MK No Way !

In May 2002 the FA agreed to the franchising of a football club; while the public attention was focused on whether David Beckham's foot would heal in time for the world cup, my football club, Wimbledon FC, was uprooted from South London and allowed to relocate some 60 miles to the north in the soulless new town of Milton Keynes.

To say this hit me and other Wimbledon fans hard is a huge understatement. The FA said it wasn't in the wider interests of football for a new club "Wimbledon Town" to be formed. Within days the fans had formed AFC Wimbledon, they were heady days, creating something new yet visibly born from the wreckage of Wimbledon FC. It was and is as if the spirit of Wimbledon FC had been transported into the "new club".

When AFC Wimbledon kicked off in the CCL in August 2002, we naturally kept one eye on how "Franchise FC" were doing, their scores were announced, and defeats were wildly cheered. When we were playing several levels below them in the football pyramid the chances of us meeting on ta football pitch were minimal. However the odds shortened dramatically once AFC Wimbledon won promotion to the football league in May 2011.

It only took 9 years, but now there was a real chance that AFC Wimbledon would face the MK Dons. In this season's FA Cup the real Dons were drawn away to York City and it seemed that we were heading out of the competition until substitute Charlie Strutton equalised, and forced a replay. The next day the draw was made on live TV and as the balls were pulled out of the container the chances of a tie between AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes became ever more likely. And then it happened Cambridge City or Milton Keynes v York City or AFC Wimbledon.

The replay between York City and AFC Wimbledon was played out in front of the ESPN TV cameras, bringing in welcome revenue. York were certainly on top until they were reduced to ten men and eventually the Dons held on to win 4-3.

There was very little chance that non league Cambridge City would spring a major surprise and win at Stadium MK, and in fact they went down by a five goal margin.

The nightmare became reality. MK Dons v AFC Wimbledon. Almost immediately the game was moved to Sunday lunchtime so it can be televised. Nearly everyone with passing interest in football assumed that this was a game that we were all waiting for, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Most AFC Wimbledon fans suffered the hurt in 2002, and asked fans of other clubs to boycott their away fixtures at MK Dons. In the early years it was not uncommon to find pockets of fans at Kingsmeadow wearing replica shirts of League 1 teams who were scheduled to play at Milton Keynes that day.

Obviously the tie has given AFC Wimbledon fans a real dilemma, to go and support our team, or to uphold the principle that we would never go to Milton Keynes. The Club itself has not called for a boycott of the game, the team have to play as a condition of entering the competition, yet at the same time the bars are being opened at Kingsmeadow to allow those fans not travelling the opportunity to watch the game in the company of fellow AFC Wimbledon supporters.

While many fans estimated currently at 2000 are making their way to the game, I still feel that set foot in Stadium MK is validating their existence, so today I've ordered a ticket to watch the game in the back bar Kingsmeadow, and will donate the cost of my match ticket to AFC Wimbledon.

The result of the game only has meaning in as far as its a passport to the 3rd Round and the possibility of drawing one of the top clubs in the country with all the possibilities for financial gain that that would ensure. On December 2nd AFC Wimbledon will take the field against Milton Keynes, the players will act in a professional manner, some fans will be happy to boo and hurl abuse at Milton Keynes owners and fans , but for me that would bring little satisfaction.

In 2002 I felt the move to Milton Keynes was morally wrong and I vowed never to attend a match there, ten years later nothing has changed, as the saying goes "Never Forgive, Never Forget".

 

Somewhere in America

"Somewhere in America, it's starting to rain " (Counting Crows)

It's been some weeks since I've written during that time many events have taken my thoughts back to the USA. Firstly Hurricane Sandy, hurricanes seem commonplace in the Caribbean and the media soon loses interest, and indeed Sandy was of little interest when it ploughed it's way through that region. Things changed once it threatened the eastern seaboard of the USA and New York City in particular.

Now there are few places where I'm happier than in New York City, literally the streets seem to create energy. To watch TV and to witness such devastation and flooding in an area where you have visited, is an unusual experience for a European.

 

 

It was a stark reminder of why government should exist, while conservative America attacks the public sector, when emergencies happen it's government not private corporations that pick up the pieces, and help people get their lives back on track.

