11/23/24
May 30, 2016
AFC Wimbledon Win Promotion to League One: Fourteen years ago, fans in Wimbledon lost their football club to Milton Keynes in a franchise relocation -- something that never happens in England. Fans held public tryouts and began a new club, AFC Wimbledon, which started at the ninth level of the English football pyramid, the Combined Counties Football League. Today, the AFC Wimbledon Dons won a playoff at Wembley to earn promotion to the third level, League One. They will share a division next season with MK Dons. AFC Wimbledon have plans underway to build a 20,000-seat stadium at the site of their old Plough Lane ground.
The team from Milton Keynes should drop the "Dons" and call themselves after something local, like "The MK Roundabouts".
Wimbledon used to average 8,000 at home matches when they were in the top flight, so 20,000 looks ambitious, but good luck to them.
/I hate the playoffs. And I have my reasons.
posted by owlhouse at 09:34 PM on May 30, 2016
I liked the playoffs until Saturday.
As a Premier League fan of only 10 years, I can't imagine a top-flight team drawing 8,000.
I've never understood why the MK Dons didn't buy the name Milton Keynes FC from a failed club and use that instead. Did they think by putting Dons in the name so prominently they'd retain Wimbledon FC's fan base?
posted by rcade at 09:27 AM on May 31, 2016
Unfortunately, they will go into League One without "The Beast" as club icon Adebayo Akinfenwa was told a week before the final he would be released.
posted by jjzucal at 09:05 AM on June 01, 2016
That timing is harsh. Akinfenwa seems to be a good sport about it.
There's poignance in players winning promotion for a club that rewards them with a release. "You will not bring this community into the land I give them."
posted by rcade at 12:20 PM on June 01, 2016
At least he was told days prior, so he would have been released win or lose.
Rcade's line, however, is appropriate. I feel sorry for those who bust a seam to win promotion (especially to the Prem or Champ) only to be told they're not good enough for the next level. Occasionally you hope for the player to "pull a Vardy" and defy the naysayers.
Next season's ties come as AFC fans enjoy some large slices of schadenfreude: promotion followed MKD's relegation from the Championship.
posted by jjzucal at 05:10 PM on June 01, 2016
If you haven't heard it, do yourself a favor and listen to this Men in Blazers interview with Adebayo Akinfenwa. I will always root for him.
posted by yerfatma at 10:28 AM on June 02, 2016
I saw this a few days ago: I did not know Akinfenwa had spoken with several MLS clubs before re-signing with AFC. It's a shame ... he could have helped some of the lower performers and would have been a crowd-pleaser.
posted by jjzucal at 04:45 PM on June 03, 2016
This is a testament to the awesomeness of promotion/relegation.
MK Dons reduced some of the bad blood between the clubs when it gave up all claim to the Wimbledon F.C. history in 2007, but the continued use of Dons in the name has become more controversial over time.
This ought to be a great bitter rivalry next season. The clubs have met three times in cup play with MK Dons winning twice and AFC Wimbledon once.