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Talking AFC Wimbledon with… Public Service Broadcasting

Guitarist J. Willgoose Esq discusses his beloved Dons, past and present.

Public Service Broadcasting
Public Service Broadcasting… Been there, Don that

Public Service Broadcasting’s hypnotic debut album Inform – Educate – Entertain is out now, so we caught up with J. Willgoose Esq from the duo for a bit of a natter about his beloved AFC Wimbledon…

Were you a fan of the previous incarnation of Wimbledon?

Yes, very much so. My first ever game was against Derby County at Plough Lane on new year’s day 1988, just before the FA Cup run started.

Former player Neil Ardley is your manager now. How’s he doing?

He’s doing alright, I think. He’s a pretty young manager so he’s picking stuff up as he goes.

He was always a bright player and he seems like a bright man, so I think he’s got potential.

You’ve just signed The Beast himself, Adebayo Akinfenwa!

Yep, exceptional player! We were just in Dorset though so I missed his debut in the friendly against Chelsea.

Are you confident ahead of the new season? Any areas of the team you’d like to see improved?

To be honest I’ve not kept up-to-date as much as I could have – I’ve not been to a game since February, probably because of all the touring.

We let in too many stupid goals last season by the sound of things, so I guess we could do with tightening the defence. We just seemed to hand the opposition goals on a plate, which is a bit galling.

I went to see you play a few years ago and a chap called Jon Main scored a hat-trick. What’s he up to now?

I think he retired at the end of last season, actually.

He left his job to go full time with us in the Football League. He had an alright season but he was never going to be banging them in at the same rate as he was in the Conference – just didn’t have that extra yard of pace.

He was bloody good for us, though.

Did you used to go to the game regularly? I have great memories of the team with Efan Ekoku, Marcus Gayle and Robbie Earle.

Yeah I had a season ticket at that point, and I used to travel to a lot of the away games with my brother and my dad, so that was probably the period when I was watching the most football.

Even after we got relegated from the Premier League I was still going a lot, but then working life started getting in the way.

Would you be able to name the best and worst games you’ve ever been to?

I was at the game against West Ham United when we won 4-3 from 0-3 down, that was amazing. Getting promoted to the Football League was incredible as well, so the playoff final against Luton Town is probably the most important game I’ve been to.

As for worst game, there have been far too many! I can’t remember who it was against but, playing in the non-league, you’d come up against these flash-in-the-pan teams who had a big-time backer for a year or two and thought they were the bee’s knees.

They’d spend loads of money and all of them, pretty much without exception, went nowhere. We played away to one of those teams in our first season in the Combined Counties League and Joe Sheerin got sent off after five minutes.

We lost 3-0 and there was a massive fight in the bar at half time. It was very unsavoury.

Finally, if you had to select a five-a-side team out of all the Dons players you’ve seen in your time as a fan, who would you go for?

Neil Sullivan, Chris Perry, Rob Ursell, Robbie Earle, Marcus Gayle.

Robbie Earle let himself down slightly in recent years with some injudicious comments about Milton Keynes, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. The door’s always open for Robbie Earle.

Rob Ursell was a player we had with us in the Ryman Leagues – he was a little bit lightweight and didn’t really have the pace, but he was one of the most skillful players I’ve ever seen.

Some of the things he used to do on the ball were incredible. I think he plays for the England futsal team now.

Public Service Broadcasting’s debut album Inform – Educate – Entertain is out now. For more information, please visit the band’s official site.