Couple of things before our game with the other squatters at the dump : WISA released a press, er, release within the last 12 hours. As you may or may not know, they met with WFC, Merton Council, Wimbledon Civic Forum and Casale yesterday morning. Here is the text of it all:
“On 9th March, a meeting took place between Roger Casale MP, Wimbledon Football club, Merton Council, Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association and Wimbledon Civic Forum.
“The purpose of the meeting was to give a fresh impetus to moves to bring Wimbledon F.C. back to the borough and to examine what practical steps must be taken to make the return of the Club a reality.
“Wimbledon Football Club made clear its committment to bringing the Club back to a ground in or near Merton, if a feasible business case can be made. The Club also made clear its continuing committment to the local community and to the fans.
“Merton Council will work with Wimbledon F.C. to identify possible sites in or near Merton for a new stadium and assist the Club in preparing any subsequent planning application.
“We ruled out Prince George’s Playing Fields on Kingston Road in Raynes Park as a possible site for the stadium.
“We have all agreed to do our best to promote a return of Wimbledon F.C. to Merton and to work together proactively to achieve this end. We have also agreed to meet again in due course to review progress. We urge all members of the community to work with us to achieve a return of Wimbledon F.C. to a stadium in or near Merton.”
Well, a positive start if nothing else. Everyone agrees that we’ve got to be back in Merton for a start. I’m optimistically cautious, nothing more at this stage. We have been down this exact road before – in 1992, in 1998 post-Dublin, I’m sure there are many more occasions where we’ve got our hopes up only for them to be dashed again. That said, we are dealing with different representatives here : we’ve got rid of that cunt who’s now the Putney MP (forget his name), and WFC are far less likely to throw a major strop every time somebody suggests that you do have to pay for land in this country…
Anyway, reading the actual press release (which I’m told is very generalised so I’m probably being un-necessarily harsh), we are naming unobtainable sites but dismissing them. Why? Because of the NIMBYs that’s why. A clever PR trick if nothing else. Other than that, it’s the usual spiel and until further progression IS made we haven’t really got further forward. Wait and see – we’ve done that for a decade.
Speaking of 10 year periods, if you go here then you’ll see a new project by Dave Challinor. It’s self explanatory and I hope as many people respond to it as possible. It’s for a good cause as well so no slacking 🙂
More later.
Ha ha ha. Tenants 1 Squatters 0 was fun wasn’t it? To be fair, it wasn’t the best derby game you’ll ever see though there was plenty of needle about. Forget Fulham – the main rivalry is Palace. I think this meant a lot more to us than perhaps we realise.
The game? Well, Wu Tang netted once, had a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside and missed a 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper. Still, he’s young. Michael Hughes returned for the first time in about a year, and was given a suitable reception. Me, I’m still not entirely convinced that he’s our best player : that honour would go to KC or Wild Thang. But still, he keeps the masses happy…..
On with the show:
Plus points: A win. No goals conceded. Against that inbred lot as well. Nobody played badly. Kelvin made some sublime saves. Made some good passing on a shite pitch – well, what else do you expect on a surface owned by loan sharks?
Minus points: We did let Palace back into it quite a bit. Wasn’t overly impressed with Jason Euell today.
Ugly: Palace fans. They really ARE ugly. The sort you see hanging around Games Workshop in Croydon. A bit mouthy as well, but that’s only to hide their many insecurities.
Yeah…….: Talk that Palace were going to “take” the Farley before the game didn’t exactly materialise. In fact, WFC and Palace were mixing quite well before the game. Unfortunately, there was an incident involving 3 CP fans and 1 WFC fan but the bouncers put themselves a bit.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Had to go into the Clifton instead to do business and was served by the very same bird who used to serve me at SP. Even more strange, she recognised me. And in case you’re wondering, I would like to fuck her. (2) The very well suntanned Palace fan who was happily hawking US cigarettes in self same pub at £2 a box. Very reasonable. Very illegal. Still, I admire his enterprise – give him a couple of years he’ll be buying Palace with the proceeds. Hey, do you think that half of Jordan’s stock at Carphone Warehouse is legal?
Chants: I forget the actual chant being used, but when we used the phrase “squatters” towards them, they just didn’t know how to react. Let me explain – see, WFC are tenants because we are paying rent through a legally signed document called a “contract”. Palace are squatters because they are doing the same thing but are claiming rights to land they do not own. Do you understand? Me speak English. Oh, forget it….
Anything else? Yeah – wasn’t it funny that we charged Palace £18 whilst they only charged us £10. That’ll teach Jordan to try and fuck with the Wombles.
Was it worth it? Oh come on……..
In a nutshell: Ha.