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You may have noticed that `Preview Percy has been conspicuous by his absence over the past few weeks having been on his honeymoon with Daisy. He’s back by popular demand – of the good people of Cape Verde.

There are more sandy beaches in store for the old one this weekend as we visit AFC Bournemouth – though it’s a bit colder than he’s been used to of late…..




Next up on Saturday we head in a generally south-westerly direction down towards what used to be Hampshire when I was a kid but what is now Dorset in one of those boundary changes they were so fond of in the 1970s where we will be hosted by AFC Bournemouth. Kick-off is at the right and proper time of 3pm.

If you are travelling by train you may want to allow a bit more time than usual for the journey as there are engineering works in the Woking area which will cause a significant diversion. Imagine if you will a right-angled triangle. Well instead of taking the hypotenuse route the trains will be following the height and base sides. Slowly. Check before you leave etc.

So Bournemouth, then. They’ve had a decent start which has found them breathing the rarified air of the European places for much of the season. However, two defeats on the trot has seen them slip a little bit in the weeks prior to the latest international break.

Their last six reads DWDWLL. The last three saw them beat Forest 2-0 before losing 3-1 at Man City. Perhaps more worrying for them was the following week’s 4-0 reverse at Villa Park, though at 2-0 down they did have s good spell of pressure which culminated in them getting a penalty.

However Martinez guessed correctly to deny Semenyo from the spot and that seemed to take the wind out of their sails, Villa picking up two more in the last 20 minutes. All of that has left them in 9th position with 18 points from the 11 played so far.

The club appears to the outside eye to be well run with them bringing in a number of players in on decent fees, despite Dean Court’s 11,000 or so capacity. All of which means that Daisy has had to drag her mind away from dreaming of the rather splendid time we had out in Cape Verde and actually put in some research on their new signings.

The first arrival was French left-back Adrien Truffert whose fee could rise to £14m once potential add-ons are factored in. Truffert has been capped at pretty much every level by the French, including 10 caps for the French Olympic squad. However, his appearances for the full side have been limited to just the one so far in the Nations league type thing about three years ago so he’s not at the forefront for a place in next year’s World Cup squad just yet.




Goalkeeping options were bolstered by the arrival of custodian Dorde Petrovic from Chelsea for £25m. As you might expect from Chelsea, he had in fact spent the previous season on loan at Strasbourg who, totally coincidentally and in no way dodgily, are owned by the same company as owns Chelsea.

Although the proud owner of 11 full caps for Serbia, he is currently viewed as second choice for the national side and was on the bench snoring with the rest of us through England’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against Serbia.

It seems they like a French defender, Bafode Diakite being the next of that ilk to arrive. The centre back came in for a fee of £34.6m from Lille. He too has been capped at pretty much all the age levels plus the Olympic side though he has yet to make the breakthrough to full honours as yet.

One player we won’t be seeing at the weekend is Ben Gannon-Doak who arrived from Liverpool for a fee rising potentially to £25m. Gannon-Doak provided the assist for McTominay’s overhead kick in Scotland’s 4-2 win over Denmark which qualified them to be humiliated by Cape Verde next summer. However, shortly after that he pulled up lame with what appears to be a significant hamstring injury.

Gannon-Doak operates primarily on the right hand side unlike the next arrival Amine Adli, who cost a shade over £25m to bring in from Bayer Leverkusen. Another Frenchman by birth, the player elected to represent the Morocco of his forebears having gained a number of age level caps for the French. Adli was part of the Leverkusen side that went through the 2023-24 season unbeaten in the Bundesliga.

The final new boy to arrive on a permanent deal was Serbian central defender Velkjo Milosavljevic who arrived from Red Star Belgrade for a not at all superstitious £13m. At the age of 18 he’s being treated as a work in progress as evidenced by the fact that he’s made but 4 appearances for the first XI since his arrival.

They did dip into the loan market as well, picking up Spaniard Alex Jiminez on a season-long deal from Milan. The deal does contain an obligation to buy at the end of the season for an as yet unspecified fee. Jiminez came up through the ranks at Real Madrid before shifting over to Italy and has been known to play anywhere along the left hand side, even though his early days in Madrid saw him start on the right-hand side.




