fortunately we don't have to do now). Ronan - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 14:43:04 Ronan, I must have missed the meeting but I seriously doubt one bloke would really have given us that sort of cash, however he could raise it, and expect nothing back. And surely that is exactly the sort of situation (being beholden to one rich person) we really want to avoid being in again? Rob, the problem with bonds are two-fold. Firstly, they are basically loans paid back after a certain period (say 5 or 10 years) with interest due to the holders over that period. Therefore, issuing them cripples the club with a massive debt to pay back in full some year in the future. Secondly, because they are essentially debts, other lenders (like banks etc.) would think twice about lending us money at realistic rates. Issuing shares prevent the first problem and vastly decrease the importance of the second. In short, shares are "bad" for us, but good for the club. Bonds the opposite. Martin D - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 14:28:12 MD/Ronan - AFAIC a share issue in itself is probably the best way to fund what AFCW is trying to do. Unlike bonds where a dividend has to be returned at some point (I think - open to correction here) with shares they can be kept for as long as, thus saving on money being returned (which AFCW may well need later on). REPD Been trying to get hold of the Celtic ticket office all this morning. "Trying" being the operative word - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 12:51:20 MD - shame, you must have missed the public meeting at Ks before a game where one guy offered to do it (can't remember which game/meeting - but it was an afc meeting as opposed to a dt one). Ronan - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 12:49:24 So people were going to basically give the club £1.2m from selling the freeholds on retail property and NOT expect anything back (like shares)? News to me and I'm sorry, I don't believe you. Martin D - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 12:02:02 MD - that's the point. We voted to buy Ks, not sell half the club. As for other options, for example, a number of people offered to sell the freehold on various properties they owned, which I understand would have raised 1.2m alone. These people contacted the DT/AFCW to discuss this (it was even raised at one public meeting) - but I udnerstand they were not contacted. I don't believe DT members should be involved in votes on what colour toilet paper to buy, but issues such as selling the club are something they should have involvement in. AND, despite the prospectus notes about calling a company EGM in such a situation, it still doesn't result in a vote by DT members - as the DT board are not obliged to canvass the opinion, as they directly control the 75% of votes. We didn't elect the DT board to run (or sell a club), we elected them to try and get a shareholding in WFC amongst other things. As for predictions of what would have happened had bonds or loans been the decision made by the owners of the club (as opposed to the board), it's impossible to say. But the fact that the option of just selling shares in the stadium company was dismissed out of hand (as raised at one meeting at KM) again, makes me uneasy. I understood from the reasons given that night that the driving factor was that shareholders would own part of the club, and it was an easier 'sell' - however, the whole marketing of the share issue has been based around the stadium. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs behind the decisions, but I see a disjointed effort which has resulted in us selling off half of the club. Of course, we do now have a stadium (cool), and I'm looking forward to buying our next one in Merton. Ronan - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 11:17:26 Ronan, you know me. You know you are not allowed to have an opinion different to mine! ;o) Plus I've been right so far, haven't I? As for other options that "were not followed up", what options do you refer to and followed up by whom? I must have missed someone suggesting them or doing the research. As for the DT board, we did elect them to make such decisions and your gripe is more with the imperfect practice of democracy rather than with the DT or the decisions themselves IMO. We simply cannot have so many practical decisions decided by a full member vote all the time. The membership gave a clear mandate to buy the stadium back in March subject to the suitable financial and legal safeguards, which is exactly what has happened - hence the vast majority of the membership are "over the moon." I presume you would have liked a membership vote on whether to issue shares or not, the structure of such an issue and perhaps even the price and details? We had an (excellent TBH) open meeting at KM to discuss all this stuff and the concensus opinion was very strong. Where would we have been if the membership had voted against a share issue in favour of donations or bonds due to some well-meaning and charismatic speakers, and prevented the club from raising the necessary cash to fulfil the obligations the membership has previously made of it (ie. the ground purchase)? Martin D Hopefully talking sense - Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 11:02:32 Must say that I'm halfway between Martin and Ronan on this one - I believe that this was probably the only way to get the cash quickly enough but a little uneasy about long-term share ownership and the DT decision making process. One point on the ownership thou'; I would expect that at least 90% of the shares that have been bought have been bought by existing DT members (such as myself) - so I really don't think that the fans "ownership" has been diluted much yet. I would guess that non-AFCW fans would have a bigger say thru' DT membership (and there were a lot last year at least) than any shares purchased. I am personally very happy that I have an additional route (using small shareholder rights) to making things happen rather than just my vote as part of the DT that may not get the chance to be used very often. Chalfont Don On the Fence ... - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 22:53:53 MD - the last thing I want is to be proved right in 10-20 years time. Glad to see you think you are entitled to your own opinion, am I correct in thinking I'm allowed one as well? IMO, selling off 50% of the club within one year of setting it up is questionable, especially given the methods used to determine if it was what people wanted, and the options to fund the ground that were not followed up on. I'm very happy we've bought Ks, I'm very happy we've raised the minimum subscription, I'm just unhappy we've had to sell half our club in the process (note I'm saying 'club' here - not 'stadium company'). Perhaps there was no alternative, but knowing some options were not investigated makes me feel uneasy. Also knowing that it the DT board who make decisions on major issues, not the DT membership isn't an ideal position either. Ronan - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 17:13:26 MD -looks like you're the one with the humour by-pass ATM. You obviously would have flipped at the original idea of the front page, showing the obviously deceased 1919 squad. As for Ronan's comments, it's for him to decide whether he has problems with the share issue, but I'm certainly not going to question him on it. And I CERTAINLY won't suggest he's only being "negative" just to be different and to say "told you so". If anyone with a differing opinion is going to be insulted in such a way, there is no future for AFCW whatsoever. We may as well go back to Franchise, at least they were openly hostile to opposing