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NEWS
NOTE:
Unless there are substantial sums of money involved, I do not give
permission for other clubs to use my match reports in their match day programmes.
Use your own bloody material.
24 May 2008
Well, it's a sunnyish summer Saturday, the football season is about to clock off for about a couple of weeks, and not a lot seems to be happening, so an ideal time to do an SW19 update.
Firstly, if you haven't done so, why not sign up for the brand new SW19 mailing list? And if you have, you might need to do so again...
Secondly, and almost just as painful to deal with, transfers seem to be a bit on the slow side. As of the time of writing, we've only officially added Alan Inns from H&R to our capture of Lewis Taylor. And, apparently, Inns joining with a pay cut. We're linked with many more, thankfully, in fact I believe it's around 20 players. Obviously, we aren't going to have 20 players joining us - in fact, I'm not too sure if we'll have 20 players full stop come the BSS kickoff - but it just seems frustrating the whole thing. Especially when you hear we're linked with certain players like Jean-Michel Sigere, who apparently turn up with an agent and a personalised number plate, then you find they bugger off elsewhere.
To me, the big reason for this current frustration is the fact that we got shot of eight players quite efficiently. I won't bother going over old ground as to why they left, although TBH none of them were a surprise. But it proves once and for all that getting people in is at times harder than showing a Franchise fan how to wipe their arse unaided. That's the thing - right now, aren't you just a little bit concerned that we'll end up with a load of young kids because we didn't get anyone in?
Perhaps we're all being unfair though - players are on holiday after all, and have our released eight found clubs themselves yet? Although fortunately for Danny Webb, the local glue factory doesn't shut down over the summer.
But the real reason I'm updating today is the OS. Now, our official site gets a fair amount of abuse, and justifiably so, but it has stumbled across a rather decent new feature. If you haven't read it yet, check this out.
Read it? Good. Quite impressive isn't it? That's the kind of thing that OSes should be doing, and credit where it's due. Some damn interesting stuff on there..
Like this bit. Wonder who the player/club asking for "silly money" are? One thing about editing this site is that you do get people offering you some interesting insights into who's doing what. If the club getting referred to here is the same one I was told were being arsey over us bidding for a player, let's just say I'm not surprised at all. It certainly justifies my belief of the modus operandi of a certain "drinking club". And it certainly confirms why we're best to be dismissive in our own unique way when we get the "classless bandwagoners" jibe hurled at us....
While you're trying to scrabble round over that last comment, why do I get the feeling we won't see Robin Shroot back in an AFCW shirt next season?
But the most intriguing, eyebrow raising comment from perhaps the whole article is this one:
"One interesting feature this close season is that some of the players we have been talking to couch their expectations in terms of 'net' money. In other words, they want guaranteed pay, after tax. It seems only to be in football where employees talk in terms of net money, but perhaps that is a legacy of the bad old days when some players were paid outside the tax system. Such days are long gone, of course."
I sense an act of subtlety here, though I can't honestly think why.
Seriously, in a wider context - I wonder just what goes on in non-league football that we don't know about? Sure you cynical lot could pick a club out, look at them, their crowds and their spending habits and go "hmm". I couldn't possibly comment. But seriously, am I the only one who thinks there's a bit of a Wild West feel to non-league?
I wrote exactly why I think that here, and if anything that just seems more apt now than ever before. And this is yet another reason why I want us to progress up as far as possible - the higher you go the more the leagues seem to have a grip on things. If we think the BSS is more "professional" yet still suffers from clubs suddenly going belly-up, christ knows what we think of lower down the divisions.
Then again, it's not as though we get decent leadership from those on high. During Darlogate, I often made the comment that I wondered how many other clubs forgot to fill in forms yet were strangely never punished in the way we were. The insinuation was, because of the "drinking club" mentality that seems to grip the Ryman, anything that could have got one of the "favoured" clubs into shit would be treated with a "don't worry dear boy, we'll pretend it just didn't happen OK? Want another Pimms?". Probably me being paranoid for thinking that, and I certainly couldn't prove it in a court of law, but you do wonder.
Actually, I wished I hadn't mentioned Darlogate, because it's about to set me off again. Seriously, I can't believe even a good two seasons down the line how fucking angry the whole situation still makes me. When you read the way we appear to conduct ourselves, compared with the horseshit thrown back at us, it reminds you just how good us winning at Staines was. No, even now it hasn't sunk in, but reading back reminds you just what life was like a mere month or two back.
Speaking of that playoff, no doubt Boon is still whinging about losing to us in the playoff finals - I thought that it would be purely down to the "foul" on their goalkeeper costing them a chance at the BSS. Then again, he's on the Ryman board of directors AND Ryman representative on the FA Council. It would have been absolutely tragic had Staines got promoted to the BSS and he had to forfeit both of those. But I'm sure he would have heroically dropped both rather nice sounding positions of power in order to become a relative nobody in the BSS. Wouldn't he?
More I think about it, the more I'm convinced we were that unpopular in the Ryman. And might explain why Staines are still bitching and whining. Obviously we were far too big for the division (club size anyway), and we all knew it, and our very presence rubbed some up the wrong way. But it's little things, like when you read the Conf South website that has a nice "Welcome" with our name underneath it that it makes you realise what we've left behind.
