MK Dons 2-1 AFC Wimbledon
Stadium:MK
02/12/12
Att: 16,459
At last they have met
When we last visited Stadium:MK I refused to make any comment on how Milton Keynes as a city inherited their football club. This was mainly out of lack of knowledge due to being 6 years old when the events were taking place. As you may have realised I've grown up watching the sport we all love and know nothing else. The team I support disappeared 20 years ago and have since come back stronger. Now I feel is the correct time to make my viewpoint on the existence of these two clubs known, as the fixture has taken place. This will not represent the viewpoint of all three of us, just the view point of myself. I will try to be as un bias as possible, particularly as I understand where both sets of teams are coming from in this whole ordeal.
When this draw was made a couple of weeks back it caught the attention of the two teams, the country and in many respects the footballing world. It was an event that many knew would happen sooner or later; all the two clubs had to do was win their replay as they both did. 9 years ago Wimbledon FC, winners of the 1988 FA Cup, were relocated to Milton Keynes. The origins of the move began in 2000 when a consortium led by Peter Winkleman, in co-operation with ASDA and Ikea, put forward the proposition of a new ground to various clubs in the football league pyramid. These clubs included; Luton, Barnet, Wimbledon, QPR and Crystal Palace. At first none of the teams were interested in this deal, but Wimbledon, under new chairman Charles Koppel were in serious financial difficulty. Legal proceedings were carried out and to cut a long story short the FA sanctioned the move to relocate Wimbledon FC 90 kilometres to Milton Keynes. In light of all this fans of the original Wimbledon team saw this as the death of their club. Weeks later in 2002 they had founded another football team, AFC Wimbledon. They entered a ground sharing agreement with Kingstonian in Kingston-upon-thames and were to start in the combined counties league. In 2004 football was played in MK for the first time (in the FL) at the national hockey stadium and for the last 9 years AFC have risen to league two, while MK Dons have won the JPT and have been strong contenders in league one. This is a pretty basic background, if you want a more complete story there is an excellent article on Wikipedia. Since all honours won by Wimbledon FC have been given to Merton council.
For much of the past few weeks the media has been in overdrive, even before the two teams had won the replay, and it got to the point where I questioned whether I wanted to go and watch the game such was my entailing indifference of both teams. My curiosity got the better of me, however, and we decided to get tickets. We had no previous booking history with AFC and didn't fancy the neutral section, and having visited Stadium:MK last year we could meet the "criteria" for the home end. Settling for the half way line. The reason behind my indifference is due to several factors. In terms of not liking MK, it's because I don't agree with the distance moved (in regards to Phil's everlasting question regarding how far is too far, 15 miles) and the fans annoy me, particularly the older ones, as it feels so forced and I got the impression many don't understand football (hard to explain). Saying that they are now creating their own history in a fantastic venue, trying to create a family club in the local community. In regards to AFC Wimbledon it is a lot more complicated, not helped by their appearances in the media in the build-up to this game. There was also lots of talk of boycott and not spending money in the ground, which they made a big thing about. If reports are truthful AFC fans spent £20,000 in the stadium as well as selling out the away end. To add to this in some ways you could see the fans of the original Wimbledon team as turning their backs on their team. Indeed this is shown with the date that AFC were formed, two years before Milton Keynes Dons. Despite this their rise through Non-League has been very impressive, and the work they have done at Kingsmeadow is starting to look really good. You can also claim that Kingstonian are better off because of the deal over how much rent they now pay.
Credit where credit is due, Milton Keynes (or rather Bletchley) have a venue that would be the envy of many clubs. Having prior played in the National Hockey stadium, as MK Dons, from 2003-2007 they moved to Stadium:MK with the first match being played on the 18th July 2007. Since the city of MK was created there had been plans for a 30,000 capacity football stadium, however these didn't come into fruition until the relocation of Wimbledon FC was confirmed. The ground is believed to have cost £50 million, which doesn't surprise me considering the quality of the build. Its capacity for the time being is 22,000. The lower portion of seating sweeps in a bowl around the whole of the pitch. These seats are accessed from the concourse which is on ground level, with the seats dug into the ground. The concourse is my favourite feature of the ground. Not only is it fairly unique in this country, but it also means you can watch the game even when you're not at your seats. I'll add in now that all the seats within the ground are padded (Modern football, eh). On three sides of the ground the top tiers sweep in a normal fashion, although currently they do not have any seats. The main side of the stadium has the top tier split into three separate balconies; this is in order to facilitate the executive boxes and hotel.
The match, as expected didn't match the media hype. Well for the large part any way. As the players entered the field the two sets of fans let their opinions be heard. The home fans kept it simple with two banners; "AFC Hypocrites" and "We're keeping the Dons......Get over it". The away fans all head up bits of paper. From Twitter I found out that these said "We are Wimbledon". Throughout the match various chants would be repeated over and over. Most notably "where were you when you were us" and "You know what you are, you franchise b*stards, you know what you are." And of course the pitch invasions after Wimbledon's first and MK's second goals (AFC's was better).
