The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

As I posted when Michael Stone decided to accept a position with Barnet just 2-3 miles from where he lives I'm not one bit surprised that Jamie Stuart has decided to join a club nearer to his home in Sidcup.
Based on the likely wages a player could expect to achieve from a club with our reported budget it makes no sense whatsoever to live 100 plus miles from your place of work. Putting aside the amount of time sitting in the car on a daily basis the petrol costs alone on a round trip from Sidcup/Irthlingborough must be in the region of £35-40 so unless there is car-sharing between players living in the Essex/Kent area this is a hell of an expense to take into account and something he will reduce playing for AFC Wimbledon.

I don't think we will miss him too much since, in my opinion, he hasn't performed at the same level that we witnessed between 0ctober and May last season and he sounded very down in his radio interview after the Ploppies defeat when it's now clear he knew he would be leaving.

Let's hope young Thorne steps up to the plate.

Thanks for your efforts while with us Jamie, but players come and players go - that's football. He'll be missed, but we'll cope - I'll miss hearing THE song though :(

I'm hoping we'll see a few new faces shortly and I'm fairly sure we haven't seen the final leaving yet, I'd wager a surprise or two before the end of January.

Within a fortnight we'll know if we're looking like play-off contenders or mid-table fodder, I fear the latter. I think a lot of clubs are looking at their costs and the drop in attendances that appear to be across the board and are looking at cutting costs. We've got a VERY young squad now, the next few games will be very interesting.

Personally I'd love to see a Fans Forum soon and hear some kind of statement of intent by the new owners. I don't want to hear empty promises, just some idea of how they see us progressing over the coming few years and what plans they have to "sweat the assets" at NP.

The bit of news I'm most waiting to hear is Justin signing a new contract, that seems to have been delayed (unless I;ve missed something???).