AFC Wimbledon!

[InLambertWeTrust! 0]

Congratulations to them! Massive achievement to reach the football league [:)]

[Mister Chops 7]

Agreed, pleased that they''ve made it back into the 92.  Dodgy old final though, I thought both managers were going to get sent to the stands.

[Mr.Carrow 376]

I assume they are only 1 league away from MKDons now? Wow, that would be a tasty game to attend when it happens....!

[Reykjavik Canary 0]

MK Dons - 1 promotion and 1 relegation (Started in 3rd tier and are currently in 3rd tier)

AFC Wimbledon - 5 promotions (Started in 9th tier and are currently in 4th tier)

What are the odds on Wimbledon getting to the Championship earlier than MK??? I have a cheeky feeling that in the next 5 years Wimbledon will overtake MK in league placing.

[Reykjavik Canary 0]

What is 100% certain that if one of AFC and MK are gonna be Premier League it will be AFC.

[City penguin 0]

would be tastey to see wimbledon take some of their finest to stadium franchise.

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

[quote user="NauruDude"]What is 100% certain that if one of AFC and MK are gonna be Premier League it will be AFC.[/quote]

There are very few things in life that are anywhere near 100% certain - least of all in football!

[Reykjavik Canary 0]

[quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]

[quote user="NauruDude"]What is 100% certain that if one of AFC and MK are gonna be Premier League it will be AFC.[/quote]

There are very few things in life that are anywhere near 100% certain - least of all in football!

[/quote]

Fairytales are 100% certain. This is a fairytale.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="NauruDude"][quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]

[quote user="NauruDude"]What is 100% certain that if one of AFC and MK are gonna be Premier League it will be AFC.[/quote]

There are very few things in life that are anywhere near 100% certain - least of all in football!

[/quote]

Fairytales are 100% certain. This is a fairytale.[/quote]Sorry to piss on your chips, but fairytales are 100% fiction.  That''s why they''re fairytales.

[Reykjavik Canary 0]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="NauruDude"][quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]

[quote user="NauruDude"]What is 100% certain that if one of AFC and MK are gonna be Premier League it will be AFC.[/quote]

There are very few things in life that are anywhere near 100% certain - least of all in football!

[/quote]

Fairytales are 100% certain. This is a fairytale.[/quote]Sorry to piss on your chips, but fairytales are 100% fiction.  That''s why they''re fairytales.[/quote]

But in fairytales the end is 100% certain in the beginning, like this instance.

[SwindonCanary 455]

On my journey to Norwich I often stop off at birchanger services and often see/meet Mk dons fans on their way to a home match, they are London based ex-Wimbledon fans. I will love it, the day Wimbledon are ahead of their team in the league, will they then change back to their old team ?  

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

Great week for them with Franchise losing their play off match. Perhaps Winkleman should have started from the bottom rather than taking somebody else''s team.

[Yellow Shirt 17]

I visited the chairman of MK yesterday as we go back a bit and he like me wishes AFC the best of luck.However, I cannot say that I can see AFC overtaking what he has going on there for quite some time- not something we discussed btw just MY opinion. I hope that AFC continue to do well and come up the leagues but I also believe that MK are close to promotion to the Championship where I think they will be able to stabilize.I know there is a lot of mistrust around the whole MK thing but I had a rather unique viewpoint as the whole scenario unfolded and know that while a very clever businessman their chairman is quite the opposite of the monster he is made out to be in some circles- there is far more truth in what he says about MK Dons than you might expect and his passion is genuine and for the right reasons.To sum up I am delighted for AFC because they are achieving great things and doing it their way, but I also support the MK cause- especially now that those who felt they were victims of the move are gaining success in their own right. I will be surprised if it ever grows into a genuine rivalry though as there just isn''t enough bad feeling from the MK side!

[William Darby 0]

There isn''t enough fans for a start.  Wimbledon only had 4-5000 in the 90s during the Prem years.  MK Dons only have 7-8000 regulars their extra fans who turned up for the run in won''t pitch in for the start of next season.  So all in all the rivalry will be the equivalent of two feuding families on a housing estate.

[Katie Borkins 1]

Every dog has its day and today fortune favoured the brave boys of AFC Wimbledon who fought like lions and defended like tigers, leapt like salmon at the far post and rolled their sleeves up to get stuck into the full ninety minutes plus the extra time.  And then the nightmare of penalties, a lottery of death where you can be hero or villain.  The boys did well, back in the big time and let''s see if they go from strength to strength in punching above their weight.

