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July 1999
31/07/99
We beat Bournemouth 4-0 today I will do a full match report tomorrow. For the record the goal scorers were Gayle, Euell, Robbie, and Jupp.Jupp had a brilliant second half when he came on but was pipped to Man of The Match by Carl Cort.Their was a story going round in Bournemouth that Ainsworth is out injured.The latest Drillo accessory is the "Drillo Rucksack" he was seen wearing it both before and after the game today. I will try and get a photo for you all to see.
30/07/99
Our last pre-season game takes place at Bournemouth on Saturday, based on our current injury situation we may see Pedersen and Wilmott in the Centre of defence.If you are planning on going down a group of us are making a day of it and will be down on the coast from 10:30 and plan to have a big game of Football down on the beach from about 12:00 all are welcome.
29/07/99
Based on the rate that players are being added to our injury list we will be lucky to field a team at Watford so it may be a case of bringing your boot.Carl Cort and Neil Ardley have now been added to the list and with the news that Ben Thatcher has had an operation on his lung it looks as if we could be down to the bare bones for Watford.Ceefax is reporting that Marcus Gayle claims to have seen the story about Drillo being the new boss on their first god things must be light if Ceefax have to go to these lengths to get a story.
28/07/99
Drillo has reported that he is still not happy with our performances he has said that although we look stronger in attack he would prefer more than 1 more game and 10 games before the season starts.Ben Thatcher may miss the start of the new season due to the fact that he has some sort of Lung injury, Michael Hughes is also believed to be injured as well as Dean Blackwell.If you are going to Bournemouth on Saturday you may like to know that a group of us are going on the 08:30 from Waterloo it arrives in Bournemouth at 10:15 and then it will be down on the beach for a game of football. anyone who wants to come down is more than welcome.
27/07/99
Tonight we beat Millwall 2-0 with Goals from Leaburn and Cort full report will be posted tomorrow night.Michael Hughes has denied the story that was printed on Teamtalk saying that he wants to leave.
26/07/99
Watford tickets went on sale today, I purchased mine at lunchtime and have got a sit in Row Z.I understand that Ben Thatcher and Dean Blackwell will not be playing in Tuesday nights game at Millwall, this is due to the fact that both players currently have injuries. This would also explain why we have not seen them in the previous games this pre-season."It Must be Dons" has today completed the sponsor of Lars Tjernaas Away kit.
25/07/99
Efan Ekoku has been told that he can leave the club if any side offers £1 million for him. He does not fit into Egil's plans and is so free to leave.Joe Kinnear has now decided that he wants a job in Europe and will spend the next few months travelling round to see how others teams coach.Egil has denied that he has banned Kinnear from the training ground he has said that he is more than welcome to come down or turn up at a match.
24/07/99
A very good 3-0 win at Swindon today check out the report pages for the full details.Spoke to Waleed Badir prior to the match he has confirmed that his Work Permit has now come through this means he can now play for us. and also ends any speculation about another team comming in for him.Ron Noades is reported on Teamtalk saying that although he has received a higher bid from Sam than from the Administrators he will not sell Selhurst Park to him. His reason was "I sold him Plough Lane and that has turned into a supermarket I wont let him do it to Selhurst Park."
23/07/99
I have now added the Yeovil Report.Tomorrow we complete the tour of the West country with a game at Swindon. It will be interesting to see what line up we use as some players have still not had a run out, like Sullivan, Ainsworth and Thatcher. I hope to have a match report from Swindon on my site by 9pm British time Saturday.The first ticket information is now available. Tickets for Watford go on sale on Monday 26th July 1999 the price is £24.00 for adults and £18.00 for under 16's their is a limit of two tickets per season ticket holder or Crazy Gang member.Will this be the most that we pay this season or a sign of things to come?
