I’m breaking my own rules here tonight by writing about losing to Plymouth before sleeping on it, but I think if I don’t put fingers to keyboard I won’t be able to sleep a wink and will probably end up smashing something. Doubtless I will still probably end up regretting writing half of this stuff by tomorrow, but it’s how I feel right now.
At this moment, I don’t feel so much horrible as angry. AFC Wimbledon, which has made a big thing of being “back” in the Football League is going to get relegated at the first attempt. Tonight was a game we simply could not lose, but we did. And it might have even been more.
There was no spark. No nous. No ideas. The goal we got was lucky that it was awarded, but when you get that bit of luck you take it and press on. Not us. We went backwards. Their second goal was almost as inevitable as the sun rising over the trees outside SW19 Towers tomorrow morning. And their first goal after less than 20 seconds set the scene for the rest of the evening…
I honestly, genuinely cannot see this side staying up. At least without a serious change, and that does mean Terry Brown getting his cards. It won’t happen tonight, or indeed by the time you read this on Wednesday, in fact according to Graham Moody on Twatter…
Terry brown very honest after the game, said
#afcwimbledon deserved nothing from it. He is trying to get another centre half & a midfielder
And
He has also called the players in tomorrow to watch tonight’s game with him where he’ll be saying some home truths
#afcwimbledon
Oh, he’s going to tell the players some home truths, is he? Perhaps they ought to tell him a few home truths back too, like why does he treat the defence with disdain? Or why does he buy players who play in one position and then try and get them to play in another?
Or why he takes our best (perhaps only?) decent signing during the January window in Billy Knott and constantly bench him?
Or why he won’t invite Marcus Gayle into the coaching staff?
Or why he has moulded a side into such a way that it has practically run out of steam in trying to claw back yet another conceded goal?
Or why he signed a clearly unfit Jason Euell as a crowd-placating measure?
Or why he spends most of the time sitting in the dugout not looking like he knows what to do?
Or why we have won only three times in 22 games?
Or, most crucially of all, why we looked distinctly second best against Northampton, Hereford and now Plymouth?
But hey, he’s going to tell them some home truths. Get clapping your hands everyone.
Seriously, I think TB’s tenure at AFCW is on life support now. The players looked like they’d lost him tonight (which is why, in all seriousness, telling them some “home truths” isn’t going to work, and rather hints that TB has finally run out of ideas), and you don’t need me to tell you what happens when that situation occurs.
Fail to beat Daggers on Saturday and that really has to be it for him. If I was the AFCW board, I would spend from tomorrow until Saturday figuring out who to bring in at almost a heartbeat’s moment. The need for AFCW to be in the Football League is far, far greater than personal loyalty to an individual who took us from the Conference and is doing his best to return us back there within a season.
I really do worry if the top brass are a bit too in love with our manager? They’re certainly very loyal to him, they get on tremendously well with him, they reportedly gave him a big sum in January (over £100k I heard tonight, which if true certainly rubbishes the “we haven’t got much money” line) – I’m sure that in an ideal world they’d love to keep him on until he decides to retire.
But taking us from the Ryman Premier to the Football League means absolutely nothing now. It’s totally irrelevant, and must never be used to justify keeping a failing manager on. This is 2012, and we are relegation bound. And it would be a needless relegation – we should be doing better. We are underachieving. We are teetering on mediocrity. We are painfully non-league in our approach in so many ways.
We have been found out.
I honestly hope that the powers-that-be don’t want to suffer the humiliation of going straight back into non-league football after just one season. Nothing would say failure more than going back to Barrow next season, and you can imagine Erik Samuelson having to walk back with his tail between his legs the first time he has to meet up with the Conference Board again…
On a practical level, would replacing TB now (or more likely, after Daggers) work? Fixture wise, having Daggers, Bradford, Brizzle Rovers, Oxford and Burton Albion in the next two-and-a-bit weeks doesn’t help. In fact, we could even be in the bottom two by the end of that run, if not before. If TB has lost the dressing room, then these next five games are going to be hell. We could easily plummet and never recover from it.
