Thanks to Colin and his lads for being excellent hosts this morning in a really enjoyable game.

Watford started brightly with an audacious effort from Paul Whittenbury fooling everyone and finding the far corner (i.e. it was probably a cross) with just 2 minutes gone. We played some good stuff when we managed to get the ball down but we didn’t do that as much as we’d like, it felt like the Dons had more of the ball in the first half but our back four restricted them to long range efforts and our latest stand in keeper (usually a centre back) was in solid form. Before the half was up Paul Watt, welcomed back into the side having been released from his girlfriends thumb for the morning, found the net through a crowd of players from outside the area.

Watford stepped up the pressure in the second half with an attack straight from the kick-off. We seemed to settle on the ball a lot more and played some nice football, using the wings well. Watt played a perfectly waited through ball for Jimmy Davis who finished well to make it three, which was followed shortly after by James Collins getting his first goal for the club.

The Dons kept fighting though and definitely deserved the one they pulled back before the end. It was a game played in the right spirit (the ref maybe took it a little seriously on occassion but both sides were equally baffled by that one) and the MK lads are a great bunch, if we continue playing games at the rate we have so far this season we might yet meet them again for a friendly next year.

The FA Cup draw for the 3rd round has just completed and United have been drawn at Home to Kettering Town or Leeds United, depending on the 2nd round outcome of their game.

Other significant draws

West Ham vs. Arsenal

Chelsea vs. Watford

Middlesbrough vs. Manchester City

Tottenham vs. Peterborough

Notts County vs. Forest Green Rovers

MK Dons vs. Burnley

Wigan Athletic vs. Hull City

Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers

Everton vs. Carlisle Utd

(Tranmere or Aldershot) vs. Wolves

Reading vs. Liverpool

Fulham vs.  Swindon

3rd round ties to be played 2 and 3 January 2010.

A mixed time of it last weekend, with Leicester getting the result against Plymouth but Villa, my pick of the day, only managing to draw at Turf Moor. I still think that bet represented good value, though at the end of the day a losing bet is a losing bet!

We’ve got a cracking weekend of football ahead – Sunday especially, with Everton/Liverpool, Chelsea/Arsenal and Barca/Madrid gracing our screens. None of those showpiece games represent great betting opportunities, though there are worse picks out there than the 14-5 available on Everton to beat hapless Liverpool at Goodison.

The pick of the weekend for me is Fulham to beat Bolton at Craven Cottage, currently 10-11 on Betfair. Fulham are playing really well at the moment and dismantled Blackburn midweek. Bolton, on the flip side, are having a mare, and I can’t see them getting back on track here.

A similar pick in the Championship, with Newcastle also 10-11 on Betfair to see off Swansea. I’ve been mightily impressed with the Toon this season, having written them off in a big way in the summer. To be fair, I thought they would lose far more players than they have done but, even still, they are doing remarkably well and are good value for the win here.

Selections:
Fulham to beat Bolton, 1.9 Betfair, 3 points
Newcastle to beat Swansea, 1.91 Betfair, 3 points

Weekend long-odds multiple:
Fulham, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City, QPR, MK Dons, 37-1 Betfair

A sloppy performance from Watford saw us sneak a win against a determind & talented MK Dons side in Bushey yesterday.

Terrible defending from WIFC saw the young Dons right winger latch onto a cross and smash it into the bottom corner with a fantastic finish to put the Dons 1-0 up early in the game.

Watford lifted their game a bit from there and started to make their possession count, superb work from Joel Moody on the left set up Chris Westcott for two well taken goals in quick succession to put us 2-1 up. It stayed that way until half time as we struggled to make the most of other chances while at the other end Ben Clarke kept us in the lead with a fantastic save.

Early in the second half Martin Pollard was on hand to prod home a corner that the Dons were unable to clear, making it 3-1 to Watford.

The young Dons winger brought them back into the game with under 10 minutes left with his second excellent finish of the game, beating substitute keeper Matt Ball with another effort into the bottom corner. Bally had taken the gloves to allow Ben Clarke some time out on pitch and as the Dons pushed forward in search of an equaliser Ben was able to find space at the edge of the area and fired home Watfords fourth.

