Charlton Athletic v AFC Wimbledon
Saturday 17th September 2016 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands)
IntroductionIf history is to teach Football owners one lesson it has always been not to take its supporters / customers for granted, they are not cash cows to constantly bleed dry with ticket sales and cheaply manufactured merchandise. They are a community; people brought together from all walks of life, lower / middle and upper classes all converging on to football grounds dotted around the country all praying for one thing… Victory.
History has proven that if you push fans too far then you will lose them… new clubs will be created and despite it being the last resort (because of the effort and time it takes to climb back through the Football pyramid), fans have done it… FC United of Manchester are one of two prominent teams, slowly climbing the ladder whilst the other one is much more famous, the other team is a credit to the football community, fans standing up to the greedy owners saying:
NO, we will not blindly follow you… This Saturday we play host to that side:
AFC Wimbledon!!
The OppositionName: AFC Wimbledon |
Manager: Neal Ardley
Ground: Kingsmeadow
Every Football fan knows the story… Founded in 2002, AFC Wimbledon came about after the original Wimbledon were relocated 56miles to Milton Keynes, the fans didn’t want to move and so created their own Football club entering into the Combined Counties League (Level Nine), this they won at the second attempt and after ten years of being formed, Wimbledon had achieved three title winning seasons and two play-off victories… they were back in the Football League.
Since promotion to League Two; Wimbledon though struggled, they were constantly in a relegation fight and would either finish 20th or 15th… Last season though was a shock to everyone; coming out of nowhere they snatched the final play-off spot right at the death and on a sunny May day they defeated Plymouth Argyle (2-0) in the Play-Off final to climb yet another division to join their usurpers: MK Dons.
This season in League One has been a baptism of fire for Neal Ardley and his Dons… they have just one victory and two draws yet haven’t struggled for goals (having scored just one goal less than ourselves)… Relegation straight back to League Two though won’t happen easily, this is a side that have battled since the day they were formed… And like ourselves, will never stop fighting to get what they deserve!!
Charlton Team NewsWith Russell Slade’s press conference potentially happening later today we’ll be given a good indication as to the fitness and availability of certain players…
Johnnie Jackson missed the match against Fleetwood last Saturday yet was supposed to take part in training on Monday so could come back into the side…
New signing Frederik Ulvestad didn’t have the greatest of debuts leaving Russell Slade unimpressed with his performance so if anyone is dropped to the bench then you’d expect it to be the Norwegian, fresh from scoring his first goal of the season: Lee Novak could earn a start alongside Josh Magennis yet you’d still expect Nicky Ajose to start up top.
Rudd
Solly … Konsa … Pearce … Fox
Holmes … Crofts … Jackson … Lookman
Ajose … Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Bauer | Lennon | Ulvestad | Foley | Novak | Botaka
PredictionOur away matches haven’t wielded the greatest of results which means if we want to challenge for promotion we must win at home, with AFC Wimbledon where they are in the League anything other than victory will be a disappointment… The Dons won’t be push overs though, both Bolton and Sheffield United have achieved victory yet only just.
Comments
1-0.
Wonder how many of the Don's fans in the away end were present for our last 3 meetings - a 2-0 victory in the Premier League in 1999 which also saw the pre-match unveiling of new signing John Barnes, or the two-legged Coca Cola Cup goal fest - 5-4 victory at Selhurst with a Bowyer hattrick, and a 3-3 draw in the second leg to see us through to the next round in 95/96.
Anyway, I'm absolutely buzzing about this Saturday, primarily because I'm flying to Spain, rather than sitting through a turgid 1-1 draw against a motivated Wimbledon side, further evidence that we are play-offs at best this season.
2-0 Charlton
On the pitch, I expect us to win. After their successful substitute appearance last Saturday, Novak, Botaka and Foley will all be pushing for starts.
3-0. (Holmes, Ajose & Pearce)
3 - 1 the resurgent Addicks.
I personally wouldn't mind seeing Bauer come in for Pearce, but I just can't see that happening.
If Pearce is then dropped it raises questions as to why they paid so much for him (£1.5m?), then when January comes round and Slade asks for more players, it'll give the owners ammunition to turn round and say no. (Roland has already said he only wants to pay for players who are going to come in and play, hence why we have such a small squad)
Did we really pay 1.5m for him? I don't remember seeing that. Not quite sure that's where (CB) or who I would have spent that money on.
1-1 to the Addicks!
However he was in the last year of his contract at Wigan and Covered End Junior who is pretty good on this sort of thing doubted the £1.5m figure. SD Addick actually suggested that he was likely to be a replacement for Tex which was a good call however this never happened and big Russ has planned without the latter so far!
Pearce is favoured to start as he is big Russ' man unless injury or suspension intervenes and only then shall we see if Tex has gained favour because Konsa, Bauer and possibly even Lennon would appear to be ahead of him. Not my pecking order but just saying like.