NEWS

30 July 2000

You may have to excuse me today, only HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am still coming to terms with the result HAHAHAHAHAHA yesterday that says Millwall 6 Crystal Palace 0 HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, I haven't actually stopped HAHAHAHAHAHAH laughing yet - I was actually there at the New Den, and I saw HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA an absolutely abysmal performance by our landlords HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Jesuz, they haven't had a very good pre-season have they? 5-1 to Crawley, 4-0 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA to Reading and now this. If nothing else, we should get at least a point off them HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, but this really has creased me up HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Stop it.

Dear oh dear (HAHAH..... better stop there). Anyway, not really a great deal to say. Michael Thomas and Ian Selley are now officially Wimbledon players, as is Paul Robinson. Whilst both ex-Gooners are a little slow, TB obviously has a great deal of time for them. And remember, these two players are the only ones at WFC who have actually won something. Paul Robinson is a great young hope, though he has to ask his mum whether he could go down to t'smoke. I assume the reason he took so long to sign was to actually find a pub in London that sold Newky Brown. Either that or else he was told not to talk to any dogs whilst in that London. Best then if he avoids the women in North London.....

Elsewhere, David Ginola has now signed for Villa for, er, £3m. Isn't that what Villa wanted for Merson? And doesn't this re-open the story up about Merse joining us? Nah, it won't happen - will it?

Lame transfer rumours : Cottee to WFC. Didn't know he played for Arsenal. Jason Euell to Highfield Road since Robbie Keane went for £13m. Well, I suppose it would be apt if Mr 110% got sent to Coventry. Also, Marc Overmars has joined Barcelona for £25m. The same Marc Overmars that was chronically outmarked by one Duncan Jupp. Fuck knows how much Juppy will be worth then - £35m plus free use of La Manga? If so, it's best if they don't let him near the golf course......

BTW, did I tell you that Millwall beat Palace six ni.....HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Sorry.



27 July 2000

OK, here is an important announcement : as you've probably gathered the last few weeks, SW19 is currently updated once every 3 or 4 days, as opposed to daily. Unfortunately, this period of time is more and more likely to become de rigeur in the near future. Admittedly, news has been a little bit sparse, and this IS pre-season after all, but for one reason or another it's becoming harder for me to do it daily. So, until I can raise the energy to update daily again, expect the news section to remain dormant for longer periods. That said, check daily anyway, I will sometimes update more often. This does not mean that you can stop putting in articles and the like - in fact, the more articles you send, the more likely I'll be to update the news sooner.....

Right, now all that bollocks is out of the way, let's examine the second pre-season match : Celsi Wannabies 1 Us 2, and usual pre-season fayre. Quite a bit turn-out from us as it goes, in a crowd of about 2000, we must have taken 1500. In fact, it was more than last time we played them. Anyway, as for the match itself, Michael Thomas (OK) and Ian Selly (not so OK) played, so did Mark Williams and Des Byrne. Williams looked very good alongside the returning Trond Andersen, unfortunately Wilmott and Williams didn't. Oh well. Des Byrne looked solid, so did Alex Hawkins. One of our trialists, one Marcus Stergiopoulus, also played and was reasonally impressive. Wayne Gray kept being offside (shades of Andy Clarke?), and apart from Lionel "TB really rates me" Morgan nobody else really caught the eye. Well, except Ardley, who scored twice. One thing, can we EVER keep a lead for longer than 10 seconds? We did it last night, we did it FAR too many times last season. Jesuz, and here was me thinking that everything was going to be pukka in the TB world.....

Spotted at Kingstonian - one Chris Perry. Yeah, he may be a Womble and all that, but the undeniable fact is, he signed for Spurz..... also spotted, JH who (it was commented) "didn't look well at all". Hmm, maybe that myth about JH having a separate fridge for beer isn't quite as far fetched as first thought. Oh, and did you know that Charles Koppel is from South Africa and once rowed for England? Neither did I. Wonder how I can fit in a dig at OGEM for rowing with everyone?

Guess we can forget about Paul Merson finally. Well, until Xmas anyway. Gregory has said that the coke-sniffer can stay at Villa Park providing he plays well till Xmas. At least that means that we don't have to pay his wages til then.

