View Full Version : Wimbledon FC
adamcarr
21/06/2004, 12:43 PM
.........Are now known as "Milton Keyes Dons FC"
tiktok
21/06/2004, 1:07 PM
McDon's FC...may as well be :rolleyes:
pineapple stu
21/06/2004, 5:09 PM
I only hope, they last long enough to meet AFC Wimbledon before dying off...
they are on their last legs now i think.
the ground (or hockey stadium) that they are at now only holds about 8000 - 10,000 and most of that support last year was the away team each week.
Thye have gone from being the UKs proudest club, to the most embarrassing.
Charles Koppel and Egil Olsen should be tried for the murder of a great club.
All the best to AFC Wimbledon. Lets hope that these team meet in English Division 3, and AFC are the tam to relegate MKD to non league obscurity.
pineapple stu
21/06/2004, 7:34 PM
Read on the Ceefax there that there actually is a team called Milton Keynes City, who are now in financial trouble as well. Milton Keynes tried to buy a First Division club instead of investing in their own and now could have no clubs...
Plastic Paddy
21/06/2004, 7:41 PM
Read on the Ceefax there that there actually is a team called Milton Keynes City, who are now in financial trouble as well.
They played in the South Midlands League, which is a Level Four league in the English pyramid (i.e. about five tiers below the Football League) but as it happens went bust about twelve months ago. Formerly Wolverton Town and with a long history in the non-League game, they averaged no more than 150 or so hardy souls at each match.
Milton Keynes tried to buy a First Division club instead of investing in their own and now could have no clubs...
I feel that this had to happen for English football to dismiss the concept of franchising out of hand. (It happened, albeit more successfully, at Livingston in Scotland). As you say, the fall out has led to the death of one club and the ongoing decline of another. That said, it will be interesting to chart the rise (or otherwise) of AFC Wimbledon. Good luck to them.
:ball: PP
pineapple stu
21/06/2004, 9:53 PM
That said, it will be interesting to chart the rise (or otherwise) of AFC Wimbledon.
It'll be a rise, most definitely! Just won their league dropping six points in a 46-game season, and they loaned out their third-choice keeper to a team two divisions ahead of them for first-team experience! Crowds 100 times their rivals' will help as well, I'd say...!
Jon'o
21/06/2004, 10:10 PM
most of the wimbeldon fans swiched their support to afc when it was decided to move to milton keynes... even though the club tryed to say that the new ground would only be an hours drive away and should be no reason to stop supporting them!!
good luck to afc !! hope their paths cross in the middle
brendy_éire
21/06/2004, 10:17 PM
In a way, I'm glad to see them fall flat on their arse. Must have been crap for fans of the club when it moved, but the failure of the move should put the idea out of peoples' heads.
For a while it looked as though football clubs were going to be become tranfersable between cities, as is done with American football teams, ice hockey and baseball. Over there cities offer tax breaks, build stadia, etc to attract teams. I'd hate to see that happen to football in Europe.
Jon'o
21/06/2004, 10:21 PM
i think its the first and only example, no other team would dare move.
man-ure dont have the same problems - the road links from london are great!! :D
lopez
22/06/2004, 10:12 AM
In a way, I'm glad to see them fall flat on their arse. Must have been crap for fans of the club when it moved, but the failure of the move should put the idea out of peoples' heads.
For a while it looked as though football clubs were going to be become tranfersable between cities, as is done with American football teams, ice hockey and baseball. Over there cities offer tax breaks, build stadia, etc to attract teams. I'd hate to see that happen to football in Europe.You should check out the histories of some of America's sporting franchises. LA Dodgers is the most famous, previously known as the Brooklyn Dodgers but I think the basketball teams, the LA Lakers were originally from Minneapolis and Philadeplphia 76ers were from Syracuse, NY.
There would have been some benefits to franchising of soccer teams. Loved to have seen Man Ure changed into the Dublin Shillelaghs or Rangers into the Belfast Calvinists. :D
pineapple stu
22/06/2004, 5:14 PM
the club tried to say that the new ground would only be an hour's drive away and should be no reason to stop supporting them!!
Think the club also said they wouldn't be changing their name too...
"The Dons" could only average something like 3550 in division 1 last year so don't think a name change will make much difference. Expect Milton Dons to pass Wimbleton AFC in the Conference in a few years.
:rolleyes:
btw think its disgraceful the way the English FA have aloowed the "new club" do everything they said they would not let them.
btw think its disgraceful the way the English FA have aloowed the "new club" do everything they said they would not let them.
Agreed. Yes, they may fail, but have they opened the door to franchising?
Surprised everyone's overlooked Merton Councils role in the whole debacle. If they'd given the go ahead for a new ground for Wimbledon when they were looking for it this may never have happened. From the late 1980's up to a few years ago they were looking to be accomodated actually in Wimbledon, if they had MK Dons might not exist.
10 years too late, and AFAIK Merton and AFC Wimbledon are looking to buy back Plough Lane back and redevelop it as a football ground.... :rolleyes:
Plastic Paddy
23/06/2004, 9:51 AM
10 years too late, and AFAIK Merton and AFC Wimbledon are looking to buy back Plough Lane back and redevelop it as a football ground.... :rolleyes:
That one's a dead duck. AFC Wimbledon have bought the freehold to Kingsmeadow (the home ground of Kingstonian and just outside the borough of Merton) and play their home games there.
:) PP
Dodge
23/06/2004, 10:10 AM
Can't believe nobody's mentioned the Dublin Dons thing. Or even the Clydebank to Dublin thing...
Plastic Paddy
23/06/2004, 10:21 AM
Can't believe nobody's mentioned the Dublin Dons thing. Or even the Clydebank to Dublin thing...
It was because of the Dublin Dons issue that Sam Hammam was able to sell Wimbledon to the Norwegian businessmen Gjelsten and Rokke for thirty-odd million pounds sterling. Allegedly, he'd told them that he'd spoken to UEFA about relocating the club and received the reply that if the FA and FAI were compliant, they wouldn't object to it. I can't for the life of me think why the Norwegians never looked into it further with the Premier League or the respective football associations as part of the due diligence process. :confused:
:ball: PP
Dodge
23/06/2004, 10:25 AM
Nowegain 1: So sam, you're sure that everything will be ok with UEFA, the FA, the FAI, the Premier League and you've made sure that there will enough interest with fans in Dublin and that there'll be no problem getting panning permission for a modern affordable stadium...
Hamann: As long as there are no further questions, yes!
Norwegian 2: Excellent. Where do we sign...
pineapple stu
23/06/2004, 6:03 PM
btw think it's disgraceful the way the English FA have allowed the "new club" do everything they said they would not let them.
Interesting that allowing one club to go through with it has probably been the best advertisement for NOT changing areas though. I'm sure the FA didn't intend it that way, but I can't see any other culb trying the same stunt and risk home and away fans boycotting games, relegation and administration, huge negative publicity and all the rest.
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