22/07/99
I'm Back from my travels round the west country and what a brilliant time was had by everyone who went to the games at Plymouth and Yeovil.Before I start on the news about the games I would just like to confirm that after speaking to Marcus Gayle on Wednesday night he has confirmed that he did get the second goal in the Plymouth match and it was not Leaburn, Cort or Earle as different sources reported it.And now for a It Must Be Dons exclusive As we were waiting for the players at Yeovil Drillo came off the coach and was decked out in full womble clothing and included the important wellies. This may have been down to the fact that on Monday night in Plymouth he was not wearing them and while talking to Sam in the stand he started a "Drillo Out Chant".
Prior to the Yeovil game I also had a few word with Lars I asked him if they were training the players hard while down in the West Country his response was "yes, perhaps to hard. It's not these games that are important it's the match on August the 7th when we must get it right".The players are remaining in the west country for the next couple of days prior to the Swindon Match.I have done a full match report in the fixtures area of the Plymouth match Yeovil to follow please check it out as it is more detailed than the versions that I left on my message board.
19/07/99
Due to the amount of News I have decided to split today into two parts. Part 1 will be today's news and part 2 will be more news and pictures from yesterdays meet Drillo Day.Part 1 The team this morning face the long drive down to Plymouth I understand that the full squad is going and we are taking 2 coaches so that everyone can travel.Due to the fact that I will be down in the West Country for the next 3 days I will not be able to update my Web Site in the normal way to make sure that you can see the news that is coming out of the West Country I will be updating my message board with a match report and news, Once I return from Yeovil on Thursday I will provide a Full Match report with pictures on the usual pages.Part 2 One of the things that I really enjoyed about yesterday was seeing so many youngsters in Wimbledon shirts it is so important to remember that these are the future of Wimbledon. Here are some pictures of the people that were their yesterday.
Sam Was asked about the departure of Chris Perry and he explained that Chris had approached him last season and said that if any team came in for him he would like to consider a move, this was even though Chris had 2 more years left on his contract. Sam explained that the figure quoted of just over £4 million was not the full amount we would receive a guaranteed further 1.5 million. I said would this be once he played for England next month? Sam did not reply.Drillo said that he had not decided on his starting line up for the game at Watford as of yet.Sam spoke very openly all day he admitted that over the last year or so the club appears to have become complacent and he had great hopes for the Drillo era.After the Question and Answer session had finished I had a chance to speak to Lars, this guy is very underestimated and he explained that he and Mick Harford were joint coaches but within their roles they also had separate rolls. Lars explained that he had done quite a bit of Individual training with the players and in the 19 training sessions that they had run so far Lars had put John Hartson through 4-5 hundred one on one's in relation to shooting. He also said that his working relationship with Mick was first class and I must say that Mick looked a lot happier.Talking to Mick he said that he had spent a large part of the close season to work out what went wrong in the second half of last season. He said that the players were very down and he said that what the supporters had gone through last year he was extremely impressed with the support at Liverpool at the end of last season.To finish off my report their were a couple of funny point, When Drillo first spoke to everyone he said that when he told people in Norway he was going to us they laughed and said why they have No Ground, No Money and No Fans he then looked around and just smiled adding well they were wrong on the last point. One of the Kids in front of me asked Drillo who his favourite Dons player was everyone laughed Drillo's reply was, "Am I meant to have one already" he then added "Vinnie Jones as I have been a Dons fan for the past 10 years". Just before we left Sam was talking to a few of us about Drillo being a Marxist and told us how he was going to run in an Norwegian Election at this point Drillo appeared and told everyone that the party that was named does not even exist!I hope this has given you an insight of the new management team stick with them and I am sure that hey will do a good job for us.
18/07/99
**** Drillo Day **** What a Day the sun shone, and hundreds of people turned up. Drillo Mania at last came to Wimbledon. If Ricky Martin had turned up he would of not got a better reception.When a few of us at the Press day asked for a fans day Reg Davis asked us how many we would expect to turn up we said that we could get at least 50 people without trying, well 10 days later and after adverts being placed in local newspapers over 500 people turned up to welcome Drillo. Wow! Sam started the proceeding's by introducing Drillo, Lars and Mick  The set-up was very relaxed with the four of them sitting on the wall and the fans on the grass, they had even gone to the trouble of getting a mic and speakers. Sam explained why he thought Drillo was right for the job and explained about how he was a mega star in Norway.
