February Blog

The month started with the news of the comings and going's being digested.

I'll start with the going's Anthony McNamee left the club ,official line was the club had reached an agreement to cancel the contract of Anthony by mutual consent which meant Robbo didn't rate him as I mentioned in the last blog he was a Mitchell recommendation ! I used to talk to Anthony quite a bit and quite liked him but he just didn't seem to be given a chance I couldn't see anything in training that he was doing wrong so can only assume it was something else.The winger joined the Dons at the eleventh hour in the August transfer window as a free agent following his departure from Norwich City and has now gone to Wycombe lets hope he doesn't come back to haunt us.

Also in were Paul Slane from Celtic and James Tavernier. Paul is naturally a right winger but can also play at right wing back a product of the Motherwell academy and thats about as much I know. The other signing James Tavernier who like Alan Smith joins us from Newcastle on loan.The Magpies had allowed Tavenier to play for Carlisle United where he made 17 appearances including the Cumbrian's defeat to the Dons last season James was also at Hillsborough with our last opponents Sheffield Wednesday and from the games he has played looks pretty good.

The first game of the month was against Huddersfield and I suppose if Im honest like the Wednesday game I was not very confident but we battled through the first half and despite the terriers onslaught managed to just concede the one goal at the stroke of half time. The second half the terriers completely cloned the whole team and came out a totally different team while the Dons seemed to have had a rocket up the bottom and the old adage a game of two halves was never more so with Huddersfield only coming to life the last few minutes after Gleeson's free kick had brought the sides level so a welcome point was earned and Huddersfield dropped out of the Auto spots we stayed at fifth. The teams lined up Huddersfield Town: Bennett, Hunt, Naysmith(booked), McCombe, Morrison, Arfield, Miller(booked replaced by Robinson, 76), Gobern, Cadamarteri, Higginbotham, Rhodes subs not used: Smithies, Woods, Novak, Lee
MK Dons: Martin, Lewington, Tavernier, MacKenzie, Williams, Potter, Gleeson, Chadwick (Powell, 86), Smith (booked replaced by Ibehre, 65), Bowditch (O’Shea 76), MacDonald subs not used: Flanagan, McLoughlin
Attendance was 15,898 with 302 Dons.

The game against Bury was always going to be a doubt with the Arctic like conditions across the country and a pitch inspection took place at Stadium:mk at 10.30am on the Friday before the game by Buckinghamshire based referee John Scott the minus temperatures throughout the week and a further snow fall Wednesday night cast more doubt over the game.
After the referee's inspection the pitch was deemed unplayable and with the continued freezing temperatures forecast over the next 24 hours the decision was taken by Mr Scott to cancel the fixture giving plenty of notice for both sets of players and supporters which meant another Tuesday night game but it was in February and not in March.
This meant we had not played a League home match on a traditional Saturday since the 17th of December against Preston and then that was an evening kick off, you have to go back to Saturday 26th of November against Wycombefor a normal Saturday 3pm kick off which made me think how will this effect the early bird season ticket sales ! with people forced into doing other things on a Saturday would some think I might not bother next season and just get ticket on the day ?
With the corner prices rising by twenty percent and fans reluctant to move into a new seat in an area where the top rows are already gone I could forsee a slow take up of ST's early on as people waited until ST holders deadline day had past and they would know which seats where available which of course would mean they wouldnt qualify for early bird price.
On the other hand East Premium prices are down and I can see a few switching to there (just in front of the cameras ! )but I think after the attempt to close down the corner last season( as it looked bare behind the goal) this is an attempt to get people to move and to fill up area's some would say are covered by camera's and the club would say need more atmosphere... you decide.

The ST forms were available to download but as of 17th almost a week later I still hadn't got mine through the post but I consoled myself with fact I still had till March to take advantage of early bird price but wondered why there was such a delay between getting the offer out on the Internet and sending forms out to existing ST holders who maybe didn't have the Internet or a printer but my worries were unfounded as my ST renewal pack came next day.

The postponement of the Carlisle game meant we have a very busy March with eight games to be played and only one Tuesday off on the 13th and with our small squad any injuries or suspensions could be very costly with little or no time to for players to get fit if injured and no break just to recover from the normal match day fatigue.

The next game was the perhaps the toughest of the season against league leaders and runaway leaders Charlton. Chris Powell virtually changed the whole team close season and his decision has proven a good one with Charlton now seeming to have that final season edge they previously lacked. And it is also good to see another young manager given a chance rather that the same old achieved very little or nothing type managers that have a permanent spot on the manager merry go round whatever they do or don't do.
The first half saw a good battle and two sides pretty evenly matched with the Dons probably shading it, then a mad five minutes at the end of the half saw MacKenzie headbutt Yann Kermorgant( he said in retaliation) in an off the ball incident and Smith then pulled down Jackson a minute later. Johnnie Jackson dispatched both penalties and Dons went into the second half with ten men and two goals down. With Charlton's home record only the most optimistic could see anything other than a heavy defeat but the Dons came out with a determined spirit and again shaded the half with Bowditch managing to latch on to O'Shea's ball and fire home to get a goal back at the Valley with ten men some achievement it has to be said. Karl said after the match "It was a performance of men, good footballers, people who care for the Club and real grit. I don't think you can ask for much more. I thought we created a number of chances with 11 men and with 10, and it just shows you we are a really good team in this League".

A thought most echoed but the fact remained we had no points and still hadn't had a win since January 2nd hardly Automatic promotion form. Dons lined up 4-2-3-1 Martin, Tavernier, MacKenzie, Williams, Lewington (c), Potter, Gleeson; Bowditch, Smith (O'Shea 83), Chadwick (Powell 76); MacDonald (Kouo-Doumbe 45).Subs not used: McLoughlin, Ibehre. Booked: MacKenzie and then Sent-off for straight red MacKenzie 42 Goal by Bowditch 87 Referee was Keith Stroud and Attendance was 15,569 with 347 Dons.

The table after the game saw us still in 5th spot but just one point clear of Stevenage and three ahead of Carlisle. But perhaps more telling was the gap opening above us with Huddersfield six points clear Wednesay eight and United ten Charlton are on an uncatchable eighteen points ahead of us and realistically the Auto spot's are now gone.

Our next game was against Oldham and a return to Saturday afternoon football for Stadium:mk with MacKenzie banned for four games another enforced shuffle about was needed at the back there was the usaul murmurs of players being a doubt like Smith and Jabo and the usual concern over MacDonald but I tend to ignore that and wait for the team sheet.
The game kicked off and for most of the first half I thought it was pretty even and Oldham did not look a bad side Powell managed to get the ball in the net only for the referee to disallow it and pull play back for a penalty none of us saw, Bowditch dispatched the spot kick and we went into the break a goal to the good.
The second half saw a masterclass performance from the Dons with pretty much every pass going where it should and every player having a blinder, despite the lino east side getting a few offside calls wrong we totaly outplayed Oldham with Powell getting two more to make up for the disallowed one, Doumbe getting the goal of the game and Gleeson chipped in with one as well and I thought of the words Karl had said after the Charlton game "It was a performance of men, good footballers, people who care for the Club and real grit " but this time we won the game and with Bury next we could start to put a run together with Wednesday again having a wobble. Dons lined up (4-2-3-1) Martin, Tavernier, Doumbe, Williams, Lewington (c) (Chicksen 70) Gleeson, Potter, Powell, Chadwick (MacDonald 63), Bowditch (O'Shea 63) Ibehre.Subs not used: McLoughlin, Flanagan.Goals: Bowditch (pen) 9, Powell 47, 65, Doumbe 69, Gleeson 78, Gate was 7,817 which was just up on same fixture last season but only by a few, Oldham brought 271 and looked very lonely and quiet.

