DISCLAIMER: Due to time constraints, lazy bastard etc etc, much (though not all) of this stuff is "borrowed" from elsewhere, all I do is take what's interesting, and repackage it in typical SW19 fashion. If you're a webmaster of anything that I've borrowed, don't feel pissed off that I haven't credited you, chances are that I've got a link to your site anyway, which is endorsement enough. And besides, most people nick news from Reuters, so it ain't anything new.

Additionally, long away match reports may take a day to come through, because mainly I'm too bloody knackered to write them after I get in :)
As ever, I make no claims to spelling names or places correctly

30 June 2001

At last, a shirt sponsor - as touted virtually everywhere yesterday but now officially confirmed, we've signed a two year, £1m deal with Maximuscle. Who? Well, they're the major supplier of athletic type substances to such athletes like Marcus Trescothick, Gary Bellamy and Prince Naz Hamed, and now we've got them. Unlike many other shirt deals, Maximuscle have a bit of use - WFC and them will be using sports scientists (didn't know we had any) to work with our players, and anyone at Northampton Saturday will note that this has to be the most physically (and mentally) strongest side seen from probably any WFC side. I can't imagine that being sponsored by somebody like Pizza Hut would have quite as much use for a pro footballer. Well, unless his name is John Hartson I suppose.

Of course, being WFC, there has to be a spanner in the works somewhere - Maximuscle's products have been claimed to produce that Nandralone stuff which is pretty illegal, a charge which, naturally, WFC and MM deny. Still, it gets the publicity for us and MM, and anything to improve our fitness is more than welcomed from here.

What else about Maximuscle? Well, they do loads of things like weight loss stuff, boxing gloves and sugar blocking. And I thought JH wasn't playing for us anymore? And some extremely paranoid Womble has pointed out to me that MM have a branch in MK but not in Wimbledon. True - but so did Tiny. Besides, they're based in Watford.

One more bit of JH bashing tonight, whilst I'm in the mood. Celtic are after him, though Coventry have denied it. If he goes to Parkhead, they may as well give the trophy to Rangers now.......

You may notice that this site is planning to go down this week - I was planning to do the relaunch tomorrow, may still do, though it WILL mean that a couple of sections will not be open immediately. Keep an eye out on the guestbook for more info.

One more thing - the End Of Season Poll closes Saturday at 23.59. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

28 July 2001 [FINAL EDITION]

Basically, anyone who decided to forgoe Barnet for Northampton today must be pissing themselves. Why? Try Cobblers 0 Boot Boys 7. That's Cobblers 0 Boot Boys 7 in case you missed it first time round. Our highest score since beating Windsor and Eton 7-2 in 1980/81, the first time the editor has ever seen us score more than 5 goals in one game (that's for all you trivia freekz out there) and we're still only warming up. Literally. The game? Well, it was pretty one sided, the debuting David Connelly scored a hat-trick on his "debut", Shippers got a couple, with Wu Tang and McMuffAnuff completing the rout. Shall I go on? Why not, it's after all a really nice feeling to be able to do a match report when we've played like this:

Plus points: Winning 7-0 for a start. Away from the dump. DC looks like one of the sharpest strikers we've ever had in a WFC shirt. Shipps ain't too bad either. Excellent stuff from McMuff, following up an impressive performance vs Hampton with a sublime one today - the first team awaits. Wu Tang's goal, beating seven opposition players and passing to himself in the process. Defense looks good, even Willmott played good. This proves that Voodoo has broken that relationship off with the witch who cost him his form last season, found a good broad and makes her squeal with delight every Saturday night. Probably.

Minus points: I'm probably in a minority of 1, but I'm not that convinced by Jermaine Darlington yet. He's certainly no KC.

Boring tactical discussion bit: This bit especially for anyone who complains about lack of discussion tactics on this site, feel free to ignore this bit - it looks like we're playing in such a way that we'll be rotating the front players to keep them fresh. We took off DC and Shipps and put on Robbo and Wu Tang, this appears to be TB's preferred method of doing it. Or something. Don't ask me, I'm just repeating verbatim what was said to me. You can wake up now :)

Police Squad rip-off comment alert: Sixfields. It's not fields, and there aren't six of them.

