Welcome back MK Dons

[DippyDon]

I've never understood why Milton Keynes travel so poorly. Even when averaging about 7 or 8000 at home they seem to travel in numbers more akin to Stevenage or Crawley.

Because most of the idiots that fill stadium:mk only do so because it’s cheaper than their London teams. Milton Keynes itself is basically a London’s overspill so it will take generations for the stadium to be filled with those growing up only supporting MK.

Those that travel away are mostly those that solely care for this club and this club only that aren’t about 12 years old. This season we’ve had our best away attendances since the championship, so it looks like they will start increasing from now on.

 

[womble76]

Surely anyone buying a football club is in it for financial reasons? Yes there were big financial incentives, but if there weren't then nobody would buy a club.

Relocating the club was the only option otherwise Wimbledon would have been liquidated. If you read up on how much work was put into finding a stadium site in the years before the move you would see that option had been exhausted.

I havent bothered biting until now but here we go. There were other options to liquidation. Such as relegation post admin etc that normal clubs do. Actually there was no effort put into stadium search. It was smoke and mirrors. If younwant to see what a lirrle bit of effort did then look at a little further down plough lane where we are currently building a stadium.

 

[Franchisor]

I havent bothered biting until now but here we go. There were other options to liquidation. Such as relegation post admin etc that normal clubs do. Actually there was no effort put into stadium search. It was smoke and mirrors. If younwant to see what a lirrle bit of effort did then look at a little further down plough lane where we are currently building a stadium.

I'm only going off the information on https://www.mkdsa.info/facts-of-the-move which includes letters from Sam Hammam (MD of Wimbledon prior to the move). If you have any other resources online that hold more weight than that I wouldn't mind reading them.

 

[womble76]

Ha ha that fact sheet is full of lies and half truths. Also sam hamman didnt open his mouth without lying. There is a wimbledon version of rhat fact sheet but unfortunately it contains truths most of your fans like to deny.

 

[womble76]

I'm only going off the information on https://www.mkdsa.info/facts-of-the-move which includes letters from Sam Hammam (MD of Wimbledon prior to the move). If you have any other resources online that hold more weight than that I wouldn't mind reading them.

The actual truth is in the bath womble blog, the truth abiut franchise. Like i said most of your fans claim this is false but as someone around at the time and in meetings with hamman etc its not. Its pretty much as it happened..

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Will SERNWA be back too?

Franchise and SERNWA......

I’m so excited a little bit of wee just came out.

 

[DippyDon]

Can we just rename this ‘the franchise thread’ or something to keep all of this stuff in one place? It’s already boring but it will inevitably carry on all season

 

[Franchisor]

Ha ha that fact sheet is full of lies and half truths. Also sam hamman didnt open his mouth without lying. There is a wimbledon version of rhat fact sheet but unfortunately it contains truths most of your fans like to deny.

Both Bath Womble and others including yourself are only looking at it from a fan perspective though, not the inner workings of the club at the time. Not sure how you can say it is "full of lies" - literally every point is backed up by paperwork - letters from/to the council and from stakeholders concerning actions and decisions. It's also not biased, it includes points that also favour AFCW, and points against the move etc.

Why do you say Sam Hammam "didn't open his mouth without lying"? Bit of a claim to make without proof to back that up. Not defending him, just that as he was the Managing Director he would have been closely involved in every decision and step, so things like the letter from him to the majority shareholders are actual evidence of decisions made (he would possibly be breaking the law if he lied to them about the financial state of the club or decisions he had made). Sorry but things like that are far more reliable than a fan blog.


EDIT: Just had a quick read of Bath Womble's blog and it's as biased as expected. The only thing I agree with him on is we should drop the 'Dons' part of the name, but that won't happen as not enough fans want it.

 

[womble76]

Both Bath Womble and others including yourself are only looking at it from a fan perspective though, not the inner workings of the club at the time. Not sure how you can say it is "full of lies" - literally every point is backed up by paperwork - letters from/to the council and from stakeholders concerning actions and decisions. It's also not biased, it includes points that also favour AFCW, and points against the move etc.

Why do you say Sam Hammam "didn't open his mouth without lying"? Bit of a claim to make without proof to back that up. Not defending him, just that as he was the Managing Director he would have been closely involved in every decision and step, so things like the letter from him to the majority shareholders are actual evidence of decisions made (he would possibly be breaking the law if he lied to them about the financial state of the club or decisions he had made). Sorry but things like that are far more reliable than a fan blog.


