League Cup Pathetic and childish again

Technically they are a different club. Wimbledon F.C were officially dissolved in 2004 and became the MK Dons. It's no different to teams folding and becoming 'phoenix clubs' e.g. Aldershot become Aldershot Town, Chester City become Chester F.C. etc

I know that. I'm just saying what's the point in actually saying the AFC bit? Wimbledon suffices.
 
AFC forget that they failed to support their club in the first place. Rubbish crowds meant they couldn’t afford to redevelop Plough Lane so they had ground shared at Palace. Their local council wouldn’t help so they were forced to sell up. Along come Milton Keynes with a large populace and pick up the reins. If anyone has a gripe about that, it should be with the league, the old owners and Merton council, not MK.
MK Dons have been a club for 15 years, so there are adults out there who have been supporting the club since being kids. They have a fan base. They have a magnificent stadium and get larger crowds than the old Wimbledon did. A visit to their place is very enjoyable.
I actually think it’s time for MK to drop the “Dons”. They get crap from AFC, so remove any last memories of them in the bin. MK City, MK Rovers, MK Rangers etc.
AFC should also be warned, that one more churlish act and they will be fined for unsportsmanlike behaviour. We’ve seen plenty of that from the thugs on the pitch.
Good post, and that pretty much sums it up. If Wimbledon had more bums on seats, then Pete Winkleman wouldn't have felt the need to relocate the club.

Don't get me wrong, I sympathised with their plight at the time, and it was good to see AFC Wimbledon start up again and quickly ascend through the divisions, and I am delighted they have got back to where they belong in the football league. However, this pettiness at club is rather pathetic - you don't get Manchester United having 'problems with their scoreboard' when Man City or Liverpool come to town, and you don't get Celtic or Rangers failing to print match programmes for Old Firm derbies.

They really need to let it go - by all means have a healthy rivalry with the chants of 'Where were you, when you were us?' but they really aren't doing themselves any favours.
 
If Wimbledon had more bums on seats, then Pete Winkleman wouldn't have felt the need to relocate the club
Sorry, I'll never accept that for justification for what happened. If you want a team in a particular place, you build one up. You don't steal another club and take their place, and in doing so give a big slap in the face to clubs working hard in the conference the right way to get into the league . So what if Wimbledon weren't getting big crowds? They would have sunk back down the pyramid, or gone bust. That's natural selection in football.

Although I do agree AFCW are being very childish now and should take the higher ground and move on.
 
A good summary, particularly the bit about 'Wimbledon' always having poor support, both historically and now. I remember their famous win against Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. Wimbledon had the usual 30,000-ish allocation at Wembley but only a few thousand of their fans were present (exact numbers not recorded), the rest of the tickets 'disappearing' into the hands of Reds.

That said, the MK football project has stalled recently. I lived there for 20+ years, watching the whole thing develop from the 5,500 capacity National Hockey Stadium to the super modern stadium:mk. Official crowds average around 10,000, but bums on seats are probably half that. Many tickets sold very cheaply or given away to local children.

Winkelman's idea was for children whose parents followed Arsenal/Liverpool/Man Utd etc to grow up watching the Dons, and for a while it succeeded. Lots of kids in Dons kit around the shopping centre and parents prepared to take them to watch football in a safe, comfortable environment. But those numbers have dropped off and future support is not guaranteed.

Winkelman cares very little about that. MK Dons ticket sales are a small part of his income. He owns the neighbouring cinema / restaurant complex and MK1 shopping park, Hilton DoubleTree pay rent for their hotel built into the stadium, and miscellaneous concerts, rugby matches and conventions add to his pocket.
I hate the ground. It is designed for the Premiershi* where it would be full of plastic supporters eating their prawn sandwiches.
I do go but really dont know why when we play them away
 
Yes, I hate the MK ground as well. It's a warning of what building an oversized, over specced stadium can do to the atmosphere at a football match. I honestly prefer the likes of Peterborough, for all that the view is a bit rubbish, the seats ancient and wooden and there's no leg room.
 
Sorry, I'll never accept that for justification for what happened. If you want a team in a particular place, you build one up. You don't steal another club and take their place, and in doing so give a big slap in the face to clubs working hard in the conference the right way to get into the league . So what if Wimbledon weren't getting big crowds? They would have sunk back down the pyramid, or gone bust. That's natural selection in football.

Although I do agree AFCW are being very childish now and should take the higher ground and move on.
I always thought Wimbledon held the moral high ground but the more this goes on there isn’t any especially having affectively evicted Kingstonian from their long term home ground. The booing of any past MK people is pathetic. Whilst I don’t like Winkleman or the way things were done Wimbledon were in massive trouble with very small crowds and maybe should’ve been let die which isn’t something I want for any club. There was already a club in MK and that should’ve been the way Winkleman did things but that would’ve required more time and work so the easy option was taken.
 
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If Wimbledon had more bums on seats, then Pete Winkleman wouldn't have felt the need to relocate the club.

I'm not up to speed with the MK story, but by PW moving the club away from it's spiritual home then building a ground and retail park around it, was he being an entrepreneur to make money out of the exercise, now isn't there parallels with our owners and the suggested relocation of our club?
 
I'm not up to speed with the MK story, but by PW moving the club away from it's spiritual home then building a ground and retail park around it, was he being an entrepreneur to make money out of the exercise, now isn't there parallels with our owners and the suggested relocation of our club?

Rather depends on whether we're relocated 60 miles away.
 
I'm not up to speed with the MK story, but by PW moving the club away from it's spiritual home then building a ground and retail park around it, was he being an entrepreneur to make money out of the exercise, now isn't there parallels with our owners and the suggested relocation of our club?
Er not remotely the same.
I am presuming that the current owners want to keep an Oxford United in/ around Oxford?
Not move it 60 miles away and change its name/ make a new club.
 
I'm not up to speed with the MK story, but by PW moving the club away from it's spiritual home then building a ground and retail park around it, was he being an entrepreneur to make money out of the exercise, now isn't there parallels with our owners and the suggested relocation of our club?
I believe that at least Winkleman uses the profits of the hotel to subsidise the club?
Mr Kassam decided that any profits from everything he built would go to.him only.
 
So you c
If we move to Bicester, change the name to 'Bicester Us', change the kit and badge, then maybe you can suggest it's similar.
So we can move anywhere as long as we don’t change the name, badge or kit?
 
I believe that at least Winkleman uses the profits of the hotel to subsidise the club?
Mr Kassam decided that any profits from everything he built would go to.him only.
Well done you, managed to squeeze a pop in at FK while its nothing to do with him.

As I said I know nothing of the MK saga, but do see there might be comparable situation arising with a move away from the current ground, to a retail park with a football club attached, if PW does help subsidise the club does that have a relevance to say our owners would if this situation happened.
 
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