The next game was against Bury and they brought even less than Oldham and were even quieter even at one up I couldnt hear a sound.
The game was one of those games we dominated for the most part, we conceeded against the run of play after a pass from Potter went astray and gifted Schumacher the chance to play Amoo into a one on one with Martin and the former player curse struck again. It was one way traffic from then but we only managed to get two goals despite the numerous chances we had and one of those was a Penalty. Gleeson again showed his indisipline and nearly got himself sent off but instead picked up a yellow which see's him banned for the Bournemouth match Robbo subbed him before he got sent off I thought, Coke for Bury did get sent off on forty five minutes yet we still struggled to make it really count. All in all a frustrating game to watch as a Dons fan but three points as they say is three points.
Dons lined up 4-2-3-1 Martin, Tavernier, Kouo-Doumbe, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson (Ibehre 45); Powell (O'Shea 74), Smith, Bowditch (Chadwick 88); MacDonald.Subs not used: McLoughlin, Chicksen.Booked: Gleeson Goals both came from Bowditch 20, 45 (pen)attendance was a disappointing 6,405 and another club promotion the Ladies day suffered from the game being on a Tuesday Bury brought 206 very quiet fans .

On Wednesday the players had a day off and it was back as usual on Thursday but only Powell of the starting eleven trained which is unusual and something I cant remember seeing before with a game on Saturday, also travelling Friday afternoon Robbo usually like to see who came through the game and get a look at fitness levels before selecting those to travel on Friday. Spoke to John and he said Karl was off power walking with couple of players but didn't speak much as the players were getting ready to go back to Stadium for lunch.

On Friday the players left for Bournemouth at lunch time I spoke to George before they left and he said they hadn't trained and were training down at Bournemouth Robbo later said they trained on the beach.
The lack of training this week did not seem to effect the players and we collected the three points at five o'clock after a scrappy game with Doumbe getting the only goal proving yet again the goals come from the whole team..who needs a twenty goal a season striker anyway!!
And what a difference it made to the table with the gap below us now opening up and the gap above us looking reachable again with Wednsday beating their neighbours United we were now joint fourth with Huddersfield and just two points behind Wednesday who we have a game in hand on. We are just four points behind second place United but I think most agree Charlton are going to hang on to top spot.

On the Monday after the Cherries game Robbo and the lads went to play golf ahead of his appearance on the BBC later that evening John and Alex took the training only Jabo was there out of the first team but we finally saw the arrival of Paul Slane from Celtic. I spoke to him when he'd finished training and welcomed him to the Dons I asked him if he'd settled in okay to his flat and he said it was nice but he couldn't remember the address as he only moved in the day before.
Paul trained the whole session and didnt seem to have any problems so hopefully the injury he had before moving here is behind him now. Some of the players then met up in the afternoon for some bowling.

On the Tuesday we had a behind closed game against Wycombe, of the first teamers I saw Chadwick and MacKenzie also playing were Chicksen Baldock and Collins and also Slane but none of the usual first team ,we had two trialists that Id seen before and possibly one other who played as number fifteeen but looked to old to be academy.

Wycombe brought mainly squad players and no academy players I could see but not knowing the Wycombe squad that well I couldn't be sure.
We lost the game one nil and to be honest we were second best and didnt look like scoring, the number ten trialist was very lively and looked from a distance like Charlie Mac but seemed to play everywhere and was tracking back too much for my liking and not a goal predator probably trying too hard.
Our younger lads from the academy looked out muscled apart from one lad who I probably should know but cant put a name too it will come when the OS put the match report up there were substitutions second half and more second year academy players the trialist who played number eleven went off only to be brought back on later after an injury, he wasn't that good anyway but we seemed to be short of players by then, all in all I left disappointed but these games are for looking at future talent as much as getting players fit so I probably shouldn't be critical but ..

As one of the fans there said it was not typical Dons play there was a lot of passing going astray and we picked up two injuries one looked quite bad but I don't want to say who it was till its official.

Its the long haul up to Hartlepool Saturday and the start of the busy month of March this will be the most important month of the season so far and I hope we can go on a good run and who knows maybe Auto will look even more likely come the end of it.
COYD

January Blog

The New Year and the first of the January fixture's saw us play Colchester a side who have the same size squad as us.

All season I have looked at the sides we are playing and without fail we have had the smallest squad so it was a surprise to see us matched with a team of equal size.
Colchester had recently lost a player on loan and we had lost two and we waited to see how we would line up or even if we would get anyone in before the game as the window had opened.

Id seen the week before a player training with us in the dome but but couldn't get his name partly as I never hang around long in the dome as its quite a dangerous place with the balls hitting you pretty hard if your not careful and partly because Robbo hadn't arrived before I left so I couldn't ask him. but we were definitely looking to get players in.

The game was a dreary affair especially first half and I couldn't see any team scoring, second half we managed to bundle one in credited to MacKenzie but more likely an own goal, it was that sort of a match but three points is three points as they say but not worth wasting to much time writing about.

But the week was all about Queens Park Rangers and the Colchester game was soon forgotten as we looked forward to the Prem new boys arrival Robbo had told me last month we would get fifteen thousand and the ticket sales were reportedly that by time we entered the week of the game with QPR taking all their allocation or near as.

I know a group of locally based QPR fans and they were in the home end and I imagined they would not be alone.
The game was a real cracker and we were easily the better team playing some great football a fact echoed by my guest for the match a Spurs fan who still goes to the occasional game when work allows but also follows the Dons results, he is also a family friend of Adam Smith the Spurs loan player we have here at right back his son called during the game to ask where he was and when he said at the Dons watching Adam the son was gutted lol

As you all know we were robbed by poor officials who failed to spot a blatant offside for the goal and an earlier Penalty for handball and a replay was the result.

With Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road only having an 18,360 capacity they wouldn't have been able to fit in the 19,500 that were at S:MK a record gate for the Dons and I wondered if we would sing your grounds to small for you in reply to the QPR chant of your grounds to big for you !
But before that there was another news and another game in the league

Long time favourite with the fans Paul Mitchell went off to Southampton and left his Ambassador in the Community and scout role for a similar position but with reportedly three times the money to be replaced by Alex Rae who came back after following Ince to the doomed job at Notts County.
I spoke to our management team and staff and there were two sets of opinions but I wont say who said what but they were good luck to him he has a family and the money is too good to turn down the other was this club stood by him after his injury and found him a job in the club and he goes first chance he gets !
Another comparison was players Mitch had brought in Lewis Guy and McNamee were two mentioned and Rae's Bowditch and MacKenzie but obviously they must have been recommendation's and the manager must have rubber stamped both sets of deals so I don't take to much notice of that.

Lewis Guy and Harry Milton were released by the club and Angelo Balanta and Mark Beevers went back to their parent clubs, the Beevers news the one that upset me the most as I thought he was a good player and cant see him featuring much for Wednesday if at all but Megson wanted too much for him, Id heard 400k but that's not confirmed or official so don't quote me on it.

Other news was the rumours of players coming in and I always love these, there was Clinton Morrison, Hogan Ephraim, Darel Russell and Dean Cox amongst the early shouts, with Izlale also tipped to leave Barnet and come back.

Ahead of the Carisle game the only player I saw was David Thompson ex Liverpool,Coventry, Blackburn, Wigan, Portsmouth and Bolton player who was here on the Thursday also present was Ian Wright back for another training session and this time I got to have a chat with him he was accompanied by former Luton, West Ham and Tottenham player Mitchell Thomas.

I said to Wrighty I thought Karl was the best manager we had had and Ian said better than Ince or De Matteo and I said yes because Karl "gets " the club and has not run off for the first job offered. I also said that he is interested in the whole club including the academy and the future of the club and I liked the way he included the young academy lads in the sqaud for training and gives them the match day experience in the cup games.

I said how like a lot of fans here Id been priced out of the Prem and that I used to go to Highbury back when you could get a ticket. I joked with him that he probably didn't have that problem and that Wimbledon moving here was great for a lot of us who had followed the local sides only to see them fold or in MK City's case who were owned by the Wimbledon directors only for them to pull the plug back in the eighties, he probably wished he's ignored me as I tend to ramble on a bit when I get going lol.

