AFC Wimbledon moving to Merton

[superdupa]

It looks like that at the end of this season AFC Wimbledon will be moving back to their borough of Merton. This will end their temporary year long agreement of sharing Kingstonian's Kingsmeadow ground. They will be sharing Tooting and Mitcham's Ground which is very recently built. It is a very modern 3000+ all seater stadium - which also has floodlight training pitches and a sports centre. This is good news for AFC Wimbledon as this stadium easily fulfils all the Ryman leagues criteria for selection if they manage to keep up their good for.

Taken from Tootings esteemed website:

"The G.M.C. of Tooting & Mitcham F.C. have accepted in principle a ground share arrangement with A.F.C. Wimbledon based on a three year period.

Members may well hear press speculation before receiving this information, however the decision was not taken until Monday 9th December.

A meeting for further information will be held on Monday 6th January 2003 at 8pm

[Nico]

This is great news - The true fans will stick with them and being at home will make it easier for many - does anybody have a link to the current league table for AFC's division???

[basso001]

Originally posted by Nico
This is great news - The true fans will stick with them and being at home will make it easier for many - does anybody have a link to the current league table for AFC's division???
http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/matches/table.html

AFC Wimbledon's web site is much more attractive than almost any premiere outfit's ...

[caddisfly]

Here's a great article about Wimbledon and the success of AFC Wimbledon and the failure of "Franchise" Wimbledon. http://football.guardian.co.uk/clubsincrisis/story/0,11737,871574,00.html

[Metro-Lager]

Indeed a great article. After reading it, I immediately went to the Dons Trust Website, downloaded the form, and sent them a check for a share...it's great to see this sort of reaction from the fans...

[Frankgarrison]

In a related note, Wimbledon FC announced plans to move to Newcastle....

[forest.clough]

great news ,i hope afc will overtake "milton keynes" one day..
will wimbledon change their name to milton keynes ?
how many go up from afc wimbledons division ?

[FC Carolina]

I don't think there's any plans for Wimbledon FC to change their name right now, but so many people refer to them as MKFC already, they might as well.

IIRC, the champion of the Combined Counties League goes up to the Ryman League. However, the last two championship are still in the league, so perhaps promotion is not automatic.

[pjuk]

Great to hear the news on AFC Wimbledon moving to Merton. As u can see i'm actually from Milton Keynes. I'm totally opposed to the move, even wrote a letter to FourFourTwo which got on the letter pages :) There's absolutely no questioning it will happen now. Our shopping centre even has a Wimbledon stall now, although its usually closed and i've never seen anyone buying anything when its open. I think a lot of people will go and watch "Wimbledon", even if out of interest at first. Milton Keynes has a large population 207,000 people suggesting the hockey stadium will easily be filled. I personally feel that Milton Keynes should set up an AFC Milton Keynes but this is perhaps unrealistic. It'll be an extremely dark day for Milton Keynes when Wimbledon finally arrive.

[Peakite]

Don't Milton Keynes City (?) exist?

[pjuk]

very true, there is a Milton Keynes City and a team called New Bradwell St Peter both existing in the South Midlands League. Both in North Milton Keynes. In fact the oldest football stand in the world is at Milton Keynes City :). Unfortunately its been far easier for the city to steal Wimbledon than improve our current teams. I hate to say this but I feel Milton Keynes unlike other major towns and cities in the UK lacks a soul and an identity. Thats why the people aren't prepared to unite behind these lesser teams that would truly be Milton Keynes's clubs, instead choosing to steal some one elses club.

[RichardL]

Originally posted by pjuk
very true, there is a Milton Keynes City and a team called New Bradwell St Peter both existing in the South Midlands League. Both in North Milton Keynes. In fact the oldest football stand in the world is at Milton Keynes City :). Unfortunately its been far easier for the city to steal Wimbledon than improve our current teams. I hate to say this but I feel Milton Keynes unlike other major towns and cities in the UK lacks a soul and an identity. Thats why the people aren't prepared to unite behind these lesser teams that would truly be Milton Keynes's clubs, instead choosing to steal some one elses club.

also it's very very hard for a club that low down the league system to get support. People just aren't interested. It'll be hard enough to get people who have moved to the area (as opposed to having grown up there) to suspend their current club allegiences enough to get them to go to a MK Dons match in Div 1, but trying to entice them with the prospect of a Midlands League encounter vs Biggleswade Town in front of 46 people is nigh on impossible.

[womble]

Much as I hate to say it, (as my allegiance ends the day the move happens) but the people of Milton Keynes will be getting a young, exciting team. If only they could defend properly this season they would be in the playoff places at the very least. However, with the legendary shortsightedness of the Wimbledon owners, most of the promising players will probably be flogged off during the summer. If the team is kept intact it will attract a following in MK from the get go.

[stanleyt]

Where the heck is "the Broadway" in Wimbledon? I needed to go there to get tix for an AFC Wimbledon away match in mid-February and found myself walking all over the boro.

Seriously, I must've scoured the area- walked past Plough Lane(sniff) and gave up when I wound up @ Earlsfield.

Oh, well. Next year I guess.

[womble]

Originally posted by stanleyt
Where the heck is "the Broadway" in Wimbledon? I needed to go there to get tix for an AFC Wimbledon away match in mid-February and found myself walking all over the boro.

Seriously, I must've scoured the area- walked past Plough Lane(sniff) and gave up when I wound up @ Earlsfield.

Oh, well. Next year I guess.

Virtually directly opposite Wimbledon's British Rail station. Across the road about 50 yards...........

Couldn't you have asked someone?

[stanleyt]

Originally posted by womble
Virtually directly opposite Wimbledon's British Rail station. Across the road about 50 yards...........

Couldn't you have asked someone?

Yeah, and the guys at JB Sports had no idea where I should go. They told me to take a bus. The driver was clueless as well.

My fault anyway. I should've emailed folks before I landed in London. I wound up @ the Peace Rally instead.

Like I said- next year.

[kerpow]

http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/matches/table.html

Just looking at the league table for AFC as I haven't checked it for a month or so. Where the hell did Withdean 2000 come from and with 6 games in hand!!

What are their chances of being promoted? Surely all the teams in any higher division will bend over backwards to accomodate them what with their huge following at away games.

[Peakite]

Originally posted by kerpow
http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/matches/table.html

Just looking at the league table for AFC as I haven't checked it for a month or so. Where the hell did Withdean 2000 come from and with 6 games in hand!!

What are their chances of being promoted? Surely all the teams in any higher division will bend over backwards to accomodate them what with their huge following at away games.
Unless they can win the division (unlikely though), practically none.

This is one of a number of feeder divisions for the second tier of the Ryman League. As two of the promotion places will definitely go to their own second division, that leaves two to be distributed over the other three or four (someone correct me here). Divisional champions will be given priority.

[worldsoccer-Jeff]

Originally posted by Luan
Unless they can win the division (unlikely though), practically none.

This is one of a number of feeder divisions for the second tier of the Ryman League. As two of the promotion places will definitely go to their own second division, that leaves two to be distributed over the other three or four (someone correct me here). Divisional champions will be given priority.


How come the CCL and other leages feed into Ryman's second division?

[RichardL]

Originally posted by worldsoccer-Jeff
How come the CCL and other leages feed into Ryman's second division?
It's all done on a regional basis. The rymans covers clubs from that region and division 2 is the lowest division.

They might get lucky in that Division 2 is currently quite small (only 16 teams) compared to the other divisions which have 24 teams, and it's possible Div 2 might expand to take in more teams.