Wednesday 1 November 2017

A pair of one-nils

Back home from a frantic week's break in Cyprus. I took the family to stay with longstanding friends in Pafos for half-term and was too heavily engaged watching their beloved Millwall on i-Follow to cover the Charlton (or Welling) game.

I was explaining why Ricky Holmes appears to score so many goals (because he's very good and has an unerringly accurate shot) when he duly obliged and we were able to see him bend yet another rasper in from an acute angle to see off what, I gather, was a typically scrappy Wimbledon side in what was an otherwise disappointing match. Still, the three points maintain the current fine run and suddenly we have a bit of a gap as we close in on Wigan and Shrewsbury. I keep saying it won't last...

Welling fell at home to the other National League South top form side. Ben Jefford's sending-off didn't help as Wealdstone ran out 2-1 winners at Park View Road. They face another tough game this weekend away at fellow play-off hopefuls, St. Albans. The Addicks, meanwhile, take on another of Welling's play-off contenders, Truro City, in a first round F A Cup encounter at the Valley at 2pm on Sunday according to my Flash Score app. Not sure how I missed that but probably a consequence of Duchatelet-induced lack of attention.

Speaking of which, we must be due some confirmation of pending takeover talks, if not wild, deep and long-lasting celebrations of an actual announcement that a deal has been done and we can finally move forward with hope and genuine ambition of engaged and committed ownership. Reading between the lines, the view is that those pesky former Director loans might be presenting a last-ditch hurdle. That figures as the individuals concerned probably have no better chance of getting their money back now than through any well-intentioned thoughts of repayment from a Premier League windfall. They can see Duchatelet looking to recover every penny of his disastrous ownership and are probably saying, 'fuck that, I will insist on my money now if he thinks he's getting out intact." Something like that anyway. There is obviously a danger it delays or even scuppers a deal but this is their best leverage and I don't blame any of them if they take it. We only have to hope that whoever is buying us holds  the line in terms of paying what the club and it's prime assets are worth and not paying through the nose, however desperate we are to be rid of the Belgian-ridden Scrooge. Pray too that change of ownership also means he is gone forever and not left holding any cards.

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