Did we ever get a "Welcome" when we entered the Ryman? Like fuck we did. Already in the short month since we got promoted we've had a genuine welcome from the likes of Bath City and Newport County. Worcester City even went so far as to say that WFC were our "precursors". The rivalries may turn out to be bad tempered, but at least they look at us as somebody to test themselves against, and there's nothing wrong with that. Is it any co-incidence that the team we seemed to get on well with most of all last season was Chelmsford?
See, the likes of us, CCFC, Newport, Bath, probably the likes of Worcester, and certainly people like H&W are more or less in the same boat and probably have the same attitude as each other. We all seem to want to make that step up to the Conference, though with differing degrees of success thus far. There's more of a respect there than I sensed in the Ryman. The BSS seems a competitive league and not a drinking club league. You can tell that in the vibe already, and we're not even offiically ratified yet. Hope our top brass don't get too carried away with a Saturday in Blackpool though ;)
Which is why I have to laugh when the OS mentions it has to go to the Ryman annual dinner. Especially when it says "valued old friends". A quote from Turdey - "We would seek to to ask all clubs in our league if they are happy with the action of the Football Association and, if not, to tell us that we can decide what, if any, action to take". That comment came after we got the 18 points reduced to three and the FA issued a binding decision BTW. You know, the same binding decision from the FA that caused AFCW to be set up in the first place. Just in case you'd forgotten. Still, I'm sure we can speak about it with our valued old friends.....
I imagine that it will be quite cordial an occasion though, these things usually are. I do sincerely hope though that none of our party point out to Turdey that he's supposed to stand down when he's 75, and not try and stay on. Rules are most certainly rules, eh?
Anyway, fuck the bitter old cunts and fuck the rest of them. We've got a Conference South club to run and maintain. Looks like building work is finally going to start on the Telegraph Crossword Stand, although can we really get in 200 extra seats and a roof by August? Not to mention the internal refurb? Can see the first couple of weeks on our travels, somehow.
Also, interesting to note that despite all the euphoria with regard ST sales, we've only got 40 at most who are brand new holders. It's quite possible that for now we've reached a ceiling over who's likely to buy them - obviously some of our existing holders are switching to five-year deals, and no doubt some previous ST holders who have since lapsed. But those expecting 4k+ crowds regularly may be slightly disappointed. We may be in a higher league now, but we're still not really in a high league. There's a difference.
Still, it all bodes well for next season, and everyone is still looking forward to it. Even your humble and esteemed editor. I just hope we can get a few players before then.......
14 May 2008
It's not that unusual about having a moment of doubt about the whole AFCW thing - is it really the same as the WFC I watched all them years? - and let's be honest, it has affected us all at some time or another within the last 6 years. While trudging up obediently to Buckinghamshire was never an option, we were effectively a new club and sometimes claiming we're the direct descendants of WFC could be a little bit of a self-delusion.
Then days like today come around and you realise that we ARE Wimbledon.
We always had the moral highground, but we also had the memories as well. It's days like today when the "continuation of Wimbledon" thing genuinely means something. These are our memories, these are our experiences - never, ever to get hijacked by a bunch of poisonous leeches. They don't have the memories, or the experiences, or the sheer fun of twenty years ago today. We lived it, they merely read it in a book.
No doubt today we're all reminiscing of that hot, sunny day 20 years ago when WE really did upset all the odds. What did the bookies on the day say we were - 4/1 against wasn't it? Hope some people made a bit of money that day. I'm sure there'll be tales of drunken debauchery (and that was just the players on the night before), at being nervous on the day. Though funnily enough, as a wee 12 year old at the time I really didn't suffer those nerves that I would now. You may remember how hot it was that day, how there seemed to be fuckloads of scousers in our end (ably assisted by Hammam's insistance on selling FAC final tickets to anyone - we should have seen the warning signs then), the absolute wall of noise.
You may recall Vinny Jones' first tackle on Steve McMahon which shut him up for the rest of the game. Remember how everyone made out McMahon to be the one who was going to put our alehouse lot in our rightful lowly place? I don't think he was ever the same player since. Neither was John Barnes come to think of it. Of course, Liverpool were the dominant team at the time, and had their fans not help kill 39 innocents at Heysel would have probably won more European Cups in that era. They also had the cleanest backside in football, with the amount of people who licked their arse at the time.
Remember the press buildup to that game? Had WFC been an individual getting that treatment they would have won millions in slander damages. But it wasn't, so it did the next best thing. Yes, our hearts all sank when Barnes managed to knee that ball instead of shooting, or indeed of Beardsley's disallowed goal. Of course, it was a goal and the ref should have played advantage. But I think I can now mention it 20 years on...
Then Terry Phelan's run that won us a free kick, Wisey's cross, Sanchez's flick on and - well, we all know the rest don't we? Though personally I thought Gibson should have made it 2-0 before the break. Just imagine if he'd had. Funny thing is, if that happened, we probably would have lost it.
As for the penalty, it wasn't then and it wasn't now. Cheating Scouse bastards. No doubt the ref knew he'd fucked up over Beardsley and went to redress the balance. But I'm glad he didn't, because it made Dave Beasant's career forever after that. From then on, I think we knew we'd won and more importantly so did Liverpool. OK they tried to equalise, but I think by then our name really was on the cup.
When that final whistle blew, WFC changed forever (ultimately for the bad) though I will never, ever swap that day for anything. Even for the demise of Franchise. While everyone remembers that Motson quote, he also said something like "they also play football at Wimbledon, and they win trophies......"