The extreme weather that hit New Jersey and NYC soon had an impact on the US Presidential election. Climate Change which had been an issue only in as far as Obama and Romney had avoided it now surfaced with vengeance. On the night of the election as ever I kept myself awake watching the results come in. While pleased Romney lost, I found little joy in Obama's victory. During the campaign I'd followed Jill Stein, the US Green Party's candidate on twitter. The two party politics in the USA stifles debate and ensures that many policy areas are never discussed.

 

November has also seen the start of the NBA season whisper it but the season has started rather well, the Knicks are 7-1 during the first couple of weeks and are definitely the form team at present. However the league is a long race and injuries and dips in form inevitably take their toll.

Finally last week I was reminded of the impact that American music has on me. In London I saw three American singer songwriters, Patterson Hood, Will Johnson and Craig Finn in concert. It was a wonderful evening in the unique setting of the Union Chapel in Islington. Patterson Hood whose new album is one of my favourites of 2012, talked about growing up in Alabama, life there, and the attitudes of its people. Listening to him explain the culture of his upbringing, I thought this is something deep rooted in Americana, and somehow lacking in British music. I need to give that more thought.

 

 

 

A Future that Works

Saturday 20th October and I'm up and out quite early to get to London for the TUC's march and rally - A (Green) Future that Works - the addition is all mine.
No trains from my station at weekends at present, so it was the bus replacement service and then the chance to test my knowledge of the London Underground system when I discovered that the Circle line was closed as well.

I arrived soon after 10.15 am at Temple Station, collected a Green Party placard and leaflets and made my way to where the NUT were gathering.

There was clearly time to do some leafletting, so competing with the SWP, the Morning Star and various other left wing groups I endeavoured to distribute my leaflets while shouting my slogan "Cut Carbon,not the Public Sector". If nothing else this seemed to ensure that those that accepted the leaflet had some environmental awareness.

Soon after 11am it was our turn to move, and we set off at a snail pace towards Parliament. I decided it would be good to see the whole of the march, so I decided to pick up my pace and make my way further forward. Along Whitehall I mingled with large numbers of Unison marchers and along Piccadilly worked my way through Unite until I reached Hyde Park.

I soon found the Green Stall and handed in my placard and spare leaflets. It seemed far more interesting watching the various banners and groups arrive in the park, rather than listening to predictable speeches.

During the day I was interviewed by a team of American broadcasters who wanted my opinions on political situation of the Uk and what impact I felt the march would have, and then I was photographed by a Scottish Green Journal.
Really not sure why either selected me.

Altogether there was a good turn out of Green banners and members. I got the chance to talk to a number of people and with crowds estimated at 120,000, the march though smaller than last year's event was still worthwhile if unreported in the mainstream media.

Neal Ardley

The procedure to appoint a new manager for AFC Wimbledon was thorough; apparently there were more than 40 serious applicants and these were filtered down to a final three. Eventually the decision was made to appoint Neal Ardley.

Neal Ardley is coming home is the general feeling, I watched him as a youth team player at Wimbledon FC, he graduated to the first team in 1991-92, he player for the club in the Premiership years, he was there when we got relegated at Southampton in May 2000. He stayed with the club and was part of the last Wimbledon team, by which time I suspect he was the club's longest serving player.

He later moved to Watford, Cardiff and Millwall, before becoming head of the youth academy at Cardiff City. However I suspect that as a player he will be best remembered as a Wimbledon player.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of attending a fundraising dinner where Neal spoke along with Terry Burton (now Under 21 manager at Arsenal) . He spoke about how he felt the night of the relegation at Southampton. He shared stories of how the Club that we all loved disintergrated. Later that evening he signed my Wimbledon shirt which had "Ardley 18" on the back. For some time now it's been framed and hangs in the room where I'm typing this blog.

His return to become the manager of AFC Wimbledon seems right, he knows the culture of the Club, he knows the history but also he has the coaching qualifications, the desire to develop youth players and the contacts in the game to be a success at the Dons.

Football Management is a precarious business, and uyltimately 99% of managers get the sack, but I desperately hope Neal's succeeds not only because it would mean that AFC Wimbledon progress but also because this story deserves a happy ending.