Colin and his team were a great bunch of guys, a pleasure to play against & we’re really looking forward to a return fixture later in the year, I know they’re a new team and this was only their fourth game together so I’d encourage other teams to get in touch with Colin and get games booked in with them.

Watford scorers:
Chris Westcott x 2
Martin Pollard
Ben Clarke

We are skint but not that skint when it comes to Nigel Q. Can we knock this off Curb’s compensation claim?

WHU to pay uglies wages.

Cash-strapped West Ham United will continue to pay £20,000-a-week in wages to unwanted midfielder Nigel Quashie when he joins MK Dons on loan this week.

Quashie will join Paul Ince’s League One club after the Hammers agreed to carry on paying all but a small percentage of his £21,000-a-week salary.

The arrangement will stun West Ham fans whose club have been in dire financial straits since their Icelandic owners were badly hit by the international banking collapse.

Former manager Alan Curbishley walked out after the club sold Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney behind his back a year ago while current manager Gianfranco Zola has also seen players like Craig Bellamy leave to help balance the books.

Quashie, 31, has been capped by Scotland but has not played for West Ham this season and is not part of Zola’s plans.

He has made only seven Premier League starts since signing from West Bromwich in a £1.5million deal in January 2007.

West Ham are £85m in debt and there are fears key men like Matthew Upson may be sold.

Quashie is ‘the man in the middle’

The Mailonline story

JPT... Whites paired with Accrington.

LEEDS UNITED have been paired with League 2 side Accrington Stanley in Northern Area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The tie will be played midweek on December 14.

Simon Grayson’s side have so far beaten Darlington and Grimsby in the competition whilst Accrington have overcome Oldham, Shrewsbury and Bury to reach the semi-finals.

The other northern semi-final sees Carlisle entertain Bradford whilst the southern section see Southampton take on Norwich and Hereford against the MK Dons.

Port Vale’s trip to Broadhall Way for their 1st round replay against Boro next Tuesday will be streamed live on the FA website. It’s great news for the club as they are now due to receive £33,750 for the game being broadcasted live, even though it isn’t on TV. It’s an unexpected bonus for Phil Wallace and the club, who after losing the Setanta TV money in the summer have now received this income as well as part of the £1m the Premier League gave to the Conference earlier in the season. Boro will also receive a further £18,000 if they win the replay against Micky Adams’ side and must be in with a shout of getting their next round tie televised too with highflying Huddersfield awaiting the victors.

The extra income gained may help go towards an increased playing budget in the new year. It has been well documented that Stevenage are at their limit currently and have to move players out in order to bring fresh faces in. This extra bit of cash may enable GW to bring a couple of loan players in January, without having to move anyone out. It’s a shame that the news of the extra money has come when it has considering Westley lost one of his loan targets in Michael Brough just last week due to being ‘outbidded’ by Mansfield.

With nothing else to do last night, I decided to pop over to watch the MK Dons v Northampton in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Although MK impressed me in the first half, the game overall was quite poor and Northampton in particular looked terrible. After seeing both Port Vale and Northampton in the last few days I can safely say that if we do go up to League 2, we won’t come down.

MK ended up winning the game 3-1 with all of their goals coming in the first 30 mins. Unfortunately Boro old boy Jude Stirling is injured so he didn’t make an appearance. How he’s still playing at that level I don’t know! Although the stadium:mk is impressive, I’m quite glad we have Broadhall Way. Our ground just has so much more of an atmosphere on matchday and even though there were nearly 9,000 there last night, it could of easily been mistaken for a reserve fixture.

Away from the club former Boro midfielder Adam Miller has left Mark Stimson’s Gillingham to join League 2 Dagenham & Redbridge on loan for a month. Miller has fallen out of favour at Priestfield with Danny Jackman and another ex Boro midfielder, Stuart Lewis being preferred. I never really rated Miller when he was here. He was too hit or miss, although when he played well, he was a class above. What I really didn’t like about him though was his attitude. He thought he was far better than he actually was and the way he treated the club when he left was nothing short of a disgrace.

A place each on the bench for two of the best recent players to turn out for the Albion – Jim McNulty and Glenn Murray. I’d like to see a good run out for both today. I think we’ll lose this game though, our home form is shocking.