If however you can get a spark – and by that I some fresh blood/thinking/ideas – then you could get a little bit of momentum at the right time and secure our future for next season. If we do replace TB we will need to do it quickly, and they would have to hit the ground running.
A tall order, especially with this bunch? Maybe, but the current option isn’t working…
Anyway, I’ve got a few things that have been on my chest for a good while. One final thing – I won’t deny booing at the final whistle, even if it was out of sheer frustration/pissed-offedness. A few others did too. If wanting us to have minimum standards makes me spoilt, or ungrateful for what we’ve achieved since 2002, or disrespectful to those who have got us there, then so be it.
Because it’s either that or denial.
Was it worth it?
Meh meh meh meh meh meh meh meh. And throw in a bugger as well.
Can’t say I disagree – he’s tried to be too clever by half. Such as wanting to change things after the Shrewsbury game, that backfired. Changing a winning team v Aldershot at home, that backfired. Not getting any defenders in the transfer window (apart from Hoyte), just watching Darren Purse today shows exactly what we need. Buying non league players thinking they will easily adapt to the football league, backfired.
It would be easier to take if we had struggled all season, but we haven’t we have been terrible since November – way too long and he would have gone at other clubs. Fuck the cuddly fans club image – the club needs to be ruthless and professional. Imagine what Aidy Boothroyd would have done here eh? Ho hum am now thoroughly pissed off.
Don’t worry though the players will say how ‘buzzing’ they are on twitter.
“Or why we have won only three times in 22 games?” .. and one of them was rather fortunate in so much we were 3 -1 down with 15 mins to go. Goes back to my earlier comments that we are lucky to have as many points as we do. Can’t think of many games where we’ve be “unlucky” to lose, mostly the other way round.
I wasn’t in the ground early enough to see their 1st goal but giving the benefit of the doubt a goal scored afer 20 secs is a freak of nature.
BUT i saw nothing to suggest we knew how to come back from that (from my viewpoint in the KRE I’m not even sure if Midsons ‘goal’ was in and neither it appeared were the players). Somehow we’ve made quality players look average and lost/scared, can only think that’s down to management but replace TB now?
Think that if we are to replace TB we must do it now. A new man must be able to bring in 2 or 3 loan players of his choosing plus any free agents between now and the end of the season to stamp his authority on the club and to give it the best chance of suceeding.
Although things are not good we must try and remain positive and realise that we don’t have to win too many games to stay up and that in football things can change very quickly…
@Stephen Ward
Think if we do replace TB it will be after Dagenham.
Okay – Fair enough. We are beginning to head towards squeaky bum territory but, ffs, chin up! We’re not relegated yet.
*Sees the Plymouth result for the first time. Eats words*
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Totally agree with the post, question is who do we replace TB with? Perhaps Neil Warnock if we can afford him as he knows this level quite well?
I said exactly what you said earlier in the season in that AFCW are loyal to TB because he got us here and that was before we got those 3 wins. Some ruthless decisions need to be made now, other wise everything we worked for is going to go up in smoke at the 1st attempt and then will the penny drop that the man who brought us here, took us down so shamefully and that we cannot be loyal to him anymore? I still think judging by Mickey T on WDON that people are still clinging to him but the fact is we are shit and have been for a long time. AFCW play is so predictable that sides know exactly what to do. It is not good enough that the players were not at the races yesterday, alot of that blame is down to TB. It is not as if they didn’t know the importance of the game, I think TB has been too soft but essentially comes down to he doesn’t know what he is doing anymore. We are rubbish at home and it has been for a long time, do the management and players not see that, if so, why do they serve this pile of shit every week?
TB has to be given his marching orders but apart from Neil Warnock, I can see many potential candidates and I think we should now start all searching for one, before we are totally humiliated.
Another thing, why do our fans not boo the players, you pay money and invest time to watch home games because of the love of the club but the players are not displaying any passion. It has been piss poor at home for so long, why are the fans scared to show their real emotions, maybe it might spur the players on. At the moment they think we are in awe of them, which is bollocks!