The week before the Carlisle game I also had a word with Charlie Collins who said that he was going to Aldershot as the embargo was going to be lifted and he was looking forward to going and playing first team football and I wished him good luck.

Aldershot are currently in 16th place in the League 2 table and just six points from safety although they have a game in hand. Charlie will be available for five games including the home games against Accrington Stanley, Southend, and Bristol Rovers but dauntingly a trip to AFC not in Wimbledon also awaits, his manager will be a former player here Dean Holdsworth.(Charlie didn't feature in the end).

The Carlisle game and the last home game for a while saw a crisp bright morning but a distinct nip in the air there had been an overnight frost but I was still looking forward to the game and got to the stadium at 1pm to see players arrive.

I got chatting to some Carlise fans and one I spoke to said he had left at 6am and had been here since 11am he was an older guy who used to look after John Gorman's father when John played for Carlise John is still a legend there even after thirty eight years and the guy told me about one time when John's father once got locked in the bar before the game and at the end of the game he came out a bit worse for wear and asked "how did John play" after persuading the bar steward to let him have drink while the bar was closed. After the Carlise team had arrived just before 1.30pm another Carlisle fan a lady who's husband was a keeper for Carlisle back in Johns day told us that the game was in doubt and she had had a phone call from a guy called John Coleman, that was the first anyone had heard and none of the Dons fans had heard anything. I walked round to MacDonalds to hear a tannoy announcement just before 2pm that the game was off !!

Apparently covers were put on the night before but only in places it had in previous seasons frozen which seemed a bit crazy as Id have been safe and covered the whole pitch but hey what do I know, it would seem nobody thought to check the pitch first thing and everyone assumed the morning sun would thaw the pitch a momentous balls up all round and the game will have to be moved to another more congested month. The Carlisle fans that travelled were worst effected and Chairman Pete did try to make it up to them giving some free food and promising to do something about getting them down for the replay which he didn't have to do of course.But the overall opinion was the club had dropped a clanger and embarrassed itself to the footballing world something this club more than most has to be acutely aware of.

The Dons or Pete Winkelman released an unreserved apology and offered a full refund on all tickets purchased for the game whether fans could attend the rearranged game or not.
In addition he said the club will cover the cost of travel for two coaches and will issue Carlisle United with free tickets for the rearranged fixture. The United fans will be able to get two tickets each (one plus one for a friend) when the new batch of tickets are made available also not to forget the home fans Pete said the MK Dons fans will also get an additional free ticket for a friend to attend the game.Carlisle's Managing director John Nixon said: "I think it goes without saying this is an extremely generous offer from MK Dons,"We've certainly never seen anything like it before. It goes above and beyond what we expected and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we really appreciate it.

In other news I heard from one of our fans that Willy Gueret is now a wine merchant apparently Willy lives next door to the fans friend and they speak over the fence as it were.

Some more rumoured signings were Robert Earnshaw Jason Koumas and Hamilton Accies forward Dougie Imrie also David Weir and striker Tamas Priskin had been on the rumour mill the big one was toward the end of month when Alan Smith the Newcastle striker was tipped as coming here.
So the QPR game was upon us and ITV had said it was on ITV4 which was good for those that couldn't get to Loftus road like me as I had the kids till six, but it was announced just after we had asked for extra tickets doh.

A win would mean a trip to MK for Chelsea and of course £67,000 for third round winners with a chance (very remote) of beating Chelsea and another £90,000 prize money or whatever you call it ! The game was a much more even affair compared to the first one but we were still the better side losing out to a corner being headed through the crowd of players by Gabbidon in the last few minutes of normal time, and if only Charlie Mac and Jabo had buried thier chances the dream tie would have been ours but it wasnt to be and we did ourselves proud the teams lined up:
QPR (4-4-2): Kenny, Young, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Hill, Mackie, Derry, Buzsaky (Helguson 72), Wright-Phillips, Macheda (T Smith 62), Bothroyd (Orr 86).Subs not used: Cerny, Hall, Campbell, Ephraim.Goal: Gabbidon 73
MK Dons (4-2-3-1: Martin, A Smith, Kouo-Doumbe, S. Williams, Lewington (c), Potter, Gleeson, Bowditch (O'Shea 83), Ibehre, Chadwick (Powell 73), MacDonald.
Subs not used: McLoughlin, Flanagan, Baldock, McNamee, G Williams.

I spoke to Karl at Woughton on the Thursday after the game and he was delighted with the positive reaction the club got during the QPR run and the press reaction to us he said its great being liked isnt it ! I said well I quite liked being hated really, never did Leeds or Man Unt any harm but like I said to him it never really has been anywhere near as bad as the keyboard warriors would have you believe and its provided us with some good songs and a hardcore fan base lol.

Ahead of the Notts County game Williams turned his ankle in training and it really did swell up quickly and looked painful. Charlie Mac was missing but never found what was up with him ! He lined up for the team and played but missed chances again and not really looking on his game in a hard fought battle on and off the field with John Gorman getting sent to the stands after an altercation with Allen .

A draw away from home is always a good result and against Allen's tactics I'll take a point Flanagan again scored and kept Hughes quiet but I think Id prefer a fit Doumbe or MacKenzie still as first choice centre backs dont think Tom is quite ready yet. Team lined up 4-2-3-1 Martin, Smith, Doumbe, Flanagan, Lewington (c), Potter, Gleeson, Bowditch (Powell 66), Ibehre, Chadwick; MacDonald. Only the one substitution and MacNamee and O'Shea must wonder when they will ever get a look in MacNamee must wonder why he was ever signed.

I spoke to John about the incident at Notts or rather he said when he saw me I suppose you want to know what happened and laughed, he told me he was sticking up for the manager after Allen pushed Robbo and it was nothing really just Allen playing his games.

In other results Sheffield Wed drew ,Charlton beat United and I still await their usaul end of season slip up and fall away but I think I'll be waiting a long time this season. And Huddersfield won so nothing changed at the top with Stevenage five points behind us there's a gap to keep the others at bay and we have two games in hand on everyone.

And it was Stevenage we played next. Sadly we didn't take advantage of our games in hand and despite an early goal we were soon pegged back and then behind against the run of play at times but Stevenge were fitter better organised and took the chances they had. When Doumbe got sent off for a second yellow there was only going to be one winner, we racked up the yellows which will cost us later in season and with Williams out big Mac not totaly fit and Doumbe banned it is not looking good for the next game.

Robbo had said on the BBC that he would keep faith with Powell yet played O'Shea,said Charlie Mac and MacKenzie were doubts but both played,Gleeson had tweeted he was ill but played.So all in all it looked on paper that we were desperately short of players and playing players not really fit because we had too, reports of Robbo not getting players he was after made the whole thing look pretty desperate and many questioned with the games coming up whether we would be in the play off spots come February let alone the Auto's.
The team lined up the usaul 4-2-3-1) Martin, Smith, MacKenzie, Doumbe, Lewington (c), Gleeson, Chadwick (Powell 78); Bowditch (Flanagan 65), Ibehre, O'Shea; MacDonald.the subs not used were McLoughlin, Baldock, McNamee(why did we buy him if he never gets a look in). Booked Doumbe, Ibehre, Smith goals O'Shea 3, Flanagan 86 attendance was 3345 510 were Dons fans.

On the Friday before the Sheffield Wed game the players were given the day off but Williams and Martin came in for some extra training with Williams desperate to get back to match fitness.I spoke with Shaun Williams who hails from Malahide about his time at Drogheda Shaun was the 2010 Players Football Association of Ireland (PFAI) Young Player of the Year as voted by his peers in the Airtricity League and he had an accomplished season for Sporting Fingal and has also represented the Ireland Under-23s, as the captain of Sporting Fingal Shaun was the midfielder and the mainstay of Liam Buckley’s side which finished fourth in their first foray into the Irish Premier Division Shaun was the only player in the league to be nominated for both the Senior and Young player categories and he is a player I really rate and also he a is really nice bloke to talk to, he was being coached by Adam Ross.