No Seagulls Player commentary, can’t seem to get it at all. Looks like this is going to happen to every game I miss this season while in Afghanistan – I can’t wait until April next year when I finally return home and get to all the games in person. BBC World for the second halves again it is then.

Adam El-Abd sent off – straight red. What the fuck is up with this  team and discipline? We’ve made it through to half-time scoreless, but that’s Albion’s fifth red card this season, and that is not fucking on – Slade needs to sort it out now, the  buck stops with him.

On 49 minutes the inevitable happens, 1-0 to MK. That’ll fix it. Baldy is going for it, taking off Dicker on 80 minutes and putting Murray on for three up front, that’s more like it – lose big and go down fighting or nick one for a jammy point.

Game over, what could we have done with 11 men? Answers on the back of a red card please. We’re back in the relegation zone. Bollocks.

Albion Team (goalscorers in bold):

(4-4-2) Kuipers; El-Abd, Elphick, Tunnicliffe, Wright; Bennett, Crofts, Dicker (Murray 80), Davies (Thornhill 63); Forster, Dickinson

Subs: G Smith, McNulty, Cox, Hart, Thornhill, J Smith, Murray

League One table

Saturday, 3 October 2009 17:13 UK

Photo courtesy Byrnsey's Flickr account

Saturday’s match between Ipswich Town and Newcastle United promises to be an emotional affair for all parties involved, as both clubs are set to honor former manager Sir Bobby Robson during the teams’ meeting at Portman Road.

Robson, who died aged 76 from cancer in July, will be honored during the Coca-Cola Football League Championship match by both clubs, who will be wearing commemorative shirts.  The shirts will then be auctioned off, with the proceedings going to the Sir Bobby Robson, a cancer research charity in the United Kingdom.

What’s more, the North Stand at Portman Road will be renamed in Robson’s honor by his wife and two sons, and 709 balloons will be released – One for every game that Robson managed at Ipswich before leaving in 1982 to assume the same position with the England national team.

Robson came to Ipswich Town in 1969 after being sacked at Fulham, but he had much more success with the Tractor Boys, taking them to victory in the 1979 F.A. Cup and 1981 UEFA Cup.

Ipswich is currently in a much different situation at the moment, though, with current manager Roy Keane’s team sitting second-bottom in the Championship table, having taken only four points from a potential 24.  Needless to say, those aren’t positive numbers ahead of Saturday’s visit by a Newcastle United side sitting a mere point behind Championship-leading West Bromwich Albion.

“I’m clearly disappointed,” Keane told BBC Sport. “We knew it was going to be tough but we certainly expected to have more points than what we have. We have to put that right over the next few weeks and months ahead.

“You have to believe. If the manager of your football club is not positive then what chance have you got?”

Ipswich fans will be hoping that that positivity starts to pay off in a hurry, and 5:30 p.m. GMT would be as good a place to start as any for the former Manchester United legend.

For division-by-division breakdowns on the weekend’s other action in the Coca-Cola Football League, follow along after the jump.

Championship: Neil Warnock’s Crystal Palace are in a spot of bother at present, having only averaged a point from its first eight league games this season, and while Palace blanked Derby County 1-0 last time out, the Eagles will have their hands full once more on Saturday as they visit league-leading West Brom at The Hawthorns.  The Baggies have scored more goals (20) than any other Championship club so far this season, and that ought to bode well for the hosts as they visit a team that hasn’t scored a first-half goal so far in the current league campaign.  Elsewhere in England’s second flight on Saturday, fourth-place Preston North End pays a tricky visit to ninth-place Leicester City as the Lilywhites try to wash the taste of a 5-1 home Carling Cup thrashing at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur out of their mouths, and five meets six as Sheffield United welcomes Cardiff City to Bramall Lane.

League One: Leeds United suffered a tough 1-0 loss at home to Liverpool at midweek in the Carling Cup, but the Whites can’t afford to mope as they visit Milton Keynes to take on MK Dons on Saturday at stadium:mk.  Manager Simon Grayson’s Leeds sits alone at the top of the League One table on 22 points, but Paul Ince and the fourth-place Dons should provide Grayson’s men with its third tough task in a week, having drawn 0-0 last weekend at Southend United before losing to Liverpool at Elland Road.  While Leeds squares off with MK Dons, though, Charlton Athletic will be hoping to regain the lead in League One with a win at home against an Exeter City team that has had an unimpressive start to the campaign, and fellow struggler Brighton and Hove Albion visits third-place Bristol Rovers at Memorial Stadium, where the Gas haven’t lost since falling on Aug. 8 to Leyton Orient.