Tomorrow Neal takes charge of his first game away at Fleetwood. Last week he stood by and watched as a team selected by caretaker manager Simon Bassey  lost 2-1 to Cheltenham. Not the easiest game to start with, but I'm sure he is under no illusions. If the team had been playing well, the previous manager would still be here. Changes will take time, so all I can offer is good luck to both Neal , his coaching staff and the team tomorrow. Bring home the points.

It's all about the Bike !

Since the London 2012 Olympics I have taken a greater interest in cycling. It was the excitement of track cycling that was the catalyst. The tactics and spectacle of competition in the velodrome provoked my interest. In recent weeks this has spread further into road cycling aw well.

Our recent two week stay in Crete gave me the opportunity for a spell of concentrated reading. I started with Victoria Pendleton's autobiography, I'd started it before our journey but it's such a compelling story that I'd finished the book almost by the time we'd arrived in Crete. I'm not at all surprised that the book has been short listed for sports book of the year, it delves deeper than most autobiographies, and recently I compared it with Tony Adams "Addicted" as a book where the author gets beyond a catalogue of competitions & championships.

I progressed onto Chris Hoy's autobiography, a more straightforward account than Pendleton's but enjoyable, and particularly interesting in the early chapters where Hoy was trying to progress in a sport unfunded where practice was anything but easy. That Chris hoy has become Britain's greatest olympian this year means that I'm sure the book will be updated in the near future.

Finally I became engrossed in David Millar's book " Racing through the Dark".  This is very much the rise,fall and rise again story of a road cyclist. For most people the pages blow the lid off the secret world of road cycling.

I've also started getting the bike out of the garage. So far this has been simply to cycle down to the village to get the morning paper, but I've become interested in cycling around the area. My gear work needs work to ensure that I can climb even the meagre hills that Essex offers.

On my way to get the morning paper Inoticed that there was no where to park bicycles securely in the village. While I don't want to over emphasise the risk of theft, but with the number of people cycling increasing this is a facility that we should provide, and so I have now taken it up with the local parish council.

This week I've started to research social cycling and the possibility of establishing a social group in my village. Perhaps I'm not alone and there may be others who'd like to cycle around the area, but are reluctant to go out on their own.

Yesterday I listened to the two hour % Live programme on Doping in Cycling "The Peddlers". This week the axe finally fell on Lance Armstrong. From American hero and respected international campaigner for cancer survivors to disgraced sports cheat. The evidence points to the fact that he systematically doped his way to seven Tour de France wins. As I'm starting to research cycling round the country lanes of Essex, the news is full of EPO, blood transfusions and speed.

Sadly Armstrong's crimes throw a cloud over the whole of the sport; yet since the olympics over a million more people have taken to cycling. On Monday I found myself in Kensington High Strret in central London, amidst the buses and traffic , a strady stream of cyclists were commuting to work on two wheels. Cycling is booming, yet more needs to be done. Many more people would cycle if they felt safe on the roads, the number of serious injuries and fatalities is a major deterrant to developing a cycling culture in Britain.

In the Netherlands there 1.1 bicycles per head of population, is there really any good reason why Britain should not follow this example and go Dutch !

A change in the weather

Written 3rd October

To quote Bob Dylan " a change in the weather, it's goin' to be extreme". Bob wrote that back in the 1970's. If my memory serves me right, it's from "You're a big girl now" on Blood on the Tracks. That line has revisited me on the penultimate day of our stay in Crete.

I've woken with two differing sensations, the first is pain, my big toe is throbbing, the aftermath of our trip to the Gorge. I'm not that surprised as I've suffered from ingrowing toe nails for the past 50 years, and my feet took a hammering on the downhill section of Sunday's walk. The other sensation is that the weather is changing. I thought I could hear wind in the night, but in fact it was the sound of the waves. Having been near silent for the past twelve days perhaps this is a reminder that it's now October and autumn will soon hit even Crete.

In an attempt to get our legs back to normal , we decided to take a good walk around the old town of Rethymno, up past the Fortress before walking towards the sea. The waves are pounding the rocks in a way we've not seen before, the sea no longer a transparent blue is now the shade of grey familiar to anyone who has sat on a beach in the south of England.

For two minutes, no longer, at breakfast it rained. Now this would not warrant a mention at home, however in conversation with a local shopkeeper who was selling me a pair of sandals (the first pair I've had since childhood), she said that was the first rain since April. Stunningly she remembered the last time it rained well " it was a Sunday" she replied.