24 July 2000

Just before I start - SW19's ARMY is now officially Windows 2000 compatible. And I've now got a 17" monitor (Sony triniton, just to rub it in). Will wonders never cease?

Anyway, onto WFC if I must. And confusion is reigning all around. Firstly, the "big" story today is that Paul Robinson, who was touted as our new £1.5m signing from Newk, isn't coming. Apparently. Something to do with the price of houses in London, supposedly, although the original source of the story (the OS) published the story then got rid of it quick. So, what's going on? Some sources say he's already signed, others say the deal is going to go through this week. And TB at the Meet The Manager (see below) thing said he'd signed. Confused? Yeah, me too. The Merson situation is again weird - WFC have spoken to the player, claims that he's interested (again, in full public), and then Merson says that he's never said such a thing. So is WFC lying? Is Paul Merson lying? Hell, this could get even more complex before it gets sorted one way or the other. Also add Michael Thomas to the weirdness list : apparently he's not playing for us because (a) he hasn't accepted our terms, or (b) his international clearance hasn't come through from Benfica yet. The first one is self-explanatory, although given his problems with Benfica it's a little bit weird. But the second one puzzles me - he's from England, he's playing for an English club, and he can't play for them? Go figure.

Two people who have signed - Mark Williams, CB from Watford, and Des Byrne, LB from St Pats in Dublin. Both for "undisclosed fees" which means they were either obscenely cheap or obscenely expensive.

And so onto the first pre-season game of the, er, pre-season. 1963 Amateur Cup Losers 0 1963 Amateur Cup Winners 1 and what a humdinger that wasn't. OK, I'm being un-necessarily harsh, and to be fair this is probably not the same team who will take the field against Tranmere. Though given the shite last year it probably wouldn't hurt. Many of the youngsters took the field : Damien Francis, Rob Gier, Alex Hawkins, Patrick Agyemang and Ansah Owlusu (who scored) took the eye. Sadly, I didn't think much of either Gayle or JH, guess they still think they were playing last season. Mind you, playing in last year's shirts didn't help. Ian Feuer also played - fuck me, he's tall. And he's not bad either, he can handle well. Guess the Boston Celtics dipped out on him.

Meanwhile, after that game, the long awaited Meet The Manager event. And actually, I didn't think much of it, certainly compared to last years anyway. Trouble is, TB isn't going to do any major ground-breaking statements - nothing he said there I hadn't heard before). We all know that it's going to be difficult next season, we all know he's going to bring the youngsters through, we all know that only those who want to play for WFC will be given the shirt, that selling Maggie was good business etc etc. It was interesting though to hear him hinting that he felt that we were too one-dimensional (and he wasn't referring just to last season...). I think he did seem a little bit taken aback by our opinion of Euell and Cort, though to his credit he wasn't going to lambast anyone in public just to get some cheap heat (wrestling term, can't beat it :) ), he was getting enough of that already. More interesting was the stuff from David Barnard - you all know that we're taking over the Scope shop in Wimbledon. But better still, a ticket outlet is being hinted at. Also, there will be merchandise available at SP, in the old travel shop, though given the amount of people who don't buy stuff at SP, I can't really see the point of it being a permanent fixture there except on WFC matchdays. Still, it's nice to be back in the swing of things again....

Just one more thing - Newk played in a friendly against DC United at Washington over the weekend, including a certain player who cost them £7m. Now, this player played, and was dubbed "ineffectual". My opinion? Sorry, I haven't stopped laughing...


20 July 2000

And the big story is - Paul Merson. Well, we've put in a £3m bid for him anyway, and depending on who you listen to, it's either been accepted or rejected. Merson himself is keen on it, this according to JH, Merson's agent (who actually contacted WFC before WFC made public their interest) and the man himself. On the flip side, John Gregory has issued a hands-off warning. Which is weird if stories are eminating that Villa (or should that be Smug Ellis?) have accepted the 3 mil? There will be much more to this story I'm sure - what started off with BRG saying that we could afford him could well turn out to be one of the biggest transfer coups of the summer. I hope this ain't a cynical ploy to increase season ticket sales :)

Speaking of signings, we have signed someone. Apparently. Paul Robinson, Geordie lad, from Newk, 21 years old, striker for £1m. Currently being done in a hotel room, though hopefully that won't put him off signing for us. I guess this is one of the younger players TB wants in.