League Two: Crisis club Accrington Stanley moved (however temporarily) into 12th place on Friday, having beaten visiting Crewe Alexandra 5-3 in a wild eight-goal affair at the Crown Ground.  Two goals apiece from midfielders Andrew Procter and Robert Grant proved to be enough for Stanley, even though Crewe did score two late goals to mask what had looked like an easy win after Michael Symes put the hosts up 5-1 on 77 minutes.  More good news for Accy: Its12-place spot in the League Two table may last through the weekend, with 13th-place Burton Albion visiting league-leading Bournemouth while 14th-place Chesterfield makes an interesting trip to 11th-place Bradford City.

Matthew Semisch

Photo courtesy Ben Sutherland's Flickr account

Tactical discussion is a subject that’s heavily discussed at the higher levels of both club and international football, ranging from the tactical proficiency of Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool in Europe to the possession-based football of the great Italian sides.

It’s something that dominates the daily newsprint and blogs of the world: Debates on whether to attack or defend, whether to play Lampard or Gerrard for the England team, you name it. The debates are numerous in this high end of football, but for lower levels of the game like in the Coca-Cola Football League, there is not as much tactical analysis coming from the media.

For newcomers to this football format, therefore, and given the benefit of my own experience of watching a lot of League One so far this season as I live in Milton Keynes, this article will seek to offer some insight into the tactics and styles of play that can be seen this season in the Coca-Cola Football League One.

One key thing that I’ve noticed about League One football is a problem with width, and it’s especially evident in teams such as Huddersfield Town and Tranmere  Rovers, both of which have in their ranks decent wingers such as Daniel Drinkwater at Huddersfield (on loan from Manchester United) and Chris Shuker at Tranmere. Many League One teams show tactical naïveté, however, by having a lot of their players clustering around the ball and failing to get into space. This flies in the face of the role of traditional wingers, which were known to hug the byline.

This is a strange pattern in this level of football, as with having decent wingers like Drinkwater and Shuker ought to give their teams more of a tactical edge over their opponents. Wide runs from players with pace are effective on counter-attacks, but the sort of natural tendency of some players like those at  Norwich City to centre around the ball leads to more work being needed to gain possession.

Wide movements are proven to be effective when counter-attacks end in goals, with most goals in these situations coming from crosses from the byline; crosses which, with luck, will hit the central striker in a more open position, with many defenders occupied with the wide space unable to take on the striker in the box.

Many teams in League One resort to long ball tactics as teams like Hartlepool Town have been specialising in in recent weeks. The problem with such a tactic, though, is the resulting  need for a skilled striker to capitalise on such direct passing movements. Hartlepool benefit from having the superior ability of a James Brown to carry such a move out. In League One, teams’ tactics depend on their resources, so, as in Brown and Hartlepool’s case, this style of play is  based on having a skilled striker.

Other teams try to play a rigid 4-4-2 formation like Colchester United in recent games, as the U’s have tried to play a rigid style of play, thus providing a sort of relative tactical stability before  bringing on more creative players with raw talent in the second half of matches. Many teams at this level have that certain someone that they can bring in off the bench in an attempt to give their team space to exert a creative influence.

Teams like Milton Keynes Dons try to play more of a passing game, relying on their left-back Dean Lewington for much of their play moving up the pitch. They rely on him in a Beckenbauer-esque way to carry the ball out of the defence, which offers a platform to drive their attacks forward.

Unlike your traditional surging run from a left back, say an Ashley Cole, Lewington carries the ball out in a slower movement and picks out incisive passes into midfield so his side can build up attacks.

Certain innovative tactics such as this at a lower level provides teams with an edge over their opponents, and teams that can employ greater tactical sophistication can find themselves climbing up the league ladder with greater ease. Mid-standard teams under such tactical form can in League One make the playoffs as teams like Scunthorpe United managed to do last season.

It can also expose gaps in the larger teams in the league, such as what teams were able to do against the Leeds United teams of Gary McAllister and Dennis Wise.  Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town have managed to do that so far this season, and with any luck, they and teams like them will continue to do so.

