I know that many football fans were delighted to see AFC Wimbledon win promotion to the Football League in a penalty shoot out yesterday. It’s been a remarkable story and a great victory for fan power. However, I do feel sorry for Luton Town who have also been victims of the football authorities. They don’t deserve to be playing in the Conference and they are only doing so because of some harsh treatment.
I know that many football fans were delighted to see AFC Wimbledon win promotion to the Football League in a penalty shoot out yesterday. It’s been a remarkable story and a great victory for fan power. However, I do feel sorry for Luton Town who have also been victims of the football authorities. They don’t deserve to be playing in the Conference and they are only doing so because of some harsh treatment.
AFC Wimbledon is undoubtedly well run and they have the fan base to sustain themselves in League 2. They will have one of the lowest budgets in the division, although £600,000 of central funding will be available to them. They may well have the momentum to break through into League 1 which would allow them to play the club that acquired their franchise, MK Dons. To be fair to them, they have developed their own support base.
Wimbledon were founded on Wimbledon Common and one of the interesting questions is whether it will be possible one day for them to move back to the borough of Merton. Lawrie Sanchez, who scored the winning goal for the club in the FA Cup Final, commented in The Times yesterday, ‘Sam Hammam has gone down as the villain of the piece, but Merton Borough Council have a lot to answer for. They should have been falling over backwards to keep Premier League football in the area, but they didn’t lift a finger. It’s not too late to make amends.’
Local authorities can often be ambivalent, to say the least, about football clubs as Charlton fans know all too well. They had to fight the local elections to get back to The Valley. Football fans are often stigmatised as uncouth, beer swilling thugs which is an interesting image given how the profile of supporters has changed.
The Kingsmeadow ground is good enough for League 2, but has its limitations if the club progresses. Moreover, as Lawrie Sanchez points out, Wimbledon were in effect a franchise club from the day they moved to Selhurst Park in 1991. Apparently, a suitable site in Merton might be available.