Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Ad@m on May 21, 2011, 05:49:06 PM
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...have made it to the football league!!!
Back in 2002 when franchise football came our way I never thought the open trials on Wimbledon Common would produce a club that got in to the football league.
Fair play to them!
Next challenge is to get the opportunity to stuff MK Dons!!!
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Indeed.
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Putting aside the issue of franchise FC, and thats not easy whever you talk about Wimbledon, personally, and it may not make me overly popular, I fucking hate them. They polluted the top division for about 10 years with their brand of thuggery, crap football and alehouse football it makes me shudder thinking back about it and gave some sort of justification for the crap football thats been carried on by other clubs/managers for the past 15 years(yes I'm looking at you Allardyce and Pulis).
The sooner they bugger off back to non League the better.
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Despite possessing somewhat of a 'reputation', I've always felt for the Wimbledon fans for the obvious reasons. Good to see them back in the Football League, and it's a shame for Luton who lost in the semi's last year.
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Yeah, let's keep the Premier League pure, with teams that can afford to be there!
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Well done to them, it's a great story. it's also good that a lot of the old Wimbledon players go back and watch them play, some are even involved I believe - and treat it as the same old club (rather than following MK).
It does mean we drop a position in alphabetical order now though.
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Next stage, we want to see them above that lot from Milton Keynes.
Hopefully MK will fall out the league because they are only there in the first place through cheating and robbery.
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Didn't they give you hope that one day......maybe .....just one day......?
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Ideal world will see Luton promoted next season. 40 points deductions in 6 months still isn't fair!
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It's success stories like this that may make me believe in football once again.
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Well done for doing what many people would not have thought possible. I expect they are under no illusions about what happens from here in terms of fans being in control of the game, but at least they have made a statement.
They have also given a fair bit of help to FC United up here, and what ever you think about them or the team itself, you cannot say they are not genuine fans.
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I don't like AFC Wimbledon.
Sorry to spoil your little love-in.
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Very Pleased for the long suffering fans of AFC Wimbledon, Even better they have triumphed at the expense Of Luton, Another despised club!
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A bit harsh on Luton considering the punishments they have received but it was wimbledon's day so fair play to them.
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Have they got their own stadium now ?
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Absolutely delighted for them.
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They play at Kingsmeadow, home of Kingstonian, the ground, a short walk from my house, backs on to my allotment, they're a noisey lot and create a cracking atmosphere.
3 weeks ago I was blocked in by a coach, when I asked the driver to move it he explained the whistle had just gone and could I wait 10 mins for the away fans to get on, I turned round to see 400 Grimsby fans filing past me, what happened to them?
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Have they got their own stadium now ?
Well, they stole it off Kingstonian but yes, they do.
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I turned round to see 400 Grimsby fans filing past me, what happened to them?
I assume they got onto their coaches and went back to Grimsby.
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I don't like AFC Wimbledon.
Sorry to spoil your little love-in.
Right, Everyone, the love-in has been spoiled.
Get back under your rocks - Mr Non-League has arrived. Fingers crossed that he doesn't disapprove of any collection of individuals from near where you live or we'll all be for it.
I can't believe you ever thought this was a good idea, this love-in. God forbid that you should take joy in anything other than pork pies and uninspiring music from the fucking eighties.
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Maybe if you disagree with Dave you could just say so in a way that doesn't make you sound like a complete twat?
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Or maybe he could and then we could, all 3 of us, just vibe?
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I don't like AFC Wimbledon.
Sorry to spoil your little love-in.
Right, Everyone, the love-in has been spoiled.
Get back under your rocks - Mr Non-League has arrived. Fingers crossed that he doesn't disapprove of any collection of individuals from near where you live or we'll all be for it.
I can't believe you ever thought this was a good idea, this love-in. God forbid that you should take joy in anything other than pork pies and uninspiring music from the fucking eighties.
Blimey!
I don't even like pork pies.
Or AFC Wimbledon.
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I don't like AFC Wimbledon.
Sorry to spoil your little love-in.
Right, Everyone, the love-in has been spoiled.