I also managed to have a talk with Paul Heald and David Martin and the stick goalies get when they have a bad game but virtually unmentioned when they have a match winning performance. Paul said it comes with the job and that most keepers have broad shoulders I said that defencive howlers that lead to the goals are barely mentioned but if the keeper got a hand to it everyone says he could have done better not he did well to get a hand to it, Paul said that he gets annoyed when a teams own fans get on the keeps back as confidence plays as huge part we both agreed its so much easier to blame the keeper than look at why he was put in the position in the first place.

On Sunday the 29th the club announced the "marquee" signing Robbo had been after was Alan Smith the thirty one year old has been loaned to us from Newcastle and will be available to play for the rest of the season including the play off's Smith will wear the number 11 shirt at MK Dons.I had a word with Robbo about the signing and he really happy to have got Alan I then managed to talk to Alan and welcomed him to the Dons shook his hand and then prattled on about the weather being milder here than Newcastle and totally forgot all the things I wanted to say lol but he seemed a nice bloke and was down to earth which always surprises me when I meet the top players I suppose you get influenced by the crap the press write and expect them to be prima donna's but I have found of the players I have met that they all seem normal!and the one's with attitude are the one's who really have no right to be.

Sadly as is often the case the day of Sheffield Weds game we learnt that Adam Smith had been recalled by Spurs with immediate effect leaving us without cover at right back Id spoken to Adam the day before and joked about having two A Smith's in the team and he joked about one of them being called smudger so I don't think he know anything about the recall then and from what Karl was saying he didn't either as he was in a good mood !The whole month of January has not been good and we have only one win in the whole month ahead of the Sheffield Weds game which I have to say I am not confident about after the reverse fixture ended in defeat and our home record is not as good as it should be in fact slightly worse than our away and Wednesday strengthening the team since then although the squad is an average twenty six they have done a fair bit of weeding out.The game was pretty even affair I thought with few chances either end and two own goals either end reflected that. I would have happily taken a draw before the game even at home so combined with the fact we had lost Adam Smith hours before and had no reconised Right back in that position I thought we did okay.

I would like to wish Matt Cove good luck as he leaves the Dons to start a new career,Matt is a familiar face around the club having started here when the club moved and was seen in the old box office at the NHS when it seemed him and Gayle virtually did everything from selling tops and badges scarves and cuddly toys as well as selling the tickets, lately Matt has worked for S.E.T and has been involved with the Ladies team on match days always a cheerful bloke and I'll be sad to see him go.

Alan Smith Loaned Out To League One Club MK Dons

Alan Smith Loaned Out To League One Club MK Dons

Blog News

In blog news last month was the first month the blog went out on its own rather than just being an uncut version on blogspot, after the closure of mkdons online I wasnt sure how many would find the blog here but it seems to have been a good move with most finding the blog via google search and the numbers are on par with figures Id been sent.

Although with the mkdons online version it was on the front page so hard to know whether people were reading the blog or just using the site generaly.

I have now also put a more general version of the blog with not so much club gossip on http://www.footballspeak.com/ and also did a couple of QPR game blogs which due to the timely sacking of Warnock cheers Neil !pulled in over a thousand hits on the first blog but not had figure's for secoond one yet one .

The shortened MK Dons blog on there has had over two hundred views so not bad for a third division club on a mainly Prem team site .

I was also voted eleventh best writer which is great for a bloke who left school at sixteen and was competing with proper writer's and sports journo's lol.

I would again like to thank everyone who reads the blog and to those of you that promote the blog (and therefore the club )on twitter and elsewhere total views on both sites total over a thousand..

December Musing

So the month of Christmas was upon us and the month when the League table gives a good idea of what to expect ..or so some say.

I always think you get a good idea but a lot can change with the transfers in and out in January and the winter months are notorious for injuries not to mention the suspensions kick in so a squad with depth and quality is the squad that will seriously challenge for the Auto spots and the play off spots as well. I think we have a good if not smallish squad and still think we will make the play offs and the lottery that the play offs are. I don't think we have enough to make the Automatics unless the Sheffield's and Charlton badly mess up and I still think as one of the longest serving teams in this division Huddersfield will finally if not get out by Auto make the play off final whether we play them or not remains to be seen I just have that feeling we are going to start next season with the stadium work complete in the same league and like the season we got promoted have a great season in our sort of new improved ground or maybe I am just being too romantic!

First game of the month saw the trip to Underhill and the FA Cup game against Barnet we played the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation although it always looks like 4-5-1 to me but hey ho and the team lined up Martin , Smith, Flanagan, MacKenzie, Lewington , S Williams, Potter , Balanta, Ibehre, Bowditch; MacDonald with Doumbe, O'Shea, G Williams, Alli on the bench Robbo put out a strong team and didn't give the young George Williams another chance of glory ,Martin suffered a dead leg and was replaced by Mcloughlin on thirty four minutes Chicksen came on for Potter at eighty one and Powell came on for MacDonald on eighty six and promptly scored scored two minutes later and we progressed to the third round of the FA cup with relative ease and our old favourite Izale even managed to put one past our Irish under 21 keeper.

The day after the game the draw for the third round was made and we learnt we were to play Queens Park Rangers at Stadiummk I guess the reaction was a bit mixed with some saying we never get a big club and some happy it was another Prem club ,there were some who said an away draw would have been better and some like me who said if we keep the price down we could make potentially more from a home draw, personally I was pretty happy with the draw knowing there are a few QPR fans in MK and that it will attract the interest of the nuetrals and the occasional fan. It will be the first time we have got to the third Round since the 2009/10 season when the then Premier League Burnley beat us at stadiummk.

The tie is due to take place on the weekend of January 7th to 8th meaning our away game at Stevenage has been postponed with a new date yet to be announced so another bloody Tuesday night game it is then ! the prices were later confirmed as starting at twenty pounds with two pound discount for ST holders which was okay I thought to watch a Prem team in the third round of the most famous competition of all.

Martin and Gleeson were absent from training on the Monday after Barnet obviously Martin was recovering from his dead leg but the Gleeson absence was a mystery and lead myself and another fan present to speculate and let our imagination run riot ! I spoke to Karl and he was happy with the QPR draw and thought it would be a good test in fact we had a good chat before he joined in with the training funnily enough about fans reaction to Barnet and how we are playing also what the fans would think if certain things happened !! and I get the impression when we speak he hopes the fans are happy with him and that what we think means a lot to him.

Karl and Jabo were nominated for npower L1 manager and player of the month awards but despite us winning three and being unbeaten we were pipped by Charlton but as our blip started after he won the last one I wasnt too bothered.

On the Thursday before the Tranmere game I saw the second appearance this season of the guest coach Ian Wright (he was here a week later for his third appearance)and his meaty minder at Woughton he actualy did a lot more this time as he arrived before the players and took part in the training game and he stayed back to coach some of the players at shooting and pens although funnily enough Charlie Mac wasnt one I guess they figure his scoring record is good enough and he doesn't need it..well most of his are in the box !!

On Saturday it was the long haul to Tranmere for the team and travelling fans, the team lined up Martin, Smith, MacKenzie, Beevers, Lewington (c)in defence with the midfield of S. Williams, Potter, Chadwick, with the three forwards Ibehre, Bowditch, MacDonald in whatever position they go in in a 4-3-2-1 formation lol the bench saw a return for Gleeson Doumbe Balanta Powell and Flanagan with McLoughlin also back on the strong looking bench. I did think that Gleeson on the bench was a bit of a surprise as if he wants to go Id have thought he would be in the shop window for the sales as it were ! but then thinking about it if he is playing badly we might not sell him come January and we'd be left with an unhappy player till June when he goes he for nothing.