views. REPD You are now entering SW19 Country. Please dismount from your high horse - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 15:12:52 If you think showing the late Sir Edward of Reynolds as our new signing is a joke, then I have to question your sense of humour I'm afraid. I don't know how that one escaped the SW18 QA department (what QA department I hear you cry?) Martin D What's next? Stanley Reed revealed as new chairman? - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 14:39:14 Ronan, when you referred to selling off 50% of the club, I thought it was worth mentioning that we have only made a maximum of 25% of the votes (i.e. the power to do anything) available. I really don't understand both yours and Rob's continued negativity and little comments here and there about the share issue. It was the ONLY way to raise this money IMO. I guess you want to be different and look clever if things go wrong in 10-20 years time. Martin D Rob, surely even you don't watch porn movies for their plots? - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 14:36:25 I'll keep out of the DT ownership thing, all I'll say is that as soon as a non-AFCW fan buys any piece of the club, it ceases to be fan-owned. As for Eddie Reynolds, I know he's dead. Any thought that possibly that was the joke? REPD Not sure if MD watches porn films simply to pick holes in the plot - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 13:04:55 From the prospectus, "Assuming full subscription under the offer, The Dons Trust will hold 5m Ordinary Shares representing 50 per cent. of the economic value of the company, and 75 per cent. of the voting rights of the company" Pedant - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 12:11:27 Martin D - prospectus says 50% shares up for sale IIRC, but due to the voting rights (3 for 1), the DT has 75% voting. Could be wrong, but that's how i read it, and that's how Erik explained it at the WISA meet. Ronan - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 12:02:38 Ronan, or even 25% (of which 8.75% has actually been bought). As for the new front page graphic, Eddie Reynolds is DEAD! ;o) Martin D On a high horse - Monday, 21 July 2003 at 10:01:10 Couple of things : firstly, sorry about the spammers. Secondly, I think we can now safely assume that AFCW is not a fans owned club. It is a fans CONTROLLED club which is different. Not a bad thing IMO, it allows for a lot more flexibility while still retaining control by people who understand it best. As said too many times, don't rely on the fans as a permanent cash cow : they ain't, and soon we could be relying on major sugar-daddies for major projects. And we all know what happened last time we had one of those. Thirdly, I only apologise when I know I'm wrong. And I'm not on this score.... REPD Oh, and the Dorchester report is now up - Sunday, 20 July 2003 at 10:47:45 Martin D - I only think REPD should apologise if the DT are going to apologise for selling off 50% of the club. Ronan - Sunday, 20 July 2003 at 09:00:18 Wiz - I'm always upbeat :) Oh, and the first SW19 match report of the new campaign will be up either tonight or (more likely) tomorrow. REPD Can't believe that somebody actually spends 30 secs of their life plugging crap spam on here - Saturday, 19 July 2003 at 08:54:29 Apparently we have raised about 40k per day - what were the franchise losing per day? answer - their fans!! the Wiz having a good day - Saturday, 19 July 2003 at 00:53:21 to the laughingly named Loyal Don - the only fucking turncoats are those cunts at WFC who deserted their fans, if you look carefully you will see WFC sinking lower and lower and AFC W beginning their climb. If you are in administration how come your 'loyal' fans didn't raise funds to help?? what a fuckwit. The Wizard Oz - Saturday, 19 July 2003 at 00:51:58 Triple D - you are welcome to the pie. REPD - upbeat as ever. The Wizard of Oz AFC W Shareholder - Saturday, 19 July 2003 at 00:49:33 Three old men, aged 80, 85 and 90 respectively, were talking about the best thing that could happen to them at this point in their lives. The 80-year old said, "I'd like nothing better than a good pee.Now I just stand there, not much happens, and I have to go over and over again." The 85-year old said, "I'd like nothing more than a good bowel movement. I take every kind of laxative I can get my hands onand it's still a problem." The 90-year old man said. "Gentlemen, gentlemen,I don't know what you are complaining about every morning at 6AM, I have a prolific royal pee. Every morning at 7AM. I have a full solid bowel movement clearing me out for the rest of the day. But if I could have just one other thingat this point in my life, it would be to get out of bed before 9" Pocket Clown Circus of Shit - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 21:05:42 MD - I don't have a reputation to begin with, so don't try gloating REPD Really can't stop to talk. Back l8r - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 17:04:04 Whatever. I think we all know whose reputation has been bruised ;o) Martin D - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 17:02:58 MD - yes, I did write those. And until the full amount is raised, I will stick by them. Would write more but I'm on a 6pm deadline REPD With an even longer memory - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 17:00:21 A couple of Nuns were in a Elevator with a man wearing a raincoat.The man opened his raincoat and flashed them.One Nun turned very pale, clutched her chest and said "I think Im going to have a stroke" The other Nun said "A Stroke? , my God I'd never touch the thing. Pocket Clown The Circus Of Shit - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 16:37:00 Rob, did you not write the following on here recently? "major strategic rethinking (and a few bruised reputations) may well be in order" and "I hope AFCW have timed this correctly. I just fear they haven't..." Any chance of an apology and some recognition that it seems we knew what we were doing after all? Martin D With a long memory - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 16:23:41 DDD - yes, saw that. That will at least keep the goodwill around AFCW for a little while yet, until the next major fundraiser :) REPD Who did say the share issue would reach £1m so won't be eating his hat - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 13:34:02 Rob, by the time you read this you'll probably know that the share issue passed the £1m mark this morning. Personally I had thought the share issue would flop, but I'm bloody delighted to be proved wrong!!!!! Dondondon Eating my hat, loads of umble pie, etc, etc and enjoying it!! - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 13:24:38 CD - very briefly..... FFC 1 Celtic 2, Celtic did most of the running, went 2-0 up after about 20 mins. Fulham don't look special. Must be at least 6k Celtic there. Lots still outside after the first goal. Larsson and Rab Douglas look awesome. Celtic defence needs to wake up. Overall, very pleasant experience, and Celtic fans are a bit like us in a couple of ways :) REPD Knee dislocation? How dumb - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 13:13:13 Rob, the guy who scored the last penalty for them and ended up at the bottom of the pile celebrating the goal dislocated his knee !! He's in hospital today getting it checked out. Can't stop them gloating thou ... any chance of a match report ? Chalfont Don Sunny Stanmore - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 12:52:58 Chalfont - your office mates did OK last night... REPD London W1 - Friday, 18 July 2003 at 08:47:08 I know it's a long shot - but does anyone that's driving down to Dorset have 2 spaces in their car? Even if you're only