Get back under your rocks - Mr Non-League has arrived. Fingers crossed that he doesn't disapprove of any collection of individuals from near where you live or we'll all be for it.
I can't believe you ever thought this was a good idea, this love-in. God forbid that you should take joy in anything other than pork pies and uninspiring music from the fucking eighties.
Blimey!
I don't even like pork pies.
Or AFC Wimbledon.
No offence Dave,
It's just that I'd been enjoying the 'little love-in' and saw no real reason that your opinion should have to necessarily spoil it for anyone else but yourself.
The pork pies thing was all mine, apologies!
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I turned round to see 400 Grimsby fans filing past me, what happened to them?
I assume they got onto their coaches and went back to Grimsby.
Does sound a bit fishy though.
Coat ? Get ?
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Don't much like what Luton did with away fans a few years back. We had to beg the locals to get us a ticket from the portacabin outside the ground.
Not the fans fault but can't help but dislike the club for treating away fans as unwelcome.
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Have they got their own stadium now ?
Well, they stole it off Kingstonian but yes, they do.
My understanding is that Kingstonian went bust so a millionaire bought the leashold to the ground (the land being owned by the council) and charged them a fortune for rent. AFC Wimbledon then bought the ground off the millionaire and now charge Kingstonian a lower rent.
Doesn't sound like stealing it to me.
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If and when the time comes, I hope that MK Dons absolutely stuff them. So there. And with that I'm off to listen to some uninspiring 80s music. The Field Mice I think.
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I don't like AFC Wimbledon.
Sorry to spoil your little love-in.
+1
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I don't dislike AFC Wimbledon, but I was wanting Luton to win yesterday.
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They have worked hard for it over the last decade and deserve the success. Well done AFC Wimbledon.
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I don't like Wimbledon but I dislike Luton an awful lot more. Bollocks to them. ******.
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I lived in Wimbledon during the crazy-gang era and thoroughly enjoyed their notoriety! Unashamedly!
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Serious question: why do people hate AFC Wimbledon?
From where I sit, the original Wimbledon lived the ultimate non-League dream, and then fell foul to a succession of NIMBYs, carpetbaggers and, ultimately, the most disgraceful decision ever made about from where a football club should be allowed to ply its trade. For the supporters to dust themselves down and start all over again is of enormous credit to their passion and resilience.
I'm pleased for them - and when the day comes that they eventually overtake the MK Dons in the League pyramid, it should be a day when all right-thinking football supporters rejoice.
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Serious question: why do people hate AFC Wimbledon?
DC's perspective will be slightly different from mine. But they are terribly upopular among supporters of long-standing south London non-league sides. They have a sense of entitlement that is quite breathtaking, and assume that they are everyone's second-favourite club.
I guess part of it is envy too, but by non-league standards they have been a spectacular money-making machine and if you cast yourself as a plucky underdog, it grinds the gears of clubs getting by with far less.
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Anyone who helps out FC United can go swing for another point.
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I'm glad AFC Wimbledon have made it into the football league I think they deserve it after what they had to do to get there.
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I'm glad AFC Wimbledon have made it into the football league I think they deserve it after what they had to do to get there.
you have a point there darren
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I have a soft spot for AFC Wimbledon, but mainly because a mate played for them for a couple of years, rather than any particular views I hold on what happened with MK Dons.
That said, my knowledge of non-league is practically non-existent, and it appears that those who really follow those tiers aren't particularly fond of them. Are they like the Man U of non-league?
Is the guy who took Wimbledon to Milton Keynes still in charge?
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For all the hate for MK Dons, there are now two league teams where there could in all likelihood have been none.
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Good luck to them,its good to see a team like them back,but as i'm gutted for Luton,not just as its my hometown,if you forget the Evans era,when he ruined the club,they've had a terrible run of things with the points deduction a few years ago,years of broken promises concerning a new ground.
And they still get a higher average than most league 2 and some league 1 teams.
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For all the hate for MK Dons, there are now two league teams where there could in all likelihood have been none.