The mystery deepened as Gleeson was named as a sub but then O'Shea took his place and the rumour was Gleeson had a strop about being on the bench, reading various tweets Id wished I could say what I had heard in the week but obviously I couldn't so had to wait till someone else broke the news most of you had probably guessed. The result was a good away win taking us up to third but the stroppy midfielder took up a fair share of the after match discussion, the goals came again from Jabo the on fire striker who seems to be having the best season ever and the natural successor to Gleeson should he leave in January Shaun Williams got on the score sheet as well.

The game against Preston saw Williams co-commentate on three counties and we missed him I thought, with Potter and Gleeson back from the mysterious foot injury seeming to have trouble getting their passes to a fellow Dons player.

But overall I thought Preston were the better team with no manager and the hatchet man Risdale looking to make savings and no doubt get rid of the surplus to requirements players the talented Coutts as captain and his team were playing for their jobs.The towering 6'5 McCoumbe in defence bullying our players off the ball in a game we never really got into despite the superior possession figures, I thought we just looked the second best team on the day and we lost at home,it was going to happen sometime Id just thought it might be to a team above us.

The two Sheffield's were both now above us and I think they will take some shifting I still think Charlton will wobble and Huddersfield to me are the team we need to be matching result wise to stay in the pack Brentford continue to be my surprise package for a play off spot as I have thought they would be all season and will be team that could take our fifth spot come end of season but we cant discount Stevenage who have quietly sneaked up the table while we all watched the Sheffield's and Huddersfield.

Karl and John both had their contracts.. well tarted up a bit ( as they had already extended them earlier in the season )and I guess it just meant they got a pay rise and some better clauses put in which hopefully means we get good compensation should one or both get poached the comments Karl has made recently about one day leaving (lately after the Preston manager went)makes me think we as a club are covering such eventualality when or if it does happen..who knows!

Looking at the home attendance's at the roughly half way point of eleven games I saw we are a thousand up on last season and this despite the number of away fans travelling being down, the natural conclusion is the home fans figure is getting back toward the nine thousand mark baring in mind the figure picks up later in season, at the moment it stands at 8246 average gate if worked out on total attendance this season of 90714 against last seasons 89710.

While I was in a nerdy mood I looked at where our goals have come from after hearing we had scored most goals in all four leagues and was surprised to see we don't have one player in the league list Rochdale's Ashley Grimes was there with eight goals so I had a look at our OS stats and saw the highest scorers are Jabo and Charlie Mac on seven with Bowditch on six even Lewie chipped in with same amount as Balanta on four and I thought what if we had a Jordan Rhodes on fifteen or Bradley W-P on fourteen in the side ! even Preston's Neil Mellor had nine.. where would we be now in the league with a twenty goal a season player.

Many of us were disappointed to learn the kick off time for the Orient game had been moved to 1pm meaning the official coaches would be leaving at 9.30am on Boxing day a full half hour before they would leave for Brentford and three and a half hours before the match started, meaning many fans would have to get up at eight or eight thirty the day after Christmas to make the trip and a lot were put off.Due to the industrial action by transport workers making your own way there was problematic and the only choice apart from the official coach was to drive down yourself.

On Monday the 19th we played a closed door match with Millwall at the Stadium with the pitch at Woughton being too wet and boggy the result was 3-0 to us with Charlie Collins opening the scoring minutes later Adam Chicksen doubled the lead curling his shot to the left of the keeper, a handball inside the area gave Shaun Williams the chance to score from the spot which he duly did making the score three nil in the first half. The second half saw no goals but it was a good test for the players ahead of the Christmas fixtures and a chance for the fringe players to show what they were made of Lewis Guy was back from his loan at Oxford which surprised me as I thought he'd stay till end of season with McNamee and O'Shea I really cant see he will be needed unless of course Balanta is going back to QPR. The starting eleven were McLoughlin, Ivey-Ward, Flanagan, Kouo-Doumbe, Chicksen, Guy, Williams, Powell, Balanta, O'Shea,Collins

In other news I was surprised to see mkdons online shut down most of you will have read the blog there so not sure how many of you have found this months offering I know from email recieved on Christmas eve that the owner has been asked to develop the MKDSA site and so has rejoined the SA to do so and has closed the other site which is a shame as it was an independent site I will put a link up on twitter @Gunnerdon and http://www.thezonemk.co.uk/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=106 for the blog and see how it goes.

I had only received a couple of stats for the blog from mkdons online admin but it got 700 hits one month and the last figure I got was for the first two days of October where it had already got 460 plus and that was the last stat I got. For the uncut version I have had 450 plus hits on top of the mkdons online figure and that is where any future blogs will be found so excuse the typo's and bad grammar as its uncut. When I started doing the blog on the old mkdons forum I said Id be happy if fifty/hundred people read it so to be getting nearer a thousand than a hundred is staggering and thank you to everyone who reads the blog and let your friends know lol.

As Christmas approached the boss Karl Robinson along with goalkeeping coach Paul Heald captain Dean Lewington and a number of other players took bags full of presents on behalf of the Club to children at MK Hospital, the whole squad put their hands in their pockets to give gifts for the visit as well an outdoor playhouse for the ward.Awadh Ahmed, Daniel Powell and David Martin were among the other players who delivered Christmas gifts to the Children's Ward.

We also heard that Stadiummk will welcome back the Saints on Saturday 21st January, while we are away to Notts County so another full house that day Id imagine, saying that the sales of QPR tickets are going well with a couple of weeks to go which means the League 1 away fixture at Stevenage has been rescheduled for Tuesday 24th January kick-off 7.45pm which wont be as well attended I fear, I spoke to Karl and he reckoned we would get fifteen thousand at the QPR game.

On Boxing day we played Leyton Orient we lined up in our familiar 4-2-3-1 of Martin, A Smith, MacKenzie, Kouo-Doumbe , Lewington (c), Potter, Gleeson; Chadwick), Ibehre, Bowditch , MacDonald . After what some called a slow start( but was probably more down to a cautious respect of the O's who have shown some form of late) we opened the scoring with a Bowditch goal after a lovely cross from Adam Smith before half time and then there was only one team in it. Smith's screamer for the second was watched into the net by the 362 Dons fans who found a way round the transport strike and Charlie Mac got the third a tap in after a strike from Lewie was saved , having a bit of a soft spot for Orient I wont gloat too much and sometimes the opposition view is a good a way to sum up the game and I found a lovely combination of wit and honesty on another blog

http://www.leyton-orient-blog.blogspot.com/2011/12/leyton-orient-0-mk-dons-3-261211.html

To quote: it seemed apparent that the MK Dons squad had spent Christmas Day drinking protein shakes, doing one-handed press-ups and firing themselves up by watching the famous Battle of Agincourt speech from Henry V. The Orient team, meanwhile, had clearly passed the time with their heads stuck down a bumper-sized box of Quality Street while plumped on the sofa sniggering, burping and farting their way through Home Alone.Goal times were: Bowditch 37, A Smith 57, MacDonald 63 the attendance was 4,162 (362 Dons).

Our next game and the final one of the month was at Brentford and with the loan spells of Beevers and Balanta about to finish we heard talk of Karl wanting to keep both, personally I would not have been too sorry to see the back of Balanta who has not been the same this season and Id have been quite happy to see O'Shea or even the in form McNamee currently at Wycombe given a chance but I think we should not leave ourselves short of players and if both players go I would like to see Karl get cover and keep the squad about the same size.

I wouldn't even mind another Prem rising star in the Adam Smith type mould or a young hungry player like Balanta was last season. Beevers looked a cert to be called back to his parent club of Sheffield Wednesday and Megson cant be criticised too much for not helping a rival for promotion keep one of his players at the business end of the season.

As I alluded to earlier the In's and outs of January can be make or break time for any club and a club like ours which is watching the wage bill expenditure has to get the balance right.