going to have space in your car one way (going there or coming back - it doesn't matter), we'd be eternally grateful and do the other way by train/coach. We're willing to pay petrol money. PLEASE - WE'RE DESPERATE! If you can help us please contact me at ash_afcw@hotmail.com. ash - Thursday, 17 July 2003 at 19:18:23 'Here and there' nowhere more like. Selhurst at best. ha ha. Harry Work - Thursday, 17 July 2003 at 17:06:59 Loyal Don: What are you doing to save your team? Also, why have David Connoly, Neil Shippery, Jobi McAnuff, Damien Francis and Kelvin Davies NOT travelled to Finland with what remains of the squad? Couldn't afford the airfare or off to other clubs? GOING DOWN, GOING DOWN...... Florida Axe Murderer Dallas - Thursday, 17 July 2003 at 16:20:20 Ha,Ha,Ha, just heard the turncoats have now turned to collecting soft drink cans to raise revenue.Most of your fans are just a bunch of lager louts, so it will only be beers cans that you will be collecting. Get out of there and come back to the real team Loyal Don Supporter. Here and There - Thursday, 17 July 2003 at 16:10:47 CD - sadly, I won't have my camera with me but I'm sure your mates will be getting enough stick as it is :) REPD SM4 - Thursday, 17 July 2003 at 09:17:17 Rob, a team of 5 sad Scots from my office are apparantly representing Celtic in a fans penalty shoot-out at half-time during the Foolham game. Any chance you can take a picture or two of the action for me ? Failing that, a chant of "you fat bastard" to their goalie would be appreciated ! Chalfont Don Chuffin' Hot Chalfont - Wednesday, 16 July 2003 at 22:43:07 Brief match report for you from tonite : we lost 2-0, played quite well until they scored then it went a bit flat from us. Bit of gulf in class TBH, and we never really looked like scoring. Crowd of 1400 was probably to be expected, though all the familiar faces were spotted. Bar still shite service and over-priced, and the food isn't much better either. Oh, and to rub it in, I'm off to watch Foolham vs Celtic (up the Bhoys end) tomorrow... REPD Probably got a cold coming :( - Wednesday, 16 July 2003 at 22:06:52 Nice to see you positive and optimistic as always Rob. ;-) Jill - Wednesday, 16 July 2003 at 09:22:11 All - no Ks report tonight (whoever offers to write it) as I won't be in a position to upload it until Friday PM at the earliest. Normal service SHOULD be resumed for Dorchester, unless my car breaks down/gets involved in a pileup REPD And if the trains were like they were last night, forget me turning up - Wednesday, 16 July 2003 at 08:52:46 How come every time I visit this site a pop up appears telling me I've won something? I must be one seriously lucky fucker.... mac fuckin' hot today innit! - Monday, 14 July 2003 at 22:40:09 Good to see the guestbook back, REPD. I see the brown stuff was hitting the fan (or should that be the fans?!)over at w&ww on Friday re. the share issue... Re. your thought on the latest Franchise moves - I guess re-naming the stricken beast MKFC will help them promote it (giving them a clean start & a break from the mess Koppel left) and give us some sort of closure on the whole issue, though we will inevitably still hope they balls it up and it will all die horribly. I just hope Winkleman will be as good as his word ( - that'll be the day) and let us have the name, records, etc back though the phrase "fat chance" springs to mind. I can see problems legally, such as the players being contracted to "Wimbledon FC". These are indeed interesting times - and there I was hoping for a football-free summer... Boydongood SW20 - Monday, 14 July 2003 at 15:51:34 Can anyone tell me where I can get a list of forthcoming fixtures for AFC Wimbledon? I am coming back to the UK hopefully for start of season and need to get my fix of Footy. Plus is there a recommended drinking route on the way to the footy so I catch the full flavour of an AFC Wimbledon Trip? Flawed Used to a regular and now SOOOO out of touch... - Monday, 14 July 2003 at 11:37:36 News now updated SW19 Info Service Working on the spammers - Sunday, 13 July 2003 at 19:50:23 IMPORTANT NOTICE : This will be repeated later on, but I'm going to need (a) somebody to write up Newport away for SW19, and (b) a couple of people ready to do other pre-seasons for SW19 at short notice. If you can help me, go to Contact above. Merci. REPD London W1 still - Friday, 11 July 2003 at 12:41:18 Have some faith, cause we make this club what it is. And if we don't believe in the club and make it what it is, don't fucking complain when it (we) fail. Tudor driving sideways - Thursday, 10 July 2003 at 16:51:29 As I am on the other side of the world I can’t really comment on the promotion of the share issue but there does seem some credence to people’s concerns about the low-key nature of it. However I really do believe that we will reach the important £1m level quite comfortably. I don’t accept the notion that people having pledged £650k will somehow now give considerably less, I think it more than likely that they will give more. It is true that it is quite impossible for people subscribing their maximum of the minimum of £90 to enable us to reach our target (although every bit helps). And for every person who can’t/ won’t subscribe you can find many examples on w&ww of posters who have engaged family, friends and supporters of other clubs to make multiples of that £90. But we would need 11,112 subscriptions of £90 to make just first base – can’t be done. However because the Trust is proceeding with the issue to try to raise £3mil, not just £1m, I think they are aware of some big hitters who will certainly enable the first barrier to be reached – remember that £650k was pledged – that equates to 7,222 individuals @ £90, so clearly there were more significant pledges. I don’t believe that the Trust has taken us down this path with the intent of failing at the first hurdle, and I also believe that they would want the remaining balance of debt required to complete the purchase to be as small as possible. I don’t think you can underestimate the confidence they have shown by setting up the subscription and I believe they will be vindicated The Wizard Always looking on the bright side of life - Thursday, 10 July 2003 at 00:28:09 If you want to know how much it costs to advertise in the Times (par example), go to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,492,00.html - here's a bit of devil's advocate for you. Supposing AFCW had delayed the share launch until August. Would the additional interest shown by launching at a traditionally buoyant time of year cover the interest and then some? Other questions : was it TBWA's idea to have a telly ad or was it AFCW's? Only it's reckoned that radio advertising is a bit more effective anyway. I sincerely hope that the main bit of advertising is not done through a Sky Sports ad or two - IME the ads in Sky's coverage are used to answer calls of nature anyway :) One other thing - I don't really see so much plugging of AFCW itself, which if anything is its Unique Selling Point. Think about it : a club with 3000 fanbase, a wider range of merchandise than many pro clubs, interest from local and national media, support from ex players. It's there, but it doesn't quite seem to be exploited so much. Christ, any advertising agency jobs going anywhere? REPD Really ought to be in bed but can stay up easily to have a row... - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 23:17:52 British Gas was a huge promotion and totally different. Buying Kingsmeadow is down to us. It is our responsibility to make it succeed If everyone buys some share it will spread the financial load. sunlover Morden - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 21:50:13 The timing was rather