Nice though: Their ground.

Quotes: (1) "This is the first thing Koppel's done right, and that was probably an accident" - returning to this website, the (ahem) legendary CUNW on DC's transfer. (2) "You've got a shitty website" - another un-named Womble who attempted to take above comment into a chant. This particular individual IS in the photo to your left. Promise to take back that comment Mr ******* and I won't circle who you are :) (3) "Kelvin Davis' had a drink, one too many" - chant to KD after he looked a little bit worse for wear during the game. Doubtless he'll claim it was the heat....................

Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Did we really win 7-0? (2) Today, it was reportedly hotter in London than in Hawaii. Felt bloody hotter in Northampton. (3) Paul Robinson actually coming on. No, he still doesn't have the ability to pass, though maybe he's still trying too hard.

Point to ponder for those who were there: Was it me or do we look a lot better without Euell? We seem more of a team.

So, what is worth it?: [Laughs hysterically]. Sorry, what was the question?

In a nutshell: Pre-season friendly or not, I loved it

 

I have been reliably informed that the OS has finally had its overhaul. And it's, well, er, it's OK. To be fair, it's very, very similar to most other OSes in the Football League, hardly surprising of course as it's all being done under one house. The graphics IMO could be a little slicker, I reckon that the design of some of the WFC fan sites are far nicer, but the content actually looks good. Wonder how the club are going to handle "feedback" and "rumours"? Should be funny if nothing else.

Other preseason news - Celsi lost 3-1 to QPHahaha, and the Lebanese Tax Evader's new baby beat Palace 4-0. At least we showed the rest of London how it's done today...

One more thing before I go - I managed to write a whole piece on a game at Northampton without mentioning "Rock the tea bar" once. D'oh.

 

28 July 2001 [AM EDITION]

Righty ho boys and girls, I'm off to sunny Northampton in an hour. In the meantime, as I was doing the continental yesterday I didn't go to Barnet yesterday (though I can give you a rundown of the Anderlect Champions League qualifier warmup featuring the Belgian Air Force if you want - no? Didn't think so). However, the erstwhile SA once again steps into the SW19 match report sphere - and this time, the pictures come from Mags. Enjoy....

 

Well, this was almost to be expected given our two wins last weekend and the fact that one of the teams we beat (H&R) creamed our opponents 5-0. So it proved to be on a balmy summer's evening in North London with Underhillers 1 Undergrounders 0. The team was a mix and match from the two from last weekend with Heald in goal, Holloway, Gier, Leigertwood and Des Byrne at the back. Owusu, Ardley, Thomas and Pecker in midfield and Neilsen and Hughes up front in a 4-4-2 formation. second half saw Feuer, Gray, Neil Jenkins and Alex Tapp appear only to make little positive difference.

 

Ok, here goes............

Plus points - well, it could be argued that there were none at all, but it would be churlish not to mention that this reporter feels that those present may well have seen the last appearance in a Dons shirt of Michael Thomas. Totally useless is a kind description of his play and when he left the pitch he headed straight to the changing room. Also, Michael Hughes had an awful night, thus proving that he doesn't fit in anywhere in the side. Shame, but let's get rid now please Terry, thanks. An easy ground to get to especially if you live close to the Northern Line. Quality burgers, dread to think how many REPD would have consumed! Not quite WBA quality, but pretty close. [can't imagine a local saying "that's good Barnet tucker that is" though - SW19]. Mr Timms will concur I'm sure!

Minus points - we lost, and while it was only a friendly, it was pretty desperate fare. we conceded a penalty again, let's not go through the scenario of 99/00 when we gave away a penalty in what seemed like every game for the first two months. David Neilsen. Looks totally bereft of any ability and may find himself as fourth choice frontman soon with Wayne Gray challenging to make him fifth choice.

