OK, I know I shouldn’t post anything like this until our OS confirms it, but we’ve established now that we have a carvery…
The Woking website, SLP and Hounslow Chronicle are all reporting we’ve taken Chris Bush on work experience/loan. He’s a versatile defender, he’s coming in for Dr Dre tomorrow at left back, and most importantly of all he’s affiliated with Brentford. Cue BFC Wimbledon jokes.
Also, you are at liberty to crack a few jokes about work experience, like he’ll be doing TB’s filing for him this afternoon. It does suggest a couple more things too. Firstly, remember what our manager said in pre-season about getting in talented youngsters from League clubs on-loan (providing we play them, we don’t have to pay them). Obviously Bush falls into this category – Brentford must obviously rate him, but isn’t quite good/mature enough yet to be facing Everton in the Carling Cup…
Perhaps just as importantly, it puts the spotlight on Andre Blackman. OK, he’s suspended tomorrow (which is largely his own fault), but all of a sudden he has somebody snapping at his heels. If Bush impresses tomorrow, there’s no real reason why he should get dropped for Kiddy. It’s a squad game after all, and we don’t need passengers.
Which is what Blackman was against Luton. True, the alleged spitting incident died the death as quickly as it started, but last Friday was his worst with the club so far. He looked not only like a little boy lost, who just didn’t know what to do when things were going his way, but one who appeared to show his chip on his shoulder.
He is clearly a talented kid, but already he’s got himself suspended at the worst time, in a position where we’ve had to bring in a loanee youngster. Little things like that can push a management team against you as much as one big thing, especially if it becomes de rigeur during the season. And if Bush proves himself to be a reliable backup, then what?
This is the first real test of Blackman’s character, it’s up to him how he responds.
Elsewhere, we found out this week that Lee Minshull could be the first winner of the AFC Wimbledon ACL Sweepstake for 2010/11. OK, this place may not have been enthusiastic about him signing, but he was starting to make me come around. And now this? Seriously, what the fuck is it with long term injuries of this nature? Last season, we were considering renaming ourselves ACL Wimbledon and it’s happening all over again.
Was our training ground built on a gypsy cemetery or something? To have one is unlucky, to have two is careless, to have three? Although we’ve had more than that, haven’t we? Sure somebody is keeping count. One thing is certain, thank christ Mike Rayner is full time with us now, he’ll be employing a whole medical staff at this rate.
Anyway, we’ve got tomorrow to look forward to. Again, I hope we stick to the game tomorrow and not distract ourselves elsewhere. We might be more effective in doing that anyway, if this comment from Matt Tubbs is anything to go by:
“I like going to places like Wimbledon because they’ve got a good following. We know it’s going to be a big game but we know if we lose we’ll pick up points elsewhere. “More than anything our aim is to go there and not lose.”
Sorry, can’t seem to find the link at the moment.
First reaction is like my second and third ones : hmm. Can you imagine us ever saying something like this before a game of this size? It may be just psychological warfare – their manager is the best in the division at it – but should he just say that KM is a tough place to visit and a draw wouldn’t be the worst result?
For a team that has spent a lot of money and is currently top, it is odd to say that. Unless they’re so supremely confident in their own abilities that they can say that with crossed fingers, that is. If one thing this season so far is clear, we do at least go to away games and know we can win. It doesn’t always happen, as Luton and Rushden remind us, but we know we’re good enough to.
Kenilworth Road didn’t hold the fear factor for us this time round, which makes the 3-0 gubbing even more stinging. In a couple of weeks time we’re at Mansfield which last season would have been one of our cup finals. Now? We know that if our strikers are on fire we have a good chance of winning.
We don’t have the mental blocks this season, which may be down to a more professional approach (in both senses of the word). At least, we haven’t been tested ourselves in that manner. That’s why I hope tomorrow is just another game – we can win tomorrow if we allow ourselves to focus.
Finally, I note that we’re in the Daily Mail. Cue head fuck from our Independent/Guardian reading types 😉 OK, it’s a bit cliche-o-rama, and too gushing for my liking, but all publicity is good. Even if that first picture is one of the cheesiest ever taken. The positive signs about Merton are always welcome, and I hope it’s not just lip service, although the Hammam legacy still seems to live on.
I have never been one to fully believe that LBM were constantly the guilty party – true, we had issues around 1994, although how much of that was down to The Father of WFC (sic) being a prick is unclear, but when was the last time Wimbledon and LBM actually put anything tangible on the table? Wandle Valley? That was 1989, lest we forget.
That said, we do look a unit in that item, and for once even the C***y G**g references don’t piss me off. Maybe it’s taken all this time since 2002 to start forging our own identity? The old WFC never fully recovered from the CG “legacy” – it tried hard in the last 90s and beyond to live up to it, but like the rest of the club by that stage, it had gone beyond the line.
Those older than me may see a correlation between the WFC of the 1974-77 Southern League era and today. Back then, we were top of the non-league tree, looking quality without being flash at the same time and on the verge of something big without realising it. Dare history repeat itself? If it does, tomorrow wouldn’t be a bad time to start…