It grates me when people say that TB lost the dressing room. If so, then all those players can fuck right off to where they came from. Non-ieague, L2 or L1 benches and PL or Championship academies. The world will forget about them sooner than they think and may actually start looking for proper jobs. Terry Brown got the club to the FL and he is the man to keep us here. I’ll be back after Barnet, or even sooner, to say: ‘Didn’t I say so?’
we all love TB, he has done so much for us and we will never forget that. that said, everyone has a limit, and it has been shown this season that he doesnt cut it. the buck stops at the top. if the players are not performing week after week, it is the manager responsible, end of. our tactics are basic and as said, very easy to stop, we have no plan b, let alone a plan c or d. i do think its time he went. if it was a player thats been with us 5 years and been great but wasnt able to make the step us to league 2, tb would have no problem dropping and replacing him, why is it different with a manager?
as much as i hate to say it, but “BURTON OUT!”
Goalkeeper passes to full-back. Long diagonal ball. Opposition get ball. Opposition run at us. We stand off. Opposition shoots just over bar. Goalkeeper passes to full-back. Long diagonal ball. We WIN ball. Pass it sideways and concede a throw-in.
This is plan A and has been for the last few years. But worse than that we look like we don’t care. I think this result was worse than the home Northampton game. And that game was awful.
Something needs to change right now.
Did anyone else read in the program that Stuart Cash has been ‘working with the defense’ and that they ‘all know what to do in certain game situations’? Why not let Marcus Gayle work with the defence, seeing as he’s been there and done it?
Jesus that game was shocking.Defeats you can take,I have never seen a Wimbledon team play so clueless.The biggest problem is Terry Browns luck has gone,34 games to sort out the defence and it is as wank as the first game of the season.
If Brown/Cash go now then they can just forever be remembered as the legends that took us back into the 91, not the twits that sent us straight back down. I think a new manager coming in now with 12 games left could give us a much-needed fresh style of play.
People posting above are right – it’s just Plan A every time. I doubt we could afford someone like Warnock for the long term – but it’s urgent we stay in L2 this season – so perhaps the supposed money left over from January’s window could go towards hiring someone of his calibre.
OR perhaps it’s all just a big marketing campaign for our friends at A-Plan Insurance. We stick to Plan A for 46 games and they insure our carvery facilities on the cheap?
Not sure that Neil Warnock will come and manage us, given that he’s Leeds manager
This is bit difficult for me as I’ve unfortunately missed most in the last month and only have various reports coming in. They do all have a common theme and question Terry Brown’s dogmatic obsession to “Plan A”.
I have also heard that the Dons Trust Board’s faith in Terry may be starting to wobble after last night. It’s a tricky one as changing the manager is not a guarantee of safety. Neither is keeping one.
If we’re playing as bad as it sounds, we’re in big trouble. Although 3 points against Daggers would be huge.
One thing I do want to say is that I agree with Morden Womble on changing a winning team (including 2 of the back 4?!?) for Aldershot Town after the three confidence-building wins against Port Vale, Gillingham and Macclesfield. This did not make any sense at all.
Horrible viewing last night. We seem clueless. No plan B (I struggle to work out what Plan A is sometimes). I’ve never really focussed on tactics – in the AFC era there hasn’t been much need but now its apparent TB is no tactician for FL football.
At the pre-season FL managers’ conference TB came back saying Graham Westley gave him FL advice that defenders must be defenders. So what does TB do; continuously say we need another striker or wants our midfielders to score goals even though we’ve been letting in easy and stupid goals.
Last nights performance was nothing short of dire. Plymouth were by far and away the better side, which says something for a team that have been in the relegation zone for the majority of the season. They could easily have won by 2 or 3 clear goals.
I commented to the people I was standing with at the end of half time when TB came back onto the pitch, that he looked like a man who was walking to the gallows.
In the second half we looked like a ‘team’, sorry a collection of players, that were playing together for the 1st time, we created nothing, and if we were still playing would probably still be waiting to score.
In the pre transfer window there were some bright spots to dwell on during matches despite leaking goals. Last night there were none.