It was the end of an era for WFC then, and if truth be told I don't think we ever recovered from Hammam breaking up the team. But on that sunny day, on the 14th May 1988, we were on top of the world and ready to make that step forward.
Fast forward to May 14 2008 and things are different as we all know. Or are they? It's almost slipped off the radar, but today the good people of the Conference South are meeting in an AGM to let us into their league. Barring a last minute gatecrashing by Turdey who has found some archaic rule prohibiting us from going up (and you just know he's tried looking) we'll be officially welcomed into a division that Setanta show occasionally.
This is probably as big for AFCW in 2008 as the FAC final twenty years ago was for WFC. No, it's not in the same sphere publicity wise, but once we finally are allowed in, this club will change forever. We will have to mature, to grow up, and that's certainly no bad thing. All of a sudden we feel much more comfortable about next season. We never fitted in at all in the Ryman (and boy were we reminded of that or what?), but after today we'll know we will be playing at clubs with bigger ground capacities than ourselves. Maybe if Boston United are put in with us it'll be the first ex-league side still in their old ground that we'll play in the AFCW era.
Of course, it won't be like that forever. Give it a couple of seasons. and we'll end up getting fed up of yet another trip to the West Country and Bromley, and will be itching to move upwards to the big boys league. You know it and so do I. But for now, let's bask in our memories of 20 years ago, and look forward to what joys await us in the next 20 months.
Before I go, I'm a bit unsure what to think about Lewis Taylor coming back. I'm never really a fan of players returning to clubs some years on (MG excepted), although it sounds like he's matured a great deal. He won't be the last to join us though. Seems like the Horsham fans are pissed off, some insinuating that it's not much of a step up with us and he should have stayed with them because "we could have got promoted this season as well". This the same Horsham who right royally fucked up even getting a playoff place to begin with?
And Staines are STILL whinging about the playoff. Christ, even their website this very moment has their EOS presentation with a tagline of "controversial" on it. What - the sending off that never was, nor the penalty that never was? While their complaint that their goalie was fouled still doesn't have legs the more you look at it on the replay? Not forgetting their goalie was very, VERY lucky to stay on the pitch anyway. It really is as though there's a memory block over this. Still, it gives them the moral victory I suppose, and it'll probably be used as another stick to beat us with.
Getting slagged off because we refused to do what was right and proper and not "knowing our place" by having the temerity to win games. Is this 2008 or 1988?
7 May 2008
Feels really like summer today doesn't it? Sun is shining, the local wildlife fighting amongst themselves, too many ants about, headlines of "Phew! What a scorcher!" complete with bird with zeppelin-esque wangers on display, that sort of thing.
And the now traditional AFCW cull of players.
Now the euphoria of last Saturday is starting to dampen a little, we're already starting to turn towards next season. The reality is starting to sink in, both on the field and off it. People are excited, more tolerant of what's going on, but tinged with a little bit of regret. Confused? Don't worry, you soon won't be.
Firstly, it's obvious why we're excited. Even little things like getting a BSS logo on the shirts and getting the league positions on the BBC website make that difference. It was always a little-talked about side effect of 28/5/02 that in one stroke we lost little things like checking where we were in the league in the Sun or your preferred newspaper. Or checking on teletext. Or mentions on Sky. You don't realise how much you appreciate that kind of thing until you suddenly find yourself without it. So when the first league table comes up and you'll be checking on the BBC website instead of some amateur site (no disrespect, like), the hairs will stand up for that little bit.
And of course, there's the away trips. Newport County away is the first proper "long" one we've had in ages, although plenty will fancy a couple of trips to Bath. And Weston-Super-Mare if they kick Cambridge City out. Plus of course we might even be playing somebody like Boston United (and if the rest of the Ryman called us cheats over Darlogate, god knows what they'd make of them) or Redditch, or Worcester City. Thing is, most AFCW fans (and I expect both the readers of SW19) have watched a club called Wimbledon play in professional league football, with great media exposure, long away trips and all-seater stadia. Now the Wimbledon franchise of 2008 is in a division plenty of "ordinary" fans have heard of, or at least comprehend. Try explaining the concept of the Ryman League to an average Chelski fan. Actually, scrub that : try explaining the concept of writing your own name to an average Chelski supporter...
I think this step up has made people more tolerant of what's going on at AFCW. By that, I think I mean that people are going to be more willing to give the club some slack when it comes to asking for money. I'll be honest here - I was getting sick to my back teeth of the way we were seemingly getting pestered for money last season. I think that came in part from frustration about being in the RP, spending fuck knows how much on players who weren't really performing and a very real subconscious feel of what would happen if we were still in Turdeyville next season. But a definite release has happened, and now even occasional attendees are considering getting STs. As my old man often says, success breeds success. AFCW have gotten promotion and suddenly people feel good.
Admittedly, I won't be getting an ST for the same reason as I haven't got one for the last three seasons (something to do with paying £170+ up front when I can't afford it), but if the last few seasons I'd done it as a matter of duty rather than the pleasure I would have of renewing this time round. I think it's because we're in a higher league and one that in theory has far more exposure. And because of this, we accept we'll need to do things more "properly". The main stand works this summer suddenly become a lot more necessary (not that they weren't anyway IYSWIM), and somehow it seems more acceptable to do it when we'll be welcoming the likes of Newport down to Theme Park KM.
