Marked for Billy Blacker
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AFC Wimbledon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match1 May 2027
0‑4 to Bolton Wanderers, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match3 May 2027
The season ends: position 21 for AFC Wimbledon
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 41 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AFC Wimbledon can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Wimbledon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 May 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Harry Cornick will call it something else in private.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody left the AFC Wimbledon dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AFC Wimbledon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, AFC Wimbledon do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Zach Abbott, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Alistair Smith pops up at the right end — 7.59
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Zach Abbott has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Billy Blacker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Zach Abbott makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Isaac Ogundere
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Anger at AFC Wimbledon spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at AFC Wimbledon
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match1 Mar 2027
30 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation AFC Wimbledon did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AFC Wimbledon are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Billy Blacker and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Will Wright
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market1 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.66 on the card, and the AFC Wimbledon support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad30 Nov 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Will Wright. 2‑1 against Reading, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Kamarni Ryan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Will Wright was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Billy Blacker was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at AFC Wimbledon
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Nicholas Marshall could afford to be generous.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Kamarni Ryan beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 62 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Billy Blacker at 20 — 7.75
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Billy Blacker did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Alistair Smith pops up at the right end — 7.45
7.45, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lorenzo Gori arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lorenzo Gori has, at AFC Wimbledon, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match31 Oct 2026
Burton Albion left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match27 Oct 2026
Three points for AFC Wimbledon, 2‑1 the final word against Blackpool in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AFC Wimbledon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to AFC Wimbledon's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AFC Wimbledon has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Alistair Smith pops up at the right end — 7.59
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kamarni Ryan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
Doncaster Rovers left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match17 Oct 2026
AFC Wimbledon are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andy Yiadom in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Wimbledon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 117 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
AFC Wimbledon asked and Norwich City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Antwoine Hackford has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Port Vale, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Harry Cornick did the work nobody counts — 7.31
10 combined actions and 7.31. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ford Parker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Zach Abbott: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AFC Wimbledon will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nicholas Marshall on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AFC Wimbledon can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AFC Wimbledon close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Shea Lacey in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Wimbledon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
AFC Wimbledon asked and Brighton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Logan Pye deal
AFC Wimbledon ran out of time with Burnley. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Zach Abbott behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AFC Wimbledon will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at AFC Wimbledon signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kamarni Ryan makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AFC Wimbledon, another week without a signature from Antwoine Hackford.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AFC Wimbledon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for AFC Wimbledon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AFC Wimbledon are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$290.0K on the table at Burnley. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
AFC Wimbledon asked and Sheffield United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rotherham United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Andy Yiadom and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.