forced on us TBH. Once we got the ground deal sorted we need the money ASAP. The longer we wait, the more interest we pay on our debt. As for "publicity" there do seem to be quite a few people around who think there should be full page adverts in the Sun - does anyone have any idea how much that would cost? It is ludicrous to compare our level of publicity with massive public subscriptions like British Gas etc. whose PR budget alone ran into tens of millions of pounds, whereas this is a tiny share issue in the general scale of these things. The point is you, I and DonDonDon know about it and we are the most important people WE as the club have to reach as we are the only people who can make this happen. As rightly noted, the Fans Stadium is a wonderful idea, but for various reason will not raise a large proportion of the millions we need from other clubs' fans. Martin D Concern is one thing; unnecessary criticism another. - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 16:13:05 Martin D - solutions: er, (1) get the timing right and (2) invest in some publicity? (2)can still be done. I just find it absolutely amazing that these weren't thought about before launching the share issue. Dondondon Stable door and horse to some extent, wouldn't you agree? And yes I am investing too, not because I agree with the KM purchase - which I don't - but because I want AFC to succeed, even if I don't agree 100% with everything that they or the DT do. - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 15:58:46 DonDonDon, thanks for the helpful post. Lots and lots of problems and criticisms. Care to offer any solutions? Martin D Putting my money where my mouth is - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 15:16:51 Quick note : Perfect Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Best quote from Bobby Gould. REPD London W1 - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 12:57:25 Yeah, and a shame I can't spell properly either :-) "theat htey" = that they Dondondon Wimbledon - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 10:32:39 REPD, looks like those porn site links are being posted up here again :-). I'll e-mail you at lunchtime - I can't access my non-work account until then. Dondondon Yeah, the point though about all those people who suceeded was theat htey did it properly - my point is that the timing is wrong and there is next to no publicity. If we want to succeed with the share offer we have to at the very least get these basics right. - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 10:30:58 "If we can sell Newcastle Brown to Japan, Bob Geldorf can have us running round Hyde Park, and if Wimbledon can make it to the First Division, there is surely NO achievement beyond our reach" The Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher May 22nd, 1986 - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 10:19:36 Form our own club? Buy our own ground? Raise a million quid? Nah, can't be done. Think I'll support Man U, their shareholders seem like a nice bunch. The Wizard of Oz This season my 40th of supporting the mighty Dons... - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 09:56:56 Wimbledon? Win the FA Cup? Nah, can't be done, think I'll stay in the Isthmian League. Stanley Read Heaven can wait - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 09:53:44 Walk on the moon? Me? Nah, can't be done, think I'll stay at home and watch Startrek. Neil Armstrong The moon is full of green cheese - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 09:52:14 The Americas? Nah, don't exist, can't be bothered getting in a boat and having a look. Think I'll stay at home. Christopher Columbus Flat Earth Society - Wednesday, 9 July 2003 at 09:51:02 Limbo - read the site and you'll find out most answers. Those you don't get you can probably guess yourself. REPD Writing articles - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 21:00:26 I've just started following the Dons and like your site but its really confusing - what are you subversive against and what would you rather the club be doing? limbo home - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 20:30:12 BTW, if DonDonDon is still here, couldn't drop me a line could you? You'll see why..... REPD Only us subversive types are privvy to this :) - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 16:53:23 DDD - at least I'm not the only cynical one :) Few things : as said before, we should have - if possible - waited until the new season started at least. In fact, this time next year would have been better. To raise a significant amount from a party (ie AFCW fans) who have gone beyond the call of duty this last 12 months anyway is a bit goose/golden egg scenario. I mentioned about consolidation, I would have prefered THAT instead of a major task like a share issue for the next 12 months - we still don't know what our crowds will REALLY be, whether revenue will drop etc. Hell, I might have been less hostile to said leasehold buyout if we'd waited. I don't subscribe to the "KM or bust" scenario, companies HAVE had ballsed up share options before and come out at the other end (lastminute.com anyone?). We will still find somewhere to play, even if we have to move out of Ks and share with somebody like Sutton. We still have too much for most teams to ignore. But as said before, major strategic rethinking (and a few bruised reputations) may well be in order. One final thing about the Fans Stadium thing : it could be a very ironic irony that it could fail for the same reason as Franchise to MK - it doesn't fit in with football "culture". Football isn't really "community", at least not in an AFCW line of thinking. It is very tribal if anything, and for that alone people may not be quite so enamoured by a "Fans Stadium" as you think. After all, would YOU buy shares in another club? Seriously (and not as a bailout a la York either)? I apologise for being ultra-negative and rebellious yet again, but I hope AFCW have timed this correctly. I just fear they haven't... REPD Supposed to be working - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 16:45:50 Haven’t been on here for a while, but glad to be back as it’s always a good place to express ‘subversive’ views. I’m still not won over by the ‘buying Kingsmeadow is a good thing’ faction. Quite honestly, I cannot see the share offer succeeding. Its initial driving force was the in-season pledges vox-pop, which showed that people were willing to stump up £650k . That is way off the minimum £1m needed to make this a ‘successful’ flotation, even allowing for additional people joining in (there inevitably will be some lost from the initial £650k pledges). Not only that, but the share issue is being launched out of the football season, with next to no advertising - a television ad that can only be viewed on the internet, no leaflet drops in houses or rail stations, no local newspaper advertisements, no link to the Fans Stadium website on the official website, no publicity at the Tennis, etc etc, and minimal media interest. This is probably going to be the most secretive public share offer ever! Launching it out of the football season has to be crazy – football fans are the natural market for this. And it is being launched when people’s thoughts are on how to pay for that summer holiday! I also think that the Fans Stadium idea doesn’t work – it disguises what the offer is really about – AFC – for which I think many people may well have been interested. Add in a measure of ‘donors fatigue’ – fans have been asked perhaps too many times to dip into their pockets (the donation facility remained on the season ticket application form this year, FFS). I know of some people who have been working hard behind the scenes