Quotes - "I've written to CK twice and called him four times about a site for the ground. I don't think he's interested" fellow sufferer who knows about property and land development. "Who's that other guy?" "McAnuff I think" "No, McAnuff is black!" banter between two SW19 regulars who struggled to identify Neil Jenkins warming up at half time!

Nice - the pitch at Barnet, good length of grass, flat surface, despite the slope. Ideal for our new passing game, we'll cream a Conference side on this......ooops!

OS bashing (why not?) - prices were £8 adults and £4 kids/oaps for the terrace, not as stated on the OS. Bah, the new guy has his work cut out, but we already knew that didn't we?

In a nutshell - we were dire, they were a little bit better than dire and we didn't contest many 50/50 challenges all evening.

Was it worth it? - No, not at all, especially if you don't like the Northern Line

 

Thanx to SA and Mags for the above. One other piece of news before I depart, DC's been given the all clear for us by the Dutch FA and should play today. Though I have heard we may need to pay AZ compensation, which could be expensive.....

 

25 July 2001 [PM EDITION]

Looks like we've hit a MAJOR roadblock over the Connelly deal - he wants to play for us, and we're convinced we've got a case, but read this from FTT:

"The meeting with the Dutch FA appears to have had a disastrous outcome for Wimbledon FC. Chairman Charles Koppel represented Wimbledon at the Dutch FA. The club had hoped that the Dutch FA would rebuff AZ Alkmaar’s claims that Connolly should be held to a prior verbal agreement to join their club and that Wimbledon would receive the player’s registration. However in a shock decision the Dutch FA have decided that AZ Alkmaar have a case! While the Dutch FA haven’t yet ruled against the Dons, they have decided not release Connolly’s registration and will allow AZ Alkmaar time to find supporting evidence of a verbal agreement. "

So, looks like the Dutch FA have backed their own member. Quelle surprise. However, there's more from Rob De Leede, Dutch FA spokesman:

"This is an urgent case and it should be completed by December. We cannot guarantee that it will be settled in time for the start of the English football season. We have been asked by Alkmaar not to release the player to join another association. All they have to prove is that there was a verbal agreement. I don't know if they have any witnesses to a deal being done."

December? Fucking hell, that's practically 5 months. This has unsurprising gone down none too well with TB, who says:

"Connolly is training but he can't get out on the pitch - it's a restraint of trade. The Dutch FA are preventing him from playing. You can't stop people working - there will be lawsuits and Christ knows what if they do. How else is he going to earn a living? If a verbal agreement can be binding then we'd need to stop the four players who said they would join us this summer from playing for the clubs they eventually went to."

I wonder who these four players were? Never mind, what seems clear is this : the Dutch believe that DC should be an AZ player, and they just aren't going to budge over it. Which means that we'll have to take them to the EU court over it unless it's proven that there WASN'T any independent witnesses. In a nutshell, DC is in limbo. There is another way of course, and that is to pay off AZ, but how much? I've heard E4m (£2.6m or so for those opposed to the single currency) bandied about, which I severely doubt we'll pay. DC can train with us, but he can't play, which naturally has POed us big time stylee. Obviously, he wants to play for us, he's come out and said it. Even if he didn't, he would want to play football full stop, he clearly won't want to return to AZ after this so maybe the Dutch club are dragging their clogs over it to teach us a lesson? Hmm, I blame their lax drug laws meself.

Now what? Given the fact we want DC playing ASAP, I can see one of three things happening : 1) We offer a compensation package for DC to AZ. 2) We drag this through until December and get somebody on loan in the meantime. 3) We get the heavies in. I would like to see 3) happen, because I'm sure that we have a much stronger case (insofar as we DO have DC's signature on a piece of paper). Can't see WFC putting up with 2) unless we have to, but my instinct at the moment is 1). Probably not as high as £2m, doubt if it will be as high as £1m but don't be surprised if we don't quite get him that free...