Sam also broke the news that next month we would have a new boss of the Under 17's, this would be Carlton Fairweather a true hero to all Dons fans this was greeted by a huge cheer.The Afternoon then turned into a question and answer session between the Fans and Drillo. I asked the question of "If he thought that he would have enough time between games to Analyse game like he did at international level" his response was "That although we play twice a week he would still undertake some sort of analysis but how much would involve the players is another matter" Other questions that were asked included "Would he change the system that we play" he explained in depth that we would play a Zonal System rather than Man to Man in defence he also explained that he believed in the ball going forward not total Long Ball but their would be no Square Balls if the opportunity to go forward was their.He was asked about Neil Sullivan and were we trying to sell him Sam explained that the club were doing everything they could to keep Neil but Paul Heald is out injured at the moment and Sam believes that a club needs Three keepers.Once the Questions had all finished it turned into an individual  Meet Drillo and team for autographs and photo's as you can see this was very popular with one and all. The day was brilliant and I think everyone went home thinking that we have a great man in charge.
17/07/99
Tomorrow 11am Richardson Evans training ground meet Drillo. This is a chance for us the fans to chat to our new manager and ask him questions. All questions will be answered except "Why do you wear Wellies".Today I was at the Barnet demo outside Downing Street it was a great success and shows that fans are not prepared to let football die.
16/07/99
Our Israeli midfielder has returned to Israel while we await a work permit for him, lets hope that a work permit gets processed quicker than a passport.Tomorrow I am going to the protest at Downing Street regarding Barnet FC.Sunday sees the fans day don't forget that it starts at 11 am.
15/07/99
Things have gone a bit quite before the pre-season rush.Chris Phillips at Kiss 100 has been advertising the Fans day on Sunday and will be in attendance.Marc Jones has produced one of the best Wallpapers that I have seen it is based round Hartson and you can get it from his site.
14/07/99
Just a reminder to say don't forget the fans days on Sunday at 11am let as many people know about it as you can.Following the News that the Cardiff tournament is off we have now arranged a friendly in Bournemouth for 31st July 1999. Get your Shorts on Were off to the Beach.You may have noticed that the text for the news of yesterday has changed this was following some additional information that I have been sent.
13/07/99
The Olsen revolution has now progressed to the Midfield we are today linked with Steve Lomas of West Ham although he has turned us down in the past (When he left Man City to Join West Ham) he is on the transfer list at Upton Park and so could well be available.The other player that may join us subject to a Department of Employment work permit is Waleed Badeer from Israeli club Hapoel Petah Tikva. He is an interesting character as he is an Arab who plays for the Israeli national team. His current club are based near The West Bank so may well appreciate the chants of "We Are the West Bank ..." A man born to play for the Dons. He is believed to have cost in the region of £1 million. And to make the move even better Sheffield Wednesday allegedly paid his air fair over but we kidnapped him at the airport.Every now and them Sam comes out with gems of quotes Yesterday he came out with the following."The truth is that if you put all the West Ham players on top of each other, including Ferdinand and Lampard, then Harry Redknapp on top, sprinkle some sugar on top of that to make it sweet, it will not be enough to prize Hartson away from Wimbledon."
"It appears Harry blundered in letting us have John Hartson. Now he is quoted as saying he wants him back, well too late pal!"That is just pure poetry.Anyone who claims that John Hartson is unhappy should read the following."I have never been as happy with my football as I am now, I love it at Wimbledon. I have now put the problems of last season behind me forever and I'm fitter than I have ever been. The training under Egil Olsen is by far the most professional I have experienced, and I am enjoying my pre-season immensely. I cannot wait for next season to start so that Wimbledon and I can stuff it down all our doubters' throats yet again."
