The Round Ball Game

[aeolium]

Lancashire Lass, I don't have any particularly strong feelings about this, as money has for quite a long time so dominated everything to do with football that it seems to me we are almost in a condition of "anything goes". Looking at the interesting wiki entry about the relocation of Wimbledon FC, it shows that possible relocation of various clubs to Milton Keynes was mooted as early as the 1970s, and that Wimbledon FC owner Ron Noades purchased Milton Keynes City for £1 in 1979 presumably with a view to possible relocation though he later abandoned the idea. A later owner Hammam was even considering relocation to Dublin or "Scotland". The big problem was the sheer cost of a new stadium which would comply with the requirements of the Taylor report - for a club in financial difficulties (it went into administration) in the borough of Merton where property and redevelopment cost would be huge. What would have happened to Wimbledon FC had there been no relocation - would it have survived? I do agree that MK Dons should drop the name Dons - perhaps they can rename themselves "MK Academicals"

But as an issue to get worked up about, compared with the questions of dodgy billionaire owners playing fast and loose with their clubs, stratospheric player salaries in the Premier League, the huge and growing discrepancies between the rich and the poor clubs so that success is easily bought, the high prices keeping out many supporters, the difficulty of local players getting a chance when it's so easy to import talent - sorry, it doesn't really exercise me. Or perhaps do people bother about it because the ground is just about the only thing that is local about football clubs these days?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I do agree that MK Dons should drop the name Dons - perhaps they can rename themselves "MK Academicals"

Isn't Bletchley part of that agglomeration? Why not MK Enigma then?

[gurnemanz]

Isn't Bletchley part of that agglomeration? Why not MK Enigma then?

...or MK Wombles.

[BBMmk2]

Easiest draw possible teamsaint and the toon away to Brighton more than a little scary.

That happened last season as well, AG. And if you remember the result?

I fear the same this year to. We just have to wait. I would love to go0 that match. Only a few miles away from me!

[johncorrigan]

Isn't Bletchley part of that agglomeration? Why not MK Enigma then?

MKGodfathers?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Surely it's MK Wanderers

[teamsaint]

That happened last season as well, AG. And if you remember the result?

I fear the same this year to. We just have to wait. I would love to go0 that match. Only a few miles away from me!

BBM, my sons friend managed to get tickets for the recent game at Southampton in the Newcastle section,(and he's not a ST holder or anything) so it may not be that hard..i suspect albion may not sell out that quickly for a cup tie.
Certainly be nice to see the Amex too, which is supposed to be a luxurious stadium. Good luck !!

[EdgeleyRob]

I do agree that MK Dons should drop the name Dons - perhaps they can rename themselves "MK Academicals"

Most non MK fans just call them franchise FC.
How about MK Destroyers ?.

Just watching the Hereford Cheltenham match on tv aeolium,cracking proper cup tie this.

[EdgeleyRob]

Newcastle United 3 Wigan Athletic 0. 3 points at last.
Cheltenham 1 Hereford United 1.Well deserved replay.

[aeolium]

Just watching the Hereford Cheltenham match on tv aeolium,cracking proper cup tie this.

Yes, it was good, wasn't it, ER? Great effort by Hereford (Pell and Clucas outstanding imo). They just need another the replay to be on TV as well to drive those wolves from the door...

[johncorrigan]

Here's an interesting development concerning the forthcoming Dundee Utd - Rangers Scottish Cup tie. There's a lot of bad blood around and it could be around for a long time to come.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20595802

[cloughie]

Yes, it was good, wasn't it, ER? Great effort by Hereford (Pell and Clucas outstanding imo). They just need another the replay to be on TV as well to drive those wolves from the door...

Who do Everton fear most - I seem to remember a few seasons ago Shrewsbury achieved the unique double of knocking Everton out of the cup and being relegated to the Conference!

[Lancashire Lass]

My last words on this (for now)! Sorry about the length.