 

[Yellow Shirt 17]

[quote user="The ſhroud of Turin"]There isn''t enough fans for a start.  Wimbledon only had 4-5000 in the 90s during the Prem years.  MK Dons only have 7-8000 regulars their extra fans who turned up for the run in won''t pitch in for the start of next season.  So all in all the rivalry will be the equivalent of two feuding families on a housing estate. [/quote]Very true!

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="Bore Bore Bor"]

Every dog has its day and today fortune favoured the brave boys of AFC Wimbledon who fought like lions and defended like tigers, leapt like salmon at the far post and rolled their sleeves up to get stuck into the full ninety minutes plus the extra time.  And then the nightmare of penalties, a lottery of death where you can be hero or villain.  The boys did well, back in the big time and let''s see if they go from strength to strength in punching above their weight.

 

[/quote]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4I1ye2gcEo

[SW19Canary 0]

Absolutely scandalous the way Wimbledon FC were allowed to be killed off in favour of product MK Dons. 

How the FA and Football League could sanction this move defies belief, even the independent commission set up at the time, stated "that the formation of such a club would not be in the wider interests of football" to me says it all. The FA Commission at the time also recommended that "the club should always retain a link with its former identity" funny, but that never happened either.

How would you like to be told as a supporter that your team will be moving 60 miles to a new town and that your name will be changed to represent the past, present and future?..Oh and by the way Mr Supporter, we will change the club colours after next season, as we want this place to be the club at the heart of its new community (i.e. forget about the previous 100 odd years). The Football League then duly announced new tighter rules on club relocation after this decision.

Yellow shirt, I too have met Pete Winkelman and he is a fairly affable guy. I first met him in the late nineties, when he wouldn''t have been able to differentiate between Bamber and Paul Gascoigne then. His knowledge may have improved since, but I and the majority of football fans have nothing but contempt for MK Dons and what they stand for.

Long live AFC Wimbledon and all other clubs that serve their community, but not MK.

NMTD

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Brilliant news cause AFC are the true follow on from the old Wimbledon we always seemed to struggle against in the 80''s and 90''s!

I hate all that MK Dons stand for. In my opinion if they''d of done what AFC Wimbledon and started at the bottom and worked their their way through the League pyramid instead of the franchise move of the former Wimbledon FC then I''d have no problem with them!

Its like in recent times, with AFC now a League team and all the old Wimbledon FC''s memorbilia being returned, why persist with the "Dons" nickname?

While I don''t go alot on Mr Winkleman for going through with the MK Dons model he didn''t start the demise of the old Wimbledon.

Messrs Merton Council (for not doing enough to hlp keep Wimbledon FC in Wimbledon either at their old Plough Lane ground or a new ground) and former owner Sam Hamman for taking the club to Selhurst Park in 1991 which alienated many Dons fans.

The old Plough Lane stood derilict for the best part of a decade after the last 1st team games their and experts said that the stadiums footprint would of be sufficent enough for a ground holding as many as 20,000. A capacity that size would have been more than enough for Wimbledon who still had levels of support below many 3rd Division clubs!

AFC Wimbledon still harbour hopes of returning to their traditional heartland at some point which if happens then the club would be capable of getting into the Championship!

Great day for AFC Wimbledon and those who can see all they stand for!

[SwindonCanary 455]

Wow ! two pages of Wimbledon and it''s slipped under the message board police !

[Yellow Shirt 17]

[quote user="SW19Canary"]Absolutely scandalous the way Wimbledon FC were allowed to be killed off in favour of product MK Dons. 

How the FA and Football League could sanction this move defies belief, even the independent commission set up at the time, stated "that the formation of such a club would not be in the wider interests of football" to me says it all. The FA Commission at the time also recommended that "the club should always retain a link with its former identity" funny, but that never happened either.

How would you like to be told as a supporter that your team will be moving 60 miles to a new town and that your name will be changed to represent the past, present and future?..Oh and by the way Mr Supporter, we will change the club colours after next season, as we want this place to be the club at the heart of its new community (i.e. forget about the previous 100 odd years). The Football League then duly announced new tighter rules on club relocation after this decision.

Yellow shirt, I too have met Pete Winkelman and he is a fairly affable guy. I first met him in the late nineties, when he wouldn''t have been able to differentiate between Bamber and Paul Gascoigne then. His knowledge may have improved since, but I and the majority of football fans have nothing but contempt for MK Dons and what they stand for.

Long live AFC Wimbledon and all other clubs that serve their community, but not MK.