Ross Andrew Gallacher

It’s sad to relinquish the top spot but we have to be realistic.  How many of us could have imagined the winning streak continuing much further?  Another 2-1 scoreline (4th in a row – lose, win, win, lose).  Maybe we will emerge victors by the same scoreline at home to Leeds next week.

It’s ironic that Jermaine Easter got the first goal for MK as he was destined for better things with the U’s on loan last season until we broke him and he returned to Plymouth.  We could do with a striker like him.  Mind you Vernon has kept up a reasonable scoring record so far. Keep it up Scotty.

No more speculation about managers here.  We’ll get what we get although I guess it may be an Irishman which bodes well for Joe Dunne.  The recent order of full-time managers has been Englishman (Parkinson), Welshman (Williams), and Scotsman (Lambert).  That reminds me of a joke, have you heard the one about …

Drawn Live on Soccer AM today, Strangely Rochdale are in the North West Section

North West Section
Oldham Athletic Vs Accrington Stanley (who are they….Exactly)
Crewe Alexandra Vs Stockport County
Walsall vs Bury
Morecambe vs Carlisle United

North East Section
Darlington Vs Lincoln City
Rochdale (North East?) vs Bradford City
Rotherham United Vs Huddersfield Town
Burton Albion Vs Chesterfield

South East Section
Barnet Vs Millwall
Norwich City Vs Brentford
MK Dons Vs Dagenham & Redbridge
Gillingham Vs Colchester United

South West Section
Wycombe Wanderers Vs Northampton Town
Cheltenham Town Vs Torquay United
Hereford United Vs Bristol Rovers
AFC Bournemouth Vs Yeovil Town

Rest of the teams recieve a bye

Discuss the Draw Here

Hola a todos…or rather hello everyone!

I have indeed kept my word and posted another update on my recent works…of course the boredom that I referred to in my last update is no more…we now have Championship football on everyone (three cheers for football).

Anyways anyone remember the news a few days back that Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is apparently in talks to sign former West Ham defender Lucas Neill? Well that was the story I broke on Wednesday 05th August on the BBC Sports website. You can check it out here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/8186710.stm

And yesterday (Friday 07th August) I wrote a transfer story involving MK Dons so for all you League One fans check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/milton_keynes_dons/8190883.stm

Hope you all enjoy the articles and thanks ever so much for the positive feedback and comments I have got over the past few months on all of my blogs…it is much appreciated!

Vaishali

So we’re warming up for the new football season here in the UK, with teams across the country getting in some pre-season friendlies and generally trying to get fit again.

Millwall have the potential hangover of a playoff final defeat lingering but the signs seem good so far in pre-season.

One problem we will have is with our defence depending on how the next few days/weeks pan out.

With our captain Paul Robinson and right back Danny Senda both injured it doesn’t help that Zak Whitbread wants a transfer (not takers so far though) as it effectively leaves us with 4 or 5 defenders to fill 4 positions… which just isn’t enough. Hopefully we may sign a few more players before the season starts on Saturday.

And it’s a tough game, Southampton away – one of the ‘big three’ (Southampton, Norwich, Charlton) who were relegated from the Championship last year.

Add in Leeds, MK Dons, Tranmere and Oldham (amongst others) and League One is shaping up to be very competetive indeed.

I’m tipping Leeds and MK Dons for automatic and hoping we can make the playoffs again and maybe win it this time.

In the Championship it’s all about Newcastle – either they are tipped for the title or generally being laughed at. I don’t think they will get automatic but they have enough strength in depth to make the playoffs… depending on who they put in charge.

For the other teams that came down I expect West Brom will be up there and for Middlesbrough I think it hinges on the impact of Alves and new signing Leroy Lita. If those two fire there is no reason they can’t push for promotion straight back up.

Reading and Derby will both be dangerous and it’ll be interesting to see what Roy Keane gets out of the players at Ipswich.

In the Premier League the apparent loss of Alonso at Liverpool will really hurt their title chances despite the threat of Gerrard and Torres.

Manchester United will have to work extra hard to retain the title, although the shrewd signing of Michael Owen could tip the balance in their favour if he stays fit. Chelsea’s new coach has a lot of work to do but has the squad to push even harder for the title in 2010, along with that elusive Champions League trophy.