The whole thing is a mess, though for once I don't think WFC are to blame. I think the "good faith" thing comes into play, and it's a bit naive of the Dutch camp to think that a verbal agreement works outside the lowlands in quite the same way. Whatever happens, there'll be lots more of this to come. Watch the sparks fly.

More later if anything happens this evening.

 

21 July 2001

Ah, summer is officially over - the games are starting again and once again you wonder why you bother :) OK, so Beavers 0 Pussy 1 wasn't a classic but it's nice to be back. For those curious, I decided not to join the hoi polloi at Sutton - though SA did, see below - and instead I went to Hampton with the true fans :) Bah, where's your sense of adventure? :)

Anyway, the game if I must. Typical first game back as you probably would expect. We bossed the game most of the time, hit the post twice - once thru a Hampton defender - and in what I think must have been the 89th minute Shippers scored his first of hopefully many for us. Anything else? Well, it wasn't that exciting.....

Just as pre-season dates are for the team to get into gear again, the same is true for harrassed WFC website owners to get into the swing of writing match reports again. So, pay your £7, pick up some iffy lager or Panda cola, stand behind the archetypial non-league fan with BO and enjoy:

Plus points: We won. Without conceding a goal. Good stuff from McAnuff, who is still being called McMuff by certain people. Looking generally solid. Nice attacking play.

Minus points: Shall I be churlish and say that we looked slow? Nah. Adam Nowland came and went within 5 minutes, done his ankle. Oh dear.

Class: The name of Hampton's ground - Beaver Close. Stop sniggering.

Not so class: The somewhat wank directions the Hampton web site gives to the ground. Needless to say, I ended up going via Kempton Park. The wrong way.

Scary: Michael Hughes' new haircut (see right). Makes him look like Stewart Robson

Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Being able to buy a drink inside the ground and take it outside to watch the game. I kid you not, this does happen. Plenty of Wombles took advantage of this fucked liberalised way of licencing. (2) The Hampton mascot. Yes, they have a mascot, and guess what it is? A beaver. Obviously not the same size as our obese Womble (but then, an Iveco truck isn't as big as the Womble) but a beaver? Come on, if you're going to have a beaver for a mascot at least make sure it's lifelike : stinking of fish and getting moody once a month would do for starters (oh dear, that's torn it...)

Do they mean us?: A Hampton website described some WFC fans as "drunk". Nil commento.

SW19 - Friend of the stars: Got a "hello" from Jon Goodman after the game after I said "all right, Jon?" to him.

Hold on, you haven't mentioned anything about the game yet: Needless to say, it was pre-season fayre. Shippers' goal was a header, looping one at that. Does that suffice? I did tell you I needed to get back into the swing of things....

All right then...... was it worth it?: Well, it was enjoyable and I got to see Hampton's ground.

In a nutshell: Don't worry, you didn't miss much.

 

Meanwhile, over at Sutton, the North Cheam Cab Company gets in on the act, complete with pictures. Most of you will probably recognise the game a bit more. Over to you, SA......

Securicor 1 No sponsor 3

Plus points: A win. A very comfortable win too. Obvious cohesion between the players with much more understanding than this fixture than last year. Looked like a stroll in the park for the most part. Shirts with no sponsor - nice.

Minus points: A dodgy penalty against us. Since when is it illegal to have 4 defenders against one attacker in the penalty area all contesting the ball? The PA man, who announced Ansah Owusu as Samuel Okiokolu and vice versa!

Quotes: (1) "I think you'll do well in Div 1 if you play like that every week" - certain unknown Sutton fan who obviously thinks that SUFC play in the Premiership! [hope you twatted him - SW19] (2) "Oi, Phillo! Where did you get that?" - SA to our own PA man at Shitehurts, Chris Phillips, who was sporting the new yellow away shirt sans sponsor! Very nice too! (3) "Stuart (Robson) looks like he's aged a bit" - WFC fan behind me who mistook our Ernie Tippett for our No 2!

Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Jermaine Darlington played at right back! Looked very good on the ball too. (2) Lionel Morgan and Wu Tang are rude in the extreme! (3) Wayne Gray scored the goal of the game. (4) Their keeper played like Kelvin (Kelvin didn't have to!)

In a nutshell: We were slick for the most part and far too good for Sutton who tried hard but lacked imagination. We did not miss BFJ!

Was it worth it? Well, I'd say so, and the pleasant weather helped!

 

Back to me again. One more thing before I go - John Hartson managed to injure himself in Coventry's pre-season game today. Those there at Sutton last season will doubtlessly have something to say about that.......

 

15 July 2001 [PM EDITION]

Just got back from the WISA meeting at Wimbledon Theatre. It was well attended (about 200) considering the timing, time of year, CK's withdrawal etc. WISA were there (obviously) and so was Andrew Judge of Merton Council.

So, what went down? Well, all this is written without me making any notes and without gauging opinions since I've got home. Plenty of mistrust over CK about not turning up as you would expect, complete with the cheap pop during the Q&A about Judge Dredd having the courtesy to turn up (though somebody DID point out the irony of CK not turning up to a meeting that he himself suggested - wonder if he hadn't have suggested the meeting in the first place would people have the opportunity to have a go? Worth considering). There was mentioning about the Dog Track (Merton saying that it was the only site in Merton), "our" PL site (we COULD still have it, providing Safeway weren't going to sell it off for housing), no other sites in Merton, Academy still going strong etc etc. Some things that did prick my ear : Beddington Lane could still be a goer (well it was in 1998) and could well be "pushed" towards CK. WFC are reportedly prepared to pay "over half" for any new site, money could come in share issues or other such fund raising activities. We supposedly are "up shit creek" when the SP lease runs out. Oh, and did I mention that Andrew Judge is a Man City fan? Well he ain't getting my vote......

My thoughts? Initally at least, it maybe has worked out better that CK didn't turn up to his meeting because we were at least spared the slanging matches that would have happened. We didn't really find out much "new" other than what I mentioned above, though I am told that Judge Dredd was being a little bit two-faced after he left the stage. I'll say no more, other than it seems to tie in with some stories I overhear about Merton's real attitude towards WFC. Obviously, CK did him and WFC no favours by not turning up, though IMO only he, Hauger and BRG have any real claim to represent WFC in these sort of meets. Thorley isn't a WFC employee yet (if he was I'm sure he'd be the substitute today), and Reg Davis is too old/senile/crap/dangerous to represent WFC in anything. I guess Brunswick have their work cut out. Little things annoyed me, like people seemingly asking the same question 10 minutes after it was first answered. I don't know, I guess I don't really like public meetings, nothing really substancial happens in them. Are we any further forward? Not really, this wasn't the "closure" I was hoping for, and certainly think WFC really needs. I'm sure "our" PL will be mentioned again in further campaigns and it will be dragged on, though whether this will really do us any good is anyone's guess

One final thing I just want to point out, considering that many people are convinced that MK is a dead cert : if the basis for this feeling is based mainly on CK being vague and evasive about it, why was his answer about Tolworth just as vague and evasive? Namely "we are developing a working relationship with Kingston". Hmm.

More later, maybe.

 

13 July 2001

Bloody hell, I leave it for a week and this happens? Well, not quite, but according to W&WW CK has pulled out of the meeting on Sunday, because he's had to go abroad on club business. I'll state the obvious right away - some people will see this as a cop out (or should that be Kop out? Ho ho) on behalf of our chairman. People will accuse him of having something (nasty) to hide - however (again, according to W&WW) he did offer to meet a smaller group on Saturday, subsequently turned down by WISA (presumably because of accusations of cliquism), so the guy is willing to talk.

