Franchise and football.

[BletchleyDons]

Serious question BletchleyDons, were you a Wimbledon fan before the move to MK?

Pretty sure I've already covered it in this thread, but I wasn't. I was a ST holder at Stamford Bridge, having followed them as a schoolkid and attended games since 1974/75.

By 1999/2000, I simply couldn't afford to watch them any longer. The rewards for my loyalty were being pushed aside to make room for the type of supporter they really wanted and I didn't particularly care by then anyway. Chelsea had become a machine with no identity and weren't the side I was embarrased by as a kid. I could have just gone on an irregular basis several times a year, but that wasn't what following them used to be about for me. Supporting Chelsea was about getting beaten by shit like Cambridge or Cardiff in front of sub-7000 crowds, not packed houses sat next to Scandinavian tourists and snobs.

I followed non-league (enjoyable but without any genuine passion) for four years until I moved to MK in late 2004, and soon began watching the franchise. At least the lack of identity was my choice and not foisted upon me.

[BletchleyDons]

How about the area they represent? If you are wimbledon why change the name?

The owner wanted to make his club more marketable to a new audience.

His methods were cuntish to say the least, but the means currently seems to be justified by the ends that have been acheived.

[Kinky Tom]

My problem (one of them on this issue...) is that MK decided roughly 35 years ago that they wanted a league club.

Now MK City were an already existing club and instead of the council getting behind them and building from the bottom they shit on them and actively decided that the best way to get league football would be to wait until a club from wherever in the football league were in the shit so they could buy thier registration - not the team, the registration.

How on earth can you seriously think that is acceptable?

The amount of money that has had to be put into the dons would easily have seen City push for league status years ago - it took Rushden and Diamonds what, 11 years from conception to gaining league status.

If the council had played this right from the start then this whole discussion would never have to happen.

How is it right that teams like Stevenage have been banging on the door of the league for years had to watch a town come from nowhere waving a piece of paper in their faces saying that they now have a league club after all the hard graft they put in?

And this argument that Wimbledon would have died?  They did didn't they?  Started from scratch again and will be a league in the next decade.

Accrington Stanley folded and 44 years later they were back.

Get off your high-horse and realise that the whole thing stinks and should never have happened.

You McDons fans are not moral troopers you think you are, if it were legal to blow schools up you wouldn't do it because it's just plain wrong, as is following the Dons.  Just because something is so does not make it right.

[Kinky Tom]

Pretty sure I've already covered it in this thread, but I wasn't. I was a ST holder at Stamford Bridge, having followed them as a schoolkid and attended games since 1974/75.

By 1999/2000, I simply couldn't afford to watch them any longer. The rewards for my loyalty were being pushed aside to make room for the type of supporter they really wanted and I didn't particularly care by then anyway. Chelsea had become a machine with no identity and weren't the side I was embarrased by as a kid. I could have just gone on an irregular basis several times a year, but that wasn't what following them used to be about for me. Supporting Chelsea was about getting beaten by shit like Cambridge or Cardiff in front of sub-7000 crowds, not packed houses sat next to Scandinavian tourists and snobs.

I followed non-league (enjoyable but without any genuine passion) for four years until I moved to MK in late 2004, and soon began watching the franchise. At least the lack of identity was my choice and not foisted upon me.

So what was wrong with going to the Cobbs?

[BletchleyDons]

So what was wrong with going to the Cobbs?

I didn't move to Northampton, did I?

I am responding to your other post, but lost it in another window...

[Kinky Tom]

No you didn't but that would have been the right choice...

[Simon Pieman]

I didnt mean it like that Posh red.

Its just when you get everyone in the entire ground wearing the same top, like they do at Reading, it does look well gay.

I think that of all the lads in the pub stood in the corner all wearing the same designer clobber. It's great

[BletchleyDons]

My problem (one of them on this issue...) is that MK decided roughly 35 years ago that they wanted a league club.

Now MK City were an already existing club and instead of the council getting behind them and building from the bottom they shit on them and actively decided that the best way to get league football would be to wait until a club from wherever in the football league were in the shit so they could buy thier registration - not the team, the registration.

How on earth can you seriously think that is acceptable?

The amount of money that has had to be put into the dons would easily have seen City push for league status years ago - it took Rushden and Diamonds what, 11 years from conception to gaining league status.

If the council had played this right from the start then this whole discussion would never have to happen.

How is it right that teams like Stevenage have been banging on the door of the league for years had to watch a town come from nowhere waving a piece of paper in their faces saying that they now have a league club after all the hard graft they put in?

And this argument that Wimbledon would have died?  They did didn't they?  Started from scratch again and will be a league in the next decade.

Accrington Stanley folded and 44 years later they were back.

Get off your high-horse and realise that the whole thing stinks and should never have happened.

You McDons fans are not moral troopers you think you are, if it were legal to blow schools up you wouldn't do it because it's just plain wrong, as is following the Dons.  Just because something is so does not make it right.

Waht moral high horse is this?

Just so you're aware, but Milton Keynes City failed to exist from the middle of the 1984/85 season, having been formerly known as Bletchley Town. A Mercedes-Benz works side (relocated from Brentford, funnily enough) took the name when they arrived in the city purely because it was going begging. They had no connection to the Milton Keynes City side that won the Berks and Bucks Cup in 1980 as the highlight of their existence.

The 'legend' surrounding the league club desires is another smokescreen. The situation here is that Ron Noades, while at Wimbledon, invested in Milton Keynes City as a means of using their lottery license when Wimbledon were refused one. Tickets at Plough Lane were sold under the name of, IIRC, Gold-digger Promotions which owned the MK City license. The connections were pure co-incidence, although Noades is on record as saying that Milton Keynes would be an ideal place for league football in the future.

[BletchleyDons]

No you didn't but that would have been the right choice...

It wouldn't have been the right choice for me, in the same way that upping sticks and going to watch AFC Wimbledon wasn't right for some of those that joined their side in Milton Keynes.

[Simon Pieman]

You're a funny cunt Bletchley.

[BletchleyDons]

You're a funny cunt Bletchley.

Who the hell do you think you're calling funny?

[Kinky Tom]

I've lived just outside MK all my life and followed Swindon all my life, no need to up sticks...

[BletchleyDons]

I've lived just outside MK all my life and followed Swindon all my life, no need to up sticks...

And fair fucks to you. That's your choice and good luck to you for sticking with it.

If you ever do reach a level of success that sees your side and support effectively replaced, will you still feel the same about the club though?

[Kinky Tom]

Waht moral high horse is this?

You're all always saying that our views are wrong and that because we can't (shouldn't) get over it that we're some sort of neanderthal breed and that your lot are better than us because you can see through all the reasons to not accept the club and support them.

[BletchleyDons]

You're all always saying that our views are wrong and that because we can't (shouldn't) get over it that we're some sort of neanderthal breed and that your lot are better than us because you can see through all the reasons to not accept the club and support them.

I've never said that at all. I accept that we're despised by a sizable amount of other supporters in this country. I'm not even defending the situation. I'm just expressing a few of my views regarding the relocation issue. Whether you feel it's right or wrong is entirely your choice. I won't be trying to sway you.