NMTD[/quote]All the stuff about the football league''s decisions etc is fair point... a lot of the ''link to the past'' stuff I know was always a bizzare stipulation as nobody wanted that!The situation wasn''t quite as you describe it of course- ask me again what I would prefer when the question is would you rather see your club fold and loose it''s league status or move 60 miles, get some funding some big plans, a home of it''s own (that it hasn''t had for over ten years) but it will have a name change. My reaction to that scenario is go for it- if there is no other option I''d try to get on with the idea of the Cambridge Canaries and harbor hopes for Norwich Utd or similar.It''s a horrible situation to even think about but that''s what Wimbledon faced- I believe people had already looked into the possibility of bringing Luton to MK but their situation was deemed to be fine by the football league- and indeed it was some three or four years later that they actually hit rock bottom and almost folded.Anyway- this is an old debate and I know I sit on the lonely side of the fence having seen a lot (though by no means all of course) of the behind the scenes stuff in those years running up to and through the moving of Wimbledon to MK to make me understand the MK argument better than most fans would and I dare say if I''d only seen the media coverage I''d not feel the same way, but I will say that your assertion of Pete''s lack of football knowledge in the late 90''s is pretty wide of the mark (although he may have not known who Bamber Gascoigne was!) there was a five a side pitch in his back garden long before anyone thought of building a stadium in MK- he''s a fan like the rest of us... and always knows the Norwich happenings whenever I catch up with him!

[Sing up the river end 0]

Great to see them back in the league.With what those real fans have been through over the last decade they deserve to have one long hard party.

Now fingers crossed they can keep going and overtake franchise mk,who I hope go out of business,not even a real team.

[e10_yellow 0]

SW19 is spot on. Really chuffed for them, I went to their semi-final second leg as a friend had a spare ticket. It''s an impressive set-up and the atmosphere was brilliant, they''re more than worthy of a place in the league in their own right. MK are a nothing club in every way.

[Hairy Canary 704]

Their promotion is absolutely fantastic news for true supporters of their local team, wherever they live.

 

How the FA sactioned the move to MK, completely ignoring the wishes of the only people who truely matter at a club (the fans) is nothing short of scandalous. I''m sure Mr Winkleman is a nice chap Yellow Shirt but what he did was shameful. AFC have shown him what he should have done if he wanted a football league team in MK''s.  

 

The old club may have gone bust and had to start again at the bottom but that gives nobody the right to just take it. I''m not alone in wishing MK Dons get relegated out of the league, though I admit thats highly unlikely. A start would be the return of the old Wimbledon fans who travel every week to MK back to their true roots.

[. 0]

Wimbledon v MK Dons will make the City/Ipswich derby look like a rose garden....Pleased for ''robbed'' Wimbledon fans who now have the chance of revenge on a regular basis.

[Lord Horn 0]

[quote user="Paul Cluckbert "]Wimbledon v MK Dons will make the City/Ipswich derby look like a rose garden....Pleased for ''robbed'' Wimbledon fans who now have the chance of revenge on a regular basis.[/quote]Bloody hell - I agree with Cluckbert - also perhaps the MK Dons will now have the grace to drop ''Dons'' from their names and let the real Dons fully have their identity back!

[Gerry Harrison 2]

AFC Wimbledon won''t want to play MK, I don''t event think they acknowledge their existence! What will they put in the match day programme? "Today we welcome the players, fans and officials of Franchise FC and hope they choke on their sandwiches and burgers!"

They nearly played each other in the FA Cup last season, and AFCW issued a statement at the time saying the would fulfill the fixture, but we would have preferred that it hadn’t happened.

[Lord Horn 0]

[quote user="Gerry Harrison"]AFC Wimbledon won''t want to play MK, I don''t event think they acknowledge their existence! What will they put in the match day programme? "Today we welcome the players, fans and officials of Franchise FC and hope they choke on their sandwiches and burgers!"

They nearly played each other in the FA Cup last season, and AFCW issued a statement at the time saying the would fulfill the fixture, but we would have preferred that it hadn’t happened.[/quote]That is correct GH - AFCW knocked the mighty Ebbsfleet out in a replay whilst Satanage had the audacity to beat The Franchise, so the tie never happened.

[crabbycanary 2]

When it comes to the big showdown, all I can see is a bunch of testosterone filled teenagers (MK Dons fans) trying to take on some middle-aged hard nosed Cockernees and there being only one winner!

MK Dons haven''t had time to develop an ICF type hardcore to rival other teams . All their fans probably live in and aroundMilton Keynes and wouldn''t have had major feelings for another team prior to the Franchise turning up on their doorstep.

[Crafty Canary 495]

As I understand that AFC Wimbledon play in Kingston, does this make them a franchise club?