Welcome to the final 9yrspodcast Friday update before the start of the season. As anticipated, we got a few players in before the big kick-off. We will be reviewing how this update will work during the season. We feel it is valuable, but with the podcast scheduled for release on Thursdays/Fridays, we feel a round-up might be better on a Monday or Tuesday. As such, the next update will likely be on Tuesday 12th August, ahead of the League Cup tie with Gillingham. As always, comments are welcome below, and if there is anything we have missed, please email 9yrs@may14.co.uk with the subject header, ‘Friday Update’.
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The season starts now! We begin our League One campaign away at Luton Town this evening (Friday 1 August) with kick-off at Kenilworth Road at 8.00pm. The game is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event. We have sold our entire allocation of roughly 1,300; as of 8.00pm on Thursday night, precisely one ticket remains on sale in the entire stadium.
Joe Lewis and Marcus Browne look set to start at Luton. In an interview with the official web site, Johnnie Jackson said both players have looked good in training over the last couple of days. Neither player featured in the second-half of pre-season. Jackson said he is looking forward to the game: “We want to go there and shock them.”
Our three new signings are also expected to feature. The club announced the latest additions to the squad on Wednesday, and they are as follows:
- Danilo Orsi. We paid Burton Albion an undisclosed sum to sign the 29-year-old forward on a two-year deal. Orsi spent the second half of last season on loan in Milton Keynes, having scored six times in 29 League One appearances for Burton before Christmas. He was a key part of Crawley Town’s 2023-24 promotion season in League Two, and scored the winner for the Red Devils against us at Plough Lane in the February of that campaign.
- Antwoine Hackford. Another forward, Hackford joins having been released by Sheffield United in the summer. He was part of Port Vale’s promotion-winning squad last season. The 21-year-old has signed a two-year contract.
- Nathan Asiimwe. Full-back Asiimwe joins on a season-long long from Charlton Athletic. The 20-year-old was at Walsall last season, and played against us in the play-off final at Wembley.
Luton will miss Teden Mengi and new signing Hakeem Odoffin tomorrow night. However, all other additions – including Kal Naismith, George Saville, Nahki Wells, and Josh Keeley – are available. Manager Matt Bloomfield said: “Johnnie’s done a great job there. They have momentum. It’s going to be a tough game.” Luton went through pre-season unbeaten, and drew 0-0 with Tottenham last weekend.
Two other League One fixtures will be televised this weekend. Both Cardiff City vs Peterborough United (Saturday 2 August; 12.30pm) and Stockport County vs Bolton Wanderers (Sunday 3 August; noon) will be shown on Sky Sports Football for … reasons. All other League One games can be viewed on the Sky Sports Plus service. The full list of League One fixtures can be found here.
Last Saturday (26 July), we lost 1-0 at Southend United. It was our final pre-season fixture. Neither Brodi Hughes nor Lee Brown, trialists in previous games, were present. The lineup in full:
- 3-5-2: Bishop; Harbottle (Horan 80), Hutchinson (Ogundere 46), Johnson; Sasu (Foyo 70), Smith (McCoy-Splatt 85), Reeves, Hippolyte (Maycock 80), Seddon; Kelly (Jennings 70), Stevens (Bugiel 46). Subs NU: McDonnell, Sidwell, Nkeng.
Squad numbers for the new season have been announced. Sam Hutchinson is our new number 5; Danilo Orsi number 7; and Marcus Browne number 11. The full list can be found on Twitter, courtesy of the club and our kitman, Robin Bedford: find the post here.
The Dons Trust has announced results of a fan survey on the new Sky TV deal. The survey found that 82 per cent of Trust members would support a campaign to seek a better deal for fans when it comes to the rescheduling of fixtures for television. We would be interested in the views of the 18 per cent who would not support this. Please comment below if this includes you. Full results of the survey can be found on The Dons Trust web site.
Ticket news for the away games at Gillingham and Reading have yet to be announced. Tickets in the home areas for both matches are currently on general sale.
The Arska Prediction League is now open! The APL has been running for over 25 years now. Registration and entry remain free! Make your predictions by following this link.
The first edition of the 9yrspodcast of the new season is out now. Nick and Stu talk about how things are shaping up ahead of kick-off at Luton. You can find the episode, and links to all listening options, here.