for AFC who have said that they won’t be buying shares because they have given enough already. If I was a betting man I’d say the share issue will attract £400k tops. I hope I’m proved wrong – the result will probably be known about the same time as Franchise either go under or get rescued, and good news for them would only serve to rub our faces in it. Dondondon Wimbledon - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 14:57:33 MD - bit difficult ATM. I'll see what I can do. For the rest of you : I can trace these (not telling you how) REPD Londinium W1 - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 12:42:59 Any chance of removing Kasim's post below Rob? Martin D Good luck on Mastermind - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 10:16:15 Waiting for the SW19 report on Franchise getting liquidated are we? REPD Hoping things pick up soon - Tuesday, 8 July 2003 at 08:55:16 Front page, news and archive updated SW19 Information Service SM4 - Thursday, 3 July 2003 at 20:09:31 Good luck with the new season Tommy - I shall make every effort to catch a Bankies game the next time I'm oop North of the border ... Chalfont Don Sunny Chalfont - Wednesday, 2 July 2003 at 20:55:25 Best wishes from your mates North of the Border in Clydebank. Just 15 years after playing Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish Premier, and just 13 years after reaching the Scottish Cup Semis - we are back in Football - In the Scottish Junior League Central Division 2. We wouldn't have it any other way - a team of, by and for the supporters. AFC Wimbledon gave us the belief that we could do it! The Bankies are BACK!!! www.bankies.net Tommy Hughes Bradford (ex-Clydebank) - Wednesday, 2 July 2003 at 13:37:33 Tudor - agreed, though I do wonder if certain quarters will see this as "convenient" IYSWIM... REPD Somewhere off Great Portland Street - Wednesday, 2 July 2003 at 12:58:37 Not wanting to say I told you so. But my comments in KM:OK article about LBM are showing themselves to be so so true. Tudor Nostradamus's Kitchen - Wednesday, 2 July 2003 at 12:43:32 SW19 news updated. Enjoy. SW19 Info Service In sight of Crown House - Tuesday, 1 July 2003 at 20:33:36 Great, and just when I thought I was going to have a quiet evening off ..... :) REPD Reading, digesting and about to start writing - Tuesday, 1 July 2003 at 19:19:30 Read this: http://www.wisa.org.uk/cgi/l/articles/index.cgi?action=show&id=367 and then contact the leader of Merton Council: andrew.judge@merton.gov.uk or alternatively try this http://www.merton.gov.uk/leader/surgery.asp (his online surgery) or try this (when it's back up again - their webshite is as amateurish as their ability to run a council): http://www.merton.gov.uk/councillors/mpparty. asp - Get everyone you know to hassle them up. Action people. It's the only thing that gets us places. Brighton Womble Steaming in - Tuesday, 1 July 2003 at 16:16:43 Cheers Rob - an interesting read. Nice to see that the majority of the AFCW rebels completed the poll!! Secret Agent Off to bed - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 23:12:52 SA - check thine email REPD Hoping it got through OK - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 22:30:28 Rob - I still can't get into any of your other features so have no idea what the EOSP results look like! Any chance you could mail me the report? Cheerz mate Secret Agent firstname.lastname@tinyworld.co.uk - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 22:16:38 Wiz - few points. Firstly, T&M's application had very little AFCW input into it, and reportedly T&M fucked up their application. No idea about the training ground what happened there, though I wonder how much pressure Merton are being put under. Now, the KM thing : apart from the apparent misconception that we'll be owning the place (we're only buying the leasehold, which is different), as said from the outset on here, there is SOMETHING not right with it. And I'm still trying to find out what this particular "something" is. It could simply be a case of AFCW over-expanding too quickly and rushing into this whole thing. Witness all those .com companies who had a good idea, tried to be too clever and slumped. While I don't share the apocolyptic thoughts of many about not raising £1m by the July deadline - AFCW is IMO too strong an entity for it to die - I can see that a bit of consilidation and some strategic rethinking might be a necessity whatever happens. I have no idea what happened in the KM negotiations with Khosla, what timescales there were etc. All I will say from now on is that time will prove how ready we were to undergo this. REPD Anyone else want to sell anything? - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 10:07:13 Thought I'd put in a good word here. I enjoyed your site. cheap viagra - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 07:55:33 Gooseboy - it's you... and Rob. Given that Merton rejected sharing with T&M and nimbys blocked youth development in Merton I would say that back home to KM is as good as it gets for the foreseeable future, the share issue represents the greatest opportunity to own our club (for the fans owned by the fans?). Owning a ground of our own should be the ideal objective given that because we have been tenants for years we got to this point anyway.How else do you think this will be achieved - a rich philanthropist? Given the achievements of the last twelve months it's quite staggering to think people a baulking at buying shares. Wait til the going gets really tough!! The Wizard of Oz Oz - Sunday, 29 June 2003 at 00:52:29 Gooseboy - I would say that I agree with you, but I'd probably get called negative, depressing and not wanting AFCW to do well yet again. REPD SM4 - Saturday, 28 June 2003 at 21:28:00 Is it me, or does this whole Kingsmeadow shares thing feel very uncomfortable? Gooseboy returns the nearest pond - Saturday, 28 June 2003 at 19:14:17 MattL - "Is Rob OK ?". Yes, I'm coming off drugs and gases that cut off your central nervous system. Great stuff, apart from the nasty jab on my right arm... REPD Shortly off to bed - Friday, 27 June 2003 at 22:29:59 2 updates in one week ! MattL Is Rob OK ? - Friday, 27 June 2003 at 21:46:42 News now updated SW19 Info Service SM4 - Friday, 27 June 2003 at 20:41:58 I believe that ultimately the true home of wimbledon is where the support, past and present, is! TBH Kingsmeadow's atmophere and the attitude of the fans and those involved in the running the team and ground has brought me back into football. I seriously believe that the attitude of the people charged with running a club filters down throughout a club and CP and PL always felt tacky to me because the fans were treated as a commodity by the owners who only understood buy/sell. I don't feel a commodity at Kingsmeadow because those in charge don't set themselves apart from the team's supporters. I do like your site and read it often to get a level perspective on things. I think that your thinking over the kingsmeadow issue is flawed though for the reasons stated above. Keep the opinions comming though! Lol James Raynes Park - Friday, 27 June 2003 at 20:21:53 Bring back the Al-Qaeda/Hamas posters. REPD On second thoughts, don't - Friday, 27 June 2003 at 19:39:58 From thefanstadium.org : "The Fans’ Stadium will not only be a centre for fans of all clubs, but also a permanent home for these two non-league clubs" REPD Saying nothing. He's said enough already. - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 21:34:13 Tudor - TBH we shouldn't rely on a few corrupt politicians to help us. If we want Merton bad enough, we'll find ways around it. How do massive companies get away with half of what they do? We need to play just a little bit more subtly .... REPD