This event may also explain why WFC was so reluctant to publicise the meeting - according to Reg Davis (who as many of you know is an individual I have no time for whatsoever, so it's taken a lot for me to even publish this bit), CK was today going through many players' contracts in private. The squad are currently training in Holland, and the David Connelly saga is still rumbling on so maybe we shouldn't really been surprised at this. Granted, the apparent attitude of Mr Davis in this hasn't exactly helped matters, and when Mr Thorley takes charge on the 23rd things should hopefully be better, but once again the timing could have been better. This practically renders the meeting pointless now - I'm reconsidering going now as there is simply no real point to it. There is bound to be a reschedule though, hopefully this time it can get better publicity and a bit more support from the club.

Is there a hidden motive to what's happened today? Well, IMO people are going to believe what they want to believe so I don't really think it's worth commenting on whether there's anything sinister going on. Personally, I don't really believe there is that much, but then others will bang on about what "a well placed source" tells them and whip up frenzies yet again, which I think is proving counterproductive. Am I being unfair? Or blasé? Or overly cynical? Probably, and if these comments rub anyone up the wrong way, I apologise. But I'm fast getting to the stage that I would prefer to concentrate a little bit more on the football side these days, and becoming very fed up with the politics going on more and more. And for me to say that presents a serious problem - it proves that constant rumours which may or may not be true is simply switching previously active people off. People WILL fight for WFC if they see something that needs to be fought. But they will only do it if it's in the papers, or on teletext etc. Other than that, forget it, people can only take so much before they become desensitized to it.

Are the campaigns becoming a spent force? Maybe, WISA are having major problems getting people to stand for committees (most if not all committee members last time stood unopposed) and TBH I think we were going to be quite fortunate to get 500 there on Sunday. It'll be less now, you watch. Why have I written this? Because that's the way things are, sadly, going. It's a mistake we're repeating again of course (1994) and I am bound to be open to charges of major hypocricy over this. But then, it does show the danger of pushing people too hard over this....

Oh, and Neil Shipperley is ours now. But then, you knew that already :)

 

6 July 2001

Well, we've already replace Jason Euell with a free transfer. Some bloke called David Connolly from some two bit outfit called Feyenoord who plays for some backwater international team called Eire who are doing well in a piddly little World Cup group with such minnows as the Netherlands and Portugal. OK, enough sarcasm - this is a MAJOR boost for us, and shows the intent was there to sign a decent replacement for Mr 110%. And we save our £4.75m as well. Sweet.

Of course, being WFC, things aren't straightforward : although the OS and the ESS have reported it as official, and the OS even has an exclusive interview up with DC already, trouble is rising in the low country. Basically, DC had verbally agreed to join AZ Alkmaar of the Dutch top flight, but we officially got his signature. Having read through some Dutch papers tonight, I can ascertain the following : Dutch is a stupid language :) Admittedly, the only Dutch phrases I know come from pornos, and whilst I wouldn't know that DC has come to fix the plumbing, thinks it's awfully hot in here and suggesting a 3 way strap-fest with two Surinese sisters, what I do know is that we've offered DC more dough. This will undoubtedly not hold him in good stead with the Dutch - expect some sort of "fine" for us to pay for this poaching. Though as any lawyer will tell you, a verbal contract is worth MUCH less than anything written down.

And because I didn't update last night, we've got a new Director of Comms - Graeme Thorley. About fucking time too - bye bye Reg???

4 July 2001

Happy Independence Day. For everyone else, business as usual...

The inevitable has happened I suppose - Jason Euell will now be plying his trade for Charlton. Straight deal, £4.75m which doesn't sound a lot (certainly not considering other transfers) but in truth it's not a bad deal for us. Consider the following : the transfer market is going to go belly-up soon, Charlton are doing what we did re: JH (ie going for it big time) and there was a sense that Mr 110% wasn't exactly playing 110% for WFC towards the back end of last season. What is important now is that we reinvest wisely, one way or another. I don't expect us to splash out the whole £4.75m in one go, in fact I don't expect us to spend even half of that. However, I want WFC to have somebody there who can if nothing else at least show the ropes to our promising-yet-still-haven't-made-it youngsters. Somebody like a Mick Harford when he played for us, IYSWIM. Wonder if Billy Dodds is available? And more to the point, have Rangers forgiven us for Marcus Gayle yet?

