It’s been a productive week on the training pitch for Johnnie Jackson, but there’s no place like home as we prepare for our first game back at Plough Lane tomorrow.
Gareth Ainsworth’s QPR are the visitors to the Cherry Red Records Stadium ahead of the new campaign for our fourth game of pre-season.
So far, we’re unbeaten and yet to concede as we warm-up for our Sky Bet League Two opener away to Grimsby. Saturday’s game will be QPR’s first back in the country in their pre-season schedule. They lost 3-0 to Slavia Praha, but recorded a 2-1 victory away to Steyr on their European travels.
Here’s what Johnnie Jackson had to say, after Friday morning’s training session in New Malden.
How much are you looking forward to stepping out at Plough Lane again?
I can’t wait. We were down there this week for the induction day and it was great to see the pitch. It’ll be brilliant to get back in front of our own fans. We’ve had good support in the games so far, but getting back there will be the first time for many of the lads that they’ve played there in front of a home crowd as Wimbledon players. I’m really looking forward to it and it’ll be good opposition too.
QPR have sold out their allocation, so there’s a bit of a London derby atmosphere to it?
Hopefully our supporters turn out in good numbers, because they’re going to bring a load down here, which will add to the occasion and the atmosphere. It should be a really competitive game. For us, playing against a team two divisions higher, it’s a great test and we want to give them a stern test as well. They’ll be difficult opposition, but we purposely stepped that up to see where we’re at.
A lot of Wimbledon fans will remember Gareth Ainsworth from his playing days, he’s gone on to forge a successful managerial career, is he someone you’ve studied?
Definitely. I’ve spoken to Gareth on many occasions. He’s a great guy and I love what he has done with his teams, particularly what he did at Wycombe on a small budget and got them promoted. He’s a QPR legend and it seemed a natural fit with him going back there when the opportunity came up. He’s got a clear way of playing, a clear style that’s very effective, very physical. They’ll be fit and up for the challenge. We know what’s coming and it’ll be a really tough game.
Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic trained us with before signing for QPR. What was it like having him down here?
It was great, to be honest. I’d never met Asmir before, but he contacted me and asked if he could come in and do some work with us as he lived locally. For us, it was a no brainer to have someone of his stature in the game come down.
I think he was a little bit gutted that it wasn’t a little longer! He had that session with us and then QPR probably got wind of it and wanted to get that deal wrapped up! It was good for Bayzo and our keepers to have someone like that around the place and he’s an absolute gentleman.
Nine summer signings so far, any further incomings or outgoings you anticipate at this stage?
There’s still business I’d like to do. I still think there’s some areas of the squad that I’d like to strengthen and address, so we’re looking at things closely. We’ve done a lot of business and it’s difficult to keep getting players in without a few going out as well. We’ll have to look at that and get the right balance of our squad.
We’ve still got clear targets and areas that we want to strengthen. The season starts in a couple of weeks, but the window goes on a little longer, so we’ve got time to play with it. As with the nine that we’ve done that we’re delighted with – the sooner we can do our business, the better for me. We’ve probably just got to be a little more patient with these ones.
