Whats under the pedestal…

 The Easter weekend fixtures can normally make a massive difference to the top and bottom of the league. For Wimbledon the start of the Easter weekend has seen us move down to 18^th in League Two after a defeat draw at Harrogate on Easter Friday and with our next two games being against promotion chasing teams. Salford City visit Plough Lane for the first time and we are all aware of their rise from non-league via the investment of the bored ex-Manchester United stars. 

 

Salford are on a growing list of clubs that have progressed due to outside investment. Stockport County are another and we have a rather big one in Wrexham, competing with Notts County for the one automatic promotion place from the National League and don’t discount Woking who have had decent investment. The top two clubs in the National league both have 100 points!!! Rumour has it that it will change from 3 up, 3 down between League Two and National League next season and I will come back to that later.

 

Lots of stats being mentioned on social media and they don’t provide good reading, but they say the league table doesn’t lie at the end of the season and there is a good chance we could finish as low as 20^th. I am not sure what I expected when the season started, although a few more wins was one of the givens. We have won 11 games this season, albeit only 2 of those have been since the January window opened. For comparison we only won 6 games last season on our way to relegation, yet lost 21 games which was disastrous, however we have already lost 16 games this season with 5 to play. 

 

Looking ahead to next season already I have again little idea of how I expect us to do. What I do know it I don’t expect us to be in the top half due to clubs being promoted and relegated into League 2 as it is at the moment. Forest Green Rovers are gone and we have Morecambe, Cambridge and Accrington occupying the other drop zone places, with Wrexham or Notts County to get promoted and whoever goes into the play offs have clubs like Woking and Chesterfield to face. 

 

I suppose the reason for this blog is how do we compete next season?

 

We know we have to sell players each season to support our budget and get it as close to the budget we had for the squad this season. We already have the money from Assal in the January window to supplement the budget but I can see that budgets in League 2 easily increasing by around 5-10% due to the spending power of the clubs that will be in it. 

 

All leagues now are becoming about who invests the most money which shouldn’t surprise us, but with the 3 up, 3 down from next season, this is going to make the trap door to the National League even bigger and the increased risk we fall straight through it. 

 

The majority of fans accepted relegation from League One was inevitable due to the strength of clubs in it, but I don’t think the majority expected what we have seen this season. 

 

I have made no secret of my opinion that our ownership model is now starting to make a massive impact and that will only get bigger year on year. I accept that we have seen some important recruitment with our Managing Director and Head of Football Operations, but lets not think they are going to wave a magic wand and everything will be rosey moving forward. Players are not going to come to Wimbledon because we have a lovely new ground in a lovely part of London. They are going to look at our structure, our previous performances and if we are going to match their ambitions of promotion or competing in the right half of the league. That is before they look art rental prices for houses in South London and working out how much money they will have left from their salaries. 

 

We are reaching the time when season ticket info will be released for next season and you have to feel for the club as when is a good time to release them 🤷🏻‍️ but lots of friends I know are not even turning up to games at the moment let alone renewing their season ticket. 

 

It would be interesting to see the data on actual bums on seats (excluding ST’s and complimentary tickets) for this season as anyone with decent eye sight will notice lots more empty seats in the last few homes games. We are in a vicious circle as we need healthy sales of season tickets as it give us guaranteed funds up front to improve our squad, but if fans decide to just use their debenture options or pay for tickets per match depending on how we are playing, the club won’t be able to have the confidence to spend money that they might not get back in through gate receipts. 

 

Money is key now and how long will the patience of fans last with the constant struggle to win games. We are a football club and the product is what happens on the pitch, regardless of how great Plough Lane is to attend. We must never lose sight of that as I sometimes can’t help think we are some sort of political movement, hell bent on proving fan ownership is everything and we must never, ever review or argue against it. 

 

I listened to the Same Old Wombles podcast yesterday and the ownership model was discussed with Peterborough mentioned as an example of how clubs should not be run. No mention of other clubs who are doing well such as Luton, Wycombe or Millwall to name a few which is extremely frustrating   as we seem to place ourselves on this pedestal and constantly look over it to remind fans how bad other club owners are, without reviewing ourselves as owners under the Dons Trust model. 

 

The constant deflection tactics by some are starting to be seen right through and if we as a club, don’t start seeng the signs of fans losing faith and voting with their feet, it will be too late and the trapdoor will swallow us up quicker than we can shout HELP!