We never actually paid £7.5m for him either, did we? Probably still "too much", but wasn't a lot of that conditional on appearances, goals, etc?

 Surely on paper Hartson was an ideal Wimbledon player? The closest we've been to a Fashanu type since Fashanu left. Not worth all that money but ...

 CW, just a pisser the young uns didn’t get a better draw. It’s winnable tho?? Wonder if Lord Rambo will attend 😎

 Stu, appreciate Neal was your raison d’etre. But you were calling Wally out in September!!!

 B75 - even now, I'm not sure what (footballing) reasons there were for signing him. Especially as for that money we could have probably done so much better anyway

 I wouldn't feel comfortable going to the Wally thing, even if I felt inclined. (A big pub thing like that isn't my sort of scene with my dodgy hearing.) I'd feel like it was me trying to gatecrash his moment in a "look at me" kind of way. Better for the focus to be on him. I hope everyone has a good evening.

 Yep the whole Hartson thing was criminal from start to finish. You kinda if we hadn't signed him and maybe instead gone for Di Canio how things would have panned out. West Ham only managed to get Di Canio with the Hartson money.

 Spot on Alan, it shouldn't need explaining really but everyone knew Neal's time was up whereas a fair few would happily have had Wally back. A gesture of thanks and a couple of beers goes some way to putting things right.

 Stu, I have the view that most supporters thought his leaving, or at least the way he was ushered out of the club left a bad taste in their mouths. It was proven that the betting incident was a minor issue, but a useful hook for the board to hang a noose. If results were to have been better, then without question they wouldn't have arrived at the decision. I'd stop short at saying certain players didn't want to win, but there were a few I'm convinced didn't want to give 100%. That's my view btw, but given the fact that a number spat their dummies out and went to the board suggests that they were not committed to the cause.

 Oxford - [Link]

 Has the EFL decision on Bolton's missed fixtures been made yet? If not, why the delay?

 MAD-playing at Bramall Lane could be the high point of the career of some of those kids just like Watford and Newcastle was on a previous run

 MAD. we all have an opinion, but you seem to get very upset when someone else's opinion is different to yours. You obviously have issues with Neal, but I am happy to remember what he did for us and celebrate it, whilst apprecaiting he stayed way too long and made bad mistakes late on. Equally Wally made some bad mistakes but we are celbrating this by giving him a leaving party.

 U18’s did very well, on a hiding to nothing there. Shame they’ve got to go to Yorkshire, not much of a reward that. Wonder if we could get someone to live commentate the game up there 🤔😂

 Morning all. The whole Hartson thing was fucked up from start to finish, from signing him for £7.5m in the first place

 Wishing Dave Ritchie a very happy memorable birthday with a zero on the end. :o)

 Bluewomble-giving away 6 million pounds isn’t bad management it’s criminal

 I dont understand the groupie fans that attend the man of match presentation or the carvery managers words.

 Youth team 5-1 up when I left with 5 mins to go, Papers was convinced they would win, no doubt they bossed the midfield

 I mean emotionally attached in the sense of deluding yourself into thinking they are your mates or summat.

 KD there is a big difference between emotionally attached and good memories. I'm still happy to remember most of the early 60s team, some of the early league people (Leslie, Ketteridge, Cork, Galliers etc). Some of this era's early players plus one or two of the last promotion team. Emotionally attached? No way, they move on, they are welcome back if they visit. Sad when the likes of Law and Hamm die. That's it.

 The Ireland v Denmark game does remind you of a LG1 v Prem Cup match.

 Terry Burton sure signed some duds. Thomas, Selley, Holloway, Kevin Cooper was classy though. Getting rid of Hartson for peanuts was bad management by the club. Guy signed for Coventry for almost a free then joined Celtic for 6 million.

 When we sold Cort we should have signed Peter Crouch as replacement for £50,000 instead of that Paul Robinson from Newcastle.

 Wasn't that Carl Cort?