First things first. Like London buses, I received two Margate reports at once in my inbox. If you’re the sort who rubbernecks at car crashes, clic ici. [SW19 note: gone missing. If found, will be put up] And unlike London buses, I won’t charge you £1.50 per journey.
Secondly, we’ve got yet another new signing. And once again, it’s a signing that you may have even remotely heard of. While Kim Grant may not stick around long, it’s yet another sign that (on field) the club is going in the right direction. How cool would it be if he got a World Cup place thanks to us?
I’ve waxed lyrical far too much about the significance of signing ex-league players, so I’ll keep schtum until we sign Marcus Gayle on a free in the summer. What I will say is this : the fact that we can now attract such players is almost worth promotion this season. Yeah, so it’s another chop/change of the squad, and if you look below not everything appears sweetness and light. But if you look at Conf South teams, they have their fair share of ex-leaguers. Hell, Yeading last season had DJ Campbell (whatever happened to him?). Certainly, the excitement showing on various on-line opinion outlets is telling.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, I came across a piece about Mark Peters in the Basingstoke Gazette last week. The quotes are a couple of weeks old, and the link I had isn’t working. But these following passages are very, very interesting.
He went on:
“I am not all about money, but I wanted to try to earn more for the family and felt I had done enough to get that money by getting a contract.
“When Ernie didn’t give me it, I thought going somewhere else to earn more was the way to go.
“But with all the travelling to Eastleigh and then AFC Wimbledon, where I didn’t get expenses, the 50, 100 and 150-mile round trips made it hard financially.”
Bold emphasis mine.
OK, he wasn’t a favourite, but that will explain a lot about why he looked shite. If it’s true, of course. I hope that this was a one off, and a very good explanation is forthcoming. But it does worry me that even now, some players aren’t getting the minimum you expect from a club, especially one our size.We’re not a tiddler like RPV.
True, we know that most players are mercenaries, even (or especially) at this level. Contrary to the viewpoint that some of our fans seem to have, not every player will crawl over broken glass to join us, be conversant in every single anti-MK protest and willingly join the Dons Trust on arrival. But (again, if true), it may explain why some players never quite put the effort in. It does seem fucked that we can put in ex-league players at one level and expect others to complete hugely costly round trips for the mythical “love of the club”. Let’s hope that KG and our other newbies are getting slightly more than their bus fare home…
Finally, we’re being treated (if that’s the right word) tomorrow with the presence of Soccer AM. Or to give it its proper title, Sucker AM. I forget why, apparently it’s something to do with Harvey and some bloke who plays for W&E. Anyway, we’re getting on telly so expect us to lose 3-1.
Fortunately, it appears that we won’t be contaminated with the presence of Tim Lovejism. As you know, he swapped Watford for Chelski because it looked better on his credibility CV. No more needs to be said, but it does remind me of a story I read once about Fantasy Football League. Basically, an Everton fan turned up to a recording once, and asked for an Everton shirt to wear, as par the format of the show. Fair enough. Except they couldn’t find an Everton shirt. So, what did FFL tell him? “Sorry, we don’t have an Everton shirt. You’ll have to wear a Leeds shirt instead…”. YCNMIU.
One more thing. This is a word of warning for anyone who wants to do that retarded “Easy” handclap for the Sucker AM cameras. Don’t. By doing said clap, you are making yourself look like every other single fuckwit “footie” fan that infests our football grounds. You are not funny. You are not being “joyful”. You are not capable of being ironic. You are a shitstain. You are unoriginal and watch Big Brother because you’re told to. And you accept because you haven’t got the personality to think for yourself and realise what a cunt you look. You vote for James Blunt in “best song” polls. In short, you’re a Franchise fan. I hope you are caught with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed outside Finsbury Park mosque.
Now, where’s that article I did eons ago about Soccer AM…..?