I know plenty of our fans (too many for my liking) let their idealism get in the way at times, but we're becoming more realistic about AFCW in its growth. Every so often, I used to hear comments about us having to get used to life in the Ryman League, and "I'm not in a rush to get promoted". The reactions after Saturday demonstrated what a crock of shite that attitude is to take. Ironically, plenty of us would be quite happy to consolidate for a year or three in the CS. We've taken on a huge expense now, although in theory it should be easier to "sell" Brand AFCW now we could feasibly be on Setanta next season.
It's quite strange really - for the first time since 2002 I watched a live game last night (Cambridge United v Burton Albion) and I realised we could feasibly be playing either of them in the Setanta Shield. I shudder to think what I'll feel when I watch Eastbourne play H&R in the CS Playoff final on Thursday (live on Setanta) - knowing that this has a direct affect on us next season. Suddenly, these games take on extra significance, which if you've had that taken away from you in the past become ever-so-slightly poignant when it happens...
In human terms, we've gone from a newborn to stroppy 9 year old to somebody who I think is about to discover his first pube. I guess this must be the football equivalent of going into middle school - you're certainly not a toddler any more, and you're starting to demonstrate adult traits, but physically you're still Gary Glitter's dream. We're still going to encounter some growing pains in the next weeks, months and years, but right now they seem easier to take.
Of course, I mentioned regret earlier. And yes, there is some of that, and it's all down to this on the OS:
"Terry Brown and Stuart Cash have today had discussions to clarify each player's situation following the end of the season. When all the players have been contacted a statement will be made - this will be in the next two or three days."
Sounds like the cull has just started. In fact, the South London Press starts naming names.
"ROB Quinn and Steve Ferguson are the surprise casualties of Terry Brown’s end-of-season cull.
"The AFC Wimbledon boss has released the pair, along with play-off hero Mark De Bolla, strikers Daniel Webb and Richard Jolly, and out-of-favour midfielders Karl Beckford and Mark Beard. Defender Will Salmon, who has spent the second half of the season on loan at Fleet, has also been axed. Marcus Gayle has left the club after confirming his retirement.
"Every other member of the first-team squad has signed a new deal for next season, except Robin Shroot, who is in ongoing discussions with Brown. That means regulars Jason Goodliffe, Jake Leberl, Luke Garrard, Mickey Haswell, Chris Hussey, Anthony Finn, Sam Hatton and Jon Main are all now contracted for next season.
"There had been some doubt over the future of keeper Andy Little, but he has also agreed to stay at Kingsmeadow for another year. "
TBH none of that is really surprising. Fergie was just too inconsistent to make that step up, and DeB's card was always marked when he walked out on us at half time. No real surprises over the rest of them either. The Shroot one is interesting, and maybe we're trying to sort something out just in case a league side snap him up so we don't lose out.
Those who are staying now are probably the ones who most of us would keep anyway. Hope that Judge and McD are on that list, I know Pullen is. I would also hope we could get Rose or the Cue on a season-long loan (more likely the Cue as RR came on for QPR at the weekend and apparently looked quite good). But for the most part, it's a freshening up that we need but keeping those who have that consistency.
The reaction to Fergie going, though not quite the blubfest that greeted Kevin Cooper and Rob Ursell's departure, is one that has tainted this week for many. Especially as Finn is staying. What I would hope is that people are sad at Fergie going because of what he did on the field, not because everyone had a good laugh with him at KM after Saturday's game. My abiding memory of him will be how crap he was on Saturday. Yes, his pace scared defenders, but he didn't use it often enough AFAIAC.
Football is a brutal game. Yes, Fergie tried 100%, and I won't deny that. But we're in a higher league now. We should be able to get better players in now, and most probably will. Lest we forget that last season we were painfully inconsistent. If you were to name the most consistent players from last time out, the ones named will probably be the ones kept on today.
In the cold light of day, we were lucky to go up this season. Yes, it was great, and yes - as a club - it was when, not if we'd make that next step upwards. But christ, we'd get found out big time next season if we reproduced some of the shit we produced this season. Remember when we played Thurrock a few years ago (or even St Albans) and they had that bit of cunning we didn't have? We'll be playing them next season, and they'll be far more likely to punish us. I'm not suggesting we'll suddenly get relegated, but I think this squad needed to get broken up. No matter how much it hurts some.
One thing that I believe TB pointed out last season was how difficult it was to get players to come to AFCW - not because it was us, but because we were in the RP. If we fans weren't enamoured much by it christ knows what a decent CS or Conf player would have thought. While I seriously doubt we'd get a Leo Fortune-West type player even next season, the likes of Rob Gier suddenly become much more obtainable. The truth is, most of us don't know who's available, who's likely to come and most importantly if they'll do a job for us. TB and SC certainly do though, at least a helluva lot more than any of us put together anyway.
If people do want to start suggesting signing players who we played against next season, then fine. But if you're looking at signing RP players, we'll find ourselves back in Turdeyville. We have to move upwards, we have no other option. I certainly would suggest a lot more stability next season, and I would almost put that ahead of promotion. I said "almost".
Like last year, this will be a fun pre-season and for once we can relax a bit. No doubt we'll firstly be looking forward to who comes in to us, then the release of the DVD of the playoffs, then who next season's victims opponents will be, followed up by the announcing of the fixtures, then a nice chance to grill TB and SC with Meet The Manager (and I hope we have one of those), finally culminating with our first excitedly anticipated pre-season friendly.........