And yes, in practice you could argue it has turned out for the best. But it's the principle that someone can buy a club and complete remove all of the fans' rights by moving it almost 60 miles up the road. I just try to put myself in their shoes and imagine how angry I would be if someone bought the Villa and decided to move the club to Stoke, or Nottingham, etc. It's absolutely disgusting. Football clubs are more than businesses - you can't just relocate them because it makes commercial sense.
So in my mind, fair play to them for starting again and getting to where they've got. And when the time comes for them to play MK Dons I hope they absolutely thrash them as revenge for having their club stolen a decade ago.
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My thoughts are with Nick Owen.
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I used to work with a Wimbledon fan, and when they were talking about playing in Dublin he was talking about how great weekends away would be. Nobody in their own borough did anything to help Wimbledon survive either.
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For all the hate for MK Dons, there are now two league teams where there could in all likelihood have been none.
I don't think it would have worked liked that. If Wimbledon FC had gone bust as opposed to being relocated against its supporters wishes, at the end of season the League would have either reduced by one the number of clubs being relegated or increased by one the number of clubs coming up from the Conference. Either way, they'd still be 92 clubs in the Premier and Football Leagues.
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For all the hate for MK Dons, there are now two league teams where there could in all likelihood have been none.
So if Villa become Aberystwyth Villans then AFC Aston Villa manage to get themselves promoted to the League within a decade that will be alright then?
The hate of MK Dons is well-deserved. As soon as people start accepting them, some other scumbag chairman will be thinking of relocating a club.
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No offence Dave,
It's just that I'd been enjoying the 'little love-in' and saw no real reason that your opinion should have to necessarily spoil it for anyone else but yourself.
The pork pies thing was all mine, apologies!
No offence taken.
I'll leave you all to carry on praising up the ground-stealers.
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My understanding is that Kingstonian went bust so a millionaire bought the leashold to the ground (the land being owned by the council) and charged them a fortune for rent. AFC Wimbledon then bought the ground off the millionaire and now charge Kingstonian a lower rent.
Doesn't sound like stealing it to me.
I see the AFC Wimbledon PR machine has done it's job well.
Ask yourself why Khosla was so desperate to force Kingstonian into administration so he could get the leasehold.
It's almost as if he knew there was a homeless team down the road waiting to move in.
Ask yourself how AFCW got the money to buy the ground off him (clue: Khosla leant them it).
It was the least they could do to allow Kingstonian to groundshare, I'm surprised they had the temerity to charge them at all considering the role they had in forcing them out in the first place.
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so AFC wimbledon play outside of Wimbledon, bought someone elses ground which is not in there borough, and now charge them rent for playing in it whilst they call the new ground they bought home
and we are all supposed to like them ?
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I see the AFC Wimbledon PR machine has done it's job well.
Ask yourself why Khosla was so desperate to force Kingstonian into administration so he could get the leasehold.
It's almost as if he knew there was a homeless team down the road waiting to move in.
Ask yourself how AFCW got the money to buy the ground off him (clue: Khosla leant them it).
It was the least they could do to allow Kingstonian to groundshare, I'm surprised they had the temerity to charge them at all considering the role they had in forcing them out in the first place.
But if we stick to facts rather than attempting to read between the lines:
- Kingstonian went in to administration after being relegated.
- A rich businessman saw an opportunity, bought the ground and then charged Kingstonian rent.
- AFC Wimbledon then initially loaned some of the money (not all as you seem to imply) from the millionaire to buy the ground and have now got a bank loan which was used to pretty much completely pay him back.
- AFCW charge Kingstonian a nominal rent which is pretty much paid for by the two teams hosting a friendly each season.
Net result?
- Kingstonian still play at the same ground which they don't own because they went bust but it doesn't actually cost them very much because the rent's virtually nothing.
- AFCW have a loan to pay off, but have their own ground and let their neighbours use it for virtually free.
- Some millionaire is richer than he was from it all.
Unless you're telling me the millionaire also owns AFCW I'm struggling to see how they're to blame.
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I see the AFC Wimbledon PR machine has done it's job well.
Ask yourself why Khosla was so desperate to force Kingstonian into administration so he could get the leasehold.
It's almost as if he knew there was a homeless team down the road waiting to move in.