BTW, I apologise profusely for the slight lack of updates recently, but I've just wrangled myself a new part-time job. So I hope you can forgive me.


16 July 2000

The "big" story this weekend concerns TB with Tony Adams. You should know the story by now - TB bought up Adams professionally, the two are reportedly close friends, and Adams' contract at Highbury is up next season. So, why is it making the rounds? Firstly, TB clearly wants a new #2 - although he uses Stewart Robson much more than MH, he clearly still wants that added help. Secondly, it's becoming quite clear that Adams may end up being surplus to requirements at Arsenil : they're reportedly looking at a new CB, and given his injury he could well end up being squeezed out there anyway. Thirdly, Adams may wish to start his coaching direction now, which is reportedly what he wants to do - I doubt if Wenger will stand in his way. Finally, and probably most importantly, TB when asked was very "shit I didn't want anyone to find out" about it. Wait and see on this one

Add Charlton to the list of gullible interested parties wishing to clinch Mr 110%. £5m is what they're quoting for him. Now, this would be funny, as (a) we get shot of him, (b) we get the dough, and (c) he'll be playing first div football soon anyway. Thing is, when at least three clubs are linked with a player all for the same price, and that player has been granted a transfer request, it often means he's signed for another club but is only being used to make "stories". Again, wait and see, though given how he apparently has been doing major strops in training, I bet that TB can't wait for the shit to go.

Speaking of TB, the Sunday Mirror interviewed him today. And this is some of the interesting stuff he came out with : "There has always been a fear at Wimbledon about change. People feared that if we changed the style or the culture we would go down.". Well, that may well explain last year, certainly. It also sums up everything that SW19 has been saying for a while now. Still, enough bragging - "We went down anyway, so the fear has gone and the time is right for real change. I have new ideas and new philosophies, and the staff here share that. We want to change the culture of the club and be seen by people as a team that wants to play football - still difficult to beat, but a good side.". In other words, there now seems to be no excuse - the players did things "their" way last year (apologies for sounding like a broken record), and we all know what happened. TB is now laying down the law big style, and he doesn't have external influences...... "" I want to take this club forward in a different direction, using all the knowledge I have built up from studying European football to give Wimbledon club a new image.". Woo-hoo, that will go down well. "I am going to shake things up." - hope so - ""Whether I am successful or not, I am going to do this the Terry Burton way.". Well he doesn't have Hammam around for a start, so that'll make a change

TB continues - ""Carl and Jason wanted to leave, and Ben was never going to sign a new deal while we were in the First Division.". Remember what I said earlier about Mr 110% probably being sold already? The way TB is talking, this could well be reality. Interesting about Maggie as well, guess that it all boiled down to money : I don't know how much Maggie wanted, but it was bound to be too much for a First Div side


14 July 2000

Went down the training ground today to watch a training session, believe it or not. Actually, it's the first time I've ever gone down there, and as it's the last time we'll probably be using the RE then it was a bit of a special occasion. So, how many people went down there? One - me. Well, Barry Perry was there, but I didn't speak to him. Actually, fuck all was happening - the youth team were training, because the first team were out on manoevers. But through keeping my ears and eyes open, this is what I did find out : one, a certain player who wears #14 isn't a too popular person on the training ground, because he keeps lying about his injury and not wishing to train. Saw what looked like Jason Euell walking around as though he didn't want to be there - and he was wearing #1 on his shirt. In your dreams, pal. People like Patrick Agemangye (will I ever spell his name right?) and Wayne Gray were out with the first team, which is good to see. As you know, Bryn Halliwell has gone to Clyde, so we're taking some goalkeeper from Bournemouth (forgot his name) on trial. And for the reserve team posse - Russell Williamson will be going on trial to either Bolton, Bournemouth or Morton. Couldn't actually make out what they were saying...... all in all, not really a productive half an hour. Next time, I'll take somebody with me :)

WB's joined the "exodus" - he's gone back to his old club. Shame, but after his initial burst he fizzled and flopped. That and his alledged playboy antics during the E2000 playoff against Denmark blotted his copybook with TB.