Funny how some things take care of themselves, isn't it?
4 May 2008
Ryman Premier 1 Conference South 2. Sounds good doesn't it?
I think I owe everyone an apology for not believing in omens. When plenty were pointing out that we won the FAC in 88 on a similar day, I scoffed at them. When others were saying "22 years ago I was standing in the pouring rain getting soaked at Leeds Road" I rolled my eyes and thought, yeah. But as I sit here at SW19 Towers, on this overcast yet warmish Sunday, the type you get in May, it's only now my mind is coming together a bit more.
Got to be honest here - it hasn't quite sunk in yet even close to 24 hours later. In the past, when we've been pounding ourselves over getting out of this fucking poxy league, there's always been that anguish that we could be stuck in Turdeyville for eons. We've constantly looked forward to the day we finally go up, that we can break free through that bottleneck. In many ways I think it's crippled our "enjoyment" of the past three years. Now it's happened, in the most dramatic way possible and it's almost "meh"...
OK it isn't. Once everyone starts coming down, when the DVD comes out, and when who we'll be playing next season finally seeps into the conscience, then we'll realise just what we've done. Yesterday, when the ref blew his final whistle, and we all ran onto the pitch in celebration, there were plenty of us wandering round saying to ourselves "is this real? Has this really happened?". I don't think I've experienced such emotion as yesterday, to the point I was the most physically drained after a game than I can remember for ages. Even driving home on the M25 afterwards was that tad more difficult.
I'm certainly having more difficulty writing this than you would envisage (and no, I don't have a hangover). There was just too much to take in yesterday to put into a simple report such as this. So instead, I'm going to quote more or less verbatum from the notes I wrote during the game, in order:
Fuck I'm nervous. My dad said as I'd left "enjoy yourself" - some hope. Real anticipation at ground just like a big event. Slight surrealism about, even 1h30 before kickoff. Saw ST comms director (or whoever she was) trying to let go last spare ticket. Suddenly getting tense a la Chelmsford. Our fans in good voice though. Female fan in front of me had "R Butler 9" on the back of her shirt. Loads of balloons and even a rattle..
Understandably nervy opening. Think we'll be against the ref this game. Nice bit of pressure. Letting them in a bit at the back, two 1-on-1 saves by Pullen. Game finely poised - actually a bit TOO finely poised. A mistake or sublime bit of skill is going to settle this. FUCK - 0-1 from a corner. Shit marking. That was coming TBH. Self destructing? Really not playing like we can. Can't see us scoring TBH. Holding on for HT. 0-1 half time and quite shit. Evil AFCW has returned. TBH can't see anything other than Staines getting a second.
Right, 2nd half to start. Let's go for it. Still feel nervy. Fergie not using his pace. Where's the urgency? Saving the worst till last. I spent three hours queuing up on Thursday, put in all that effort etc to get tickets only to get "rewarded" for this shit. Hope we can keep McD. A goal for us WILL change it. Mark DeB back and made a difference. Our free kicks and corners are shit.
Putting more pressure on now - too little too late. Where's the quality? Where's the cutting edge? Had CERTAIN penalty turned down - even lino flagged. Staines starting to tire - if we score. Gone off the boil. FUCK YEAH. 1-1 10 minutes before end. Now can we do it?
I stopped making notes by this stage. Can't think why. Anyway, I'll now let my memory take over. Once we scored, I think that killed Staines off. They were physically and mentally shot by the look of it. Yes, they were narked at our first goal, but when you consider we had a blatant penalty turned down (so blatant even the lino flagged for it), and their #5 should have been sent off in the first half anyway, maybe we simply got what we deserved after all?
Then, there was the free kick. There are times in football where while you daren't admit it to yourself, you just know. When Mark DeB (who played like a man possessed) put the ball down and the wall walked back, you just knew. When he stepped back, pounced forward and shot low and hard you just..... well, you get the idea.
When it went in, there was just that one-second delay. The ability of the human mind to process vast amounts of information and emotion in such a short space of time (literally less than a second in some cases) is an impressive feat, and when that ball went in, you just couldn't believe it. It was really a case of, "it's gone in the back of the net and we're leading and we've only got 5 minutes left".
Needless to say, everyone was calm, thoughtful and collected in their thoughts. For about a second anyway. Then, the absolute mass release of tension, emotion, jubilation was something akin to a nuclear explosion. Seriously, all the pre-match tension (and if truth be told, the same PMT we've been suffering from since post-Coldseal) just released itself in that split second. Could you control what you were doing in the aftermath of that goal? I couldn't. It felt like a big mosh pit, with grown hetrosexual men embracing each other like it was a gay porn movie. People running around screaming like savage animals (in a good way), jumping like loons and probably at least one person is now pregnant.
From then on, you just know you're going to win. And I mean that. It wasn't like the last 20 minutes of Coldseal where you really did feel that they could come back and snatch it away from us. Even when their goalie ran up the other end when they got a free kick, I just felt they wouldn't get anything. If we saw a seismic shift in the nation's political landscape on Thursday, we certainly saw the football equivalent on Saturday.
