🚨New episode available now🚨 Lee Finch & Danny Baker 🔵Bolton & Port Vale 🟡Transfers 🔵The Meeting 🟡Reading and Northampton - Like, listen and let us know what you think. [Link]

Michael thanks for the response and because I was ranting I did forget Cox etc. And my point wasn’t to say the academy is rubbish. Which it probably sounds like. I have no issue that it works VERY well at the level it’s at. But the people running the club seem to think it’s operating at a point where it can produce EPL and Championship level players constantly and sell them, when they have a big value, to bail us out. I don’t agree that is a viable business plan. It relies on you guys finding unearthed nuggets AND being able to develop them in secret to an age and stage where they are going to bring the 7 digits plus a year we need just to survive. Looking at the history of that, the big clubs would definitely seem to be aware of the value to getting them before they can hit the big numbers. Which means if there is any big money to come it could be years down the line in whatever future compensation we get. Which is my point that it’s not a viable plan to bail out the club every year.

Timmy but he went at 14 before he became the big money and that’s where we struggle. We have E-L vultures all around us. They’re not waiting for these lads to get first team games and rack up a 7 digit value. They’re grabbing them cheaper.

Well played Michael, sometimes people don’t appreciate what they have and need reminding.

DO - I would love to know what the costs of running Plough Lane are, broken down by various categories and by various scenarios. We keep being told we could not afford it in non-league (which would have been a reckless decision to proceed with constructing it if that was the case given relegation from league one was a matter of when not if and we have nobody to fund our losses). I don't accept this as it is never backed up with anything. Any reputable business will carry out scenario planning and five year plans based on best, likely and worst case scenarios. The auditors should want to see this as part of their judgement around whether we remain a going concern. If they signed off the accounts without qualification in December knowing all about our cash flow issues then there will be levers we can pull. It's just we never get told what they are.

As we are talking all things Academy tonight, my understanding is that our academy is at the highest tier permitted for a L1 club. My understanding is that if we were to drop out of the EFL, our academy would automatically drop a tier, making it harder to sign the quality of players we currently do and much harder to make real money on transfers.

Welcome to Michael Hamilton. So pleased that he's registered. Working in the academy is probably difficult but so pleased that he wants to engage. Thank you.

academymanager - firstly, thank you for fronting up and posting on here. It is both welcome and appreciated. We all want what is best for the club but do not confuse perceived negativity with realism. If we see things clearly wrong (not your department - my only frustration is the conveyor belt of players gets poached before we see them if they are any good or released if they are not) then it needs to be raised, highlighted and discussed. Worrying about prospective players and parents reading on here is, with all due respect, not high on the list of priorities when we can see a financial black hole that relies on luck and a begging bowl to fill every year. We are unsustainable in our current guise. In the main this has generated some constructive discussion, especially given the professional backgrounds of many on here. We may not always agree with each other but our intentions are positive. To expect us to be all happy clappy about the club when administration is a genuine possibility in the not too distant future is both unrealistic and deluded. The whole basis that this club was founded on was not just accepting and doing what we are told. If some of the observations on here have made the PLC and DTB boards think (who do lurk on here I'm sure), then it is worthwhile, even if it puts off a prospective academy recruit (who if they are that much of a snowflake they are not going to go very far anyway).

Trigger: Nothing I say is based on emotion, its filling in gaps of knowledge and providing context. Nick, Woking: Unfortunately you are correct interms of the system, but that's why its important these forums are positive. So that the Nkengs, Jennings and co feel the love of the club. Keefy: All the sales I have mentioned have featured on the main website, its all public knowledge. The academy also featured in a sky sports documentary that again went public, which highlighted that since 2013/14 of all clubs that have raised over £5m in transfer sales from academy transfer fees, Wimbledon are 2nd only to Exeter across all 72 EFL clubs - if you go on youtube and type in Chasing The Dream, Sky Sports - it may come up.

Spike was reported as £400kish I think

Agreed Nick. The system is loaded against us and all other academies.

Part of any perception that the academy isn’t doing much comes down to the fact that the system is set up to allow PL sides to poach away the best prospects before they get close to playing for us (as per the big list of players in MH’s post below). That seems to be the way that the system has been set up by the PL and is certainly no fault of those running the academy and I assume that we make some money from that, but it’s not very exciting for us as fans. It is good, though, to see Nkeng bucking that trend, so that we actually get to see an academy product play for us.

Comms should keep us updated on non senstive news re academy etc. Lack of info from this club over the years has created a divide. Hopefully last nights meeting might be a new dawn.

Thank you Michael.

You said your name 🤣

“but some of the comments in this thread were passed to me by a staff member, via someone from outside the club.”

Thanks for your input Michael and welcome to WUP. I doubt you will post often but posts will be appreciated.

Say your name mate otherwise that info is as valuable as a mug of emotion.

Lurker, in response to your message sent on 5th Feb 2026 at 15:46:40. I’m not usually one to respond to outside noise, but some of the comments in this thread were passed to me by a staff member, via someone from outside the club. This highlights that prospective fans, academy parents, staff, players, even perspective investors, may end up reading negative information coming from people connected to Wimbledon, about the club. I didn’t want to reply while hiding behind a tag — it’s always better to be open. Assal: fair point regarding where he went and the fee — I don’t think anyone disagrees there. On Rudoni, I’m not sure the relevance of the “if he wasn’t injured Palace would have kept him” comment. Most transfers come down to a selling club deciding they don’t see enough value at that moment, whether that’s potential, circumstances or injuries - this club included. Rudoni and Ayoub weren’t in the same age group, although they did play in the same team — similar to how Nkeng and Jennings. Currie was sold two years after the two players mentioned. Opinions are always welcome, but for a bit of context: - Players sold around that time included Cox, Chiwome and Stevens (all England internationals). - Since then: Brits (Man City), Clarke (Everton), Wilson-Papps (Brighton) — two of those were internationals. - There are also four more players who’ve moved to Premier League clubs but can’t be publicly discussed yet due to age. I don’t tend to jump into forum discussions, but when supporters of a fan-owned club are questioning their own academy, it does sting a bit. We are all working for the same thing and we are your academy. My email is Michael.hamilton@afcwimbledon.ltd.uk — anyone is very welcome to come down, watch training and see some of the work we do. What has makes this club special, is what has been achieved when we all work together, as one - its almost unstoppable - lets not forget that.

If there's a goal in the first 5mins of each other, the chances I'll miss it due to late arrivals walking past ...

Half our home end supporters are still drinking when the 2nd half kicks off. Every match!

If our game on Saturday is as dull as previous games I imagine a lot of people won’t bother to return from their half time pint as England v Wales 6 nations game kicks off at 3.45

Billy Holmes' left thigh is turning into a werewolf in the OTD picture. We've previously had the black and white version of this image, which looked like it came from a newspaper clipping. The keeper doesn't have a two-tone top in the original image and I'm unclear why AI has converted like this, although I can see why it may have thought Billy Holmes' leg looks like that (confusing mud with fur). If nothing else, AI does make you look at the originals more closely and forces you to spot things you may have otherwise missed.

ITV think they are showing the Superbowl, with commercials during the Rugby, while the game is still happening. We will soon be America

Sound like Kennington to morden no tube on northern line this weekend, bus replacement if you can stomach it.or alternative route to the match