Boycotting Franchise FC

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

I hear that many Albion fans are giving MK a swerve on Saturday and going to watch either Crawley or AFC Wimbledon ?

Personally Saturday will be one of the few away games I'll miss any others feel the same ?

Presumably a Crawley fan/staff trying to drum up a bit of business?

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

And that just goes to prove what I suspected from reading the rest of this thread.

You, ma laddie, are a CJTC of the highest order.

dont know what that is, possible because i'm older than you so please don't call me laddie, I guess sarcasm or jokes or what ever lose thier meaning if you have to explain them but here goes: a previous poster had implied there was no problem with MK Dongs because "it was over a decade ago" so i replied sarcastically "that's why i've forgiven Archer and Bellotti" it was sarcasm, that's all. I won't do it again! sorry

 

[Acker79]

i presume then that you are still campaigning against archer and bellotti all this time on? theres a difference between forgiving and excepting what has happened and that ten years on nothing can change that

Well, there are brighton fans who refuse to go anywhere near the goldstone, who refuse to ever go into focus diy, who refuse to go to forfars.

I'm not saying I agree with the MK dons boycott or those sentiments, but there are brighton fans who continue their protests (or at least they claim to on here).

 

[Acker79]

That's a bit like saying if you visit Germany nowadays you are condoning what the Nazi's did.

 

[Spider]

Total load of bollox, what has happened will no doubt happen again so just go and support your club.

And what if, when it happened again, it happened to our club?

 

[Storer68]

Hmm, most of this is a bit rich coming from supporters of an amalgam of (at least) two failed clubs,

 

[Silent Bob]

That's a bit like saying if you visit Germany nowadays you are condoning what the Nazi's did.

As others have said, it's a meaningless boycott as it doesn't actually affect anyone or anything.

It's not like that at all. It would be like that if you lived in a parallel universe where the Nazis won and were still in control.

thank christ we got planning permission for falmer and didnt have to go for a mike bamber style idea of moving to a stadium at gatwick - we'd have a hell of a lot of our fans boycotting it by the sounds of things

Like the West Ham example clearly not the same. Keep trying though.

Winkleman didn't invest until the club had gone into administration and were already in Milton Keynes. Weren't there Norwegians who were losing money hand over fist before Winkleman offered them a way out by moving to Milton Keynes? One of us is re-writing history here, or are you suggesting Wimbledon were not already financially f***ed when Winkleman turned up?

As it happens the move doesn't seem to have helped the Norwegians, but I understand why they'd do all they could to protect themselves once it was clear Merton weren't going to help in any way.

I'm not suggesting that, said the opposite. Their poor finances left them open to predators such as Winkleman, just as our large debts left us open to predators in the 90s. Maybe I've got the facts slightly wrong, but it's well known Winkleman was looking to buy a football club and bring it to Milton Keynes, Wimbledon were not the only ones he targetted. Anyway, just because a club is poorly run, it doesn't jusify doing anything you like to it. As Wimbledon are proving a club can be run in that area (I'm sure some bright spark would like to point out they're not within the borough of Merton and ideally they will be able to move back there as they've been trying to do since their inception).

OK, what if we got them away on the last day of the season and we needed a win to win the Championship?



We know what happened, none of us agree with it, but it happened, there is nothing you can do about it now so you might as well go and support your team. If it was a case of them having a trial season in the league to see if they could get big enough crowds or not and if not they would fold, then I would boycott. But to boycott now is completely and utterly pointless.

Dunno, it would have to happen for me to actually know. I'll admit I was marginally more tempted to go this season than I have been in the past few season but never really considered it.

It seems some people do agree with it a bit.
I see you point, but their continuing existence is a blight on football in my view, and I can't support that even though me not supporting it probably won't result in them getting relegated into obscurity or going out of business.

 

[Storer68]

wimbledon were dead and buried due to their local authority and when the likes of man utd decided home teams should keep all the gate receipts, thus depriving a club like wimbledon of income. Also, afc formed years ago and still don't play in their borough.

this

 

[Commander]

even though me not supporting it probably won't result in them getting relegated into obscurity or going out of business.

And might result in us losing and not getting promoted because you weren't there to yell your encouragement.

If we don't go up this season, I'll know who's door the blame will lie at.

 

[Mellotron]

And what if, when it happened again, it happened to our club?

If that happened it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever whether 30 or so supporters had gone to a Brighton v MK Dons match in late February 2011.

If people really feel strongly about it, they should do something, petition the FA, whatever.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Like the West Ham example clearly not the same. Keep trying though.

as far as i can see, wimbledon were never going to get planning permission to achieve a decent stadium in their borough, so they had to move to do it in order to susatin the club at a football league level, affecting the former milton keynes city fc as somebody else, quite rightly pointed out. upton park is a bloody nightmare in terms of redeveloping and transport, so moving onto leyton orients manor into a new stadium is going to be beneficial to them. we would have moved onto crawleys turf, away from brighton if the whole gatwick stadium idea had have happened

just interested to see how those examples differ that much from what went on with mk dons, other than of course the fact that neither west ham nor us would have probably been renamed

 

[Beach Hut]

And what if, when it happened again, it happened to our club?