Despite the crowd trying to lift the team, there were periods of ghostly quiet. I think for the first time last night that reality has hit home to the masses, and it has dawned on them that relegation is a distinct possibility if not certain on this performance.
Terry states that they have been working on the defensive weaknesses week in week out, so much so that he sounds like a ‘busted record’.
The penny still doesn’t appear to have dropped that whatever methods he has been using up to now haven’t worked.
An urgent influx of new blood is required either at management level or playing staff to try to arrest the slide towards certain relegation.
Bringing in a ‘Tony Adams’ type figure to coach the defence would be a help.
If we could stem the follow of goals conceeded a point a game is still enough to ensure survival.
If it means parking the bus to get the results then so be it. Most fans will be prepared to forgo the flare type football to ensure our survival.
Although the team are collectively responsible for the performance, some of new players despite the fanfare that surrounded their arrival have contributed little.
Wow, never seen so many posts on this site – must have hit a raw nerve.
And that’s it – our collective raw nerve as supporters hasnt been hit its been pummelled.
I’ve always believed if you want change it comes one of two ways – change the playing staff or change the manager. I dont think we have enough time to sort out about 8 new players!
TB (this season only) has had long enough to change things and they havent. Simple. Same now as at the beginning. His intransigence to change reminds me of Ogil and the side that went down.
If we truly believe we are going down NOW with TB at the helm and that he cannot pull us out, then what is there to lose by replacing him?
No change in not better than some change – you have at least tried. As REPD has said in his piece we all have seen and believe those things need to be changed and the only person that can do that is the manager.
Even when he was away the SC/SB combo though not significantly better did give rise to some change (iirc)
I think a lot are right – Saturday is a bit of a d-day. Thing is at the moment I really dont want it to come – both from a game perspective and what I might have to watch….. again
What about Joe Kinnear?
Do you think he is past it or could he be useful to us, honest question. If he can galvansie players like he used to, we wouldn’t have this trouble, prehaps bring him in as caretaker in charge so we can find a replacement in the summer? I think Vinnie Jones might need to make some appearances or better still Harry Bassett might need to get involved, someone who won’t take shit from the players, as I feel TB is a bit of a laugh infront of the players and they are not responding to him.
Bobby Gould? (bit ancient these days)
My gripe is this intransigence from Terry in using 4-3-3 which is not the kind of formation you should use when you’re in deep relegation trouble. We have had hardly any midfield presence to sit and defend just in front of the defenders – how many times did Plymouth get wide and attack Bush who had no cover and is turned too easily?
Sam H’s tendency to pass to the opposition seems to have come back, too.
What I noticed was the sheer desire of the Plymouth players to chase non stop – they were getting themselves right in our faces and putting us off our stride (for what it’s worth, our “stride” is that of a decrepit gnat). We barely closed them down when they had the ball.
I had no energy to boo at the end, it was far too depressing. I can see John Sill on Saturday saying “lump it up and harry them” and we can’t cope with that.
There aren’t many players who I feel have delivered this season, too. Sammy Moore has just been a class above the rest, and Jack Midson has been good too. Beyond those two? Billy Knott has been a breath of fresh air and his cameo last night was full of more effort than that from most of the others.
Just some other observations on points that have already been raised in the main article and the comments.
This season was not only a test for the players to see if they could step up to league 2 but also TB and the coaching team. There have been many a great non league manager that for whatever reason just could not cut it in the pro leagues. Chris Fairclough is one that springs to mind but that’s going back a few seasons.
It’s also important to remember that TB has extensive knowledge on non league players which is great when trying to climb out of non league but some of the signings we’ve made from non league this season have been shocking (Porter, Ademeno etc…..)