The funny thing is, the final whistle going didn't register with me. After the second goal went in, I don't think I had much mental capacity to think beyond the basic functions of life. Just imagine walking round in life in a permanent daze, doing things without even thinking or comprehending your actions and just existing. For a little while, I felt like somebody from Kent. I went on the pitch and like everyone else headed to the players tunnel. Plenty of women were crying, and if truth be told a few blokes were as well. Mind you, that could have just been the aftermath of the second goal celebrations - I'm told it hurts a bit more when you don't use vaseline.
But there was a massive bit of symbolism there at that final whistle which I don't think anyone picked up on. There were close to 1k Wombles on the pitch all chanting "We are going up". Nothing so unusual. But think about it - it was a mass of people directly looking at the Ryman League officials. Yes, the likes of Turdey, Alan Boon and company. It was the ultimate "fuck you" moment, a middle finger if you like. It said that no matter what you think of us, how you sneered at us both last season and at other times, how we're classless bandwagon jumpers, how we should "know our place" and the sheer narky little attitudes we came across, we took one last opportunity to wave goodbye and we took it. The faces of the Ryman officials were a little, let's just say, restrained...
See, I think when it all sinks in, and we remember the Jermaine Darlington affair as well as other things with regards the Ryman drinking club, then we'll start going mental. Getting promoted is always enjoyable, but there's something about this particular one that makes it all the more sweet. The CCL was a nice league, and many still have a lot of time for people there, but it was ultimately two steps up from a pub league. There was something unpleasant about the Ryman though. Maybe it is the "drinking club" mentality that is quite well known in non-league circles. I'm led to believe that the Conference South is a far more professional outfit to be in, and I bet that when we play our first game of next season we'll feel a bit more at home....
For now anyway.
Anyway, the other good thing about promotion is that we now get to see who to take on next season. While we still have a couple of issues from the Conference National sides all being from up North, there's some potential gooduns next season. Obviously we get to do over Chelmsford next season, and get revenge for Fi$her and H&R if they don't go up. Oh, and Bromley as well. But for once we get some decent long away trips. And might even stop the Northern/Western based Wombles complaining they don't have any local games ......;)
How fucking cool will it be to do a long away trip to Newport County? Or both the Bath sides? Or even short trips to Basingstoke? Feels a lot better planning those sort of away days than the seemingly fortnightly trips to Kent and Essex. Christ, I think they started to know me by first name at Clackett Lane services. OK, we'll still make the occasional trip to Essex (Chelmsford, Braintree) and one to Kent (Welling) but it'll be nice now to go along the M4, or out of Paddington, instead of constantly seeing signs for Stansted or Canterbury on our travels.
Once they sort out who's going where, we'll be able to plan and get excited. Only real bummer for next season is who will we play on Boxing Day/Easter Monday? Especially if H&R go up. Both Hayes & Yeading and Fi$her will be quite tricky to get to on a public holiday if we're away. Perhaps we ought to lobby the CS to re-instate Slutton and relegate St Albans instead? That'll give them something to moan about other than our attendances.
I'll be updating SW19 over the coming days/weeks with more thoughts on what's going on, and everything else, so this won't now be it for the next three months. Yes, it's exhausting. But then, getting to where you want to be never is easy.........
Plus points: Promotion - all else is irrelevant. Not needing to use this for the next SW19 front page.
Minus points: Quite shit for the first 80 minutes. Nothing.
The referee's a.....: Somehow, the forces of Turdey didn't stop us this time. How the fuck he just did not send off their #5 or give the penalty when his own bloody linesman was flagging? Actually, we probably do know, and that's another reason to smile at our promotion. Yes, he maybe could have given a foul on their keeper for our first goal (which watching the Youtube clip suggests he just dropped it) but I think even he knew he wouldn't have been able to get away with it. Though I bet he thought about it.....
Them: You've got to feel sorry for them I suppose. Pretty much the better side for 80 minutes, deserved their lead and maybe should have been 3-0 up at half time. But then, I think it was our turn to have the playoff luck. They'll be strong enough next season and it wouldn't surprise me to be playing them in 2009/10 in the CS. I think had they not knackered themselves out due to their run-in we'd been looking forward to Margate again. I'm afraid that RB is back to being much-maligned due to his inability to stay on his feet. And yes, I know we loved it when he did it for us. You really think football fans are even handed?
Point to ponder (1): Is the big game choking disease now over? That's twice in one week that hoodoo has been smashed. Perhaps this one was the best one simply because we didn't play well. All successful teams learn how to win when they play badly (just cast a glance to Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge), and it's a trait we'd do well to learn. Especially for next season.
Three's a crowd: 2460 and even then I didn't think it was as full as it could have been. I always think that Staines is a nice ground, but like many of these venues, they're not really built to cope with 2400 in them. Mind you, I have my doubts about KM being comfortable at over 3000...
Point to ponder (2): Am I the only one who thinks it won't be a bad idea to consolidate next season or two? From what I've seen of CS sides, there's not much to suggest we'll be struggling too much next season (famous last words.......). OK, we'll need to adapt, but TB's now got what he needs to move this club forward - time. We're in the CS which is a good league to consolidate in, it's not a Ryman backwater, but it's one step away from a division with full time sides in. As a team and as a club, we need to start getting a settled, successful youth and reserve policy going. It's what will keep the club going in the long term, and we don't have a better time to slow down a little. We've raced through the CCL, the Ryman One and now the Ryman Premier in less than six years all without much of a strength in depth in the side. We've earnt that right to relax a little....