JH got fined £5000 for being over-wound up vs Bradford. Tsk. Also, there was a story going around that he is looking elsewhere for a club (this was on Teletext). This contradicts even what his weasle agent said in public, so somebody is REALLY looking to shit-stir



11 July 2000

In probably one of the most amazing pieces of news I've heard, JH's said he going to stay. Well, actually Johnathon Barnett has said that, but I find it absolutely amazing. Why? Because JH has never actually said that he wants to go - true, Barnett has been making loads of noise but I know of at least two occasions where JH has been slightly miffed over Barnett's dealing. None the less, it's a great boost for us, and should at least soothe the nerves of the slightly more paranoid of Womble

Further proof that going to N17 turns even the most mild mannered of men into a complete cunt : Maggie is now going around saying how much Spurz are going to get into Europe - yeah, right - and that he's glad he's gone to Spurz because he "used to play on a council pitch where he had to clear dog shit off before we trained". Or something. Bastard. Anyway, here's something for you - not only have we spent £6m on a new training ground, but in the interim, from next Monday we're using the Bank Of England Sports field the other side of Richmond Park. It's a private thing, and I'm not too sure what the public access for Dons fans will be - I personally reckon that some provision should (and probably will) be made just for ordinary Wombles to turn up and watch, even if to get in you have to produce an ST, or a club membership card. It wouldn't hurt, and it provides that non-purchasable thing called goodwill. The BoE facilities are reportedly pretty good, much better than RE, and it's further proof that the club are becoming much more professional in their outlook. Also, I didn't actually know this, but did you know that before they went to Bisham Abbey, the England national team trained there?

Finally, SH has bought Cardiff City. So much for the reason he left WFC was because he was getting fed up with running a football club. Anyway, this is what he plans for them - a redeveloped Ninian Park? Er, no. A huge array of talented players? Not quite. Check this out - the team is to be renamed the Cardiff Celts, play in green and white, change their badge to a Celtic cross and rename themselves the Dragons. I kid you not - this is on the BBC website. Dublin Dons Mark II if ever I saw it. And what does the Father of WFC Cardiff Celts..er Circus....er City say? "There is a dream for Wales and Cardiff, and we must reach every corner of Wales to make the dreams come true, even the man on the tip of Anglesey must support the Celts every Saturday afternoon". Read that bit again - isn't that exactly the same rhetoric that he used for the Dublin Dons? Can you imagine the good people of Wrexham and (especially) Swansea dropping their alligiences to support Hammam's wank fantasy? Oh, and he also predicts that the fans of Cardiff will no longer cause any trouble.... dear oh dear. Never mind, one good thing has come out of this - at least the whole world is now realising just what a total spasmo Hammam is. I'm glad he's no longer ruining WFC.


9 July 2000

Oh please let this be true : Leeds apparently want Jason Euell. For £5m. And here's me thinking that David O'Leary had some sense. Mind you, I suppose he's doing TB a big favour.....

Speaking of TB, it's interesting to see what he's trying to do, who he's trying to get in etc, and here's another. He tried to get Lee Dixon as our #2, only to be told that he wanted to play another season at Highbury. Never mind that we got turned down, the fact that TB is openly making moves to get "his" men in is one reason to be cheerful. Some may complain that we're slowly being turned from the Norway international side into the Arsenal 1989 side, but then anything's got to be better than Kinnear trying to turn us into Spurz.

More on Maggie : apparently, he's signed a "pre-signing contract". Or something. Which translates as : he's gonna go. Oh well, the figure quoted is over £6m now, which you have to be pretty dumb to turn down. Now, there will be the inevitable complaints about the "out" list being slightly longer than the "in" list at WFC, so I'll put my $0.02 in. Hands up who wanted Cort and Euell to stay? Hands up who could say that they expected Sully to stay AND pass a lie detector at the same time? We were all complaining not so long ago about certain players staying, and now people are complaining that they're going. For fucks sake, give it a rest - you can't have it both ways. FACT: if you're going to rebuild a team, then you will have to make sacrifices like Maggie. The fact that TB has got quite a few on trial does at least show he ain't sitting back. Some are getting worried that we aren't breaking the bank for players. Well, look at teams like Blackburn, like Fulham, like Birmingham, like Wolves. Even Palace when Goldberk took them over - do we want to go down that path? Some are wondering why we're not so keen on signing Jermaine Darlington : well, perhaps TB doesn't feel he's worth the money - as a quick poll, I wonder how many of the current dissenters are the ones who complained when Drillo bought in Lund and Dry Martini to try and solve various goalscoring problems? Many more than I would imagine....

