New signing says he's raring to go
Sean Rigg said that a glowing recommendation from former Dons midfielder Jonathan Meades helped convince him that AFC Wimbledon is the right place to reignite his career.
The 25-year-old winger was a regular for Oxford United in their promotion push until Chris Wilder vacated the managerial role at the Kassam Stadium, but Sean was a peripheral figure during the second half of 2013/14 and he’s determined to get his career back on track.
That will now be for AFC Wimbledon, a club he scored against for Oxford in December 2012, and he wasted no time seeking advice from his former team-mate.
Speaking to Rob Cornell during an interview for Dons Player, Sean said: “I know Jonathan Meades and I’ve been speaking to him quite a lot. He had good things to say about the club. He said that the manager is brilliant and that overall Wimbledon is a good club with great fans. That would all appeal to any footballer. Neal Ardley approached my agent a few weeks ago after I had been released and said that he would be interested. It was really nice to hear that someone was interested in signing me so quickly. I’m just really looking forward to getting going now.
“The last part of the season was not great for me. Chris Wilder left and when Gary Waddock came in he did not give me a chance from the minute that I came in. I’m raring to go now; I want to get a good season under my belt and do well again.”
Sean has earned a reputation as a skilful winger during his days at Bristol Rovers and Port Vale, before starting promisingly at Oxford.
“I did not play a lot during the second half of last season so I’m raring to go here,” Sean added. “I’ve been working a lot on my fitness and I need to come back really fit. Neal wants me to play as a left winger, where I’ve been playing during the last few years. I enjoy getting at players and I like to create and score goals.
“Last season Wimbledon had a really good start and we were in amongst it. I remember playing against them and they had a good team. My aim is to try and help the club achieve promotion.”
Meanwhile, Neal Ardley says there are certainly no hard feelings about Darren Jones joining Newport County and he completely understand the defender’s decision, which was hugely influenced by family reasons.
“Darren and I had a lot of in-depth conversations and to be fair I would probably have made the same decision as him if I was in the same position,” said Neal. “He has a business in Newport and had to consider that his wife is pregnant and there's another child on the way. It would have meant uprooting his family and it was too expensive for them to move down here. He was caught in a quandary as he loved this club and wanted to sign for us, but ultimately Newport came calling and he had to make that move.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch in-depth interviews with Sean Rigg and Neal Ardley on our premium site.