Neil Ardley spent a decade with Wimbledon, much of that time when they still played in Wimbledon. Last Saturday, Neil was part of the Watford team that went to Wimbledon`s new home in Milton Keynes and sent the Dons crashing to yet another defeat, with some help from Scott Fitzgerald. Neil spoke to Brian Beard about the player Watford plucked from non-league as well as the strangeness of playing against his old club in MILTON KEYNES.
Q:IT MUST HAVE BEEN STRANGE FOR YOU TO BE PLAYING AGAINST YOUR OLD TEAM BUT EVEN STRANGER BEARING IN MIND THE SURROUNDINGS?
A:Yes, it was, on both counts. It was weird because a lot of the lads playing for them used to be youth team players when I was playing so it was quite weird to come up against them and obviously the set-up at Milton Keynes was strange and I think they are going to struggle there to be honest.
Q:WHY IS THAT?
A:Mainly because there is a lack of atmosphere there and it did feel quite eerie there on Saturday.
Q:I SAW A QUOTE FROM YOU TO THE EFFECT THAT WIMBLEDON SHOULD BE USED TO THAT AFTER YEARS AT SELHURST PARK. UNKIND, BUT VERY ACCURATE?
A:Yes, and I think the problem when they were playing at Selhurst was that they almost had an excuse there for results. It was almost expected that they would pick up as soon as they went to the new place but it hasn't happened and they are going to have to dig in very hard to get out of the situation they are in at the bottom.
Q:WHAT WENT WRONG AT WIMBLEDON THAT`S CAUSED ALL THE PROBLEMS THEY HAVE HAD IN RECENT YEARS - CULMINATING IN THE MOVE OUT OF LONDON?
A:It's difficult. In all honesty it's not just Wimbledon that can be said about. The same can be applied to football in general, outside the Premiership. Wimbledon never had the fan base and although they built up a following slowly but surely even when we were in the Premier League a lot of the fans who were coming were doing so to watch the other teams.
Q:SO CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THE MOVE TO MK?
A:But it wasn't so much of a gamble for them to move to Milton Keynes because they probably only had four or five thousand and were hoping to add to that at their new home. I hope that they put in the work and really thought it through because if not it really could be the death of them.
Q:BUT ISN'T IT BETTER THAT THE CLUB SURVIVES, IN WHAT EVER GUISE, THAN SIMPLY DYING?
A:You can only really go by what you hear and it seemed to be different depending on which source you read or hear. In all honesty I don't know how hard it was to move Wimbledon back to Merton. You hear from one direction that Merton weren't helping and from elsewhere you heard that they were trying hard. I don't know the full story but I think they should have done everything possible to stay in and around Merton.
Q:BACK TO WATFORD NOW AND THE NAME SCOTT FITGERLAD SEEMS TO BE SYNONYMOUS WITH YOUR TEAM AT PRESENT?
A:He's a revelation, certainly as far as the Watford chairman and directors are concerned because they are saying he's just the sort of player we need at the moment because we have got him in from non-league for nothing and he's going to learn his trade. To be honest I think he's been thrown in a little sooner than our manager would have wanted but he has come in and he is a natural goalscorer which is why he grabs the headlines.
Q:HOW FAR AWAY IS HE FROM THE FINISHED ARTICLE?
A:He is still very raw and he think he would admit that himself and you can see, in training, that he hasn't trained full time before, but he has something you can't coach and it is that when the ball bobbles around in the box it seems to land at his feet and end up in the net. In that respect I think if we can improve the rest of his game he can go on to bigger and better things.
Q:DO YOU EVER SEE FOOTBALL GETTING BACK TO THE DAYS WHEN YOU COULD DELVE INTO NON-LEAGUE AND PICK UP SUCH PLAYERS?
A:Yes, I think you are always going to find such players and I think the way football is going clubs have got to invest as much money as they can in scouting networks because there are players there. Just look back to the days when people like Stuart Pearce and Vinnie Jones came from just that sort of background.
