FUNNY OLD GAME
John Lyons looks at AFC Wimbledon’s stunning FA Cup upset
FOOTBALL is a funny old game, isn’t it?
Just four days before AFC Wimbledon humbled West Ham in the FA Cup, I saw them hammered 3-0 by Fleetwood Town in League One action.
The Dons were dire that night and you just couldn’t imagine them giving the Hammers any Cup nightmares. Perhaps that was all part of a cunning masterplan – the Premier League team’s scout would have gone home and told boss Manuel Pellegrini the Dons were nothing to worry about.
To be fair, it wasn’t as if Pellegrini fielded a weak team. The likes of Mark Noble, Javier Hernandez and Andy Carroll are no mugs.
Yet they were blown away by an AFC Wimbledon team that showed five changes from the Fleetwood game – and all the goals came from players who didn’t start against the Cod Army.
But how else can you explain the Dons’ startling difference in performance?
Manager Wally Downes, one of the original members of the Crazy Gang, mentioned that the expectation of having to beat Fleetwood may have got to his players.
Bottom of the table, the Dons were in desperate need of a maximum haul against Joey Barton’s boys, but had no spark or invention in their play. The visitors cruised to victory.
In contrast, there was no pressure on AFC Wimbledon against West Ham. No one gave them a prayer. They had been completely written off.
There was no burden of a League One relegation battle, the shackles were off and in many ways it was a ‘free hit’.
Meanwhile, opponents West Ham, who had beaten the Dons in the Carabao Cup back in August, appeared to turn up believing they had to do just that to win – turn up. The normally mild-mannered Pellegrini was fuming with his players afterwards.
“It’s very easy to explain what happened - it was one team who wanted to win and another team who played without any desire or any ambition to win or continue in this cup,” he said.
Lucrative
Ever since Wimbledon won the FA Cup against Liverpool in 1988, it’s had a special place in their heart. This is the furthest the new club, formed in 2002, have gone and it’s already proved highly lucrative.
In prize and television money alone, the Dons have already pocketed more than £700,000. If they can beat Millwall at home in the fifth round, that would guarantee them another £360,000 in prize money, taking their earnings to well over £1m. That’s not bad for a fan-owned club building a new stadium back at Plough Lane.
In his excellent notes in the Fleetwood programme, Dons chief executive Erik Samuelson explained that the net cost of running their academy is £350,000 a year, which is something else to consider. Every penny will come in handy.
Staying in League One would also help. AFC Wimbledon plan to move into their new home part way through next season and would prefer not to be playing in the EFL basement.
While the Cup goes on the backburner for the moment, the Dons need to start picking up league points – and quick. Boss Downes, who only took the reins in early December, will prepare them as best he can.
But, as he admitted after the Hammers game: “Football is random. There is a load of analysis we do, me included, but on any given day, any team can beat any other team and we have done it tonight.”
Greavsie was right – football is a funny old game, totally unpredictable. And that’s why we love it so much.