Speaking of AL - FC Porto want him. Wonder who'll get the transfer fee if that goes through?

Finally, I know that people are nagging me about links etc. I will do them in the next couple of days - I have already gone through some of the current links on the site, but I've got a few dead ones so you will just have to bear with me. Please?



8 July 2000

Bloody hell, I leave the country for about a day, and suddenly we're into transfer confusions on a JH scale. Here's what it seems to break down to : Maggie is wanted by Spurz for between £5m to £6.5m, depending on who you read. We think it's bad business not to sell him, so we let him go and speak to Spurz. Kerb crawler Bleat decides to tell the world that Maggie had a medical on the Thursday, even though Maggie was training with us on the Thursday. Maggie DOES go to Spurz on the Friday, where he presumably genuinely has a medical. Now this is where it gets real complex : Maggie reportedly fails it, thanks to his ankle injury. This gets reported on the WFC OS and an unoffical Spurz line. However, Spurz officially claim it's not true, and the delay is actually due to Maggie not sorting out personal terms with them. And the whole thing looks very stupid indeed. Frankly, I don't actually know what to make of the situation : Maggie is very close to going now, but there is talk that Maggie would actually prefer Sunderland (bet Nicky Summerbie won't like that). So, is this a ploy by Maggie to get more money out of Spurz? Is this a ploy by Spurz to get us to lower our price? Or is this a rather messy way of Sunderland just so "happening" to get him. Or there is another option not yet considered : the whole thing could fall through and we'll be left with yet another expensive cripple in our ranks. Whatever, I'm not too sure we actually need this at the moment.

Some people are getting on TB's back because he hasn't signed anyone yet. TB's response is that he doesn't want to panic buy, which is probably fair enough. However, he's got a couple of people on trial with us, namely Michael "92nd minute at Anfield 1989" Thomas, and Ian Selley, a 25 year old midfielder whose last club was Fulham. Now, these two are both ex-Arsenil men, and indeed Thomas was a prodigy of TB. In fact, he asked Tezza for a trial after leaving Benfica, TB told him "OK, providing you aren't late for training" and Thomas was one of the first there. And he's actually still "young" enough at 32 to keep playing for us for a couple of years at least. Now, Thomas was always a good player in my book, and it's a good idea to keep him there if he impresses enough. Think about it - OGEM's best purchase was Mick Harford (OK, his coaching is shit, but...) and as they say, class is permanent. Plus, his attitude is far better than some I could mention....

According to It Must Be Dons, they're training twice a day, which didn't exactly go down well this time last year. We also train on Saturdays during pre-season : one certain partying drug taking stroppy git of a player who goes on holiday to Cyprus is reported to have said "let's get this shit over with so we can go home early. It's Saturday". I think said player didn't perform on Saturdays in general.

Found out where the new club shop will be, and I have to admit to being a bit surprised : it's actually by Blockbuster Video on Wimbledon Broadway (see, Yellow Coat, I got that right at last :) ), next door to the big nightclub in Wimbledon, opposite Wimbledon Theatre and diametrically opposite to KFC. So although it's not in my ideal area, it's still near enough to the town centre not to worry. I assume that it's there because it's the cheapest outlet available that's nearest to the town centre - though I'm not too sure of the wisdom of putting the shop next to a nightclub. Glass fronts and drunk Celsi fans under the influence of E never were a good combination. Parking may not be that bad as it goes : I guess you can drop your car directly outside. It's not a vacant shop unit we're taking over either : the current inhabitants are Scope. Or the charity formerly known as the Spastics Society. I am NOT making any correlation between the current owners and the new owners........