EDIT: Just had a quick read of Bath Womble's blog and it's as biased as expected. The only thing I agree with him on is we should drop the 'Dons' part of the name, but that won't happen as not enough fans want it.

Im a little bored of people who come along way after the fact and then talk about bias etc.You can believe what you like but im happy with the way i see it and cant be arse to discuss further.

 

[Tom_ITFC]

Both Bath Womble and others including yourself are only looking at it from a fan perspective though, not the inner workings of the club at the time. Not sure how you can say it is "full of lies" - literally every point is backed up by paperwork - letters from/to the council and from stakeholders concerning actions and decisions. It's also not biased, it includes points that also favour AFCW, and points against the move etc.

Why do you say Sam Hammam "didn't open his mouth without lying"? Bit of a claim to make without proof to back that up. Not defending him, just that as he was the Managing Director he would have been closely involved in every decision and step, so things like the letter from him to the majority shareholders are actual evidence of decisions made (he would possibly be breaking the law if he lied to them about the financial state of the club or decisions he had made). Sorry but things like that are far more reliable than a fan blog.


EDIT: Just had a quick read of Bath Womble's blog and it's as biased as expected. The only thing I agree with him on is we should drop the 'Dons' part of the name, but that won't happen as not enough fans want it.

That's the bit i've never understood. Keeping that just reminds everyone what happened!

 

[DippyDon]

That's the bit i've never understood. Keeping that just reminds everyone what happened!

Pete has said that it’s the fans choice, and unfortunately for everyone else there’s only a handful that would actually want to drop that from our name.

I would have maybe agreed had it only just happened, but in 15 years we’ve won a league and a cup, won 3 promotions and had 3 relegations. It’s a short history yes, but that’s come with us being as MK Dons and I wouldn’t want to change that this far down the road.

 

[Bobbin']

Happy to change from Wimbledon to MK Dons 99 years down the road though?

 

[DippyDon]

Happy to change from Wimbledon to MK Dons 99 years down the road though?

I was 8 when they changed the name, so at the time I was happy whenever I was bought a happy meal.

 

[Bobbin']

Ah, is that where your love of franchises started?

 

[gary]

Pete has said that it’s the fans choice, and unfortunately for everyone else there’s only a handful that would actually want to drop that from our name.

I would have maybe agreed had it only just happened, but in 15 years we’ve won a league and a cup, won 3 promotions and had 3 relegations. It’s a short history yes, but that’s come with us being as MK Dons and I wouldn’t want to change that this far down the road.

Keeping the dons name just makes you look like a complete bunch of twats.The clue is WimbleDON.

 

[DippyDon]

Keeping the dons name just makes you look like a complete bunch of twats.The clue is WimbleDON.

Thats literally why we’ve got it mate. Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes and rightly or wrongly that’s why we kept the Dons part of the name.

 

[gary]

Thats literally why we’ve got it mate. Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes and rightly or wrongly that’s why we kept the Dons part of the name.

As I just said a complete bunch of twats

 

[Tom_ITFC]

Pete has said that it’s the fans choice, and unfortunately for everyone else there’s only a handful that would actually want to drop that from our name.

I would have maybe agreed had it only just happened, but in 15 years we’ve won a league and a cup, won 3 promotions and had 3 relegations. It’s a short history yes, but that’s come with us being as MK Dons and I wouldn’t want to change that this far down the road.

Fair enough from your point of view, especially as you were young when it all happened.

Do you know of any Wimbledon fans that followed the club to Milton Keynes? And do the club see themselves as a club who have played in the Premier League?

 

[DippyDon]

Fair enough from your point of view, especially as you were young when it all happened.

Do you know of any Wimbledon fans that followed the club to Milton Keynes? And do the club see themselves as a club who have played in the Premier League?

Club aren’t allowed to, and because they handed everything back to Merton council they’ve been accepted by organisations such as the FSF which was the only real reason that I know of as to why we handed everything back.

There are more that followed the club than AFC fans like to admit, one of my better friends that I’ve met through the football grew up as a Wimbledon fan and has continued to follow the club while his dad now doesn’t watch football as in his eyes neither team are his team.

