0% Villa - AFC Wimbledon...

[cdbearsfan]

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.

[Dave Cooper please]

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.

[Dave Cooper please]

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.

[john e]

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 ?

[Ad@m]

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.

[john e]

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

[Ad@m]

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.

[john e]

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

[Ad@m]

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'.

[john e]

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

[Fergal]

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

[Risso]

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.

[Ad@m]

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.

[TopDeck113]

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?

[john e]

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.