LL - cheerz (you back online now?) - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 13:06:43 I shall be going along tonight, but as far as I'm concerned it's not going to be the piss-up to end all piss-ups. I think buying the lease was the best option for our medium-term security, but KM will always be K's home, not ours. It would be wrong to do anything in yellow and blue, other than fairly superficial decoration, and the fact that we can't (or shouldn't) look forward to all the things we'd be doing if it really was home -- like naming the stands, refurbishing the bars, etc. -- says it all. Lancashire Lass Rob -- good luck for tomorrow - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 13:02:06 REPD - agree with you there old chap. I'm going into this with my eyes wide open. Get ready for the slow steady compromise. And don't expect any favours from Merton from here on in. Tudor not that I ever expected any from those two faced cunts I pay my council tax to. - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 12:32:35 GBLB - very quickly, it could become the new SP because the longer it goes the more a "medium" term move becomes permanent. REPD At work doing Photoshop - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 10:55:03 REPD, always respect your insights, but I really don't see how you can even think that KM will be our Selhurst. When we left PL for Selhurst this was done at the behest of Hammam and for money. When we agreed KM it was democratically and overwhelmingly agreed by the Dons Trust. And when we went to Selhurst we did have an alternative: I don't think anyone has come near to identifying a suitable alternative for us aside from Kingsmeadow. Greg Berry's Left Boot - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 10:43:09 FL - I, ahem, have shopped in Walmart regularly in the past. Last time I went to the US, I only went in it once. I now buy my stuff at KMart. REPD JtD - yup, op is on Friday. And I'm not nervous. Honest - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 08:56:29 A bit worried that the article mentions "move forward". Be shopping at bloody Wankmart next! Florida Axe Murderer Next he'll be on about "enabling develpments" - Thursday, 26 June 2003 at 00:28:11 Rob, if you want to scale Everest you first need to eastablish a bsae camp. I want to get back to the heartland - as near PL as possible. But that just isn't possible at present. Let's get on with building the club and look to a move in the future. Good luck for Friday (is that the day of your op?) John the Don SM5 - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 22:45:35 BD - Few things : the ground I consider most homely of all is Sutton's ground. If it was anywhere near being like Ks I would actually have preferred it there. But it isn't and we're not. It depends what bit of Merton you're referring to : if you mean Mitcham and bits of Morden, I agree. If however you go round other bits of Morden, Raynes Park, Wimbledon itself, it's no exaggeration to say that AFCW stickers *are* the most predominant. I think that getting back to Merton has one other benefit, and that's it's the ultimate one-fingered salute to everyone who said we couldn't do it. As for Ks, it's nice enough but I still can't really call it home.. REPD Considering buying a Terrorgruppe CD - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 21:40:27 Rob, don't share you're view on KM. Having spent 8 seasons watching the Dons at PL I actually feel just as "at home" at KM than I ever did at during those days. I feel that a partnership arrangement with Kingstonian also suits our new incarnation. We are not really a Merton Club IMHO anyway (that's celsi), more a Surrey/A3 corridor club. Is Merton the Mecca for Dons fans, I don't know, but I know that KM feels much better than T&M would! Respect your viewpoint though. Basingstoke Don Basingstoke - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 20:43:30 New SW19 Front Page and News updated SW19 Info Service SM4 - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 20:05:33 ML - wait and see... REPD Putting some choice quotes together - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 17:32:01 But K's isn't home MattL they call us AFC Kingston - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 17:16:52 KM lease purchased. SW19 update later REPD Shame I have to be nil-by-mouth on Thursday evening - Wednesday, 25 June 2003 at 13:27:41 CD - cheerz :) Seriously, anyone who wants to even attempt an article, please do. Doesn't matter how crap it is, the editor has never written a decent article in his life... REPD Genuinely can't believe that 1300+ have read this site in the past 10 days - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 21:56:57 Hmm ... John the Don Puzzled of carshalton - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 20:54:55 Rob, spent a pleasant hour or so reading the EOSP results - entertaining and enlightening as usual. Given that I "top scored" in both the best article of the year and the worst article of the year categories (with the same piece), I shall have to set my mind on concocting something new for you in a bid for next year's glory. Not sure if I'm prouder of the best article or worst article award ... Chalfont Don Chalfont - hoping that the Southall game is on when I'm in the country this year - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 20:54:54 Right.... REPD Puzzled of Morden - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 20:17:02 Is Killing A White Man In Texas No Big Deal? In Texas, three white men were tried and convicted of murder for the dragging death of a black man, James Byrd, Jr. in June of 1998. Two of the men, Bill King, 25, and Russell Brewer Jr., 32, who were the ones who actually killed Byrd, were sentenced to death. The third man, Shawn Berry, who owned the truck involved, had picked up James Byrd, walking 10 miles home from his job, as he often did for both white and black pedestrians. His action angered King, who sported racist tattoos. The indictment clearly showed that Berry was threatened with the "same treatment" when he attempted to stop the murder. At one point he even ran away from the scene and it was Berry who immediately contacted authorities about the murder. Many witnesses, both black and white, testified he was not a racist. Yet, to satisfy organized groups screaming for blood, Berry was sentenced to life imprisonment for the horrible murder. In the Presidential election campaign of 2000, the Byrd murder became an issue used against Republican candidate George W. Bush. The National Voter Fund, (a project of the NAACP) and the Human Rights Campaign launched ad campaigns that inferred Bush was somehow responsible for the Byrd murder. A daughter of James Byrd, Rene Mullins, was shown accompanied by a picture of a truck and a chain saying: "I'm Renee Mullins, James Byrd's daughter. On June 7, 1998, in Texas, my father was killed. He was beaten, chained, and then dragged three miles to his death, all because he was black. So when Governor George W. Bush refused to support hate crimes legislation, it was like my father was killed all over again. Call George W. Bush and tell him to support hate crimes legislation. We won´t be dragged away from our future." Yet, in October 2001 another vehicle dragging death took place in Texas. Chante (or Shantae) Mallard, described it in her own words to a friend, giggling, simply as, "I hit this white man." This time the driver of the vehicle was a black woman and the man dragged to his death was a white man, 37 year old Gregory Glenn Biggs. Whether or not Mallard, a nurse´s aide, hit the "white man" by accident or on purpose has not been asked, apparently. However, she did not stop her car