 

[PuB]

I don’t for a minute believe there are more than 100 supporters who follow you now from the original club, maybe they just happened to live in the local MK area when it happened. But that would barely justify it (not to anyone else, and neither to themselves).

 

[womble76]

I don’t for a minute believe there are more than 100 supporters who follow you now from the original club, maybe they just happened to live in the local MK area when it happened. But that would barely justify it (not to anyone else, and neither to themselves).

I would also say 100 tops now. Initially a few hundred but they have fallen by the way side.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Because most of the idiots that fill stadium:mk only do so because it’s cheaper than their London teams. Milton Keynes itself is basically a London’s overspill so it will take generations for the stadium to be filled with those growing up only supporting MK.

Those that travel away are mostly those that solely care for this club and this club only that aren’t about 12 years old. This season we’ve had our best away attendances since the championship, so it looks like they will start increasing from now on.

Or they give tickets away like they did in their 1000s for their virtual promotion play off

 

[PuB]

They’ve always handed out thousands of free tickets every week, you only have to glance at their away figures to realise they’re just a cheap (free) day when they’re at home.

 

[DippyDon]

Or they give tickets away like they did in their 1000s for their virtual promotion play off

Every club gives away free tickets. I remember Swindon coming out a few years ago offering a couple of thousand. I was given free tickets to Northampton a few times as a kid. It’s one of those things where it’s a great initiative to get people involved affordable in the sport as long as it isn’t us.

They’ve always handed out thousands of free tickets every week, you only have to glance at their away figures to realise they’re just a cheap (free) day when they’re at home.

I wish it was cheap... we’ve had the odd promotional game this season, and more ‘free tickets’ than I’ve ever seen granted, but it says it all when our average attendance is barely half of our season tickets added on, including away fans. We haven’t reduced prices since the Championship and the price puts a lot of people off.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Every club gives away free tickets. I remember Swindon coming out a few years ago offering a couple of thousand. I was given free tickets to Northampton a few times as a kid. It’s one of those things where it’s a great initiative to get people involved affordable in the sport as long as it isn’t us.


I wish it was cheap... we’ve had the odd promotional game this season, and more ‘free tickets’ than I’ve ever seen granted, but it says it all when our average attendance is barely half of our season tickets added on, including away fans. We haven’t reduced prices since the Championship and the price puts a lot of people off.

Yeah but Franchise FC give away something like 10-20,000 every season. And target schools in Luton territory to try and entice them up the road...

 

[Franchisor]

Yeah but Franchise FC give away something like 10-20,000 every season. And target schools in Luton territory to try and entice them up the road...

Literally nothing to complain about if something is free is there? As Dippy said, nearly every club gives away free tickets every season and similar offers to what MK do (e.g. season ticket holders can get an extra ticket free for certain games, under twelves go free etc). It's really nothing new.

We have one of the highest purchase rates of season tickets in both L1 and L2, probably something like 85-90% of our home attendance are season ticket holders for the average game. We also regularly have one of the highest average attendances for this level, people just don't like to admit that we have a reasonable level of support.

Yes the club give out free tickets, but they are only to a small minority (E.g. school kids, or poor families who can't afford to go to football). People make out like we're just giving them to anybody who wants one for every single game, which is completely false. I've followed the club since the start and never once had a free ticket for myself!

Yes our away support could be much better, but it's improving on average and as a big proportion of our home support are families with kids, it's not practical for most of them to travel week in week out. Give it 10-15 years when they have grown up I expect we'll have a significant increase in away support. People also forget that we've only been around for 15 years, all other clubs have generations (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, their kids) of support - and we still do better than certain clubs after all that.

 

[DippyDon]

I don’t think that the high percentage of ST’s is necessarily a good thing as it just shows that we can’t really attract the neutrals on a regular basis, but the away support has improved a lot this season. We had a better average than the 2 years previous, with more total fans travelling than any other year than I can remember apart from the championship season.

 

[WhiteRussian]

I really wouldn't bother chaps. Anything we do is bad even if other clubs do it and when they do it it seems it is good!!

Personally I couldn't give a toss if our away support is good or bad compared the other clubs. It is what it is and nothing but time is going to change that.

I very much doubt we give away any more free tickets than any other club, but when they do it's supporting the community and when we do it's just to get our figures up.

Just leave it be and let them bask in their sanctimoniousness.