25 June 2001

Bit of good news? Maybe - WFC announced that they were going to play reserve and women's team games at Kingstonian instead of GGL starting from next season. This is to get away from the utterly shite pitch at GGL primarily. It means that we've kicked Celsi out of there, so much so that we've even forced the abandonment of the annual Ks vs Celsi walkover. Good news in itself, but today's press release goes a little bit deeper:

"We wanted to be involved with a Nationwide League Club that wants to work with us, and Wimbledon FC is the ideal partner. They have been tremendously positive about this association with the K’s and we are both keen to develop joint initiatives to the benefit of our supporters and the community.” - Malcolm Grant, Ks director

“We are delighted to have secured this agreement with Kingstonian FC, they have excellent facilities and great potential, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.” - CK

"Both Wimbledon and Kingstonian are keen to expand on this new agreement and will be looking forward to forming a long-term partnership for the future. Wimbledon FC already has a great relationship with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames through its Football In The Community scheme and it is hoped to build on this in conjunction with Kingstonian in the future." - more from the press release

So, reading between the lines (as everyone seems to do with ANYTHING even remotely associated at WFC at the moment), could more substancial things be happening with Royal Borough of Kingston? In addition to this, CK has reportedly said privately that if Merton goes tits up with regards to PGPF, he'll ask RBK if there's anywhere suitable for WFC there. This could have more significance than you think - WFC have constantly done well with RBK over FITC, winning awards, getting nice writeups in the programme, forging links with RBK schools etc, but perhaps most importantly of all, RBK seem to appreciate us and everything we do. LBM don't even have much time for our community stuff, so looks like we're finding out who our real friends are here. And they aren't at Crown House, Morden SM4 either. Dare we think the unthinkable? There's scope there for sure, and having a neighbouring (and less down-at-heel than Merton which rubs it in) borough right next door to Merton welcoming us with open arms could be the ultimate two fingered salute to Judge Dread and his cahoots. Maybe this is the shot in the arm we need after this past week....

Speaking of Merton, note how they're bending over backwards for the AELTC? Yeah, that's a sickener isn't it. Still, during the tennis fortnight, at least I can now claim to the entire world that whenever you hear a plane flying over Southfields SW19, I can just press "mute" on my TV and hear the exact aircraft over SW19 Towers. God I hate Merton

20 June 2001

Bloody hell, what a 24 hours - nobody feels that optimistic, and the mood seems to change hourly. Some are convinced that MK is more likely than ever simply because of an interpretation of the way CK worded a press release, though IMO it does seem weird for WFC to openly attract families to SP (the Womble mascot, the enlarged ST area for families, KFAQ etc) only for the intention to bugger off. Some - myself included - have wondered whether it's still worth going (if not this season, next season), though as my mum decided to tell me, "don't cut off your nose to spite your face".

Anyway, here's what I do know. It is being encouraged by WISA to write to WFC (read CK) and Merton Council. Why? OK, for CK, tell him the mood of the camp, how people are pissed off etc and how the club can't fuck the fans up anymore. Also mention MK if you feel it's relevant. Merton? Well, when Merton Council said that there were 13 sites being looked at, there were some more missed out, and ask them whether they will support investigation into new sites if/when they happen. I think the fight is still being kept alive, I think we'll gather early on whether it's working or not, and subsequently if it is worth carrying on.

I won't bother going much into the whole shebang, I've written an article on it and from now on I suggest we start getting pro-active again.

And the fixtures are out tomorrow.

19 June 2001 [FINAL EDITION]

If you have read W&WW, then you'll know the bad news. If you don't, here goes. We will never play in Merton again. Sorry to say that, it's probably the hardest thing I'll ever have to write. The reasons? Well, without the aid of any official statement and only what JZ has written, it's down to cost and logistics. Whilst a joint WFC/GRA thing is possible, CK reckons it will cost an extra £60m to build in the first place. Unfortunately, it's £60m that we will never get back, which when you figure that WFC cost "only" £30m is probably a figure too far. Also, sharing with the GRA would have been nigh on impossible : they hold races on Saturday evenings which they claim is their busiest time of the week, given that the dogs warm up at about 6pm anyway would have made things very tricky. Given that the GRA were going to stay put, I guess that paying lots of £££ for something that would have been not totally ideal was always going to scupper it in CK's mind.

So now what? Well, I expect disappointment. I expect anger that CK ruled it out on cost but once we get that out of our system we have really got to sit down and start replanning. All is definitely not lost - there have been murmurings of a 148 acre site in Surrey that is up for grabs, apparently, which is reckoned to be a) better, and b) cheaper for WFC. So once the grief of tonight's announcement subsides, we pick ourselves up and we start again.