Aeolium, to answer your point: "The big problem was the sheer cost of a new stadium which would comply with the requirements of the Taylor report - for a club in financial difficulties (it went into administration) in the borough of Merton where property and redevelopment cost would be huge. What would have happened to Wimbledon FC had there been no relocation - would it have survived?"

The Norwegian owners of Wimbledon FC were squillionaires and had bought the club (they said) with the intention of building a new stadium. At that time the old Plough Lane site was still vacant and the supporter’s association commissioned architect’s drawing to show the site could accommodate a 20,000-seater stadium.

There are a number of sites in Merton which could be used for a stadium and which AFC Wimbledon is currently looking at. Enabling development could provide the finance.

WFC was groundsharing at Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace, who do not own Selhurst either (so arguments about needing cash flow from facilities such as function rooms are groundless). Nor do MK Dons own their stadium.

Had the fans been able to buy the club (we were never offered the chance) it would probably have fallen a couple more divisions before finding its true level, which is where AFC Wimbledon are now, but it could have survived
(NB WFC went into administration well after the FA had given the green light for MK, we’d set up AFC Wimbledon and the gates at Selhurst were derisory).

The truth is that it was a property deal. Asda had been trying to get planning permission to build a superstore near MK for years. But planning regulations stopped them. However, these rules can be got round by providing community facilities such as a stadium. For Asda, the cost of a new stadium was well worth paying, given the profits they’d make from the superstore. But MK didn’t have a league football club to justify such a stadium. So Winkelman, the frontman for the consortium which was basically Asda, set about trying to attract a football club to the town and had also approached Luton, QPR and Barnet.

Once the Norwegians had decided to collude in all this, they turned the argument on its head. It wasn’t “Asda needs a football team in MK” (Asda’s interest at the time was kept secret, of course), it was “WFC is going bust and we don’t own our stadium.” They painted the club’s finances in the blackest possible light because it suited their case. What kind of businessmen advertise their financial incompetence like that? QED.

Aeolium, if you still think that franchising a club 70 miles from its home is justifiable, we'll just have to agree to disagree :-)

[eighthobstruction]

Lee Dixon on Chap League last night said that on his day off AW watches some games 5 times to analyse them....well you'd think that he would have noticed that offensively they generally fail to go forward, fail to take people on and beat them....Poor old AW what a lot of rubbish he has to deal with (player wise) . Obviously it is he who has bought such a rubbish defence over the last 10 years,. He who has had to sell his best players again and again without adequate players to replace them....what a motley crew he has now. Last night he had to replace Rosicky(who was bought as a stand in for Perez so long ago) with Arshavin (Mr Fade) which is not a decent exchange and THAT changed the whole complexion of the game. He had Shea, Ansah, Hajrovic, Monteiro, Akpom.on the bench SURELY any one of them would have been better than Arshavin....Come on AW, I think you need to take a proper holiday....you would be doing Arsenal a favour if you resigned at the end of the season. AW had that fantastic unbeaten season way back, and a Champions League final....but since then both AW and the Arsenal board have lost the plot. Sorry to say!!

There is something wrong with his motivation and coaching skills....SEVERAL managers are coaxing tremendous individual displays and skills, and team spirit and performances out of players no better than the Arsenal squad (Is AW missing Pat Rice??) week in week out...

[aeolium]

Aeolium, if you still think that franchising a club 70 miles from its home is justifiable, we'll just have to agree to disagree :-)

I don't, as it happens. I don't like franchising in football any more than I like it on the railways. I just think it's an unsurprising development in a game which has allowed big money to dominate everything to do with its organisation, generally for the worse. It is worth remembering that before the move to Milton Keynes, two former Wimbledon owners were considering distant relocation and that for a number of years the club had been playing its home games at Selhurst Park, not exactly a near neighbour in London terms. Far from club relocation being a unique event, it is actually not that uncommon, as this wiki page shows.