Tag Archives: New England Revolution

Jun 11 2011
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Dons, News

News Round-Up 11/6/11

Having waited a week for enough news to actually round-up, some of this might not exactly be news to any of you, but I’ll press on all the same. This is deep into holiday time, in a summer without a major tournament (although the U21 championship and Womens World Cup will hold my interest before pre-season).

I was actually planning on staying up late to watch my wife’s local team, New England Revolution, play their local derby at New York Red Bulls (a franchise not quite in the odious leagues of Them, but despicable enough thanks mainly to their owners activities in Salzburg…). Boston to New York is about the distance of London to Manchester, not really a derby in our meaning of the word, but a short hop for seasoned supporters in North America. The Revs were unable to add to a sweet week for New England teams over their New York counterparts going down 2-1, fortunately I fell asleep well before kick off.

The reason I mention this (apart from obvious filler in a slow news week) is had my plans to emigrate to NH earlier in the year not been scuppered by global financial meltdown, I would at very least have been settling down to watch the game on TV, possibly even joining the small band of Revs fans who boarded buses and made their way down I-95.

The cushion that softened the blow of not being able to relocate, and simultaneously having those relocation plans set back years, is that I was able to witness, and find myself blogging in what might turn out to be one of the most exciting periods to be a Dons fan. The Football League AGM in Cyprus this week saw the formality of the Dons membership of League Two confirmed, leaving behind the Conference… a division that just seems to get more and more mental with each passing year.

The so-called AGM Cup being played out this weekend at Celtic Manor, seeing the half-expected expulsion of Rushden, and subsequent reprieve of Southport. This further develops the northern imbalance of this division, and further southern imbalance of the level below – poor old Bishops Stortford now look like being forced into the BSN competing with the likes of Workington and Colwyn Bay. The fifth level of English football is increasingly becoming a headache; clubs throwing money at the two promotion places at the top sitting uneasily in what is the melting pot between the professional and semi-pro games, and as a farewell to the division I’ll be writing more about that later in the week.

Back to the Dons, with holidays coming to an end players are outlining their plans for the season ahead, and for those already signed up for next season, still floating on air presumably, talk from Jamie Stuart and Seb Brown is of challenging for another promotion. Us supporters will probably accept mid-table with a nice cup run thrown in, not that we were really expecting too much last season in what was meant to be a transitional season.

What has become apparent is TB won’t be rebuilding his squad again this summer, which will mean an extremely steep learning curve for some – I’m especially thinking of the likes of Christian Jolley, Ricky Wellard… younger players who were looking at two to three years in the Conference learning their trade before stepping up, and now find themselves in a sink or swim situation, at least as far as their Dons careers are concerned. Of course, if they are successful, they will be much better players for the experience.

Yet TB is still trying to supplement his squad for next season, and has confirmed his interest in one rumoured target. Jack Midson was spotted at the Fleetwood game, and we are fortunate his column over at The 72, The Not So Secret Footballer allows us a glimpse into Midsons personal circumstances. He certainly seems to have a few potential suitors, but appears to be keeping his feet on the ground. Still highly regarded by Oxford fans despite his release at the end of last season, if he comes to Wimbledon or elsewhere we can only hope he continues his blog, a readable insight into the life of a lower league footballer.

This week also saw confirmation that Jon Main will be returning to Tonbridge in the BSS next season, joining ex-Dons Lewis Taylor and Ben Judge. It goes without saying I wish him all the best next season, as many of you know I’d still rather gouge my eyes out than go down the road and pay to enter Beveree but if Tonbridge play there on a day the Dons don’t have a fixture, I may just be forced into a policy change…

Still no news on possible pre-season opponents beyond the three already named, either officially via the O/S, on other teams websites… even rumours are proving hard to come by. Still, a new WHAK is due any day now, and should prove a useful outlet for releasing further news.

Five days until the League Cup draw, six until fixtures are released…

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Nov 10 2010
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Features, WUP Archive

WUP 8.3

This article was originally published in the October ’10 issue of WUP, as I pondered my (now abandoned) plans to relocate to New Hampshire, and the quality of media our far-flung fans rely on…

I’m writing this safely ensconced in my temporary home in Kingston, surrounded by black plastic sacks filled with a combination of clean clothes, dirty clothes, kitchen utensils, DVDs and god knows what else, all jumbled together in no particular order, with the pleasant task of finding a home for everything being put off until I finish writing this. It’s just a temporary move, because it looks very much as though come January I’ll find myself heading over to New Hampshire to join Mrs Anonymous Don, currently doing up our US residence and trying to find gainful employment. Naturally I’m looking forward to it, in every direction I look my life in the UK has become less and less appealing over the last few years – career heading sideways (then backwards, then sideways again…), lifelong friendships turning to dust (mainly thanks to the twin evils of women and kids)…

Yet there is one part of my life where everything is pretty frickin’ sweet at the moment… watching the Dons. Some of our football this season has been a joy to behold, almost ridiculously composed considering we barely have a player over the age of twenty-three (we already supply three England C regulars, if any more get called up they may as well play home games at Kingsmeadow…). So while my family, remaining friends and work colleagues first instinct when I told them my plans to move across the Atlantic were along the lines of ‘Good luck, we’ll miss you but it’s going to be an adventure, you go for it!’, the reaction of those who share my love of Wimbledon has been an almost identical – ‘What do you want to move there for?!’.

