TUESDAY UPDATE: 18.11.25

Welcome to the latest 9yrspodcast Tuesday update.  No football to discuss this weekend, but actually a fair bit of news to highlight. As always, we invite you to add your thoughts and comments below, and if there is anything we have missed, please email 9yrs@may14.co.uk with the subject header, ‘Tuesday Update’.

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On This Day in 2010 … Sammy Moore scored two last-minute goals – one in normal time, one in extra time – to take Wimbledon into the Second Round of the FA Cup at the expense of Ebbsfleet United. The First Round Replay at Stonebridge Road ended 3-2 to the Dons, and gave the visitors a televised tie against Stevenage in the next round, but only because ITV had selected the fixture thinking it would be the first meeting of Wimbledon and Milton Keynes. However, the franchise lost their First Round replay to their Hertfordshire opponents the night before the Dons overcame Ebbsfleet. Mark Nwokeji had given Wimbledon the lead on the night, but a brace from Ashley Carew – sent-off in the first tie, which ended 0-0 at Kingsmeadow ten days earlier – seemed to been enough for the hosts before Moore’s late intervention. Highlights of the game can be found on YouTube.

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BREAKING: Just as this update was sent to the printers, so to speak, the annual AFC Wimbledon PLC accounts were made available. The remainder of this update was written prior to the release of these accounts, which can be found at https://images.gc.afcwimbledonservices.co.uk/e11deec0-c46d-11f0-9751-29854ad90a43.pdf.

The Dons Trust and Football Club boards say the club’s current structure can not sustain competing in the Football League. In a statement released on Friday, the boards say that our finances will become, “very tight come the end of the season”, and that underlying financial challenges over the past few years have only been offset by player sales, which obviously can not be relied upon long-term. The boards believe that investment partners will be needed to improve our circumstances, and a vote on a 50.01 ownership structure (more commonly referred to as 50+1, although people get irritated by this nomenclature) will be returned to in the new year. There have been a few statements issue by the Dons Trust Board over the past few months highlighting the need for extra investment, and this latest declaration is as stark a warning about the future of the club as we have had since the infamous stadium finance shortfall in 2019. The financial results for 2024-25 will be released prior to December’s Dons Trust AGM (Monday 15 December), in which the reality of the situation facing us will be laid bare. However, it is clear that this is a looming existential crisis for the club, and this is not hyperbole or catastrophisation, but an obvious result of trying to fund a club to compete at a level beyond the sustainable means of pretty much every football club in the Football League, let alone one that is having to fund millions of pounds of Bond repayments, and relying on people to donate money without getting anything in return.

A first-team squad played a behind-closed-doors friendly at Brentford today. Myles Hippolyte, Nathan Bishop, Nathan Asiimwe, Danilo Orsi, Patrick Bauer, Riley Harbottle, and Marcus Browne all featured, with Lee Brown once again making a cameo appearance. Brentford won 2-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium with goals from Mathias Jensen and Myles Peart-Harris.

Omar Bugiel scored for Lebanon in their 3-0 win over Brunei today. The win leaves Lebanon top of their AFC Asian Cup Qualification group, with one game left to play, which is now a group decider against Yemen in March. Ryan Johnson was an unused sub for Northern Ireland in their 1-0 win over Luxembourg at Windsor Park on Monday.

Osman Foyo has joined Sutton United on loan. Foyo made his debut at Gander Green Lane on Saturday in Sutton’s 2-0 National League win over Halifax Town; they now sit 20th in the table.

Wimbledon will travel to Cardiff City in the next round of the Football League Trophy. The game will be played on Tuesday 2 December; kick-off at the Cardiff City Stadium will be at 7.00pm. The Dons will be fresh from playing at Huddersfield Town in League One on the preceding Saturday, but have a free weekend following the Cardiff game.

Tickets for the trip to Leyton Orient go on sale on Thursday (20th November). Tickets for the New Years’ Day clash at Brisbane Road can be bought online from 6.30pm via the club’s ticketing web site. More information can be found on the official web site. Adult tickets are priced at £30; for comparison, Wigan fans travelling to Plough Lane this weekend have been charged £27.

The Women’s team lost 2-0 at Exeter City on Sunday. The defeat, their sixth of the campaign, leaves them second-bottom in the Women’s National League Premier Division. They return to action on 30 November against Hashtag United at Imperial Fields.

The club’s finances are the main subject of discussion on this week’s Same Old Wombles podcast. The boys look at what options the club have in addressing its funding problems. You can listen online here.

The latest 9yrspodcast was released last Friday. Nick and Stu managed to survive picking the bones out of the 5-0 reverse at Peterborough, alongside all the other usual fun and games. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube via this link.