A summer of complete sunshine unlike in Britain. However that has not been good news to the people of Crete. Later in the day we spoke to a bar worker in the pub where we had spent time watching football and cricket during our visit. She said September had been a good month, but in comparison July and August had been poor. The reason, extreme heat. Temperatures had reached the mid 40's centigrade. Now whether the heat kept the tourists away is probably unknown, we sense that some people across Europe have been apprehensive about travelling to Greece. Scare stories about the Greek economy undoubtedly haven't helped.

My mind turned yet again to extreme weather. In Britain we had drought in early spring and high levels of rain throughout summer. In Crete no rain and intense heat, a similar pattern has occurred in much of the USA. As October brings the end of the tourist season , this was another sharp reminder that the effects of climate change are many, while our experiences have been different, both changes will have had an impact upon food production in this sense the effects of "extreme weather" are shared.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger !

Written Monday 1st October

It's the morning after and I'm sitting on the hotel balcony writing,the pain in my feet especially my big toes seems to be going, only the dusty boots just in my vision give a reminder of the day gone by. Overnight my thigh muscles and especially my calves have tightened, frankly I'm walking stiff legged reminscen of a cowboy without a horse. Why the discomfort ? Yesterday we chose to walk the Samaria Gauge.

When this trip to Crete was being planned, a gorge walk was built in to the schedule. Being the type of person that I am, I rejected the easier Imbros Gorge and argued that if we were going to do one, it should be the Samaria, the largest gorge in Europe.

Picked up at our hotel soon after 6am, yes that early on a Sunday morning, we travelled by coach though central Crete , as the sun came up we drove through field upon field of orange groves. The guide informed us that here the soil was so fertile that they can harvest oranges twice a year, and there is no need for artificial fertilisers. By 9am we reached the start of the walk , we got our ticket to the National Park (50 years old this year), and now owned by the Greek government.

The first four stages were virtually a continuous descent, down jagged , irregular steps. It started at over 4000ft and ended on the river bed below. The zig zag path Xyloskalo took us down 3300 ft in just over a mile. Water breaks provided relief and an opportunity to come face to face with a Cretan mountain goat.

We crossed the river,which in late September was more like a stream, and eventually arrived at the deserted village of Samaria. The last inhabitants left in the 1960s. It was hard not to think of the lifestyle of those people living their lives in such an isolated location, with donkeys as the only feasible method of transport. We decided that this would make a good stopping point for an early lunch, however the spinach pie that I bought with me, attracted a number of wild bees. Samaria has many seemingly attracted by the wild thyme whose scent hangs in the air.

Onwards upwards and then down through the narrow passageway between rocks and on to the coastal resort of Agia Ronmel. It took us five hours, and I've to write about it. Thirteen kilometres across rough terrain, a challenge and one that many tourists would be ill equpped to deal with.  Apparently in high season 2000 a day trek through the gorge, yesterday's temperature of 33 degrees was dehydrating and however much water I consumed the thirst returned. I celebrated completing the walk with a beer, a mistake as I soon follow it with orange juice and two cokes, such was the extent of my dehydration.

Our journey home allowed us the opportunity to view part of the south coast of Crete from the vantage point of a ferry. The sea was as still as I've ever experienced, as we glided along the Libyan Sea . The south coast of Crete so unspoilt and unlike much of the north coast with it's enclaves of EU tourists and those from further afield.

The ship allowed a distant view of Gavdopula and Gaudos. I calculated that Gaudos was indeed the southern most point of Europe and indeed it is. Nest stop Africa. I took satisfaction in seeing it, and thought of those from North Africa who have desparately tried to reach such islands to escape conflict.

Our day trip once again put us in the position of being in a minority, heavily outnumbered by German tourists. The Cretans are exchanging sun for Euros. The previous morning we had visited a local market, and witnessed the vast range of locally grown fruit and vegetables as well as local olive oil, honey,eggs etc. Sacks of oranges , courgettes and tomatoes on sale. This is an amazing land.

The tour operator Thomson market the trip to Samaria as a walk, frankly that is akin to saying the Tour de France is a bike ride. The Samaria Gorge is a hike, a trek and indeed a challenge. A walk in the country it is not.