I’m kind of understanding where they are coming from – the timing isn’t great. At the moment nothing is set in concrete, so mid-January could turn into late-January, which in turn could become February – but I know the missus patience won’t stretch to the playoff final in May. I could face the horrific scenario of the Dons getting promoted to the League and not being there to celebrate, in fact being thousands of miles away. And much as I love my friends and family over the ocean, it won’t be the same. Still, I’m missing my wife more than I thought I would, for a thousand reasons, the overriding one at the moment is that for the time being I have to WASH MY OWN FUCKING PANTS…

I’m not even sure what I’m going to do with myself when I’m over there. I presume I’ll somehow integrate myself into the New England Revolution fan base. Although their supporters group is known as the Midnight Riders, which kind of sounds like a gang of stereotype gay bikers – I’m fairly sure they featured prominently in the Police Academy movies… presumably they meet at the Blue Oyster? I could change the name of the blog to The Anonymous Revs, maybe contribute if they have a similar publication to WUP? Although as my columns are largely self-indulgent it will presumably resolve around regular misunderstandings caused by the mid-Atlantic definition change of words such as ‘fanny’ (embarrassed apologies… police were called… had to sign a register… banned from all branches of Dunkin Donuts… that kind of thing).

My attachment to AFC Wimbledon is becoming more emotional because of the move. I found myself entering the Minithon in a desperate attempt to Do My Bit. I always imagined that in later years I’ll do my stint as a volunteer, now I can’t be certain I’ll ever get that opportunity. So while you roll out of bed tomorrow morning, I’ll be dodging dog poo over three laps of the park. Unless of course you read this on Sunday night when I’ve probably finished/collapsed. Or you found this in a box of your grandparents old stuff in 2067, if so can I just take the opportunity to say how fantastic it is the robots haven’t taken over yet? Back in the present day, I managed to raise a bit in sponsorship, but in reality I’m only doing it largely because I want to be a part of a Dons fundraising event like this before I leave. Although perhaps next year I’ll be running in the sister event in Boston along with a handful of ex-pat FCUM fans…

I’m also hoping the run will kick-start my dream of getting fit(ter) before I emigrate. As those who know me can attest, I could probably do with losing a few pounds before I head to the land of IHOPs and 20 oz. steaks. If you don’t know me, imagine someone who, while by no means obese, obviously has no idea of the concept of ‘leftovers’ – and you’ll be half way there. If I just left without any attempt to shift some weight they’ll be making documentaries about how a crane had to be employed and a wall knocked through just to remove me from my house within six months of landing… I will of course be getting fit the manly way by maybe cutting a beer or two out of my daily diet (I think I’ll opt for ‘the last one of the day’), and perhaps some kind of exercise that involves punching things. I don’t want to come across as being a misogynist so I’ll just say you’ll never catch me failing like certain sections of society seem to – namely eating nought but grapes and celery for three months before cracking and being found sobbing hysterically at 2am on the kitchen floor surrounded by empty cartons of Ben and Jerry’s… well, I won’t fail in that manner this time, at least…

I’m starting to realise just how big a deal it is giving up what I consider my given right to watch Dons games at the ground, in the flesh. Of course its a lot easier these days thanks to AFCWTV and WDON… we can relive the events of a game mere days later just by firing up our computers – hell, we can even watch Dons goals at work (provided the boss isn’t looking… or you work as a bus driver where I presume its frowned upon by Health and Safety jobsworths – such as your passengers). Even as early as the eighties there were individual match videos on sale at the Club Shop, but when I was a kid if you wanted to relive the action you pretty much had to wait for the end of season video. Which lead to disappointment on one occasion as a much-anticipated routing of Norwich was lost to technical difficulties…

Things improved slightly in the Premier League years thanks mainly to Match of the Day’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Dons coverage, and the realisation that regular videos could be a cash cow. I remember being disappointed that my VHS recorder failed to capture the Football Focus rerun of an early season Dean Holdsworth curler into the top corner against Ipswich (you know, ex-franchise Newport manager Dean Holdsworth…), only to find a pre-Christmas video round-up scratched that particular itch. Then a boozy teenage trip to Tenerife coincided with missing a couple of victories that lead to one of the most watched videos in my collection – Seven Deadly Wins. Yes, the production was poor even by todays non-League standards, but the action wasn’t, and on football videos at least that was all that really mattered.

The first few seasons of the AFC era saw two-part season reviews produced, but over the past few seasons we seem to have moved towards regular ‘Matchday Magazine’ productions – a kind of bi-monthly round-up. Yet how popular these are is open to speculation – why buy a DVD for a tenner when you can watch the highlights online, for free, whenever you want to? We were spoiled by the Dons Online website in the early years, but regular linking on the Official website to AFCWTV opens that kind of service up to even the most detached of Dons fans. Naturally it is going to be invaluable for me over the coming years – but what of the future of this type of service? Well, ironically, returning to the League could see things become slightly more problematic for far-flung Dons. Goals are available on the BBC website – but only if you are based in the UK. League clubs provide a video service on their website, but this normally requires a subscription. The day of free internet highlights could be over, sadly just as we (or more accurately, I) begin to realise what a valuable resource they are.

