Dons Outlook... you may be right, and I respect your point of view, but it didn't work that way for Yeovil (and probably others who I cannot remember).

Ps, I also pretended to kiss an AFCW badge and he kissed his. :-)

Thank you all for the supportive messages. Sam is still in theatre atm. I am on my way to the hospital now from Heston near Heathrow, and standing at a bus stop, with his mum, was a little kid in a full AFCW kit. I showed him my AFCW bottle and we gave each other a 👍.

NAZ - with respect, I disagree. If we were to get promoted to the Championship this season, we would receive an extra £8-9m next season. This would, IIRC, pay off our debts. We would likely come straight back down, but would start 2027/28 season debt-free in League One.

I agree Naz. I hope JJ feels the same, not that I would judge him too harshly if he tries to balance things a bit. But let's go for it.

Now we have a few points in the bag, as Trigger says I am inclined to think that a money-spinning FA Cup run is more important this season than promotion. Let's face it, we are not yet set up for the Championship (although a losing play-off adventure would help to plug the black hole). Gateshead will be well and truly up for it this weekend. Let's not make Saturday another Dagenham/Sutton day - Jacko, play our best team please!

Yep and plenty live in London these days.

Trigg - there could also be some Toon fans there to support Gateshead because Newcastle are at West Ham on Sunday….

Alright with full respect to Naz enough about derelict houses in Berkshire - if you're JJ now are you looking to rest players for Saturday's FA Cup game, go for it to try and proceed towards a potential lucrative R3 tie or try somewhere in between like resting some but having enough on the pitch and bench to see the game through.

Yeah it's still fugged some bloke got inside it back in 2018 and took some photos of the place [Link]

You're probably right TF, only gave it a cursory glance.

Looked pretty derelict to me RK from over the water: [Link]

Talking of model steam trains,I have this club very close to me . [Link]

TF, I know the house you're talking about and it has been done up now. I guess new owners. Fantastic views over the river and the Wild Wood (aka Tales from The Riverbank)

Trigg - from memory they lived in a sort of 1960s boxy house, nothing super special, although detached and well positioned 🤪 He was an engineer and had built by hand a model steam railway around their garden which was big enough scale for children to sit on and ride around on 😂

Yeah no worries would have been a mind-blowing coincidence if that had been the case. It's an old and relatively grand-looking white building that you can see across the Thames from the train en route from Cheltenham to London. Saturday was the first time I'd seen it up close and realised that it's derelict. Reading up on the history of the place it was the home of rather wealthy people throughout the ages but is now deserted and mostly boarded up.

Trigg - can’t remember where they were… Haven’t got anything like an old address book from my parents (both of whom died over 20 years ago now…)…

Kite - you’re lucky to have a garage 🤪 (we used to live in a paper bag in the middle of the road, etc….) 😂

Best wishes to your son, spartan

They didn’t live in The Grotto did they?

a4e, actually my neighbour has an Aston Martin in his garage but haven't seen it for years. He assures me it's still there

Kite/Trigg - an uncle and aunt of mine lived riverside in Goring years ago (both long dead now…), and I always remember that they had an Aston Martin in their garage, it must have been a DB4 or DB5 I think. They didn’t have children, and I often wondered what was in their will 🤪 Suffice to say, I never inherited an Aston Martin from them 😂

I had a cheeseburger at The Bull in Streatley. You can take the boy out of Woking…

TF, some lovely walks nr Goring where the Thames Path & Ridgeway meet. Hope you enjoyed a cappuccino at Pieerponts

Best wishes to your son and you Spartan