I'd suggest that Chris Thorpe is highly qualified to write the match reports for the London Broncos. Already the Programme Editor he took over the role of writing Match Reports immediately after Christmas. He has now written 19 match reports, all either draws (icon_cool.gif or losses (11). The five matches immediately before he took over were three wins and two draws.

So a perfect match for the Broncos who also draw or lose ! Not sure how he'd cope with reporting a win mind.

This is 100% down to employing a website company who are charlatans. I could explain further, but believe me, you'll get bored...

I researched them a while back and posted my findings here.......charlatans is an insult to charlatans.....they're bang average amateurs playing (badly) with a WYSIWYG and charging an arm and a leg for 5 minutes work.
The club could get a volunteer to build something on WIX in a day and it can be updated easily from anywhere.....I think it's about $200 for a year.

I assume the club get the website for free as some sort of partnership (surely no-one would pay for such a shoddy site) but what they have not factored in is the cost of such poor engagement with fans.

Who knows what is going on with the website but going forward it seems sensible that ,in between monitoring FB and Twitter for (potentially)negative comments and removing, the club spend a couple of minutes now and again looking at their premier outward facing platform - their website and identify any basic errors or glitches and getting them amended. I’d hope that any contract for website maintenance and set up would allow those errors to be corrected. It may be that the site needs a reset - some of the ideas we have gone with don’t work but that’s a bigger job if money is tight but the former seems to me eminently doable for minimal effort.

I think this may be obvious given my previous complaints about the website, but I'm a web developer. And the way I work is: I do the design and the functionality of the site (and it's rare these days getting a web dev who can also design), but I don't do the content; the customer does. That's the whole point of a content management system. So heads getting cropped off photos is probably down to the developer, outdated and incorrect content is probably down to the club. (Heads getting cropped off photos may be down to the club too: customers rarely pay attention during training on how to actually use features they were desperate for on a website.)

It may be that the contract the club has with Key and Eagle is different, but unlikely. It's the way it was done back in the dark ages (in IT terms, 25 year's ago) and it doesn't work.

i've said it before, it's a Wordpress site. No web development knowledge of any kind required: you add your images to a pre-defined template and you're good to go (hence the popularity with charlatans). With a reputation in the industry of getting hacked every five minutes as a bonus! And it's Open Source (i.e. free) and comes bundled with loads of hosting packages. So Wordpress sites are everywhere. With plugins for everything you can think of (including choosing the focal point of a picture if it's resized). And, like orangeman's preferred solution, Wordpress sites can be easiliy updated by anyone with an internet browser, a username and a password.

Even idiots. Actually, especially idiots. Because only idiots would use Wordpress.

I told you in my previous post you'd get bored if I explained further.

Thanks Benny, just taking one very minor thing that has been doing my head in since the season started. LB decided to go with some kind of bookmark on the players page with the ability to see who the sponsors are by clicking in it and it spins around. From a marketing perspective I’m pretty sure that the more difficult/ the more clicks it takes for a viewer to see the sponsor the less effective and therefore less valuable. Also it’s clear that the narrow bookmark doesn’t work with longer names ( Judd Grenhalgh to name one)and so looks really Mickey Mouse. Who do you think was it who is likely to have come up with the design LB or K&E and how difficult would it be to change the font size of the names so they fit on the bookmark.in my head it seems a 5 minute job to correct this. What about removing Dan Coates from the list and adding Alex Walker - half an hour? How do you think no one has noticed? Is KEs job done and it’s all on the club or do they have a watching brief?

The spinning thing: people with little idea about design like bad design.

It took me a while to get the Judd Greenhalgh thing to break, but it's down to K&E. The idea with responsive design is you present a version of the website that is appropriate for the media it's viewed on. So, in this case, present three players in a row rather than four. It's a two minute fix, but like I said, it took me a while to replicate it. What are you viewing the site on? (This is getting a lot like my day job!)

Then again, don't worry about it: it's only a two minute fix if you know how things work and haven't just installed Wordpress and then what looks to be a plugin called something like "flipbox". (Lesson for anyone interested: don't install garbage when you could write something better in five minutes.)

Still, removing Dan Coates, adding Alex Walker. One minute.

Whatever the contract is, K&E should still be offering support. So if something technical doesn't work, they should fix it.

Genuinely though how can they ( LB or KE) not have noticed these things? It seems just basics. Do they never ever look at the site. Can someone have really signed this stuff off. Surely they could allocate 5 minutes to get it sorted as it goes to the secondary aim of the site namely to reflect the club in a favourable light. The non link to the Bradford tickets that’s a red line if the sites primary aim is to sell stuff and should have been sorted by now. Anyway there are so many problems the club has created probably best not to fixate on relatively minor stuff like the website as it is basically functioning although it is symptomatic of a larger malaise and doesn’t give me much confidence that progress is being made.

You could get an enthusiastic fan (any left?) to resolve 90% of the website problems. And highlight the stuff they couldn't fix.
Maintaining a website is meant to be EASY. That's why dorks like me spend their days writing labyrinthine code they only half understand.

They don't look at the site. We're now a semi-pro club that's outshone by absolute amateurs.

There were few issues with the previous website people from Hawk.
I notice they don’t even sponsor players anymore! Another one Monkey must have chased out of town!