Which brings me onto my second point. Transfers. On the permanent side Midson is really his only success, perhaps Gwillam too. Callum McNaughton could be good but he needs a run in the team. Byron Harrison keeps promising to be good but at the moment is just a league 2 Emil Heskey. MMK, Keiron Djalalji (sp?) I haven’t really looked at enough to form an opinion. Aside from that Bush, Porter, Ademeno have or should be jettisoned as soon as possible. On the loan front I agree with the comments above regarding Jason Euell. Why are we giving a unfit player games to get fit only for him to go back to his parent club to help them. If he was coming from a Prem club you could argue that his class would be enough to make a difference. A player coming from league one is not that big a step up in class (see Byron Harrison). On the loan front Billy Knott is class, George Moncur average and Hoyte was total mistake which cost us the game vs Aldershot.
So back to last nights game. In response to MALINIOK, if TB HAS lost the dressing room then it’s he that should f–k off, not the players. Part of a managers job is to take his team and get the best out of them. If the players don’t believe he can then they are bound to be less motivated. And this works for all jobs not just football. As a manager if you can get your team to buy into your philosophy then your productivity increases.
One comment from last nights fall out from TB was very interesting to me. “I’m going to bring them in today and show them how bad they were and everything they did wrong and then try to raise spirits” or words to that effect. I think this comment is pretty indicative of TB’s mindset right now. How is pointing out players faults and embarrassing them boosting morale? I think the players are well aware that they need to up their game but perhaps telling them week in week out that they are crap is having a negative effect. After all these weeks I’m yet to see a positive outcome to Terry’s comments about the defence.
And all this smacks of no plan B on or off the pitch. We do seem very one dimensional on the pitch and very single tracked off it.
REPD made a good point about Marcus Gayle. If the sole reason to sign Jason Euell was that he had Premiership experience which would be valuable to the other players then why not bring Marcus into the fold. He acheived far more than Jason anyway.
All in all I really hope that TB can turn this around and get us enough points for safety and then look to re-build for next season. If I’m realistic then I’m really worried we don’t have enough about us right now to do this. If you look at the form guide Dagenham have gained 4 more points than us over the last 6 games. Both Hereford, Northampton and Bradford also have better form. Only Macclesfield, Barnet and Burton are worse if I remember correctly. THAT IS A SCARY THOUGHT going into games against D&R, Bradford and then top half teams for the remainder of the run in.
Perhaps after the D&R game if we don’t get a result then we should make a change but only if we have a qualified replacement lined up and I think maybe Marcus Gayle could be the answer if we don’t.
Some unemployed managers to give food for thought:
Lee Clark
Paul Hart
Brian Laws
Martin Allen haha just kidding! We could never employ an MK scum manager.
Anyway, sorry for the long winded post – just wanted to air my thoughts.
I have read the comments. My view is that we have to stick with TB because it is simply too late in the season to change the manager.A new manager needs time to get to know his staff and the players and time is one thing we have not got at the moment. If we were going to get rid of TB it should have been in December during the first bad run, not with only a dozen games left.Having said that I do think if we lose to the Daggers the board should tell him he has definitely only until the end of the season to change things around before losing his job. This will certainly concentrate a few minds, and perhaps make the players think about how important this club is to so many people. Knowing TB will lose his job if we continue to under-perform or in the worst case lose our league status could just be the shot in the arm the whole team needs.I agree Billy Knott has to start in the future-his passion was badly missed for most of the game, and the defence does need some reinforcements to give us some solidity.
Why should we doing better when we have the 4th lowest wage bill in the division?
Football is ALL about money. It’s insane but to survive at this level you need to go bust regularly. Port Vale are just the latest club who will prove that.
It obviously too late now but we should have offered that £100k to Barnet for McLeod as that would have have doubled its effectiveness.
@AFCDS
What an astonishing load of crap! Well done.
Neil Warnock?!? Have you even the remotest idea how much he is paid at Leeds United?
Some of our fan’s total naivety and ignorance amazes me.
@Ben Moran
“Having said that I do think if we lose to the Daggers the board should tell him he has definitely only until the end of the season to change things around before losing his job.”
Yeah, that ought to motivate him…
Some of the drivel on here is priceless/obvious trolling.
I thought our fans were better than this.