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Apparently some racist abuse was shouted at their #10 before their goal, which might explain the celebrations afterwards. No idea whether they were AFCW or not, but I'm not naive enough to believe none of our fans are ever like that. Seriously, if you're the sort to do that I hope your mum is caught posing on "White Chicks, Black Dicks". (2) Sounds like plenty had a good time at KM last night. For those who went and still are feeling the ill effects, I've just had fried eggs, sausages and black pudding, washed down with a cup of Co-Op 99. Just thought I'd mention it to you.... (3) Did yesterday really happen?
Anything else? Apparently we'll be allowed in the Setanta Shield next season. And yes, that does mean we could get on telly. Hopefully we'll get a bit more regular exposure, and therefore a bit more money from sponsorship, therefore meaning less need for the club to keep dipping into fans' pockets. Dare I suggest that Mark DeB's free kick has secured AFCW's mid-term future....?
So, was it worth it? Might be.
In a nutshell: Now, how the fuck do I get to Welling.....?
3 May 2008
Always the bridesmaid :(
Did we deserve to get promoted today? If you took us through the whole season then probably not. The very fact we weren't at KM for the game today just showed our inconsistency that has crippled us.
Yes, playoff finals suck - when you lose anyway. Today, we had the opportunity to just go that one step further. We didn't take it. Today was the story of our season - when it came to the last, we choked. Once Staines netted, I just knew, if that makes any sense? The passing was poor, and we just looked flat and lethargic. Was it a game too far? Was it an inconsistency for once too often? I don't know, but for the third time in a row, we've failed at the final hurdle.
And this one is harder to take than even Fi$her and Bromley. I think it was down to the fact that people like me queued for a good three hours on Thursday, running round getting tix for Wombles, the way everyone came together and we were STILL rewarded with this shit. I'm too emotionally drained right now to argue the toss, but this is just a slap in the face once too many. Once we realise just what we've thrown away, people will get angry. I mean it - there was outspills of frustration towards the end, everyone getting tetchy with each other, and now with yet another fuckup? If I was in AFCW's boardroom, I would start to get scared...
What made it worse was THAT penalty, or lack thereof. Main got upended, the lino flagged and ...... ignored. All worst nightmares and then some.
Remember what I said earlier this week about omens and why you shouldn't rely on them? We did that in 2000 when we had to play Southampton to stay in the Prem. The date? 14 May. For this, when I read this morning that it was 22 years to the day that Sanch netted at Huddersfield to take WFC up to the top flight, my heart sank. Games are never won on omens - they're won by skill, judgement or sheer luck. Right at this minute, I feel further and further away from that fateful day in Yorkshire....
So, now what? We pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and plan for next season. Teams can and do lose in playoff finals and come back stronger than ever - ask Sunderland. We are not a bad team, in fact we're a good side. But today and indeed this season, it just wasn't to be. Que sera sera and all that. Remember that we've had a club stolen from us in the past, and compared to that horrible day (also in May - who'd thunk it, eh?) nothing hurts as much as that.
I won't deny this hurts though. Plenty woke up this morning and thought it was 14/5/88 all over again, and yes, there was an element of the FAC final about it. A warm sunny day in May, year ending in "8".... yeah, you know what I'm going to say. It hurts because after the brave way we handled Coldseal on Tuesday, many really did think our voodoo in the big games had finally been broken. Today proved the Footballing Gods really are cunts who were just toying with us..
That's AFCW right now. A club that will go up to the bigger leagues in time, but not right now. Our progress has been checked.
In a nutshell: Football really hurts.
We are going up
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More later when your editor gets some energy back.
1 May 2008
We all know the slogan, and we all know what it signifies. But if TB wants to start handing out bits of paper with motivational instructions on Saturday, he could do worse than above.
It's been a strange couple of days since Coldseal were dispatched. As is traditional with Ryman League playoffs, there's one helluva cockup on the horizon. A few years ago it was the last-minute venue changing (not involving us, we were still a lowly R1 outfit by then). Then there was us wondering exactly who we would play, and more importantly when, literally up to the last day of the season. Last year seemed to go off smoothly enough, but this time the issue of 1500 tix suddenly becoming 1000 tix has really got peoples' backs up.
OK, I've got my ticket (and many thanks to the Teddington branch for a bit of ingenuity), but plenty of others haven't. And more importantly, they're people who should have them but haven't. I know somebody who would have popped over to KM in the afternoon, which by then would have been far too late. What's really pissed people off isn't the actual numbers allocated, it's the way it's suddenly been slashed. Yes, I know that we could have been given 600, which is the minimum. Realistically though, that was never going to happen. 1000 you may think is small, and if we had played somebody like Chelmsford, it's what we would have expected. 1500 was probably a decent and in truth fair distribution - it's Staines' home game and obviously they want to use it to their advantage.
What reducing it down to 1000 has done is this : it's pissed people off to the point that they'll now be motivated to go over to Staines this evening and nab tix that way. Even those with existing stubs anyway are contemplating going, partly to bail out people who have been stung, but also as a kind of defiant "hey, fuck you". I think a lot of people - Staines people included - have missed the point over all this. If you promise somebody a specific allocation, stick to it. If it's 600, 1000, 1500 or even 2450, make sure it stays that way and you won't get nearly as much hassle. There is nothing guaranteed to make people more angry than renaging on a committment like this. Especially one you could argue you're justified in having (let's face it, we would have sold out 1500 by the end of yesterday. Not BBB, just stating the obvious).