You can never write off Arsenal but their 4th place is really under threat from the likes of Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester City and even Spurs.

I suspect Hull have had their time in the Premier League unless Jimmy Bullard returns in top form and I’d tip Burnley (as much as I’d love them to stay up) and Wolves or Wigan to join them in the drop – but there will be plenty of teams dragged into the fight.

Down in League Two it seems to be another competitive, tight league and I suspect you’ll be looking at three from Barnet, Bournemouth, Dagenham & Redbridge, Crewe, Rotherham, and Bradford for the promotion places but I expect Northampton and Port Vale to also be strong.

Grimsby need a change of fortunes to avoid being sucked out of the league along with Shrewsbury who have been treading water in League Two of late.

It’ll be interesting to see if Burton and Torquay can survive, with the latter looking more likely.

It’s looking like a great season ahead in all the leagues and I’ll be keeping an interested eye on everything that’s going on as the season progresses.

My favourite football photograph of all time. I loved the old Crazy Gang, ever since they won the 1988 FA Cup Final 1-0 against the then cocksure top-flight superstars Liverpool. They didn’t exactly outplay Liverpool as much as mug them with extreme violence, and underdog lovers everywhere lapped it up – a legend was born.

But, after relegation from the Premier League in 2000 the Dons imploded and out of the ashes rose AFC Wimbledon (MK Dons? who they?) - this is by far the most interesting of our pre-season friendlies, and one I defo would have gone to had I been at home in Hove. So, I have to make do with the Seagulls World radio commentary from the Beeb.

New trialist getting a run out tonight is Alan Navarro, a former MK Dons midfielder. No Michael Ricketts, looking ominous for him not being in blue & white stripes this season. It’s 11:15pm here (central Asia) as the match kicks off. I hope the game is worth staying up for.

McLeod hits one on 15mins, off da woodwork, Albion looking lively, especially in midfield with McLeod, Navarro and Spiller buzzing about. Adam El Abd putting himself about in characterisitic style at right back. It’s raining in Kingston too, I’ve the aircon on in bed, hoho. Tunnicliffe having a good outing at centre-back, that’s promising for the big yin, big throws into the box too – looking forward to him bombing those in over the season.

GOAL! Hart feeds McLeod on 30mins and POW!! in the onion bag. Stitch that you bastards!

Second half gets underway, trying to work out who’s on and who’s come off. Dicko on up front with Daaaaavies. Immediately Dicko has a pop at goal, looking very hungry. McLeod still on, he’s playing a blinder. McLeod floats one in, Daaavies connects with his head and misses (signs of things to come this season?). Dean Cox on for McLeod on 60mins, well played that man.

Dicko having a better night than his last game at Stevenage, he’s enjoying stretching those big legs. Daavies trying hard too, not as classy,  he needs a goal, they both do. Coxy and Wright both troubling the Dons defence, Daaavies can’t finish. Dons finally make a decent attack, appeals for hand ball off Virgo – piss offffff!!! AFC threaten again with 5 mins left, Dickinson clears his lines, having a good half the big guy. Dons miss a sitter, empty net, fook me! And another, what are Albion doing???

Other end, Dicko feeds Cox, keeper saves at his feet – good little game this. Cox takes a corner with minutes to go, falls to Virgo, he smashes it low into the goal – get in!!! Final whistle goes, good work out for the team. Night night.

Xenophon’s Albion Team Performance : 7 out of 10

Xenophon’s Albion Man of the Match : Kevin McLeod

Albion Team (goalscorers in bold):

(4-4-2) G Smith (Kuipers 45); El Abd (Whing 45), Hawkins (Elphick 45), Tunnicliffe (Virgo 45), Livermore (Cook 60); Brinkhurst (Wright 50), Navarro (Crofts 45), Spiller (Dicker 45), Mcleod (Cox 60); Murray (Dickinson 45), Hart (Daaaaaavies 45)

Albion travel to Kingsmeadow in Kingston to take on AFC Wimbledon in a pre-season friendly match next Tuesday, 21 July.

Should be an interesting game playing the remnants of the old Crazy Gang (forget that bunch of imposters up in Milton Keynes).