Whilst we're on the subject of players going, I'm going to politely suggest something : can people just stop trying to be quite so anal when reading WFC press releases? Just because CK bigged up the youngsters doesn't mean to say that we're not going to sign anyone else, we HAVE tried to sign Chris Armstrong so the intent was there. I'm surprised somebody hasn't decided to take the comments and twist it so that it's a dead cert that MK is a goer (all from a well placed source of course). Not yet anyway. Caution is commendable, sheer paranoia is not.

One player who won't be joining us is the Notts County CB, Ian Richardson. £300k but he failed a medical, which makes a change from all the players we sign but suddenly become cripples. Hmm, have we started to employ BMA registered quacks? Indeed, have we started to employ medical staff who have even been within 50 miles of a medical school? Whatever, he ain't coming.

BRG was on some programme last night about chairmen of London teams, but he came out with some interesting stuff about WFC - he very highly rates TB, reckons that WHEN (his words) WFC get promotion he'll start bankrolling WFC again. Hopefully with a bit more success this time. Also said that the stadium will more or less be in the SW London/Surrey corridor. So, what's the significance in all this? Well, whilst many people seem to stick voodoo dolls in CK every night, BRG still holds most of the power at WFC. CK is basically WFC's business manager, a vital role in itself and one which seems to work pretty well. But it's worth remembering where the buck ultimately stops at WFC - lest we forget that Hammam found out the v--e--r--y hard way....

 

3 July 2001

New month, new update, and we've managed to sign somebody. Jermaine Darlington, much raved about QPR defender .... er...... midfielder, costing us a rather obscene £200k. Even more obscene when you consider that this time last year JD would have cost us £1m. Should have taken the dough eh, Mr Wright? Their loss. Anyway, don't expect this to be the last WFC signing - you've heard everyone we've been linked with. The Matt Carbon story seems a popular one, being reported on a couple of reliable places and TwatTalk as well, though whether anything will happen with that I don't know. Don't get your hopes up too high on that one.

Other than that, it's pretty quite on the WFC front. The players are back in training, GA.com reckons that Adam Nowland is one of the fittest people at the club, Euell may be off to Charlton for £4.5m soon (sounds low but remember the transfer system is fucked), we still can't get rid of Neil Ardley and Michael Hughes says he wants to stay with us. Hmm, even after his alleged bust-up at the Naarwich game which allegedly entailed him storming out? He won't be a WFC player this time next year.

Could Palace be going bust again? Today's Daily Mail reckon that the club are just as close to administration as ever - this despite Jordan's purchasing of crappy Alba jumbotrons and new sign on the CPFC club shop. Image is everything I suppose. They've denied it of course, but if the Mail is correct that could seriously fuck them up. And I doubt if they will count on the financial generosity of a few Dons fans this time around.........

Oh, and the newly relaid SP pitch has reportedly gone a nice shade of brown. It doesn't rain but ....

The statutory site updates now : the EOSP is still going, despite my inbox looking slightier empty in comparison to last year (guess I timed it a bit crap this time). The much-hyped new design is going good, I've finally decided on how I'm going to do it, all I need to do now is to collate it all - I may time it so that the EOSP results come out as part of the redesign. Should be fun. I do however need the following from anyone in the know : 1) a place that will give me just one or two free web pages with no banners, popup ads or fees whatsoever. I've had some people tell me about these places which give me 10mb free (with bloody banners to boot), but I don't want as much as that for what I'm planning. 2) A new place to store the SW19 url (the sw19s-army.co.uk thing for the uninitiated) for as little cost as possible. If you ever wonder why when you try to enter this site it always breaks down, it's because the mob who supply the sw19s-army.co.uk thing are basically crap. Also, if anyone can tell me how to change the DNS info on it (is that what it's called when you swap one .co.uk provider to another?) I'd be most grateful. All info gratefully received, after all, it will keep SW19 going for a while yet...