The Official AFC Wimbledon vs ECFC match day thread

[eurogrecian]

Very much my view 007, although I thought Gill had a decent game - certainly better than Sercombe at Rovers the other week.
Anybody got news of Grimes? He looked in some pain.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

Very much my view 007, although I thought Gill had a decent game - .

Yep...Though Gill is no where near as influential in midfield as he was during his previous time with the Grecians.

Three tough games coming up & the signs do not look too good after todays performance...Goals conceded from the left midfield/full back area again.

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

2 wins in 17 games against Torquay and Accrington - both of who are In the relegation scrap....

If we don't get at least 1 win from the next couple games then I think were in a real scrap to stay up

 

[mammooman]

The general view around us was that the younger players were again fantastic, Gill was also good. The defence looked solid enough but still managed to ship a few. The same as previous matches really. Nothing terribly bad but still conceed. Why is this? The lack of experience of the players in front the defence? Who knows. The impact players were missing somewhat today. Gow was nothing special in his short time on the pitch and Parkin was, well, Parkin.

The lurkers I dragged along today (Fulham fans who watch us when it's a London based game and they're not playing) thought we looked alright but that killer blow or decisive pass was missing. It was a very enjoyable match and we often looked really dangerous but the 2v2 or 3v2 scenario was soon fluffed out as we passed sideways allowing them to get bodies behind the ball quickly.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before but Tisdale was involved in a little verbal mouthoff at the end with a small group of fans who argued that they couldn't care less if we played well and it looked nice, it's all about the win.

 

[CREDYGRECIAN]

Playing well or in a "nice manner" means nothing is you lose.

Give me playing crap and winning over playing well and losing any day.

its a results business , the current results are not good enough.

will anything happen to change that ? not a hope in hell

 

[Shabba]

The general view around us was that the younger players were again fantastic, Gill was also good. The defence looked solid enough but still managed to ship a few. The same as previous matches really. Nothing terribly bad but still conceed. Why is this? The lack of experience of the players in front the defence? Who knows. The impact players were missing somewhat today. Gow was nothing special in his short time on the pitch and Parkin was, well, Parkin.

The lurkers I dragged along today (Fulham fans who watch us when it's a London based game and they're not playing) thought we looked alright but that killer blow or decisive pass was missing. It was a very enjoyable match and we often looked really dangerous but the 2v2 or 3v2 scenario was soon fluffed out as we passed sideways allowing them to get bodies behind the ball quickly.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before but Tisdale was involved in a little verbal mouthoff at the end with a small group of fans who argued that they couldn't care less if we played well and it looked nice, it's all about the win.

And we also fail to score.

What was Tisdale's reaction?

 

[Avening Posse]

Just back. Very frustrating, effort factor from most was there, Grimes especially played well, and I thought Wheeler was dangerous as well and therefore somewhat surprised when subbed. We did look very vulnerable from crosses, and really need to sort that out on the training pitch. What annoys me the most is when we actually passed it to each other on the ground we looked much the better team, but for some unfathomable reason certain players still cannot resist simply hoofing it up the pitch which creates no danger whatsoever and we simply lose possession.....why do we do that ?...........not sure why Gow and Baldwin did not start but no doubt there was a good reason ?...........missing sitters and having goals ruled offside doesn't help either. Cannot see us being relegated, but getting very concerned confidence levels must be at a season low. I don't get to as many games as I would like but not sure about Butterfield ??.........Oxford absolutely crucial now in my view

Missing sitters of course doesn't help

 

[Alistair20000]

Well Al, based on the last two season's finishes, the consequences of not making a change now could be disastrous. Relegation would cost us £200k in academy funding, another £500k in lost match day revenue & probably another £300k in corporate/sponsorship. Meanwhile we'll still have the 2 year rolling in place (bet there is no relegation contingency clause in place), a bloated boardroom, and the torpor of The Trust. It will be another long term in the wilderness as it will takes ages to sort out the mess.