Before anyone says "but I want Merton", consider the following : WFC never really played in Wimbledon, we were always near Summertown in the LB Wandsworth. Blackburn don't play in Blackburn, they play in Darwen. Man U play in Salford, under Trafford Borough Council. Bolton play in Horwich, a staggering 4 miles from Bolton. Grimsby play in Cleethorpes, even our esteemed fellow squatters at Palace don't play anywhere near Crystal Palace itself. The point is, we don't need to play in Wimbledon itself to be Wimbledon FC. We need a new ground as near as dammit, but if we did get somewhere about 4-5 miles away, we would still be WFC.

The bottom line of today is this, CK is not going to bankrupt Wimbledon FC over the WGS. We have to accept that fact now. I'm disappointed as everyone else, but we must move on. We sat and moped after Hammam rejected WGS the first time (though CK seemed to go through the proper channels this time and therefore I can accept tonight a bit better), and we wasted 7 years in doing so. We now need to push the mantle for as near as Wimbledon as possible, I'm not going through another 7 years of shit again. There are options, good ones I'm told, let's just make sure we get them.

More later, I need a beer....

19 June 2001 [PM EDITION]

Well, as you all known, that meeting is taking place today. Supposed to start at 4.30pm, the finish is scheduled for 6pm or so. So, what do we feel? I know how I feel - I have a heady mixture of hope, anticipation, paranoia and negativity rolled all into one. Confused? Hope for obvious reasons, anticipation for obvious reasons. Paranoia? Well, I just fear it will all go wrong, it's happened before. Negativity? Follows on from paranoia. I honestly believe that today will not be the definitive statement we want - after today, I still think there will be a degree of limbo though obviously not as much as before. Here's what we do know - HOK and CK have been contacted by Jarvis Astaire to see if they could combine the two sports into one giant stadium. Is it possible? One would hope so, and this may be what today's meeting is about. Expect nothing from today and anything additional is a bonus.

Also, to prove that the football season is kicking back into life, the Worthless Cup first round draw is out. And guess what - we're in it. And guess who we're playing? Brighton at the Withdean. Man, that's a swell one if ever I saw it, though driving/parking could be fun. It takes place on the week commencing 20th August, so you may even wrangle a day trip on the coast for that one. Also, Millwall are playing Cardiff.......

More later, assuming anything happens....

14 June 2001

And just when SW19 was taking a well earned hibernation, along pops up some news that maybe will give us some post season cheer - WISA reps and CK, WFC PR, the council, Casale and some bloke called Jarvis Astaire (what a name, but more on him later) are meeting next Tuesday PM about WGS. Could a decision finally be made? The feasibility study is due to be announced very soon, and maybe by Tuesday 10 years (10 fucking years) of torture may finally be laid to rest. Well, "may" being the operative word - we've had so many hopes dashed in the past that it's almost impossible to be anything but cynical about the whole thing. And remember, this IS Wimbledon FC, so things are bound to go wrong. Have you got your season ticket application form yet? See what I mean.....?

So, who is this Jarvis Astaire, who are his friends, and to what social class does he belong to? Well, he's the head bloke at the GRA, owners of the WGS, amongst many other things, and his prescence at such a meeting could be the most significant sign of progression since we left SW19. Why? OK then, why would he bother to turn up at such a meeting? If he was to tell us to fuck off, then he wouldn't need to come. I doubt if he just happened to turn up just for a laugh, so his prescence is of major significance. Rather tellingly though, and this dampens my enthusiasm for Tuesday just a twinge, is the lack of attendance by HOK re: feasibility study. Unless of course a definite decision has been made and there is no need for them to turn up. If one wishes to put 2 and 2 together to make it less than 5, Astaire was on the Wembley PLC board during selling the Empire Stadium to the FA. The people who he had to deal with for Wembley's design is...... HOK. Hmm. Interesting. Astaire is probably an iffy character though, getting soundings from those involved in boxing and dog racing don't seem to value him too highly in the honesty stakes, so be warned.

As for my opinion, I'm not going to get hyped up for Tuesday. I think that we will get a positive sounding from all parties re: WGS but nothing concrete will be announced. The phrase I expect to hear is "we can go to the Dog Track but on these conditions". Now, I want to be proved very very wrong on all this - like everyone else, the first words from the meeting I want to hear is much whooping of joy, followed by an invitation for a piss up and a mass wanking session at the Dog Track. But I've been around too long to not think anything else. Don't get your hopes up, I'm not. But I will gladly swallow (metaphorically speaking of course) everything I've just written in the last paragraph if we get the right decision on Tuesday.

Whilst I'm here, a few other things SW19 related : firstly, the EOSP is available, please fill in. Don't worry, it won't bite. Secondly, if you go to http://gash.net/~repd/mp3/Untitled-1.htm you will see the proposed SW19 new design which will be ready when I can be arsed to do it before the new season starts. There is a very temporary guestbook there, fill in if you so desire. Let me know what you think. Thirdly, when this new design is implemented, SW19 will be down totally for a day or two, because I'm planning to move servers. This also means that www.sw19s-army.co.uk will be out of action, though you can still use the guestbook most of the time. And finally - no, I don't know who the new bloody sponsors are....