Eh up Wombles lot...

[EIM]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/7398351.stm

AFC Wimbledon manager Terry Brown has released eight players and signed one, while veteran Marcus Gayle has retired.

Midfielder Lewis Taylor rejoins the club after spending two years at Horsham, scoring 17 goals last season.

Mark Beard, Karl Beckford, Mark DeBolla, Steven Ferguson, Richard Jolly, Rob Quinn, Will Salmon and Daniel Webb have all left Kingsmeadow.

But Dons favourite Gayle, 37, has quit after a long career including spells at both Wimbledon FC and AFC Wimbledon.

Gayle made over 550 league appearances for Brentford (two spells), Wimbledon, Rangers, Watford and Aldershot before joining AFC Wimbledon last summer.

The Dons will play in Blue Square South next season after winning the Ryman Premier Division play-offs.

What's going on there, then?

[Purves Grundy]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Every single one of those decisions is the right thing. The combined appearances for all but one of the released players would struggle to get above two dozen and the other one was a perennially unlucky blind-alley merchant. All busting lungs and rueful looks skyward. The biggest loss is Marcus, but there was no alternative - it's a miracle he made it to the end of the season is such good nick.

And Lewis Taylor coming back is a no-brainer. I've been saying it should happen for months. He's exactly the sort of lairy scrapper we need.

Basically all this is a good sign that Terry Brown is not one to let sentiment get in the way of doing his job.

Question now, of course, is do we really want to go up to the conference straight away? Obviously I want us to win every game, but there is a real question of whether we have enough financial fat to sign good enough players to prevent a hard relegation scrap.

[EIM]

Eh up Wombles lot...

TonTon was less than pleased about the return of Lewis Taylor.

Do you have any insight as to how big the gap between Conference South and your last league is? Realistically, how do you reckon you'll do?

Margy has just been in the NLP saying how our squad is good enough, just not deep enough for promotion next year. He then went on to name three players good enough to be playing league football, but I wont repeat them on here, and hope that no fucker else read who they were either.

[boris]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Do all League clubs do their scouting on OTF?

[EIM]

Eh up Wombles lot...

You can't be too fucking careful.

[Jimski]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Do you have any insight as to how big the gap between Conference South and your last league is?

Well the two sides who went up from the Ryman Premier last season finished 3rd (Hampton & Richmond) and 11th (Bromley) in Conference South, so the gap presumably isn't too much to worry about.

[My Name Is Ian]

Eh up Wombles lot...

A gap? More or less none whatsoever. If anything, with potentially ambitious clubs like Maidstone, Dartford and Hornchurch, the Ryman League might be a tougher league than the Conference South. Because of the way in which it was formed, there's a lot of dead wood in the Conference South, who seem to be happy to sit in fifteenth place and avoid relegation each season. The gap is between the Conference (where the professionals are) and the Conference North & South. With some astute signings (and Lewes are likely to have a fire sale this summer, amongst others), I'd unsurprised if they finished in the play-off places. There's no-one special in next year's Conference South with Eastbourne and Lewes gone, and Chelmsford will probably start the season as favourites to win the league.

[Purves Grundy]

Eh up Wombles lot...

'sright. And when we played away at Maindenhead in teh Trophy we didn't just beat them, we slaughtered them to the point where their left back and left midfielder started scrapping amongst themselves.

Realistically, anything below about 10th would be a severe disappointment.

Oh, and

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY

[Crusoe]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Purves, have you heard anything about signing Rob Saunders from Farnborough? I know he's turned AFC down once, but there are rumours that now the season's finished he's ready to move up. It'd be a real shame if we lost him; as midfielders go he's absolutely lethal in front of goal.

[Purves Grundy]

Eh up Wombles lot...

All I'd heard was about our previous attempt. Having signed Lewis Taylor and with Jon Main fit again I would have thought that a goalscoring midfielder wasn't at the top of our shopping list (especially as Saunders is rumoured to be quite high maintenance). What's he like as a ball-winner?

[Crusoe]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Er, he's not. More of a specialist at free kicks and long shots. You wouldn't have him as a workhorse or defensive player.

Maybe he is staying after all then!

[Big Daves Gussett]

Eh up Wombles lot...

How's Luke Garrard getting on, Purv? Is he still with AFCW?

Happy 20th anniversary, by the way. I can't believe that it's 20 years since I had to provide commentary on the Aldridge penalty through the toilet door for my dad who was mid-poo.

[Purves Grundy]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Stig is an absolute cast-iron fave down our way, BDG. And he's signed up for the coming season which is good news. And bizarrely, the goalkeeper at Kingstonian is also called Luke Garrard. What are the chances of that, eh?

[Ray de Galles]

Eh up Wombles lot...

Purves Grundy wrote:

'sright. And when we played away at Maindenhead in teh Trophy we didn't just beat them, we slaughtered them to the point where their left back and left midfielder started scrapping amongst themselves.

Realistically, anything below about 10th would be a severe disappointment.

Oh, and

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY

These are excellent too

And not just because I had my wedding reception at the team hotel. The recording of the entire build-up idea is great (I've done the same myself for Saturday), especially when you get to hear the 88 Cup Final song.

[EIM]

Eh up Wombles lot...

"As you will have seen, the pre-season friendly (‘PSF’) games were announced earlier in the week. This season we had one fewer Saturday available for a PSF because the Conference South season starts a week earlier that we’ve got used to in recent years. Partly due to that, and partly due to commitments we made some time ago, we weren’t able to arrange a weekend tour for the team; instead, Terry is looking into a possible weekend training camp early in July. So an attempt at a tour will have to wait until next season. By the way, we decided to give the FC United fixture a break this year, but we will play them again as soon as they have a ground of their own. To be blunt, we don’t see any reason why a large proportion of the proceeds of the game should go to a third party."

From here

It's a shame, as the games against you are one of my highlights of the season. But hey-ho, I appreciate the stand you're making with/for us.