Ask yourself how AFCW got the money to buy the ground off him (clue: Khosla leant them it).
It was the least they could do to allow Kingstonian to groundshare, I'm surprised they had the temerity to charge them at all considering the role they had in forcing them out in the first place.
But if we stick to facts rather than attempting to read between the lines:
- Kingstonian went in to administration after being relegated.
- A rich businessman saw an opportunity, bought the ground and then charged Kingstonian rent.
- AFC Wimbledon then initially loaned some of the money (not all as you seem to imply) from the millionaire to buy the ground and have now got a bank loan which was used to pretty much completely pay him back.
- AFCW charge Kingstonian a nominal rent which is pretty much paid for by the two teams hosting a friendly each season.
Net result?
- Kingstonian still play at the same ground which they don't own because they went bust but it doesn't actually cost them very much because the rent's virtually nothing.
- AFCW have a loan to pay off, but have their own ground and let their neighbours use it for virtually free.
- Some millionaire is richer than he was from it all.
Unless you're telling me the millionaire also owns AFCW I'm struggling to see how they're to blame.
so they moved took advantage of someone elses misfortune and now play out of the area in a ground that used to be someone elses,
not that much different from MK dons then
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so they moved took advantage of someone elses misfortune and now play out of the area in a ground that used to be someone elses,
not that much different from MK dons then
Run that one by me again?!
Kingstonian are no worse off apart from the fact they no longer own their own ground. But that's because they went in to administration, not because of some underhand tactics by AFCW. The fans still get to see their team play at their local ground. Nothing has changed.
MK Dons took a club and shipped it lock, stock and barrel 60 miles away. The fans were basically told to do one.
You can say that AFCW 'took advantage of someone else's misfortune' or another way to look at it would be that they secured their neighbours ground, charging them a pittance to play there, so that the millionaire didn't just sell it off to housing developers.
They're an absolute world apart. Trying to liken the two events is laughable.
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so they moved took advantage of someone elses misfortune and now play out of the area in a ground that used to be someone elses,
not that much different from MK dons then
Run that one by me again?!
Kingstonian are no worse off apart from the fact they no longer own their own ground. But that's because they went in to administration, not because of some underhand tactics by AFCW. The fans still get to see their team play at their local ground. Nothing has changed.
MK Dons took a club and shipped it lock, stock and barrel 60 miles away. The fans were basically told to do one.
You can say that AFCW 'took advantage of someone else's misfortune' or another way to look at it would be that they secured their neighbours ground, charging them a pittance to play there, so that the millionaire didn't just sell it off to housing developers.
They're an absolute world apart. Trying to liken the two events is laughable.
only in scale, not in principle
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only in scale, not in principle
No, no. In principle they're completely different too.
Kingstonian fans still watch their team play in the same place they always have (since they voluntarily moved there). Wimbledon's fans were left without a club unless they fancied a 120 mile round trip every home game.
Please explain to me how they're the same 'in principle'.
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only in scale, not in principle
No, no. In principle they're completely different too.
Kingstonian fans still watch their team play in the same place they always have (since they voluntarily moved there). Wimbledon's fans were left without a club unless they fancied a 120 mile round trip every home game.
Please explain to me how they're the same 'in principle'.
i thought Wimbledon just got promoted to the football league, doesnt sound as though they have to do a big trip
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Ideal world will see Luton promoted next season. 40 points deductions in 6 months still isn't fair!
that punished the genuine fans not the people who deserved punishing
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so they moved took advantage of someone elses misfortune and now play out of the area in a ground that used to be someone elses,
not that much different from MK dons then
Exactly John. There's an awful lot of misty-eyed romanticism when it comes to Wimbledon. Their story was brilliant, but the Premier League years caught up with them. They had no ground, their own borough didn't want them, Plough Lane had been sold for a supermarket to be build on the ground, and they were losing money hand over fist playing in Croydon. For years they'd been talking about moving to just about anywhere that would have them. The only thing that I think you can accuse Milton Keynes of is circumventing the usual way of getting a league team through the usual pyramid system, but then the city grew at such an extraordinary rate that that was never going to be a realistic option.