From the Nice To Know It's Not Just Us file : Fulham are buggered with redeveloping Craven Cottage. So they may well end up groundsharing with Celsi if they're not careful. Also, as we all know, Palace are safe and I think they've bought the freehold of SP from Uncle Ron. So they're guaranteed to play at SP for the next 10 years. Where this leaves us I have no idea whatsoever. I guess the fact that at this moment in time the only presence WFC has there is a) the offices and b) the occasional advert for Tiny and the WFC badge on the Arthur Waite roof shows where our long term priorities are. And it ain't in SE25.

Anders Lund and Dry Martini must be wondering whose cat they ran over : according to SW19's Norwegian correspondent, Claes : "Andreas and Martin have not been played from start which has been very discussed in the press. Molde is a club who has a huge reservoir of good young players and they were in a position to take any injuries or suspensions. It is now said that the sudden import of two star players in mid-season has had a bad impact on the climate in the club. These two should be stars on the first team but the manager obviously don´t find them fit enough to play from start .... Andreas was their top scorer last season and Martin has been scoring for Stabæk almost every game for years.... After receiving proffessional training they are not good enough for the first team - hmmmmm.". Molde have been playing awful since AL and Dry Martini returned. Just what the hell has happened to them? Unless they started developing Jason Euell's habits.......

One more thing for tonight : check out Regulars and a nice bit from one Mr D. Challinor.


5 July 2000

Great news again - we've finally conned persuaded a club with more money than sense to pay £7m smakers for Carl Cort - Newcastle are the gullible club. I can just imagine him upfront with Shearer - though the England captain will be glad that there's somebody else around even slower than he is. I have been in two minds about Cort leaving - on the one hand I felt that he should stay and slum it out with us in the first, on the other hand I'm glad the sulky whinging lanky pile of goat shit has fucked off. The slow walk off against Villa and the much quicker run-off against Soton said it all. Still, I doubt we should be too upset about him going, even if we all want to see him get his just-deserts : if he shows as much effort up on Tyneside as he did in his last few games with us, he will find himself becoming as popular as somebody wearing a Sunderland shirt on Bigg Market on Tyne-Wear derby night.

Anyway, what now? Well, BRG has reportedly said that we can afford to lose Cort and (possibly) Maggie, and will probably give the money to TB to strengthen other positions. One place which will be OK for next season will be Trond's - he's withdrawn his transfer request, which is something as he never actually put one in. Go figure. He will however only commit himself to one more season if we don't go up next year. So, let's play like a team hellbent on promotion, eh? The players have absolutely NO excuse now...

Went to downtown Wimbledon today, just to follow up on the new club shop : the old Natworst bank has been sold, but it doesn't look like a shop unit one bit, and is on St Georges Road anyway, so I guess we can forget it. The outlet opposite Centre Court is actually inbetween Game and JD Sports, not HMV and BT - sorry for the duff info. The new parade of shops being built doesn't look as though it'll be ready for the end of the summer (the shell's up but they'll have to go some to finish it), which leaves a double-fronted shop unit near Pizza Hut. Hmm.

4 July 2000

WFC is to open a club shop in Wimbledon High Street later this summer. And about fucking time too :) This is the second of the big three of the club's major off-field regeneration projects that are being fulfilled (the first is at PGPF, and guess what the third one is), and this is a BIG step forward. Now, there is a "but" here, and you can bet that SW19 would find something wrong with it : I can't help thinking that this is 4 years too late. The merchandising boom was during E96, and typically we missed it. I'm also a little bit puzzled as to where people who want to buy merchandise on matchdays will actually buy it. I presume some sort of provision will be made for it. Still, it's finally arriving, and for that I'm extremely grateful. And the marketing department will maybe stop have people complaining :)

So, where will it be? What will be in it? At this stage, nobody actually knows, but here's a few pointers. Firstly, there is last time of looking a rather nice outlet inbetween the BT shop and HMV in Wimbledon High Street up for grabs. Due to the fact that it's going to be open before the summer ends makes me believe that it won't be in the new parade being developed by the side of Cash Converters (those local will know where I mean). I doubt if it will be as far down as the recently deserted Comet by the cinema (and that's Wimbledon Broadway anyway), nor do I think that it'll be as far up as Fielders. Mind you, where the Natworst bank used to be (diametrically opposite Lloyds) may be a promising place. Let's wait and see. As for what's in it, well, I expect some merchandise and some serious moorish factor attached for once. Anyone who's been to the Fulham shop will testify that the lack of merchandise is irrelevant if you're tempted to buy it. I also expect the club finally getting the Football In The Community base that they (to be fair to them) have wanted for a while. Ticket office? Well, we can but hope......