And so the the last game of the year was upon us and there it was no wait and suss the opposition out we came flying out of the starting blocks like a team possessed and scored two goals in less than ten minutes and showed total domination the whole of the first half with Potter and Balanta getting the early goals. Not to be outdone on his former manor Charlie MacDonald did what past players often do and scored against his former club just before half time.

The second half again saw the Dons start the brighter of the two teams but with twenty minutes left the Bee's got a goal back against the run of play but there was worse to come when a penalty was given against us for handball and from being three nil up we were looking to save the three points. But even worse was to come as we entered injury time Legge scored after a free kick and Brentford had pulled off a remarkable comeback , bright side for me was that Id have been happy with a draw before the game but to lose a three goal advantage does hurt and to get the Auto spots I think you just cant do that and we wont make them because we are just not that good in defence, we also seem to lack concentration at key times against the better teams.

In true foot in mouth fashion Gleeson and Balanta had better games first half making me wish Id just not mentioned them this month and I'm sure if Balanta does go back to QPR his past non performances will be forgotten and everyone will just remember the first half at Brentford !

But Gleeson nearly got himself sent off for not being able to shut up after a foul and booking and Balanta faded as the game went on so perhaps I did call it right.

Tthe team lined up- Martin, Smith, Doumbe, MacKenzie, Lewington, Potter, Gleeson, Ibhere, Bowditch, Balanta; MacDonald the subs were:- McLoughlin, Williams, Flanagan, Powell, O'Shea

The attendance was 5,397 with a disputable 420 Dons fans both teirs looked pretty full according to most there.

And the Forrester who came on as a sub for Brentford was indeed our own academy lad Remy's brother so a dilemma that day for our young academy player.

We have Smith suspended for Monday and I wondered if Flanagan or Williams will start with Doumbe going to right back or whether Karl will keep the Centre backs the same and play someone else at right back, Baldock would be good!
Happy New Year to everyone and hope you all had a great Christmas.
COYD

November Musing Uncut

So the month started with the news we are to play Nantwich on Saturday 12th November, and the news was greeted with talk not of the opposition but the price of the game.
Both clubs had agreed the prices were to be £15 for Adults £4 for Under-18s and £11 for Over-65s in all areas except club red where it was £20. There was also rather oddly no under 7's free tickets for this game which made the whole day quite an expensive one for the family considering it was a first round FA Cup match. As both clubs had agreed and Nantwich get a cut I guess they must have thought the folk of MK turn out for the cup matches in their numbers most of us thought a tenner would have been the right price for this stage of the competition.I was told by someone Id better not mention that although it was agreed by both clubs it was Nantwich that asked for the higher price in fact I was told they had asked for it to be sixteen Pounds ! which would make sense if they thought it was going to be a big crowd but more on that later.
Amongst those training the day before the Rochdale game were David Thompson ex Liverpool,Coventry, Blackburn, Wigan, Portsmouth and Bolton player who had retired at thirty with chronic cartlidge knee injury three years ago but has now been told by his Doctor he can play Karl told me he was going to give him a game (closed door)and that Thompson had said he'd play for nothing as he'd had ten years in the Premiership and just wanted to play again although I thought he would probably be on a small wage if he did play David said he hadn't officially retired when I asked him if he was officially retired but he didn't really seem to keen to talk, Karl did joke to him about not being asked for his autograph for a while when one of the fans asked for it which I did think was quite funny( he played later in the month for the first half against Coventry).

The first game of the month was against Rochdale and designated as Armed Forces Day and we had our very own Mark Smith, a Lance Sergeant with the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards with us to present the match ball to the team Mark has served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia. Mark was injured after being shot in the arm and the leg and as a result Mark had his right leg amputated. Mark has the Dons crest on his forearm and I'm sure some of you will know him. Mark presented the match ball on Saturday on his new prosthetic leg. I saw Mark arrive and he looked well and also seemed to be walking well on his new leg and when he presented the match day ball and I guess most of us had a lump in our throats watching him walk out.

The game was a convincing three one win and I like many thought Martin had made the howler to end all howlers when he seemed to just let the free kick drop over his head into the net but with the benefit of the replay's on SSN and Football league show I think it was more a case of a very good free kick fooling him, some behind the goal seemed to think it was going over as well but I still think it has to be put down as keeper error in the Seaman style of balls no one thought were going in , as it turned out I think it probably gave us the push we needed and we played well as a team and the score reflected the match overall I even thought Dale played some nice Football in midfield and just need to tighten their defence and get a striker in come January to capitalise on the capable midfield certainly not the worse team I have seen this season.
John took mainly fringe and academy players for the first training session I saw on the Tuesday with exception of Gleeson there were no first team players there, also training with the squad was Stuart Searle who has been injured and is here to get back to full fitness for Chelmsford as he still lives in Milton Keynes which was handy as Ian was on International duty and David only had Paul Heald to keep him company also called up for International duty were Gary Mac and Adam Smith although Gary only made the bench, as an aside Stuart is now fit and back in goal for fourth place Chelmsford and was still training with us as Chelmsford only train twice a week.

Later in the week saw the guest coach and former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright join the team he joined the players for a game and hopefully imparted some of his goalscoring wisdom on our strikers I along with a couple of other fans got to get a picture and say hello I even got a picture of his car a Land Rover Overfinch for those petrol heads interested ! not sure whether he was or wasnt at Brammall Lane but I have not seen him since.

We also heard another four academy players have been given squad numbers ahead of the FA Cup game against Nantwich Town they were seventeen-year-old Leon Lobjoit, 16-year-old George Williams and 15-year-olds Dele Alli and Brendan Galloway they have all been registered with first team numbers with the Football League and Football Association but as I noticed not the academy golden child Seyi Ojo who I understand is looking at four Premiership clubs before deciding which one to join. I spoke to Brendan Galloway and said congratulations on his squad number and wished him well for the game although I did wonder why Remy Forrester wasn't given a number as he really stood out to me in the academy games I have seen.
Full-back Lobjoit will wear 34, young striker Williams (not to be confused with player of same name who has left academy) has been given the 35 shirt while midfielders Alli number 36 and Galloway 37 all four were expected to be on the bench for Karl's 18-man squad for Saturday.
The game as a lot of us thought it would be was a comfortable win and no FA upset although Nantwich held on for twenty seven minutes and went into half time just two down the part timers were never really going to get anything from the game and we cruised through to the next round with goals from Kouo-Doumbe on 27minutes, Bowditch 30 and 54 Powell on 66 ,the back from injury O'Shea on 76 and raising a big cheer on the day young George Williams on 89. George becomes the Dons youngest ever goalscorer the crowd wasn't as bad as some had forecast with 3354 home fans and an impressive 756 away fans made the trip for what was a big day for their club, the only good thing about the smaller crowds I find at SMK is the atmosphere is often better than when we get the bigger gates which is very odd but I still think we would have had a lot more fans had it been made a tenner maybe all our season ticket holders would have come!
Before the game Karl was fuming after what has been called rogue scouts breached FA rules by trying to tap up some of our academy lads at the game at Woughton. Karl was reported to be preparing to make an official complaint to the FA on the Monday morning having recorded a number of agents making illegal approaches to youth players after the game.We have one of the most highly rated academies certainly outside of the Premiership and I think I voiced my worries in a previous blog and predicted this would happen with the new ruling the FA has put in place , one that helps the Prem clubs pick up future talent for next to nothing,the game against Bristol Rovers saw us lose 0-3 .

The draw for the second round of the FA cup saw us pitted against Barnet at Barnet a ground we have been to a few times and not a fixture that gets the heart pumping but a winnable game that could lead to that big day out at a prem club or a good pay day at home.
With a closed door match against Coventry on the 15th the players that wouldn't be playing trained earlier than usual so Joe the groundsman could get the pitch ready for the afternoon game I spoke to Karl before the game and he said he was putting out a strong team with John in charge the game ended 2-2 I asked Karl what he thought and he said he'd seen better any of you old enough to remember will know Steven "Oggy" Ogrizovic he was born in Mansfield and achieved fame during his 16 years at Coventry City (1984 to 2000)for the record of 601 appearances as a player in all competitions and he played in the winning FA Cup team of 1987 and he was here with the Coventry entourage.