Meanwhile, here’s the team’s full friendly fixture list:

Tue 14th v Havant & Waterlooville

Sat 18th v Stevenage Borough

Tue 21st v AFC Wimbledon

Fri 24th v Crawley Town

Tue 28th v Torquay Utd

Sat 1st v Scunthorpe Utd

As far as I know these are all away games

The MK Don are currently away in Portugal doing some pre-season training. Mike Dove and Andy Stone have been upping the intensity in training sessions ahead of the team’s first pre-season game away at Windsor and Eton.

It seems that training camps abroad are a fashionable choice amongst the top teams in the league with fellow rivals also training in the sun. It will be interesting to see if the extra training pays off for the lads when they return this Sunday and hit the sunny pastures of Woughton On The Green.

Whilst the team have been pouring blood, sweat and tears all week the Dons boss has been busy conducting his transfers for the new season. It has been very quiet this week on the transfer front, but we will certainly see some new additions in the next couple of weeks. Ince is obviously re-acquainting himself with the area and is probably wondering where Woolworth’s went.

MK Dons Blog

The MK Dons Blog is finally here. We have been discussing whether we should start a blog on the net about the team they call the MK Dons for months now and after many hours of football talk and debating how many years it will take for the Dons to get into the Premier League we decided to start the blog. What better time to start a blog about the MK Dons. The team narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship last season, but with Paul Ince back in charge the club and the fans are confident the team can push even closer to a promotion spot next season.

Follow us as we keep you up-to-date with the big issues surrounding the Stadium:MK. We hope you enjoy our views and opinions. If you don’t then let us know your thoughts!

MK Dons Blog

What you missed while Eric Wedge was getting a vote of confidence from Mark Shapiro…

• At long last, Yuri Zhirkov’s £18 million transfer from CSKA Moscow to Chelsea is complete. Zhirkov, whose surname has some unfortunate rhymes in English, will be making £80,000 a week (or £2.56 after taxes).
• Paul Ince is returning to MK Dons after leaving for Blackburn a little over a year ago.
• Robert Louis-Dreyfuss, owner of Adidas and Olympique de Marseille, passed away on Saturday due to complications from leukemia.
• England and Brazil are cotemplating a mid-season November friendly.
• A Russian Premier League game between Terek Grozny and Krylya Sovietov Samara that has had allegations of match fixing levied against it will be rebroadcast on Russian television so viewers can make up their own minds on the matter.
• Paul Scholes could be making clumsy tackles for the blue half of Liverpool next season. Everton are also likely to sign Anton Peterlin, a midfielder from the USL-PDL’s Ventura County Fusion.
• Bob Bradley added Jozy Altidore, Brad Guzan, Sascha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, and Connor Casey to the Gold Cup Squad after FIFA gave the U.S. team an additional seven roster spots. José Francisco Torres wants to know who Connor Casey is blowing to keep getting call ups.
• Construction workers working on stadiums for next year’s World Cup have been permitted to go on strike for a 13% wage increase. If they were in England they’d just have that taxed away anyways.
• And finally, Javier Florez, a midfielder for Colombian side Atletico Junior, shot and killed a fan for calling him “lousy”.

Geçen sene Paul İnce‘in MK Dons‘u bırakıp Blackburn‘ün başına geçmesinden sonra genç teknik adam geleneğini sürdüren MK Dons takımın başına eski İtalyan oyuncu Roberto Di Matteo‘yu getirmişti. Görünen o ki Mowbray‘in ayrılmasından sonra arayışlarına hız veren WBA, Blackburn‘ün izinden gidip MK Dons‘dan menajer koparanlar listesine eklenecek.

Hafta içi WBA başkanı Jeremy Peace ile yaptığı görüşme olumlu geçmiş ve bir aksilik olmazsa 12-24 saat arası bir süre içinde yardımcısı Eddie Newton ile birlikte Championship ekibine imza atacak. İlk resmi maçının da kendileri gibi yeni düşen Newcastle Utd olduğunu hatırlatayım.

I find the whole thing fascinating: how the MLS currently operates, why the MK Dons (aka Franchise FC) are so hated. And the rest. So I did me a Soccerlens post on the subject.

The comments are also really interesting and informative, and I inadvertently upset Dagenham fans, which, reading back, is fairly obvious why.