Whats wrong with football?

[The Grim Reaper]

Whatever you think of Winkleman and Franchise you have to admit he has delivered on his promise. Meanwhile here we sit in a decaying stadium that has had very little done in the past 20 odd years and a board that shows very little ambition.

[Ardiles]

If Franchise are anyway near self-sustainable, I'd agree with that completely.  Are they?  If so, they'll have used that stolen league place well.  If not, they're just another club punching above their weight thanks to borrowed money (and, in their case, a very unpalatable start in life).

[Summerof69]

And they even mooted the possibility that Franchise would, at some point in the future, delete any reference to the 'Dons' from their name.  That would be the right thing in my view.  From that point onwards, I could almost start to accept them...as a new club, with no link whatever to Wimbledon FC, no association with the FA Cup success of 1988 - and the only new club to be gifted a place near the top of the football pyramid for nearly 100 years.

Not for me. At the end of the day Wankleman and his crew should have bought MK City and took those through the leagues. They lied to the FA as they wanted league football straight away. If they admitted that they lied to the FA and paid AFC Wimbledon 'reparations' (about £10m, to help pay for AFC's new stadium back in Wimbledon...cheap considering the Rams have had to pay the NFL $550m for relocating to LA) for stealing their league place.. then I might start excepting them. Until then, they are a bunch of club stealing bastards.

[Saxondale]

Its going to go stupid tomorrow.  21 million bids for Berahinio.  Its only 4 years ago that he wasnt being that good for Northampton against us.

I can see Im going to be hearing about transfers saying 'how fucking much' all day.

[suttonred]

Whatever you think of Winkleman and Franchise you have to admit he has delivered on his promise. Meanwhile here we sit in a decaying stadium that has had very little done in the past 20 odd years and a board that shows very little ambition.

The training ground is a mirage then?

[tans]

The training ground is a mirage then?

It is until its finished

[The Grim Reaper]

The training ground is a mirage then?

As above. Once it's built and our players are training there I'll say it's a step in the right direction.

[Ells]

Correct me if I'm wrong but "no ambition" is a completely nonsensical, subjective bullshit phrase that needs to be autocorrected along with "wheresdamoney"

[suttonred]

Yeah ok, it isn't built yet, but is no ambition stating that he'll only get his money back If we go up, and that's the aim every season? Do Crewe, Shrewsbury etc currently openly state that? Seems ambitious/realistic to me. And its a shitty stick to hit him with over the ground, Will one pop up out of nowhere then ? If in 5 years nothings moved on that, you might have a point, he's effectively only had about 18 months at a push so far.

[RobertT]

The ship that Franchise used has long since sailed, attaching a ground development to a retail development.  Modern stadia need a financial Trojan horse or serious capital investment behind them - in our case this pretty much now only leaves some as yet un-selected plot of land in Swindon for housing development or securing loans.  There were other options 5-10 years ago before planning permission for the Oasis development were finally submitted (although maybe the on-going delay of this may yet still throw us a future bone?).  As even Black/Fitton/Wray found, getting finance since 2008 is pretty tricky for a club with a seriously bad financial history (until recently we weren't even afforded overdraft facilities anymore - although that may still be the same).

Assuming we limit ourselves to what we have direct influence over, then we have a small plot of land with a leasehold.  A small development would be possible but still requires something integral to bring in the money.  The council has shown itself willing to spend £15m on a car park recently so oddly they are probably the best hope we have - which itself is a sad and depressing state to be in!

[Summerof69]

The talk that the big clubs are trying to force UEFA to accept for the next CL contract, a number of clubs that will be allowed in on an 'invitational' basis...just in case they don't qualify for the CL, like Man U or AC Milan.

Big back the European Cup, with only the Champions qualifying.

[leftside]

The talk that the big clubs are trying to force UEFA to accept for the next CL contract, a number of clubs that will be allowed in on an 'invitational' basis...just in case they don't qualify for the CL, like Man U or AC Milan.

Big back the European Cup, with only the Champions qualifying.

This. And no seeding.

[Ells]

Cup winner's cup<3

[Summerof69]

This. And no seeding.

And then they'll be less talk about of playing too many games.

Whilst, over the last 25 years the top division number of league games has decreased, the FA Cup now has a maximum of 1 replay, and the League Cup is now one off matches except for the semis, the games in the  European competitions have increased.

[Batch]

when Stoke can spend 18m on a porto player you know there might be a bit of a cash distribution problem..