Ahead of the Colchester game the players trained in the dome (or the bubble take your pick) at Woughton where to my untrained eye they seemed to be concentrating on fast close quarter passing and keeping the fitness levels up with fast paced short matches.The team travelled on the Friday for the relatively short journey of just over one hundred miles when I asked Karl about this he said it was because they had been caught before in traffic and he wanted to train before the game rather than sit in traffic and have to get off the coach and play but I also suspect it was because we have a bit more money available following news of the Stadium:mk retail development plans, of course another reason might be the sale to Liverpool of Seyi Ojo who completed his move to join Liverpool Academy on the Friday the 14-year-old midfielder who has been here since he was ten and has been capped twice at England Under-16 level this was during their recent Victory Shield campaign was thought to have gone for in the region of two million but that's unconfirmed and was the figure mentioned for the earlier bid of Chelsea.
As we know the Colchester game was a resounding 5-1 win but it wasn't all one way traffic in the first half, we were lucky to go into half time ahead after being one nil down Martin made some good saves tipping one over and chesting one away at what were crucial times .The second half however saw a totally dominant display, with the goal fest we were expecting to see at Walsall the away game before, sadly all the teams above us won their games but a gap is opening below and all we can do is win the games we play and hope those above have a wobble. The U's manager John Ward said after the game the best signing Robbo has made is John Gorman and I tend to agree after watching the work he puts in at the training ground always the first to leave and last to go and I think he and the other coaching staff must get really pissed off when they read Fowler is still here or Wrighty is employed as a coach as if the odd day Fowler did and the one day Wrighty was here has turned us into another team ..when from my perspective we have just done what we have threatened to do all season re the Nantwich and Colchester games.

On the Tuesday before the Wycombe derby we played a friendly against Watford another of those behind closed door games in a field and there was literaly a man and his dog among the crowd ! We played what I guess is our reserve side bar two or three the result was a 3-1 win for the Dons with Watfords goal being a gift from McLoughlin who seemed to catch the ball and drop it in his net it may not have been that bad but I was as far away as I could be at far end of pitch(well actually in clubhouse)but it looked an easy save.

Bowditch got the first and MacKenzie the second with his head ,the third was a Bowditch free kick Watford had a mix of first year pro's and reserves with a couple of first teamers returning from injury .We were the better team and a blatant handball was not seen and a couple of chances missed otherwise it would have been five or six Balanta and Guy played well as did Baldock at right back who told me after the game he liked playing in that position, in fact no player had a bad game and we looked very comfortable on the ball John was in charge although Karl was there with the Watford manager Sean Dyche as Ive said before I'm awful at match reports so that's as good as it gets from me and I have only attempted it as I haven't read about the game elsewhere .

Paul Heald put his gloves back on Friday in aid of charity at Newport Pagnall FC to raise funds Robbo also had a bit of a run out and scored one as well Peter Leven was also there watching( and probably wishing he was still a part of the Dons looking at Oxfords recent form but he got the signing on fee and same wage so perhaps he just likes League Two) and over £1200 was raised for the worthy cause I spoke to Paul before the Wycombe game and he was still aching.

Friday was a busy day as the last day of loan window closed we heard Lewis Guy has rejoined Oxford on loan and was set to go straight into the side winger Anthony McNamee has joined our Buckinghamshire rivals Wycombe Wanderers till January 7th and Charlie Collins went to Kettering Town on loan for about three hours then was sent back as Kettering have a transfer embargo put on them which is bad news all round.

Which brings me neatly to the Wycombe game and memories of the away day when we drew with nine men, we haven't seen that much of Wycombe as they yo yo between L1 and L2 John Gorman has a connection with Wycombe as a former manager but apart from that there is not a lot of love in the air when we meet so I was looking forward to the game(well I look forward to every game but ..)and hopefully a good sound drubbing of our Bucks rivals but it was far from that and we were lucky to come away with all three points again Martin made two good saves that probably saved the three points but he still worries me at times.
The defence looked much weaker without the young Smith and Im glad he is here till end of the season Flanagan showed his age and inexperience with some bad decisions but Beevers across goal pass to him that resulted in a Wycombe goal was worse than anything Tom did,Doumbe again showed us why he is not first choice right back Lewie probably pick of defence but not his best game. Gleeson still nowhere near his best and still undisciplined Chadders ran his socks off as usual Potter showing signs of wear and tear Charlie did everything but score Bowditch looked class Jabo my MOM for his sheer work rate and enthusiasm deserved the sponsors award.I'll have some pictures up on http://gdmonthlymusingsuncut.blogspot.com/ later in the week so keep checking, the next game is Barnet where all the seats are sold out so its standing room only.
COYD

October Musing Uncut

So we move into October and the onset of the Autumnal weather, well usually but the month started unseasonably warm and the first game saw us take on our former manager in conditions that were more befitting the start of the season.
The mad dog was back in town with another of our former employee's Jude Stirling also present among the Notts County entourage so good and bad memories for me.
Allen arrived with the Notts players but did meet up with his family at the Stadium and his own mad dog a black Labrador who seemed very excited to be here although I don't know how happy he was at the end of the day baring in mind the score and the fact he was left in the people carrier on such a hot day albeit in the shade.

Mad Dog's Mad Dog in background

We played most of the game against ten men and the score probably didnt reflect fairly on the game as the last two goals came late on and the 3-0 made it look more a walk over than it actually was.

In other news we heard that both Harry Milton and George Baldock had gone out on loan to Averley in Ryman Prem and Northampton respectively with Karl going over to Northampton to watch George along with his brother Sam later in month.

Karl also managed to go and see his old mate Didi who now manages Stockport in fact its amazing how much football Karl does watch I often ask him where he is going and most times he says he is going to watch a game somewhere or other. Paul Mitchell as our scout See's even more and is out watching games most of all covering hundred's of miles a week often sleeping in his car .

With our game against Oldham moved to the following Monday Karl gave the players three days off and they returned to training on the Wednesday with a closed door match against West Ham arranged for the Friday which if anyone didn't know we lost.
I suppose the big news at that time was Karl being linked to the Forest job with the bookies making him odds on favourite at one time despite Karl himself saying he was flattered but not interested , I spoke to Karl about the job and speculation and he said to post up on the forums that he was staying and wasnt going anywhere.
Id told him I didn't post that much anymore but would put something up on the Zonemk Which is the only forum I actually belong to these days which I did.

The Monday night Oldham game saw us lose only our second match of the season after a horrendous blunder by Martin where he seemed to come out change his mind then fall over and Doumbe's less than convincing performance cost us the second to be fair the weather played its part in the first goal with wind and rain actually washing the lines off the pitch.
Morrison got a consolation goal but it was too little to late, Karl was fuming after game and told me he didn't remember what he said post match but after watching match back he said it wasn't as bad as he thought but he was still disappointed .

The players were called into training on the Tuesday after the match but were given Wednesday off on the Thursday we had all our players training MacDonald Jabo and O'Shea were not in main group but it was good to see the whole squad at Woughton.
I had a chat with Morrison who is very funny and one of the squad that you notice as being quite a character, he was talking about the forthcoming Sheffield Derby and he thought that it would be a fiery affair and he thought there would be trouble, I asked him when his contract was up and he said end of the season with an option to extend which he wasn't going to do as he didn't like it there and wanted to stay here I said we couldn't afford your wages, he laughed and said if you want to get promoted you have to spend I said we had been down that road with other managers and not got promoted and I didn't think the Chairman would spend more than he has. Clinton sort of agreed but agreed it might be better to take a pay cut than be without a club when managers then start looking at your age, I was very diplomatic and didn't feel like he was going to belt me he was smiling most of the time anyway.
I wont say what he said about certain people but I guess some of you can imagine what I'm sort of not saying here !
I asked Lewie about Swailes (yes Im still trying to find out) and he said he was talking about him recently to Nav (Alan Navarro) and he couldn't remember whether he had a job yet but that he thought he was playing non league football but not at any level we'd know of.