I'd do what Al Yates & St James said earlier, put him on gardening leave. If I was the Wolf, I'd offer my thanks to Steve Perryman, ask Tisdale to take over as DoF and ask Sir Rob to breathe new life into these players. It would take some balls, but it would give the club the shake up it so badly needs. Sadly I see no evidence that the new CEO has the fortitude to take charge of the situation and we keep sleep walking towards disaster.

Mack

1) Do you really think Tisdale would accept a de facto demotion or that Sir Rob would be part of that ? It would almost certainly amount to constructive dismissal.

2) Even if Stevie P is paid as a consultant there is a serious risk that an Employment Tribunal would rule that he is in law an employee.

3) No guarantee that making a change of manager will save us.

4) We do not know what the full consequences of putting him on gardening leave might be. You might just be pressing the nuclear button and who knows what the fall out of that might be. The Club's financial position is almost certainly perilous. If a liability to pay Tisdale compensation crystallized and the Club took insolvency advice it might be told it is trading while insolvent leading to immediate Administration. The consequences of the proposal may be even worse than those you have identified.

5) I would not put down a penny piece that Guy Wolfenden has the power in his employment contract to take the steps you propose.

I don't think this is necessarily as simple as Al Yates and St James propose but none of us of knows all the facts. It is unclear whether the Trust Board knows and understands the full position let alone has a clue what to do about it. A number of us have warned that the Club is out of control, that the Trust should have built its reserves to cover precisely this sort of emergency rather than giving the money away to fund a bloated off field operation.

This needs some careful and clear headed thinking and determining what changes that can be made practically in the situation in which we find ourselves.

 

[mammooman]

And we also fail to score.

What was Tisdale's reaction?

Bit of arguing across distance but no real malice. Just frustration. He left across the pitch after a few seconds. He was obviously a bit peeved as he must've felt that the game was there for the taking, even at 1-1. I thought Tisdale was going to put his fist through the dugout when we went 2-1 down.

Their second goal during a freak 10mins where anything and everything possibly could happen (and probably did.) You could hardly look up due to the rain/hail/gusts of wind. The ball was going in all directions. If we could've held our own through that spell then who knows how it would've ended. One thing I noticed about Tisdale was the amount of instructions and bellowing he gave Sam Parkin, more so than any other player during the short time he was on. Did he feel he wasn't pulling his weight? Maybe not following instructions? Or was it that he felt in the conditions a bruiser is what you really need and defenders aside he is really our only one. Wombles on the other hand were a very tall side and maybe weathered the storm a little better.

We always seem to struggle during the winter months, the last few years at least. Could it be that the younger, smaller built more technical based players just find it hard to hack the winter weather more than a team full of aging pros? Generally by this point of the season our aging pros are all injured/rubbish/not ar5ed so therefore he's forced to almost play the wrong type of player for that particular match.

Just a quick note on their dreadlocked physio. After the awful tackle on Grimes he came to the edge of the pitch straight away and asked if we needed help with treatment, then again at HT he went to offer help if needed. I know he didn't obviously have to but gestures like that are often not noticed in football. Top bloke.

 

[richard_portland]

A few thoughts from reading the last page or two, playing in a very heavy storm isn't likely to be easy but was the same for both teams and they were the ones who scored.

A number of people are thinking its ok because we are not being outplayed and only losing by narrow margins, but how long would that have to go on before they acknowledged that as a problem?

It is true that if Tisdale were to walk or be sacked that there is no guarantee a new manager would improve things but that's the same at any club. If tisdale stays it will get better worse or stay the same just as it would under a new manager. What needs to be judged is how likely it is that Tisdale is going to get us picking up points in the next five or six games.

When we were relegated to the conference Gary Peters got 13 games and nearly saved us, I don't have 100% good thoughts about Peters because he seemed loyal to Russell & lewis and had we stayed up we may have struggled to get rid of them. However if he had got closer to 20 games he could well have kept us up. Therefore we need to improve by a months time or we will be in the same situation.

One of the things I would do if I were inside the club would be to ascertain what the players view really is. If they are really 100% behind Tisdale and prepared to roll up sleeves to get us to safety by early April then get on and do it. If that isn't the situation then we are in big trouble.