One more thing about it for now - now would be a good time to bombard the club with merchandise you'd like to see being sold. Although fags, lager and condoms would be slightly problematic, I for one would like to see things like the 1975 Leeds game, the 1986 FA Cup game against Everton and probably a few others as well being stocked in the new shop. Get your suggestions to Sharon and/or Reg now.

Season ticket sales are "very encouraging" according to Sir Reg. Guess that the amount of people who aren't renewing their season tickets because of the Carl Cortesque attitude really are being checked by the amount of people who feel they owe the club something.

New day, new Cort To Spurz rumour. Add Maggie in the mix as well - he's been linked to Spurz and Liverpool (where it's alledged he's already agreed to sign). Apparently, the Spurz fans are not too chuffed at being linked to The Most Pretigious Team In London (c. Alan Mullery). Doubt if they'll be overly chuffed at paying £7m for him either.

Of course, TB ain't having none of it, brother. The guy must be really fed up at having to say "no player will leave the club unless it is right for us on a number of factors. All of our players are under contracts so we are in not in a position where we have to sell." . I'm sure if I had a quid for every Cort To Spurz rumour I could buy Crystal Palace. Or put down-payment on a Celsi season ticket.

Further to yesterday's revelation that REMBE is the assistant manager of sorts, he's announced that he'll play for one more year before retiring. Now, I'm not exactly his greatest fan at the moment, but he will probably be very useful as a "super sub" for us : after all, he clearly couldn't last 90 minutes last year and would really in truth only ever last 30 minutes in the first division. Further fuel to the REMBE situation may come from deepest Bedfordshire, where Lennie Lawrence has been asked to depart. And what famous ex-Luton player with managerial experience comes to mind? One Mick Harford. Lives in the area still, hero at Kenilworth Road : natural choice, surely? I was joking about the managerial experience bit of course.


3 July 2000

Pre-season training is under way, and despite there being a story that we were training at the Bank Of England sports field, we are still using RE. Bastards, I would have gone had I known just a little bit sooner.... anyway, W&WW were down there, and you can read what he saw if you go to his site. However, I bet Cort and Euell must be really sick that they're back slumming it with us. Not quite as sick as Barnett though, ha ha. REMBE has signed a new deal, one year, and he's being assistant manager. I have to be honest, I still don't trust his motives, especially considering his conduct last season, all I can hope is that his contract states that he can't do any meeja work. It destroys players, especially at WFC. Maggie and JH are there, sporting skinheads, and neither of them look like they're going anywhere soon. All in all, they look quite focused apparently. Although how many times did they look focused on the training pitch last year......?

Normally, every other web site seems to get hot exclusives and I don't. However, for once I've got one, and unlike many other "exclusives" I can 100% prove this : today, WFC paid Molde FC £1m sterling via the Royal Bank Of Scotland. So, conspiracy theorests, get working on Nog bankrolling. And try not to forget that it's a) the start of the WFC financial year, and b) we probably owe Molde dough on either Trond or Anders. Pretty lame exclusive I agree, but hey, at least I've got one finally :)

Quick warning about the champagne song : the club are apparently threatening to clamp down on anyone who sings it. Why, I don't know, but remember that it does make reference to two illegal actions (drug taking and bestiality), and I would imagine that the police have probably "warned" the club about it (the Leeds police in particular were pretty uptight about it), so try and think of a cleaner version in future....


2 July 2000

Pre-season training starts tomorrow, no idea who'll be there. Suffice to say, I bet Carl Cort will try and find some excuse to cry off whilst Jason Euell will sit in the corner and be stoned. SW19 will try to get down there if he can be arsed.

Oh, and check out Sounds - I've finally got round to MP3ing TB's Radio 5 interview last week. Some good stuff.....