Bournemouth legend Stephen Fletcher

Ahead of the Cherries game i had a chat with Peter Cork from the old Wimbledon days who has been either here or at Wimbledon for 35 years and he was telling me about the old days when he joined Wimbledon after talking to Ron Noades who asked him to become a director there. Peter was a branch manager at Lloyds and Ron was impressed with the way Peter could talk to anyone and put them at ease and offered him the job this was back in days before Wimbledon were even in the league and a long time before the FA cup win of 1988. Peter had been with another non league club and had founded the old Central Division where they still play for the Peter Cork Cup which he is very proud of, if you ever get the chance to speak with Peter do so as he is great to talk to and travels here from Weybridge for every game.

The Bournemouth game was a disappointment to me I was expecting us to win comfortably even though I knew Bradbury had said in as many words they were coming for the draw and would set up a defencive side hoping to get something on the break.
But to me we gifted them two goals Big Mac literally passing to the Cherries player Wesley Thomas while the whole defence was to blame for the other, it turned out to be a point gained rather than two thrown away in the end as we failed to capitalise on chances we had Bowditch heading over the bar Gleeson(who I thought was poor by his standards)and Chadwick both shooting straight at the keeper and the worry is that we are over complicating things by passing too much .
By that I mean we are trying to be too clever in the area with little step overs and letting ball run when to be blunt we aren't that good ,better than last season but not in the Barcelona mould, sometimes a shot can be the best option rather than trying to play the ball into the net which I do feel we do too much of , other managers have sussed it and get players back while we are buggering about emulating Messi and the like.

Maybe Im being too harsh after the disappointment but there you are, I may feel different after we win a game.
We also heard that Chelsea were to pay £2m for one of our 14-year-olds Oluwaseyi Ojo Chelsea we were told have agreed to pay a staggering £2million to make the player the most expensive 14-year-old in football, Id heard about this the day before the Oldham game and asked Karl who said we'd have a job keeping him but as far as I know the deal hadn't been done then.

On the subject of the academy I was pleased to see a few more of them making up the numbers for the training game the players have as part of the normal training session I didn't see Oluwaseyi but was told by Bobby Winkelman he was on pitch half time during Bournemouth match getting his England shirt but I was in the concourse keeping out of the sun so I'll have to take his word on that.
Karl had two of the academy lads putting a smaller goal within the larger goal for the players to practise hitting the corners he told me it was something he taught eight year old's at Liverpool and that he was fed up with the players fannying about and not shooting so not just me then! he said he heard us described as like Arsenal and I said we do tend to over complicate things (see diplomatic again)and he was aware that we need to shoot more which I was happy to hear but he also wont change the style we play so I suppose we are going to have to wait and see how that pans out.

It was the Citizen family fun day for the Scunthorpe game and it turned out to be real sleepy affair and not much fun at all with the Iron keeper rarely troubled in Morrison's last game here. I suppose they were in the Championship last season and the one before but we created very little for Clinton to get his teeth into and say goodbye the way he would have wanted. We slipped to sixth and other results helped us not slipping further but the feeling amongst the fans I speak to is that we are looking stale and lacking any sort of back up plan, Gleeson again had a poor game and seems to not want to be here sometimes, I dont want to single him out but when he or Chadwick play poorly we seem to lose that cutting edge.
On the plus side the gate was 10,554 with 589 away fans I just wish when we get the big gates the performance is a little better as I would like to see the occasional fan come a bit more often but I suppose we all wish that !

On Monday 24th the under 16's played a game against Tottenham which I went along to watch and almost the first person I walked into was Trevor Brooking who is now with the FA but we wont hold that against him, the new ruling about players being able to go for next to nothing to the big clubs meant the scouts were out in force ready to poach all our young talent for nothing, but with the promise of maybe one day sitting on the bench along side all the foreign players that will undoubtedly flood the English game as it wont be worth running Academies in this country the youngsters will have their heads turned I'm sure.

Anyway I wont go on to much about that! the game itself was a cracker and we were easily the best side I sat next to a reporter from a Spurs website and he said were a tidy organised outfit the goal of game was a stunning free-kick from Remy Forrester in front of an impressive 1,641 Dons coach Dan Micciche was unable to select the golden child of the academy poster boy Seyi Ojo, who was on international duty with England or at Chelsea in the million pound deal you decide.

On Tuesday night the first team were off to Bramall lane and changes were forced upon Karl with MacKenzie out with knee injury, Doumbe was unable to cover due to injury( but not the same one that kept him out before at start of season) so Flanagan was drafted in Balanta was dropped after poor performance's recently giving Williams a spot, I thought Karl might drop Gleeson as he has been worse but then we might not have got the solitary goal we did get in what was the expected result or the season so far for me, the team lined up at Bramall Lane for the 2-1 defeat (4-3-3): Martin, Smith, Flanagan, Beevers, Lewington (c); S Williams (Balanta 70), Potter, Gleeson; Chadwick, Ibehre (MacDonald 70), Bowditch (Powell 70)we finished with ten men as Smith got himself sent off for two yellows in front of a rather impressive 16,367 gate.

It was much the same story for the under 18's back at SMK on Wednesday with them again getting knocked out of the FA youth cup at the first hurdle by the same team that knocked them out the year before Walsall,I thought we were the better team but lacked the finishing touch with the post saving the young saddlers after a good break that split thier defence apart only 500 odd watched this though due I think to the lack of advertising, the team lined up (4-2-3-1): Bragg; Spence, Ivey Ward (c), Walster, Plowright; Gyasi (Mo Ahmed 71), Lobjoit, Fuad Ahmed, Powell, Awadh Ahmed; Williams (Osei-Addo 86)and the unused subs were Burns, Hickford, Galloway.I managed to have a word with George Baldock about his loan at Northampton and he is enjoying playing first team football there but that it was totally different to the style we play I asked him about Sam and he has bought a house down in leafy Epping and is settling in there so our Sam is now an Essex boy!

Karl had some of the young academy players training with the team again on Friday before Walsall game and when the senior players left John Gorman stayed behind to coach them further,Karl said he had also been to watch Seyi Ojo play at Cheltenham for England U16's and was surprised no other managers were there and it got me thinking how many managers actualy bother to watch the youngsters their club produces let alone bring them into training sessions with senior players I said as much to him and he said some of the fans are too short sighted and he is thinking about the club in four years time as well as now and the proudest moment he had at Cheltenham apart from seeing Ojo play was fact that two of the team were players he signed as seven year olds when he was at Liverpool. I genuinly believe Karl wants this club to be successful and loves the club and I would hate to see him leave over the budget which has been cut from last season, after all the bench at Sheffield cost more than our entire team and our budget is tiny in comparison.
So the last game of the month was against Walsall and a game I think most of us were thinking had to be a win or else we were going to slip away from the pack with some fans saying that we were now never going to get Automatic promotion and the most pessimistic saying play off's were unrealistic and this all before November! As for the game for me it was another unconvincing performance where despite Walker the Walsall Keeper being sent off we failed to trouble Lee Beevers deciding to kick the ball into his arms and make the defender look good at every possible chance we got, in fact if Gnakpa ball hadn't hit both posts before being kicked to safety and Walsall had kept the ball on target we could have had an embarrassing scoreline against ten men and a defender in goal.

With Charlton now ten points clear and Huddersfield seven with the two Sheffield's just behind them it could be argued that the top four is how it will be come May we certainly need to start finding the net more to be troubling the top four for their place that's for sure.
COYD