and render aid but continued driving with Biggs pinned in the windshield until she got to her home and into her garage. In this case, the NAACP and the Human Rights Campaign have not said a word about a white man being "dragged to his death, all because he was white." In fact, it took longer for Mallard to kill Biggs, who was alive and begging for help for two days, than it took Bill King and Russell Brewer, Jr. to kill Byrd. According to Mallard´s testimony in a March 7, 2002 affidavit after one of her friends alerted the police, the injured man was "sticking halfway into the passenger compartment through the windshield." She "went inside, had sex with her boyfriend, Terrance, went out to the garage and the man wasn´t dead yet, but he was dying. Shantae stated that the man was asking them to help him, but that they just walked back inside. Shantae advised that they waited until he died, which was a couple of days." After he died, the affidavit says, "Terrance and his brother took the body and dumped it in Cobb Park" where it was found on October 27, 2001. According to the Fort Worth, Texas Star Telegram, "Mallard agreed to go to the police station for questioning. There, she gave a statement and was arrested for failure to stop and render aid. She was free on bail when officers arrived at her home Wednesday morning and arrested her on the upgraded warrant charging her with murder. Later in the day, she was released on a $10,000 writ bond." Her attorney, Mike Heiskell called the woman's arrest on a murder warrant premature. "I think this is overreaching on the part of the prosecution and the police, and in the end, I believe the law will shake out that this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid. After the judge increased the $10,000 bail to $250,000, in apparent response to community outrage in Fort Worth, Heiskell was quoted as saying prosecutors have blown some aspects of the case out of proportion and that the victim was probably in the garage only 24 hours. He said his client was devastated by the accident and went into a panic. "She is not the cold, harsh, inhumane person they would have you think," Heiskell said. "This girl is not a monster." Really? What else would you call a person who would leave another human being impaled in glass to bleed, suffer and die for two days and DO NOTHING? If Mallard had been a white woman and Biggs had been black, considering the national clamor over James Byrd, I suspect that the NAACP and the Human Rights Campaign would be calling her a lot worse things than "monster." And, what about her accomplices to Biggs murder? Terrance certainly is far more involved in the Biggs killing than Berry was in the Byrd killing and Berry is in jail for life. Why hasn´t Terrance been arrested for murder? Why isn´t there a national clamor about the death of Gregory Biggs at the hands of a group of conspiring black people? Why is no one suggesting the death penalty for what appears to be a racially motivated murder of Gregory Biggs? Would Mallard and her friends have left a black man impaled in glass for two days until he died? It would appear from Heiskell´s statement and the media response that it is OK to torture and kill white people these days. Apparently, it´s a race crime only when the dead person is black. Is Killing A White Man In Texas No Big Deal? - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 17:53:34 Hmm, I have an idea for a new SW19 feature that should get people nattering on here again :) Stay tuned. Might have to write another thought provoking article as well, unless any of you want to have a go... REPD London W1 - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 14:59:51 Dunno, Rob. John the Don not being helpful - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 10:52:17 Hmm, quiet in here yet again. Is there any point in having this GB? REPD London West One - Tuesday, 24 June 2003 at 08:57:08 Got me intrigued about the second reason now. Ronan - Sunday, 22 June 2003 at 15:14:07 News updated SW19 Info Service SM4 - Sunday, 22 June 2003 at 13:21:58 Web site nicely crafted cheap flights airline tickets airfares cheap flights airline tickets airfares USA - Saturday, 21 June 2003 at 16:50:40 Southall sould play there, better than the rubbish that turn out for Rangers these days. Florida Axe Murderer John Gregg - Thursday, 19 June 2003 at 16:00:07 FL - I think that Southall may be playing at Ibrox next season REPD They fit in well there... - Thursday, 19 June 2003 at 08:46:29 Loyal Don - if WFC had not deserted me I would have been able to support them LAST season... the Wizard of Oz Oz - wish I had visited this site yesterday... - Thursday, 19 June 2003 at 08:12:13 Will the game be played at Ibrox, or a lesser ground? Florida Axe Murderer DFW - Thursday, 19 June 2003 at 02:08:11 Why are Newport County playing AFCW in Glasgow? Florida Axe Murderer Confused - Thursday, 19 June 2003 at 02:06:54 Loyal Don, don`t worry mate. WFC will probably be around next season. Only trouble is they`ll be called MK City. Enjoy you twat ! bugsy paying a rare visit - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 22:36:21 Only thing I can suggest for the Franchise gimp is to go to http://www.wisa.org.uk and read Martin Samuel's piece. REPD Missing Newport County away (in Glasgow) - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 20:46:25 'Loyal' Don - If you can't get your head around the truth of the matter, which is that the club jumped ship to support MK, abandoning its support, then I doubt that you have the brainpower to embrace the concept of 'loyalty'. John the Don What can you do with these people? - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 20:11:51 "Loyal Don" - can you explain how you can a) be loyal to the Dons whilst b) can't be arsed to go watch them ? Perhaps there should be a Government Health Warning stuck onto Koppel's dick to warn you off swallowing so muck of his diseased spunk. Chalfont Don Cosy Chalfont - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 19:47:32 Ha ha ha! Now FUCK OFF! Florida Axe Murderer Get back to sucking Koppel's dick! - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 16:12:31 Thanks to you lot, my beloved WFC might not be around for next season.By jumping ship and supporting AFC, WFC can no longer survive on the pittance they're making on the turnstiles. Hope your all proud of yourselfs now, im now left without a team to support and I can't be arsed to watch sunday league standard football every week with you lot. Loyal Don Supporter. Here and There - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 14:18:20 Nice report. Interesting to see the "any other comments" - especially when they're kept anonymous! But which "Tudor Jennings incident" was one of them alluding to? Better keep a lower profile next season I think. Tudor waiting for a cappuccino to arrive - Wednesday, 18 June 2003 at 12:56:35 The long awaited SW19 End Of Season Poll results now up. Enjoy. SW19 Info Service SW19 Towers - Tuesday, 17 June 2003 at 21:42:06 Hi! http://www.yahoo.com is our great site. (yahoo) visit yahoo now Carl LV - Tuesday, 17 June 2003 at 11:49:09 Phillip - cheerz. As for the Ryman, it's unlikely, but their AGM is soon. Still, you never know REPD EOSP results up tonite or tomorrow (and trying hard not to start work) - Tuesday, 17 June 2003 at 08:59:14 Best of luck to AFC Wimbledon. Love what ye are trying to acheive. Taking on the corporate w**kers who are killing football. What are the chances of AFC Wimbledon being allowed into the Ryman league for next season? Philip Limerick Ireland - Tuesday, 17 June 2003 at 08:43:08 Tudor - since when did porn ever have a plot? REPD A nice air conditioned office, London W1 - Monday, 16 June 2003 at 