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The only thing that I think you can accuse Milton Keynes of is circumventing the usual way of getting a league team through the usual pyramid system
That's exactly the point. Nicking someone else's club is out of order.
The fact AFC Wimbledon are around now shows that the people of Wimbledon had the passion to maintain a football club. Had the old Wimbledon gone in to administration because of their debts then they'd have dropped down the leagues but would still be there, with all their history. Instead someone else thought that history counted for nothing and stuck the club on the back of a truck to take it to another town.
Just wrong.
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The only thing that I think you can accuse Milton Keynes of is circumventing the usual way of getting a league team through the usual pyramid system, but then the city grew at such an extraordinary rate that that was never going to be a realistic option.
Why wasn't it a realistic option? As AFC Wimbledon have shown, it is possible to go from founding to League status in under a decade. Also, if the city was growing at such an extraordinary rate and manifestly a proportion of this growth would have been football fans, how come they failed to support the team that was already in existence and bore the city's name?
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The only thing that I think you can accuse Milton Keynes of is circumventing the usual way of getting a league team through the usual pyramid system
That's exactly the point. Nicking someone else's club is out of order.
The fact AFC Wimbledon are around now shows that the people of Wimbledon had the passion to maintain a football club. Had the old Wimbledon gone in to administration because of their debts then they'd have dropped down the leagues but would still be there, with all their history. Instead someone else thought that history counted for nothing and stuck the club on the back of a truck to take it to another town.
Just wrong.
i think most fans including me would agree that the way they entered the league could have been done a lot better and fairer, like Risso said that is the thing in which they stand accused.
but there is a big band waggon which you are obviously riding on, who hate MK Dons and love AFC Wimbledon, then when you get under neath to the true story its not as black and white as you would make out,
AFCW are not pearly white and they themselves have not done evertyhing in a fair manner,
but hey ho lets just keep on hateing the MKD cus thats the better story for so called 'proper fans' of football.
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Luton will go up next season given the state Stockport and Lincoln have come down in.
Good to see the Wombles back up.
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Good to see the Wombles back up.
A pedant would say that they are not back up as they are a new club who have never been in the league before!
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The only thing that I think you can accuse Milton Keynes of is circumventing the usual way of getting a league team through the usual pyramid system, but then the city grew at such an extraordinary rate that that was never going to be a realistic option.
Why wasn't it a realistic option? As AFC Wimbledon have shown, it is possible to go from founding to League status in under a decade. Also, if the city was growing at such an extraordinary rate and manifestly a proportion of this growth would have been football fans, how come they failed to support the team that was already in existence and bore the city's name?
Because Milton Keynes is essentially a London overspill town, and the first generation of MKers mostly all supported a London team. About 20 years ago, there was a team called Wolverton (not far from where John E lives) who I think made it to the league below the Conference (Beazer Homes league?). They spent a relative fortune chasing league glory, renamed themselves MK Wolves, then went bust.
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i think most fans including me would agree that the way they entered the league could have been done a lot better and fairer, like Risso said that is the thing in which they stand accused.
but there is a big band waggon which you are obviously riding on, who hate MK Dons and love AFC Wimbledon, then when you get under neath to the true story its not as black and white as you would make out,
AFCW are not pearly white and they themselves have not done evertyhing in a fair manner,
but hey ho lets just keep on hateing the MKD cus thats the better story for so called 'proper fans' of football.
I'm not on a bandwagon and I've never said AFCW are pearly white. Your views of AFCW are causing you to miss the point.
MK Dons is a club that was stolen from another set of fans. Imagine yourself in that situation. It's horrific and is pretty much the worst thing that can happen in football in my eyes. I think I'd prefer my team to go bust than to be stolen and moved to another town.
As a group of fans, AFCW have created something out of the ashes of that crime and are now within one tier of the team that jumped the queue by stealing their club. It shows what fans can do when faced with adversity and I applaud them for it. They've earnt their day in the sun and I hope they get the opportunity very soon to get one over on MK Dons in revenge for what they've been through.
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so AFC wimbledon play outside of Wimbledon, bought someone elses ground which is not in there borough, and now charge them rent for playing in it whilst they call the new ground they bought home
and we are all supposed to like them ?