And on we move to the Wild and Wacky World Of Association Football. And one’s attention was drawn to the recent draw for the Welsh League Cup Semi-Finals.

Now cup draws should be conducted with dignity and decorum. However, the Welsh League Cup organisers took one look at the word dignity and decided that they would have no truck with such notions. So what did they do? They organised a go-kart race involving some ex-players (including shamefully Danny Gabbidon).

So was it first past the post at home to fourth and second at home to third? Don’t be so daft. No the race was there to determine which club would have which number ball so they could make a proper draw.

Not to be outdone our own League Cup committee are looking at something similar for next season where three ex-players on unicycles will race each other plus Lando Norris in his McLaren, the latter being included to eliminate any possibility of Liverpool being drawn away.

And we also got to the sharp end of World Cup qualifying. As previously mentioned the world will be happy at the Scots’ qualification as that’s the comedy slot settled. Yes we’ve had the Welsh to giggle at in recent years, but it’s not the same as they don’t take themselves quite as seriously as our chums from north of the border.

Curacao took full advantage of there being three host nations next year and qualified through the CONCACACACACAF system, their 100,000 population being dwarfed by that of the mighty Cape Verde who can call on about half-a-million souls in support. The Percy household will certainly be behind the Cabo Verdeans next summer having first hand experience of their marvellous hospitality.

And so to us. Well last time out saw us turn over Burnley after several thousands marched to register a protest (or if you believe the club’s tame mouthpieces, three men and an arthritic Jack Russell Terrier called “Simon”). After a fairly even start Burnley took the lead but that was pretty much it from the visitors.




Wilson’s poached effort was a striker’s goal. Who’d have thought? Yes the next two goals owed much to Nick Pope having a game on which he will not look back fondly. However, whilst the execution of the goals themselves owed much to good fortune nobody could argue that they weren’t deserved.

The only blip was the otherwise reliable Areola messing up at the last minute to give the final score a slightly misleading aura but thems the breaks. Incidentally, the info panel in the matchday programme still lists Burnley’s manager as one Sean Dyche. Tut tut Mr Pritchard!

There will be at least one enforced change this weekend. Paqueta picked up his fifth yellow of the season which will give him an automatic week off. Potts picked up a thigh strain which is not believed to be serious and he should be available for selection. Mavropanos and the possibly shortly to depart Fullkrug will be unavailable.

Given the possibility of a transfer, it is quite possible that Fullkrug may have played his last for us. Finally Scarles is recovering well from his dislocated shoulder whilst Fabianski should have recovered from a back problem should his services be required on the bench.

And so to the prediction. Well good as their season has been, going into the break on the back of two defeats won’t exactly have boosted their confidence whilst ours will have had a kick start from our last two. Add to that the fact that they are unbeaten at Dean Court and this has the hallmarks of one from which we would do well to come away with a point.

However, I can see that happening. So the £2.50 I was going to spend on buying Daisy a moving-in present if we ever get the paperwork done to move into our new abode (Percy Towers has a ring to it I think) will instead be placed on a wager for a score draw. Mr Winstone let’s call it 2-2 shall we?

Enjoy the game!




When last we met at Dean Court: Drew 1-1 (Premier League December 2024)

The home side dominated the match but found Fabianski in good form in what was our first game after Antonio’s awful accident. Not that we were without our chances. Paqueta opened the scoring in 87th minute the from the spot after Wan Bissaka’s cross had been blocked by a stray hand. Mavropanos bolstered his reputation as accident-waiting-to-happen-in-chief by giving away a needless free-kick from which Unai powered home a 30-yard piledriver to equalise in stoppage time.

Referee: Thomas Bramall

In his third season as a member of the so-called select group. Still looks like a confused first year and arguably cost Villa a Champions League place last season.

Danger Man: Antoine Semenyo

Top scorer with six, has attracted the usual illegal attentions of Liverpool if the apparent leaking of his release clause is anything to go by.

Percy and Daisy’s Amazing Bournemouth Fact Of The Week Type Thing

Frankenstein author Mary Shelly is buried in Bournemouth. In an incredible coincidence the church is opposite a Wetherspoons pub called “The Mary Shelly”. What are the odds?

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