MK Dons v AFC Wimbledon

[horseplayer]

IF it was a "bigger" club there would have been / still would be uproar

[superwomble]

Darren Gough is a franchise apologist.

[AndrewT]

Where would Wimbledon be today if they hadn't moved to MK?

[aaron1867]

Where would Wimbledon be today if they hadn't moved to MK?

Wimbledon.

[Horneris]

I think its awful, have always hated MK Dons because of it.

I didn't want the match to happen this year, MK Dons will win because they are playing well and Wimbledon are struggling big time  (although granted results have improved with Neil Eardley so far)

[aaron1867]

I can sit here and appreciate the fact that the fans do not want to go and watch them at MK, but they might draw each other a lot more if the league keep staying the same. They are sat in the same draw for FA, League and LDV (what the hell is it called now?!) cups, it will only happen again.

There are lots to consider what may happen in the future in possible bigger games.

Is the game on TV?

[TightEnd]

Where would Wimbledon be today if they hadn't moved to MK?

Wimbledon.

No, the original Wimbledon would have gone under

A new Wimbledon probably would have reformed, like say Chester, but there was no site in Merton borough for them, the owners spend years trying to find one, so they wouldn't be in Wimbledon thats for sure

[superwomble]

Where would Wimbledon be today if they hadn't moved to MK?

Wimbledon.

No, the original Wimbledon would have gone under

A new Wimbledon probably would have reformed, like say Chester, but there was no site in Merton borough for them, the owners spend years trying to find one, so they wouldn't be in Wimbledon thats for sure

I'm afraid this isn't true. The previous owners didn't try very hard at all to find a new ground in the area, which was one of the problems.

We probably wouldn't have gone bust either. The financial reasons given for needing the moves were lies. We may well have been in and out if administration a few times, but many clubs have done that and haven't gone bust.

League-wise we would have dropped due to the admin issues. We may well have gone non-league.

Maybe we would have had to start again. But we have proved that we could've done that, and are now nearer to getting back to Wimbledon than ever before.

[TightEnd]

Really?

I lived in SW London til 96, went to see Wimbledon in Div 4 as a teenager etc and followed it reasonably closely as my best mate was a Don

My recollection is the owners were thwarted at every move to get somewhere in the Borough, then they wouldn't entertain a redevelopment of the Greyhound stadium as joint tenants and thus had to stay at Selhurst Park (and other grounds would have had them)

Hamman then gave up, sold and the writing was on the wall

It can be argued that once the announcement that the move to MK was on, the act of Wimbledon fans not going to Selhurst Park that last season pushed the club into admin. Can understand why they did it. It did though allow Winkelman to acquire assets cheaper than he would otherwise have been able to



What has happened since, going to Kingston and getting back to the league, is a triumph of football spirit by the way, don't think I am anti AFC

[superwomble]

That is what Sam Hammam would have you believe, but he was out for himself. Having sold Plough Lane - which had been donated to the club by the Reed family - he left with all the proceeds, which should have been the club's.

Wimbledon fans didn't stop going when the move was announced - we kept going and protested as much as we could. We stopped going when the Commission made its disgusting decision. The decision was binding so once it was made Wimbledon in its form at the time was dead.

Thanks for the last bit though

[horseplayer]

i tend to agree with super on this

s h hardly tried to hard to find other ways of getting the finances straight to put it politley

[TightEnd]

OK, but the commission made its decision on the basis that there was no possibility of Wimbledon as was having its own home in its home borough, right? Without that prospect even in the long term, what was the prospect for the club? repeated tenancy agreements and eventually lower and lower support from an already low base?

It was "disgusting" from the point of the existing community of Wimbledon supporters, yes

[superwomble]

There was a possibility of moving home. The club didn't want to know. The fans proved Plough Lane could be rebuilt, the council were supportive, the club sent its own lawyers to help the local residents protest against it.

The move was completely unnecessary, unless you believe the club's owners at the time, who were lying to try and sell up, and Wankerman, who was lying to try to get his property deal in place. Wimbledon fans proved it was unnecessary and 2 odious individuals on the Commission chose to ignore us.

[Sheriff Fatman]

One of the difficulties with fans deciding whether or not to go is the spin the scum will put on it - we take loads of fans and they spin it as showing how great it is that there are now two clubs, we take hardly any and they spin it as showing how right they were to steal our league place.

Positives from it all however are the footballing world is again reminded of the travesty of what happened, and the support we are seeing from fans of clubs all over the country, and indeed the world, does give me a happy feeling inside.

I like the idea I read today of AFC Wimbledon refusing an away allocation of tickets and the directors not representing the club at the game, but then putting the game on a screen at home and selling loads of tickets.  It would demonstrate the deep feelings, whilst refusing to officially acknowledge the existence of the fixture (as many fans seem to want).

I lived near MK between 2002 and 2010 and it saddened me to see the fanbase take a hold there over time.  It's no fault of the younger generation growing up that the team they support was stolen from others, but that's why it's important that everyone is reminded of this when the occasion arises.  It was, and always will be, a travesty.

[superwomble]

For people who want to read more about the truth behind the franchise lies, there is an excellent blog here: http://truthaboutfranchisefc.blogspot.co.uk/