If Staines want half the ground for their own locals, then fine. Restrict ticket sales - don't more or less admit that you're happy to sell to AFCW fans tonight and then turn around and bitch at us for taking over their place. We could have at least 70% of the crowd supporting us on Saturday at least, and who's fault would that be? Not ours...
All this of course has proved a distraction for us, though whether it's a welcome one remains to be seen. Perhaps it is a good thing, because right now I'm so fucking nervous you won't believe. Is football supposed to be this psychologically damaging? For too much of the day, I keep thinking forward to Saturday? What will I do if we win? What will I do if we lose? I think I'm more scared of thinking about the former rather than the latter - I mustn't tempt fate. To get myself excited and then lose on Saturday will just be crippling.
And as I said in the last match report, things can go badly wrong on Saturday. We're not there yet, and I really hope that we have put Tuesday out of our minds. Saturday will be 100 times harder than Coldseal - it will be harder for the players because Staines are no mugs, they have a bit more brain than the Essex lot and you know they'll want to do us for the 5-2. Not to mention the fact they're on a pretty decent run of form themselves, and apparently their own game on Tuesday was quite one-sided.
Plus of course there's the usual ex-AFCW factor. The not-so-much-maligned Richard Butler, plus Lewis Cook and Dave Sergeant all have points to prove against us. They'll be up for it big time. Staines won't lie down and in fact I would put them as favourites. Yes, crowd size doesn't matter - if they're good enough to beat us, they'll overcome that.
Right now for many people, it's straw clutching time. I want to believe in omens, but I don't. Or rather I can't - I just won't let myself. Here's my thinking:
If you believe that a repeat of Tuesday's guts will put us through - it won't.
If you believe that it surely has to be third time lucky for us - it won't.
If you're invoking memories of 1988, and of various incidents back then which point to us winning on Saturday - they won't.
Life doesn't work like that. You may think we "deserve" promotion on Saturday, but we don't. We don't have a deity-given right to go up. If we are going to win, we are going to have to play harder than we did against Coldseal. Our attitude will have to be THE best it's ever been : no slacking, no letting Staines get on top of us, nothing. It will be 90 minutes of sheer hell, it will make the last 20 minutes of Tuesday seem like a PSF. I just wonder if the players really know it.
Granted, they took a step forward after the game Tuesday, when they refused to celebrate. The job is only 50% done, although I think it's nearer 30%. It's a final which brings its own unique little quirks, no matter what team you are. Plus of course it's our biggest game in the AFCW era, and we always do shit in the big games.
Now, you're probably getting all het up and yelling at your monitor right now. "Why are you so fucking pessimistic you miserable bastard?" you'll probably be hysterically screaming. Well, a couple will be anyway ;) Here's why - fear. No, not fear that we'll get tonked, or even that of losing - it's that fear of failing to perform. It's that fear of the inevitable fuckup in the one game you don't want it. It's that fear that evil AFCW will turn up on Saturday with a forged ticket, do its worst at our expense, and then dance merrily down the road with Alan Boon and Turdey hand in hand camply singing "The Staines are going up".
It's the fear that it really is shit-or-bust on Saturday, and we may never get a better chance to get out of this division for a while. But it's also the fear I want the players to have.
Why? Simple. With this fear has come with it THE most determined I have ever felt before a game. I hope I'm not alone when I say it's that fear of failure that is pushing me towards wanting to win. Does that make sense? I've got fear, yes, but it's not the same feeling that I had before Chelmsford away.
Games like Saturday are why you support a club. You have to believe at times like this, and whether you cross yourself or you sacrifice sheep on an altar (unless you're Welsh or from Yorkshire, in which case ramraiding takes on a whole new meaning) you find yourself doing it. I think it's times like this even an athiest like myself knows why religion has kept a grip on people for so many centuries. No, you don't go to heaven (or hell) when you die, in fact it's just a load of nothingness for all eternity and you merely become worm food. But your mind doesn't want to know that. It wants to believe there's some saintly bloke with a white beard awaiting you, or a fiery-tempered individual with a large fork awaits your hated enemy. It's a self-coping mechanism
And in this religion called football, it's how all of us cope with these sort of occasions. I'm telling myself we're going to fail because it will make life more tolerable if we do. And yes, I do believe that we are more than capable of fucking up on Saturday. But anything better will be a bonus, and one I will certainly enjoy.
But all this should be irrelvant for the most important people on Saturday - the eleven individuals who take the field in our colours. They got over that first psychological barrier on Tuesday, and now they face the biblical Day of Judgment. They have ninety minutes to prove that they can win. That's it - just ninety minutes. If it takes 120 minutes and a penalty shoot out, so be it, although I would prefer it if they don't. But it's shit-or-bust for them as well as AFCW off the field. If they want people to adore them for ever more, they know what they have to do. They will be nervous like the rest of us, but they must be the most professional, the most focused, the most determined they have ever been in their entire careers.
It really is that simple. I guess in my tense state, what I'm trying to say is, I just want to see AFCW put in more than 110%. Make it 200% or even 500% and I will not complain. This is a playoff final, anything can happen and probably will. It can go wrong, but at the same time it can go right. I just want to walk away on Saturday from the ground with my head held high, and you can read that in any way you like. I want it to be victory, fuck I'm agitated enough to win, but if we are to lose, I want us to go out with honour.
In short, I want us to just do it.