AFCW don't play in their own borough mainly because ... their own borough effectively turfed them out!
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Wimbledon for the way they played and Luton for the pitch and the fan ban will never be universally popular but that wasn't the fans fault. The fans of both clubs were let down badly by the people running the clubs and the authorities. Did the luton fans deserve that points reduction that effectively guaranteed relegation?. As for Wimbledon fans who had their club and League place stolen I'm delighted they are back. I think when they started they were seven divisions below MK Dons and now it's one.
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Wimbledon for the way they played and Luton for the pitch and the fan ban will never be universally popular but that wasn't the fans fault.
You wouldn't have said that if you'd met a Luton fan at the time. They were, almost to a man, horrible about it.
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I have to be honest I f***** hate Wimbledon. Any team that brings the alehouse football and thuggery, disguised as " having a bit of fun", to the League as they did in the 80's and 90's deserves every piece of bad luck going IMO. Lets not forget this bunch of a******** unleashed the likes of Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise and other c**** on us and I have still not forgiven them. That Sam Hamman was a complete and utter t***** as well. And Plough Lane, what a f****** dump that was, and then they ground shared at f****** Palace as well just to add insult to injury. And they knocked us out of the FA Cup 3 times in 6 years with some of the worst football its ever been my shame to witness. And one of them ended Styephen Froggatts career with an appalling challenge in the Dalian Atkinson wondergoal game. The 7-1 when we beat them was probably in my all time top 5 Villa 90's moments as it consigned to the dustbin what those c**** had done to us over the previous 5 seasons. They've also spawned a thousand imitators who seem to think there style of kick and rush thuggish hoofball is the way to get your team up the leagues and unfortunately in the barely sane world of English football it succeeds (John beck at Cambridge anyone? shudders) with disciples like Allardyce and Pulis able to keep teams in the premiership playing like this.
So apologies to those who think this is some Disney fairy story, but they're Wimbledon, and I don't forget. C****.
And breathe..........
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Wimbledon for the way they played and Luton for the pitch and the fan ban will never be universally popular but that wasn't the fans fault.
You wouldn't have said that if you'd met a Luton fan at the time. They were, almost to a man, horrible about it.
I have to admit that firstly I don't think I have ever met a Luton fan and secondly, having visited Kenilworth Road once (Bossie's debut I think) they can bring the ban back because it's not top of my list of places to revisit.
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Is it true that AFC Wimbledon will refuse to play MK Dons if they are drawn together? Or was that just while they were a none-league side?
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Is it true that AFC Wimbledon will refuse to play MK Dons if they are drawn together? Or was that just while they were a none-league side?
When they had a possibility of this happening in the cup this season I don't think there was ever a danger either club would fail to fulfill the fixture, just that the AFC guys didn't want to as they felt it was giving credence to MK Dons existance as a football club.
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Is it true that AFC Wimbledon will refuse to play MK Dons if they are drawn together? Or was that just while they were a none-league side?
When they had a possibility of this happening in the cup this season I don't think there was ever a danger either club would fail to fulfill the fixture, just that the AFC guys didn't want to as they felt it was giving credence to MK Dons existance as a football club.
the only people who were getting all excited were fans from other clubs as far as i could see
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Can we just agree that Wimbledon and Luton are a pair of ******?
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Can we just agree that Wimbledon and Luton are a pair of c***s?
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Yes, yes we can
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Wimbledon for the way they played and Luton for the pitch and the fan ban will never be universally popular but that wasn't the fans fault.
You wouldn't have said that if you'd met a Luton fan at the time. They were, almost to a man, horrible about it.
I have to admit that firstly I don't think I have ever met a Luton fan and secondly, having visited Kenilworth Road once (Bossie's debut I think) they can bring the ban back because it's not top of my list of places to revisit.
That was my one and only experience of Kenilworth Rd too.
Thank Christ.
Anyway, I was in the "fair play to 'em" camp when I heard the news on Saturday, but after reading this thread and in particular AV82EC's evocotive rant I hope they crash and burn.