Early season form see's fans flood into Kingsmeadow

The Half-BackDelivery Issue 6 - 1/9/2017Your Football Manager Fix - A new eraearly season formsee’s crowds floodinto kingsmeadowWimbledon got off to a flyer and the crowd followed, but would it last?

Pre-season Rollercoaster Pre-season was a topsy-turvy one for Half-Back and his men as he got settled into life at Kingsmeadow. With no notable income or out- come in regards to players Half-Back got to work with what he had. The first glimpse we got of Wimbledon this year was when they hosted Watford in the Football Manager Cup. A bumper capacity crowd of 5,027 packed out Kingsmeadow in what was a very com- petitive game despite the gulf in resources between the two clubs. Watford were the victors with a 1-0 win following a first half strike from Isaac Success. Wimbledon could take a lot of positives from the result as Premier League Watford lined up with almost a full strength XI. Half-Back then took his players on a glorious training camp 5 min- utes down the road to another part of London in the hope of in- creasing team cohesion and morale. Their tour kicked off with a resounding 5-1 win over local non-league outfit Wealdstone. We can confirm the reports of the Wealdstone Raider offering out a fight to all of the travelling fans. “You want some? I’ll give it ya” Wimbledon followed this up with two more wins against Eastbourne Borough and Stevenage of the Vanarama South League and the Sky Bet English League 2. 3-0 and 1-0 wins were the results and everything was pointing in the right direction for the new season.Page 2

Pre-season RollercoasterDespite their successful tour it was clear the team weren’t quiteclicking and the formation wasn’t quite playing up to the style offootball Half-Back was looking for. A few changes were made asthey went into their final preparations before the opening day. A2-0 loss at home to League 2 Luton Town probably wasn’t howHalf-Back had hoped it would pan out, but it was evident thingswere changing at Kingsmeadow as the Dons began to adapt to the formation.The final friendly saw Wimbledon make the short trip to Leyton Ori-ent, recently relegated to the National League following money is-sues. A 2-2 draw again wasn’t the ideal ending to pre-season but there were positive signs and Half-Back had things to work with.To summarise it was a topsy-turvy pre-season and quite likely to re-flect the season ahead with Wimbledon tipped for a struggle in thebottom half of the table. They open the season with an away game at League one, high-flyers from last year Scunthorpe United. Live shot of the Wealdstone Raider at the Pre-Season friendly Page 3

Promotion? Imagine it, Pre-Season tipped to finish 19th yet high flying Wimbledon could be battling it out for promotion. Well early in the season it looked like it could be a distinct possibility. After the opening 4 fixtures to the season Wimbledon were riding high in 2nd position having picked up 3 wins and 1 loss. It was never the plan, but it’s always nice to be near the top. Opening day saw the Dons fall to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Scunthorpe. Connor Ronan and Kevin Van Veen put Scunthorpe 2-0 up before winger George Francomb pulled back a consolation goal in the 87th minute. It weren’t to be for the Dons and there was work ahead, after all it probably went the way many of us expected. Another slight change in formation saw the Wombles really click and saw them go on a 3 game win streak in the league. Half-Back had got the lads playing in an unusual 4-1-3-1-1 formation which seemed to work. Their first win came against a Shrewsbury team who didn’t seem up to much and could be in for a long season when Wimbledon put them to the sword and recorded a 2-0 win. This was then followed up with consecutive 2-1 wins over Fleetwood and Doncaster. The good form had seen the crowds flooding into Kingsmeadow with the club setting a new record attendance as capacity was met when 5027 people filled the ground to see the Wombles win against Doncaster.Page 4

Transfer Round-upWimbledon didn’t have an abundance of cash available and Half-Backhad decided he was going to be shrewd and operate in the loan marketonly. With formations changing it seemed he didn’t have much of a plan.With connections to Stoke City through friends Half-Back tapped intothis knowledge and brought in youngster Thibaud Verlinden to play onthe wing. Another connection Half-Back exploited is his knowledge ofthe City academy having studied there previously. Two more youngstersin the shape of Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz would be joining the Dons hoping to add some flair to the line up.There were no departures from the Wimbledon squad so they would be left with plenty of options in what could be a tough year ahead. Page 5

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