I don’t want to be accused of trolling (and yes Martin I am critiquing your posts above) but as a concerned and loyal if geographically distant fan I can, along with many others, have doubt’s and even fears. Fears that all the hard work achieved by the club and the fans over the last 9.5 years will be worth little if we go down. Doubts that the current set up will keep us in this league – unless the current set up changes. Those changes might be in terms of personnel – difficult at this late stage, and I do hope TB et al can do the job.
Those changes could be “ok team I’ve got a plan B. We’ll try pretty diagonal passing for 10 minutes. If we’re under the cosh (or the moment we concede a goal in those first 10 minutes) I will shout “Plan B” and then we’re going to park the bus. Hoof the ball to player x, who will force a corner/free kick, and we’ll bombard the 6 yard box and score ugly. So along with fitness, all we’re going to do in training is 9 man defense drills and corner/free kick routines. We will drill so you have muscle memory. We will drill so we can park the bus. We will drill you so you close your man down. We will drill you so you mark properly. We will drill so you know how to hoof the ball to player x. We will drill so you know how to do route one counter-attacks. We will keep it simple. But for ourselves and the fans (who really do pay our wages) we are going to ______ (insert expletive) be a defensive unit WHO CAN SCORE FROM SET PEICES. We have the capability. So lets work on Plan B please.”
That would be my team talk or something similar (really I am being facetious) but we do need to be able to defend, even if that is the “park-the-bus-and-hoof-the-ball-up-version. Because unless current form changes we WILL go down. Not because I am disloyal to TB. Not b/c I am expecting too much. Not b/c I am trolling. Not b/c I am not better than this. But b/c TB and the staff have not got the defense working. Simple. It’s bad luck if you concede a few goals, but to have to come from behind SO often is bad training/drilling/tactics, i.e. bad form, bad training.
What we are doing is not working, so lets change it while keeping faith with TB, ‘cos I do believe he, and the players, are capable of keeping us in this league (which was my hope for the year – not playoffs or cups but staying in the league).
A good post from REPD and some decent responses, mixed in with some utter nonsense. While much of the frustration currently is with TB (and therefore SC and SB too), the players have to take some responsibility too. Although people don’t seem to admit it (or are commenting without going to games), we have tried different systems and tactics (call them ‘Plan A’ ‘Plan B’ etc if you will).
At Hereford we played 4-3-3. While we didn’t play well, we were the better team – as 16 shots and 58% possession would suggest. As well as the formation change, we also went more direct. Against Plymouth, we went flat 4-4-2 for some of the second half – something those on WUP have been advocating since time immemorial. It didn’t work though – Knott was wasted out wide and we didn’t create anywhere near enough. At Crewe we started 4-1-4-1 etc…
The point I’m slowly getting round to making is that it is not all the management team’s doing that we are in this position (although clearly there is a responsibility there, as outlined below) – the players are capable, as shown up to and including October 8th, but the individual errors are astonishing. The players simply HAVE to stand up and be counted on Saturday.
Having said all that, the management team must be held to account for leaving it until 12 games remaining to recognise we need something extra in defence. I’m not in favour of sacking TB et al at the moment (although this may change on Saturday) but it would take some persuading that if they remain in charge next season we won’t be in the same position.
@Vancouver Womble
One bit of good news, we still have to play Burton at KM, however if we lose that we are pretty much goners.
Can we reach the magic 30 posts mark?
Even if 3 of them were by Don Roamin
This is real football and it’s something we haven’t been used to for a while! We’re in 17th place for christs sake! Come on you dons!
“we were the better team – as 16 shots and 58% possession would suggest.”
Hereford were the better team. They won 2-1.
Martin.It’s feasible to be the better team and lose – just ask Port Vale after the game at KM…
There are 6 winnable games left: Daggers, Bradford, Bristol R, Burton, Accrington, and Barnet. Three home, three away and and all, except Barnet, to be played by 31 March. 12 more points are needed. Gentlemen, to your duties. Good luck everyone.
Absolutely Chai, enough with the doom and gloom, I reckon we’ll thump them @ 5-0 tomorrow and put at least another 3 past Bradford on Tuesday
Wot Chaiwan and Dons4 said. Come on you Dons!