And yet… I could bypass the whole problem by simply not moving abroad start with. I’ve been told about this thing they have called ‘divorce’ which I think might just solve all my problems…

Further WUP articles can be found in the Features Index

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Jun 13 2009
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The General Specific (Saturday 13th June ’09)

It’s the first football-free Saturday of the summer as far as English football is concerned. If you haven’t found anything worthwhile to do with your time yet, rest assured I’m still here, churning out Dons related commentary. Plus if you absolutely cannot do without your football fix, remember football is like the British Empire used to be… somewhere in the world the sun will be shining down on a season still in full swing. So if any of you have any Irish, Scandinavian or South American blood in you, there will be a live game that will interest you somewhere on the net.

Of course, my own interest courtesy of my wife’s heritage stretches across the Atlantic ocean, to Foxboro’, Massachusetts, where my New England Revs won’t be taking the field tonight. Alas they face Kansas City away tonight, a game that kicks off at 1.30am UK time, not quite important to justify staying up to watch it in a Conference where over half the teams will qualify for the play-offs.

Having watched an English League season derided as too predictable, the MLS faces a different problem in a country where everyone loves a winner – there are just too many tied games. For example, D-Becks very own LA side have only won once in twelve outings so far. Its ok, as they have drawn nine others, meaning they still remain midtable in time for Becks to return for a season of spraying cross field passes and jumping on Landon Donovan.

I may stray into MLS territory a few times this summer, so I apologise in advance to anyone who may be offended by it, this is mainly down to my regretful decision to cease full time operations on my general football blog Control>Shoot. I couldn’t commit enough time to justify the project, and I noticed the output from this here Anonymous Don’s blog was slipping in terms of quality, so its time to put it to rest. It may reappear many years down the line, perhaps when the economy is looking brighter and our much talked of relocation to New Hampshire comes to fruition.

But the Anonymous Don ain’t going nowhere just yet. So enough of the site news, lets move on to Dons news, in bold so anyone scrolling through the crap at the beginning can see where the article really starts.

Yawn!

Yawn!

So we now know our opponents on the 11th July are… Wycombe Wanderers! The first of two visits by League One sides this summer, meaning we can at least wish them all the best before they take on the MK bastards, but my first thoughts on playing them were something along the lines of ‘Oh no, not them again, we only played them last November!’ I’m not sure what I was expecting, perhaps something unexpected like visitors from foreign shores, or a local Championship club, but with the exception of seeing our new players in the flesh for the first time, the game has ‘uninspiring’ written all over it. All of which must read pretty insulting to a Wycombe fan, so I apologise to them, but such a fixture so early in the campaign will fail to meet the expectations of the casual supporter, featuring as it will multiple substitutions and a pace that could be described as ‘walking’ at best.

(More information for passing Wycombe fans – if we had organised a friendly with AC Milan’s first team at full strength, us Wombles will still be moaning ‘it’s not the same if Kaka’s gone to Madrid…’).

That’s not to say I’m not looking forward to it! I yearn to see a Wimbledon side in action, and any kind of action will do right now! That’s why I mentioned earlier in the week that the women’s game should move to a summer season – well not quite summer, I think it should kick off around November/December time and conclude late July/August, therefore picking up improved support when the leagues are at their most interesting. It goes without saying that’s just my opinion, I’m not sure the ladies will be too fond of kicking off in the freezing cold winter…

Wellard

Wellard

Its been the on-off-on again move of the summer, thousands of words have been written about it, and the fans of two mighty clubs are on tenterhooks as the player himself weighs up a vast financial offer from an iconic supporter owned institution over the side that made him a star. No, I’m not talking of ‘Him’ to ‘Them’ (although despite my dislike of trashy redtops I did laugh at the Suns ‘Night In Paris’ headline…); I’m talking about Wellardo to Real Wimbledon.

As our very own occasional club summer newsletter ‘What’s the Deal At Kingsmeadow, Then?’ advised us in its fourth outing of the close season, Terry Brown has been on holiday (which conjures images of a ruddy faced Brown drinking wine on the veranda of a Torquay restaurant while being hounded by the man from the SLP – expect him to refuse to talk to certain media outlets for a time next season due to their crass invasion of his privacy…). I’m sure his well earned break will have no effect on the transaction going through – so long as the players demands over image rights are met of course.

Quite whom the other midfielder the article talks of is I know not. In fact I daren’t hazard a guess, in case I’m made to look a fool (no change there then…). Perhaps it’s the more ‘experienced’ player that will hold the midfield together in times of need that a section of the fan base have been calling for. After all, we go into the season with no expectations, but a player of that description could be the difference between mid-table mediocrity and a push for the playoffs, experience the younger players will find invaluable when the big push for League football comes. 

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