76 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Donnell McNeilly will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AFC Wimbledon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AFC Wimbledon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Steve Seddon signs something — a contract at AFC Wimbledon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The mood at AFC Wimbledon has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AFC Wimbledon is running low.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AFC Wimbledon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Joe Lewis 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.
In brief
SquadSteve Seddon falls out with a teammate over standards
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AFC Wimbledon hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucien Mahovo and AFC Wimbledon agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AFC Wimbledon pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicholas Hall has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Joe Lewis 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Steve Seddon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AFC Wimbledon is running low.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Tudor Mendel-Idowu 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AFC Wimbledon is running low.
The name of Eom Ji-Sung has come up in conversations AFC Wimbledon were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AFC Wimbledon, and 0 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Steve Seddon 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A last season at home is what János Szabó is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AFC Wimbledon, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mark O'Mahony 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AFC Wimbledon is running low.
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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Donnell McNeilly 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Harry Cornick and AFC Wimbledon agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Donnell McNeilly 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Steve Seddon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kasper Williams and AFC Wimbledon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AFC Wimbledon, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Peterborough United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Luton Town heard it as anything else.
Isaiah Jones 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.
A 1‑0 win over Middlesbrough, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Gideon Kumar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Donnell McNeilly is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AFC Wimbledon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Steve Seddon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AFC Wimbledon, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AFC Wimbledon has been clear about where Shawn McCoulsky stands, which is more than many ever get.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AFC Wimbledon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Eom Ji-Sung has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AFC Wimbledon, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at AFC Wimbledon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Seddon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.