Back to Topic, I see the Dons lost again at home, will we be blamed again as it was only 2 weeks ago we played York

7 games left for AFC......I'm no football pundit, but I'd say 3 wins needed for safety.
I see their match centre was updated every minute during the game and the crowd was close to a full house...and of their 4 remaining home games, one is against MK Dons....I wonder if there's any marketing for the Broncos taking place to this captive and supportive audience?
Maybe place an advert in the 4 remaining home game programs?
Surely that's not too much "work" for our CEO?

Yea, I hope they stay up regardless of how their Coach thinks of us

Way things are going he might not be coach for much longer…..

He's been there for something like 18 years in various coaching positions doing a decent job. But they sacked Glyn Hodges so you never know.

Watched a podcast where he & i assume 2 other AFC luminaries were being interviewed (sort of thing Broncos should have done pre-season). Has some interesting ideas so I would stick with him even if relegated. Next year their success might depend on what happens to Jack Rudoni. Looks a talent & need a good fee for him if he moves which looks likely.

And now Mark Robinson has departed. Vote of confidence from the boards on Wednesday. Left by "mutual agreement" on Monday. A dreadful performance on Saturday in front of a sell out crowd (empty seats were sold) despite no win in 20. Boos around the stadium for the first time due to the totally inept second half performance.

CEO gone. Head Coach gone. One member of the backroom staff who played professionally curently at the club. Not sure who the replacement is yet. The Assistant is in his 20's and was a U12's coach moving through the Academy ranks.

Broncos have put the kiss of death on AFC.

A catastrophic run of results no doubt but sacked with 3 games to go! How is that to work out any other way than badly with no replacement of even close to the necessary standard. Surely you drop the hammer sooner or not at all,
A salutary lesson that it’s not just LB management who make odd decisions. Having said that I would be surprised to hear that AFC failed to open their ticket office (metaphorically speaking) for a must win game during a relaunch season.

It's actually seven games, but your point remains valid. The problem is it's become very toxic and in 12 days time they at home to "that team". There are already issues with letting Franchise fans travel alone rather than being bussed in. A likely thumping together with a team that's totally lost their way is asking for trouble. This will be Franchise's first ever match in Wimbledon (Merton/Wandsworth boundary caveat) and if this had carried on there would be very few officials left at the club in a fortnight.

This is a "sacking" to prevent bigger issues coming to the surface. I guess with a small chance they can survive the drop.

Football wise the club is in an utter mess. Has any team in the history of sport sold out a match on the back of a 20 game winless streak. The latest PL Bond is within 100,000 of the 3.3 million target. But no CEO, no head coach/manager, owners (Dons Trust Board) in disarray. Player recruitment run by a guy from a Betting company (Football Manager is one of his tools).

I see a lot of similarities between the two clubs, lack of staff, believing players from a lower level are the solution, bad comms etc. AFC Wimbledon still have the fan base (fourth biggest crowd in England on Saturday, albeit with limited matches played) and volunteers. London Broncos appear to have broken the bridges on both of those. One club his a single owner, the other is owned and run by committee. Both seem to be failing by who the appoint in key roles.

FWIW, I can see you breaking your losing streak vs "Franchise".. Its these sorts of games which help raise the players, and this could be your launch pad to survive.

Beat the Franchise, and you will be well set to survive.

If AFC were to beat MK that would clearly give them a lift but so would any win after such a long winless run. But with Gillingham finding a bit of form, it's the equally bad form of Fleetwood that might keep them up. 2 more important games than MK are Fleetwood v Gillingham & AFC V Fleetwood. Is 7 games enough to experience a new coach/manager bounce? Not sure but as Smithers99 says the club seems in disarray currently.

I really hope Hughes isn't being fed the line that this move hasn't worked because the hosts are in disarray, but past form would point to him swallowing that crap, just so he doesn't feel bad about the rotting carcass of a club he has left.
AFC Wimbledon may well be in a bit of a spiral, but they at least can fill the stadium with paying fans.
I hope smithers concerns about the visit of the franchise aren't merited. I've seen nastiness return to football post covid and that game has a real powderkeg feel to it.....

For the football club it's reboot time. To go from nothing to a League team with a modern ground and have just about removed all external debt (so it's unsecured) has been exceptional. The model for running the club now needs changing. There are currently two boards, the Dons Trust and the PLC, although the later as a 5-4 majority of DTB members! It's not clear which board is making what decisions. There is a temporary Chair (in place of the departed CEO) who is part of the AFC minority. He is a major businessman but currently (assuming he's taken on the CEO roles) is managing the club (off the field, stadium etc), the on-field side (ultimately he hires and fires the coach), whilst reviewing the whole model to decide how the CEO is replaced (potentially two roles, one being a Director of Football). It's solvable if people put aside their personal agendas. They are extremely lucky to have no hit on the attendances.

Regarding Franchise the concern is on the streets. The Dons Trust are surprised it isn't a bubble match. I'm sure inside the stadium the atmosphere won't be great, but will be very safe. It's the walking to the multiple stations that is the concern. If Franchise fans start goading, there may be some supporters who snap. Likely to be older fans where the decisions 20 odd years ago remain very raw.

Doesn't help that the other slightly problematic match is four days earlier against Charlton. There was an incident at London Bridge station pre-Christmas and Charlton fans weren't happy. The interaction outside the ground this year has been fantastic. I hope neither of these games will result in any issues, but it's a risk. Hopefully both visiting set of supporters will treat the ground amenities with respect, such as seats and toilets!

Too late, but AFC Wimbledon have appointed a management duo with plenty of experience in Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki. I can at least name the main club each played for. Officially only appointed until the end of next month.