12/07/99
Sam has told Harry Redknapp to get lost. He says that West Ham made a mistake when they let John go and now want him back.On the same subject John is quoted as saying that he is currently enjoying football the most he has in a long time, and he cant wait for the new season to start.In the stories about training in yesterdays papers they seemed to miss out a very important line from Drillo's quote that was "The players must train on Sundays I don't care if they come in to train or they do it at home but it is important that they train" I think this advise is more common-sense than anything else.
11/07/99
As usual Marc Jones @ "W and WW" has done the business the Fans Day will take place next Sunday click here for Details.The press seem to be making big thing that Drillo is making the players train on Sunday's. Drillo was quoted as saying that he finds it strange that English clubs do not train the day after a match.The official reason for the Cardiff Tournament being cancelled is given as "Lack of Sponsorship and no TV coverage". They are in discussions with Wimbledon to see if a friendly will still be played over that weekend.When I was down the training ground earlier in the week a couple of the Journalists were discussing Drillo and one of them was saying that "He has some very different training techniques that have not been used in this country" this was not being said in a derogatory way but he was talking about Blood Test being done the guy seemed rather impressed.Kelvin Davis has joined Chris Willmott with us the Davis deal is believed to be a £650,000 down payment and more to follow.
10/07/99
The Cardiff City Unofficial Web Site has reported that the Centenary Tournament is Off. Cardiff Still hope to Play us over that weekend but Boavista are not playing. More News will be announced soon.Drillo has signed another Norwegian defender Kjetil W¾hler from First Division club SVV Lyn.(The Picture was kindly supplied by Marc Jones) He is 23 years old and the deal that we will sign under the Bosman Rule and will see him move to us once the Norwegian season has finished in October although we are trying to get him as soon as possible. One concern about the Norwegian players is that they have already played 3/4 of a season so by the end of our season they will have played a lot of games I hope it will not effect them. The Soccernet Site (The Daily Mail's Present on the web) has a report saying that John Hartson could make a "Shock Return to West Ham" after seeing John at the press day I must say that this story is as far from the truth as you can get just another example of parts of the Media trying to have a go at us.
09/07/99
The Bookies have made Egil a 5/2 shot to be the first Premiership manager to lose his job. Even though he is about 6th on the list I think this is a bit unfair on him. Full update tomorrow
08/07/99
It was today announced that David Kemp has left the club following the appointment of Drillo and Lars.At the training round yesterday John Hartson  looked very fit he was interview by one of the Journalists and said that all he want to do is score goals for Wimbledon and he is enjoying it with the Dons. He has had a very nice summer and went to Euro Disney with his wife and young daughter on holiday. The only downer was Wales losing to Italy. He hopes to move house to be nearer the training ground as he finds the travelling every day to and from the ground a pain.
John looked like he has lost another two stone and looked very sharp.As a side issue I would urge all Dons fans to visit my Football Links page and visit the "Keep Barnet Alive" site this is a time when it is important for all football fans to stick together, I plan to go to the Downing Street demo on the 17th If anyone else feels like going let me know.
07/07/99
Today was press day at Wimbledon and wow what a day it was although the fans were not allowed into the press conference it's self the whole day was superb. It started bang on time at 2pm when Egil appeared in the new Wimbledon home top. The fleet street photographers then took some photos once the conference had finished,
When The press conference took place we were not allowed in but Nicky G and Marc Jones managed to get in so they may have a few details on their sites about what was said.Egil then came out and was interviewed first by every TV station and then by the Radio stations and finally by a few of the Sunday Newspaper guys every interviewer asked the same question the top one being "Why the Wellies?" At the end a Photo was done of Egil with some wellies.
The new away kit was on display and looked a lot better than what people thought it would.
 When I first arrived the players were doing session one of their twice daily schedule this was done as far away from the changing rooms as possible so the press boys would not get a look in.