I feel the match took the back foot in all this, rightly or wrongly, so my take will be brief. MK took the lead in the 45th minute with an absolute peach of a goal from Stephen Gleeson. He lined up a shot from 30 yards and rifled it into the top right hand corner past Neil Sullivan. Jack Midson equalized in the 59th minute with one of AFC's few attacks in the second half. They nearly took the lead shortly before half time, but were denied by a superb 1-1 save from Dave Martin. MK got there winner in dramatic fashion when Jose Otsemobor flicked a shot past the visiting keeper in the 92nd minute.
When this draw was made a couple of weeks back it caught the attention of the two teams, the country and in many respects the footballing world. It was an event that many knew would happen sooner or later; all the two clubs had to do was win their replay as they both did. 9 years ago Wimbledon FC, winners of the 1988 FA Cup, were relocated to Milton Keynes. The origins of the move began in 2000 when a consortium led by Peter Winkleman, in co-operation with ASDA and Ikea, put forward the proposition of a new ground to various clubs in the football league pyramid. These clubs included; Luton, Barnet, Wimbledon, QPR and Crystal Palace. At first none of the teams were interested in this deal, but Wimbledon, under new chairman Charles Koppel were in serious financial difficulty. Legal proceedings were carried out and to cut a long story short the FA sanctioned the move to relocate Wimbledon FC 90 kilometres to Milton Keynes. In light of all this fans of the original Wimbledon team saw this as the death of their club. Weeks later in 2002 they had founded another football team, AFC Wimbledon. They entered a ground sharing agreement with Kingstonian in Kingston-upon-thames and were to start in the combined counties league. In 2004 football was played in MK for the first time (in the FL) at the national hockey stadium and for the last 9 years AFC have risen to league two, while MK Dons have won the JPT and have been strong contenders in league one. This is a pretty basic background, if you want a more complete story there is an excellent article on Wikipedia. Since all honours won by Wimbledon FC have been given to Merton council.
For much of the past few weeks the media has been in overdrive, even before the two teams had won the replay, and it got to the point where I questioned whether I wanted to go and watch the game such was my entailing indifference of both teams. My curiosity got the better of me, however, and we decided to get tickets. We had no previous booking history with AFC and didn't fancy the neutral section, and having visited Stadium:MK last year we could meet the "criteria" for the home end. Settling for the half way line. The reason behind my indifference is due to several factors. In terms of not liking MK, it's because I don't agree with the distance moved (in regards to Phil's everlasting question regarding how far is too far, 15 miles) and the fans annoy me, particularly the older ones, as it feels so forced and I got the impression many don't understand football (hard to explain). Saying that they are now creating their own history in a fantastic venue, trying to create a family club in the local community. In regards to AFC Wimbledon it is a lot more complicated, not helped by their appearances in the media in the build-up to this game. There was also lots of talk of boycott and not spending money in the ground, which they made a big thing about. If reports are truthful AFC fans spent £20,000 in the stadium as well as selling out the away end. To add to this in some ways you could see the fans of the original Wimbledon team as turning their backs on their team. Indeed this is shown with the date that AFC were formed, two years before Milton Keynes Dons. Despite this their rise through Non-League has been very impressive, and the work they have done at Kingsmeadow is starting to look really good. You can also claim that Kingstonian are better off because of the deal over how much rent they now pay.
Credit where credit is due, Milton Keynes (or rather Bletchley) have a venue that would be the envy of many clubs. Having prior played in the National Hockey stadium, as MK Dons, from 2003-2007 they moved to Stadium:MK with the first match being played on the 18th July 2007. Since the city of MK was created there had been plans for a 30,000 capacity football stadium, however these didn't come into fruition until the relocation of Wimbledon FC was confirmed. The ground is believed to have cost £50 million, which doesn't surprise me considering the quality of the build. Its capacity for the time being is 22,000. The lower portion of seating sweeps in a bowl around the whole of the pitch. These seats are accessed from the concourse which is on ground level, with the seats dug into the ground. The concourse is my favourite feature of the ground. Not only is it fairly unique in this country, but it also means you can watch the game even when you're not at your seats. I'll add in now that all the seats within the ground are padded (Modern football, eh). On three sides of the ground the top tiers sweep in a normal fashion, although currently they do not have any seats. The main side of the stadium has the top tier split into three separate balconies; this is in order to facilitate the executive boxes and hotel.
The match, as expected didn't match the media hype. Well for the large part any way. As the players entered the field the two sets of fans let their opinions be heard. The home fans kept it simple with two banners; "AFC Hypocrites" and "We're keeping the Dons......Get over it". The away fans all head up bits of paper. From Twitter I found out that these said "We are Wimbledon". Throughout the match various chants would be repeated over and over. Most notably "where were you when you were us" and "You know what you are, you franchise b*stards, you know what you are." And of course the pitch invasions after Wimbledon's first and MK's second goals (AFC's was better).
I feel the match took the back foot in all this, rightly or wrongly, so my take will be brief. MK took the lead in the 45th minute with an absolute peach of a goal from Stephen Gleeson. He lined up a shot from 30 yards and rifled it into the top right hand corner past Neil Sullivan. Jack Midson equalized in the 59th minute with one of AFC's few attacks in the second half. They nearly took the lead shortly before half time, but were denied by a superb 1-1 save from Dave Martin. MK got there winner in dramatic fashion when Jose Otsemobor flicked a shot past the visiting keeper in the 92nd minute.