15:14:09 Sorry Rob - I gave them your email details when I signed up for my Manga porn DVDs :) Tudor It's all in German, but you can still work out the plot. - Monday, 16 June 2003 at 14:00:15 I like apes Graham T especially orangutans - Monday, 16 June 2003 at 00:04:40 What the hell did I get up to in Hamburg? REPD Seeing who reads this site... - Sunday, 15 June 2003 at 13:03:44 Final reminder that the SW19 EOSP closes at midnight tonight. REPD Come on, don't you want to keep me busy tomorrow and next week? :) - Saturday, 14 June 2003 at 22:10:25 Problem with my photo is that when I took it, I tried to look mean, dark and moody. Unfortunately, I look like an ugly git who has a heroin dependency. REPD My hair is a bit longer these days though - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 23:57:43 TBH, none of the WISA photos are that flattering. Vera's makes him look like a Stepford wife -- as if his head's about to shoot off, leaving behind a robot-like torso spinning out of control. Lancashire Lass Or the Ian Holm character in Alien. - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 23:04:33 Mr. REPD, your image is large enough as it is! Florida Axe Murderer Dallas - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 16:50:57 Just because Ronan is incapable of dealing with image sizes :) I will change it if anyone wants... REPD Strong tea, two sugars.... - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 08:56:57 It may be worth knowing that the photo of rob has been 'manipulated' slightly (in case you didn't guess). It was the wrong size, so I changed it - and it looked so funny I had to leave it that way. The one of Joe Blair is pretty good as well. Ronan - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 05:05:15 I beg you pardon! He does not look like me! I'm putting you on the list! Florida Axe Murderer In Hiding - Friday, 13 June 2003 at 03:39:51 Love your photo on the Wisa site Rob, looks like a Mug shot of the Florida Axe Murderer. damnedlad here - Thursday, 12 June 2003 at 23:48:31 Rob, that course must have done you some good - the new article in news was not only as rabid and hilarious as usual, but was well written to boot ! You ought to tap up some of the boys on the W&WW GB down Wapping way for a journo's job. Talking of writing, I hope my EOSP return kept you entertained for more than 10 seconds. Chalfont Don Classy Chalfont - Thursday, 12 June 2003 at 21:45:00 News updated SW19 Information Service SW19 Towers - Thursday, 12 June 2003 at 20:24:58 REMINDER: End of Season Poll ends at 1159pm BST this Saturday. Don't forget to fill out... REPD Don't worry, there won't be much more shrilling - Wednesday, 11 June 2003 at 22:27:14 Ignore any and all Franchise gimps. They're either AFCW fans on a wind up, so totally far gone that they really can't be reasoned with, or are trying TOO hard to prove to everyone their fucked loyalty. REPD Sponging, spluttering and working - Wednesday, 11 June 2003 at 08:58:26 So, Loyal Don 2, have you beseiged the NHS for a season ticket refund yet? Or are you looking forward to the calm and tranquillity of Saturday afternoons in the NHS, with the luxury of sitting wherever you want, and over 9,000 seats to choose from? Oh hang on a minute, you won't, will you? You'll be criss-crossing the country every weekend, going to all those "home" matches at the other end of the country. Still, a true football fan will follow their team anywhere. Have fun! Lancashire Lass SW19 - Tuesday, 10 June 2003 at 22:48:36 repd working, your joking, biggest sponger at Kingsmeadow, Loyal Don Supporter 2 Milton Keynes - Tuesday, 10 June 2003 at 14:50:48 WELL THE SENILE OLD CUNT HAS FINALLY GOT THE BULLET. HOORAY! NO MORE BORING PROGRAMME NOTES. NO MORE ABOUT WOLVES. NO MORE DRIBLING. NO MORE EGG ON THE TIE. I AM SO HAPPY! THIS IS A LAST FAREWELL POST. REG DAVIS IS A FAILED BUILDER. CUNT! CUNT! CUNT! REG DAVIS IS A FAILED BUILDER REG DAVIS IS ALSO A FAILED PR MANAGER - Monday, 9 June 2003 at 19:39:50 LP - yes, I seem to be permanently ill ATM. Mostly in the head but there does seem to be something that is taking at least 8 weeks to come out (and I won't bore you with my impending throat op) REPD Work (Central London) - Monday, 9 June 2003 at 09:02:35 REPD... are you always fucking ill? Leamington Pete never fucking ill... (father had 7 sick days in 37 years) - Sunday, 8 June 2003 at 22:38:36 I think Koppel will become a lady and run away to Aruba. Leamington Pete Leamington Spa - Sunday, 8 June 2003 at 22:35:01 well, it can't be running through the jungle Ronan - Sunday, 8 June 2003 at 01:16:42 your page is inspirational ;) fantasy forced - Saturday, 7 June 2003 at 16:33:02 Wiz - I'm not too trusting of the whole thing one bit. Apparently, it looks like Franchise called in the administrators themselves, which is IMO very telling. Either Koppout knows that the shit is about to hit the fan and is about to bail out as intact as he can, or whether this is a move to get (ahem) other investors to take over the running of the club through stealth is anyone's guess. I don't really have much faith in the Admin people - they're highly reputable but like HOK and Lobb over the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, they too can be used to, er, see things through in a certain way... REPD Mute - Saturday, 7 June 2003 at 12:03:59 Ronan - it could be "Up Around The Bend". But isn't. REPD Can't really see it being "Proud Mary" either - Saturday, 7 June 2003 at 11:59:22 REPD - which creedence song? Ronan - Saturday, 7 June 2003 at 09:28:42 Does this administration stuff mean 1)if the Franchise folds will their place be taken by someone in Div 2 and so on all the way down the feeder leages until with a domino inspired flourish AFC Wimbledon are promoted to the Rymans?. 2) Rumour has already appeared that Wimbledon Res Goalkeeper Shane Gore is to join AFCW - why don't all the players at WFC join AFCW? 3)Dons trust should now be able to aquire all meaningful memorabilia including name etc 4) Still don't trust the fuckers... the Wizard of Oz Winter in Australia - Glorious day. - Saturday, 7 June 2003 at 01:10:48 New SW19 front page and news now up SW19 Info Service SM4 - Friday, 6 June 2003 at 21:55:56 Notice how evil Koppout rushes in the receivers before the authorities impose penalties for clubs in administration. Shameless cretin, drawn-out agonising death's too good for him. PS I'm too lazy to complete the EOSP, but keep up the good work anyways Harry Pulling Sickie - Friday, 6 June 2003 at 10:28:08 Very quiet here recently, everyone must be suffering from end of season blues Damnedlad Somewhere over the Rainbow - Friday, 6 June 2003 at 00:00:15 DL - nice to see you're still around :) Seems like the Lebanese Camel Fiddler is starting to worry a few people within Cardiff..... REPD And the EOSP ends on 14 June - not much time now - Thursday, 5 June 2003 at 08:50:12 I shining out of here! The Sun Sam Hammam's Arse - Tuesday, 3 June 2003 at 22:07:17 Can anyone see Sam Hamman floggin Ninian Park over the next ten years? Ive tried explaining this to a few Cardiff Fans, but they seem to think the sun shines out of his arse Damnedlad Fitmay WareHouse - Tuesday, 3 June 2003 at 18:04:15 Hello there chaps, I am the owner of AFC Wimbledon Fans Academy, if you don't believe me check out www.donsacademy.da.ru 'arry Dan Saf - Tuesday, 3 June 2003 at 17:44:30 You Dirty F***er.You Dirty old man, What A Fu**in rotter Steve Jones ITV Studios - Monday, 2 June 2003 at 23:07:32 Hmm, quieter than a Franchise game in here. In true Bill Grundy style, come on, say something controversial... REPD Will probably do a news update this week - Monday, 2 June 2003 at 22:35:24 Look at my saggy baps... Anushka Big Brother - Sunday, 1 June 2003 at 23:07:03