Egil, Mick Harford and Lars Tjernaas (The new coach) were discussing certain subjects, as I walked past Mick Acknowledged me and Lars  turned and said Hello. A bit latter on I managed to grab a few words with Lars and asked him if he was enjoying him self and he said he was loving every moment and that we would try and do our best. He seems like a guy that nothing is too much trouble and will have time for the fans.As we left the best photo chance of the day came as Egil and Lars departed on their bikes.
We returned to Wimbledon and to our amazement their was Egil and Lars on their way to go shopping in Sainsburys  we had a quick chat with them and Lars was saying that Egil was on the phone to sign Ziddane. It would appear that he has settled in quickly.Other news today, Mark Kennedy should sign for Manchester City tomorrow best of luck Mark I hope it all works out.Watford may have only given us 1200 tickets this will be confirmed by the end of the week.The club are hoping to have a proper open day in the next 10 days I will advise full information once this is known.Peter Fear has joined Oxford United on a free transfer after his contract expired.I still have a load more stuff on the press day and will add this over the next couple of days.
06/07/99
As reported last week it has now been confirmed that Tore Pederson has completed his free transfer to us.Tomorrow sees the fans/press day this starts at 2pm and I will provide a full report tomorrow evening.
05/07/99
Kelvin Davis the Luton Keeper is due to join us this week in a deal valued at £1 million we will pay £500K now and the rest later.Chris Perry has been making some disappointing comments in the paper today saying that the move will give him a new lease of life.
04/07/99
It would appear that once again the press are having open season on Wimbledon. No story regarding player changes is written without the words Turmoil or Crisis. the latest links the Departures of Ben Thatcher, Neil Sullivan and Mark Kennedy.The fact is Ben Thatcher is a quality player and quality players are always linked with new clubs, Neil Sullivan is out of contract at the end of this season so we either sell him now or he moves on a free, he has been offered a new contract but has so far not signed it. Mark Kennedy was on the famous hit list and no matter what we think of him those that have been lucky enough to see him play and score he has not had the opportunity with us.The stories linking Ben Thatcher with Liverpool are back again, Neil Sullivan has apparently been told that if a bid of £4 million is made he can leave at the moment this looks unlikely as all the top teams have keepers. The latest team to be linked to Mark Kennedy are Manchester City, Joe Royle is believed to be making a £1.5 million bid this week that should be accepted.All I can say to the press is keep up the good work of having a go at us because that when we are at our best.
03/07/99
Chris Perry has completed his move to spurs the deal is valued at about £4 million.We have completed the Signing of Chris Willmott from Luton for £350,000.Our Norwegian owners have been quoted as saying by "The Norse Connection" Web site that "We need to develop the Club, and that our Own Stadium is very important, a new stadium if not in London would be in the UK."Robbie Earle was quoted on Teamtalk yesterday saying that Egil must not make to many changes at Wimbledon or we could be in trouble. He reckons that "the way we are gives us 10 points a season" after last seasons disappointment, I would like to see what Olsen can do for the first few games before questioning his methods.
02/07/99
Olsen's first signing has apparently been made with Tore Pederson confirming on his own Web site that he has signed a 3 year deal with the dons and will start training with the dons Next Monday.The Press and Fans Day has been confirmed as next Wednesday 7th July 2pm at Richardson Evans Training ground I hope to be able to go and will provide a full news service of the afternoons events. Egil Olsen has said that Pre-Season training will consist of 2 daily sessions and although Daily Thompson will still be involved Olsen will take some of the fitness sessions himself.
01/07/99
As they players returned to training today we were linked with yet another defender Darren Moore of Bradford he is currently valued at about £3 million.Following the withdrawal of Manchester United we have surprisingly not been installed as favourites for the FA Cup our current odds are 28/1.If you have not checked out my new audio report service have a listen by going to the audio service. Once the season starts I will do audio match reports as well.
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