Unlikely as we have a sound financial backing but if it did it did snd would have to deal with it.

 

[Spider]

The thing I don't understand is why everyone goes on about how limited Wimbledon's potential was. Obviously it was. But surely a club that's based in an area does however well it can for that area - it's not possible for every club in the country to be competing in the top 1 or 2 tiers, but some seem to suggest it's acceptable that if they're not doing this they can just pack up camp and find somewhere that they can. Not really the point of having a local club is it?

 

[Icy Gull]

. Anyway, just because a club is poorly run, it doesn't jusify doing anything you like to it. As Wimbledon are proving a club can be run in that area (I'm sure some bright spark would like to point out they're not within the borough of Merton and ideally they will be able to move back there as they've been trying to do since their inception).

:

Not being able to build a ground and having to rely on groundshare for over a decade would inevitably make the club lose money, harsh to suggest that makes it poorly run though. Years of sharing a ground and running into a disinterested brick wall in Merton with regard to planning consent would seem ample reason to consider relocating to me. Again, I'd ask, if it was your money being lost hand over fist would you feel quite so strongly about relocating. I know it turned out to be too late for the then owners of Wimbledon, but certainly better than just sitting there wringing your hands at the unfairness of it all.

You can hardly compare AFC with the then Wimbledon at the moment, but once they reach the league they are gonna run into exactly the same problems if they want a ground in Wimbledon and are as succesful as Wimbledon used to be. I must say I didn't realise they'd rather hypocritically displaced another club in Kingstonian.

 

[proctor_bhafc]

I hate MK Dons for everything they are, but I will not stop going to see my team play against them! So therefore I will be at Stadium:MK on Saturday to watch my team, the mighty Brighton and Hove Albion!

 

[Brovion]

Well, there are brighton fans who refuse to go anywhere near the goldstone, who refuse to ever go into focus diy, who refuse to go to forfars.

I'm not saying I agree with the MK dons boycott or those sentiments, but there are brighton fans who continue their protests (or at least they claim to on here).

Very good point. I don't use Forfars, I'll always hate Archer, Bellotti, Norman Baker and LDC but I shop at the Goldstone Retail Park and have done for years. I guess we've all got our own little foibles. I'm not going Saturday, but that's nothing to do with any boycott - it's just that as the main part of our season ended last Saturday I'm going to watch the Rugby instead.

My own Pete Winkleman story: I was in Hospitality when we once played MK Dons under Adams (we lost 4-2 I think). There was an article in the programme on the new MK Dons stadium and I was quite jealous that theirs was going ahead. Anyway, I was sitting in front of Winkleman and at the end of the match I turned round to him and said "Well done, I think it's brilliant what you're doing in Milton Keynes". He looked a bit surprised and replied: "Oh, cheers mate!"

I know, I know, I'm going straight to bobble-hat hell.

 

[LowKarate]

With apologies to Martin Niemoller and his far more serious point...

First they came for Woolwich Arsenal,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Woolwich fan (or born, but that's beside the point).

Then they came for the Oakland Raiders,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a fan of American Football in the slightest.

Then they came for Wimbledon,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Wimbledon fan.

Then they came for The Albion
and there was no one left to speak out for us.


This has been a classic polarising argument for several years. Whilst I could easily attend this game, personally I still find it repugnant that a football club could be stolen from the fans that should own it. I dread to think how I would feel if another new town decided they wanted our club and just said "We'll have that".

I have no problem with people attending and supporting our club (and that is a very strong argument in itself). I just feel uncomfortable paying money to Winkelman plc, so I won't be going.

 

[Brovion]

With apologies to Martin Niemoller and his far more serious point...

First they came for Woolwich Arsenal,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Woolwich fan (or born, but that's beside the point).

Then they came for the Oakland Raiders,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a fan of American Football in the slightest.

Then they came for Wimbledon,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Wimbledon fan.

Then they came for The Albion
and there was no one left to speak out for us.

The Oakland Raiders are back in Oakland! Can MK Dons move/return to Wimbledon and if not why not?

 

[mlg57]

Well believe it or not there is a big bunch of Brighton fans in Milton Keynes, known affectionately as the MK Seagulls. We meet regularly and go to more away games than home games. Some of us are a bit anti the Dons but I reckon we could have as many as 40 of our number there on Saturday. We just want to watch the boys, to hell with the opposition.

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

as far as i can see, wimbledon were never going to get planning permission to achieve a decent stadium in their borough, so they had to move to do it in order to susatin the club at a football league level, affecting the former milton keynes city fc as somebody else, quite rightly pointed out. upton park is a bloody nightmare in terms of redeveloping and transport, so moving onto leyton orients manor into a new stadium is going to be beneficial to them. we would have moved onto crawleys turf, away from brighton if the whole gatwick stadium idea had have happened

just interested to see how those examples differ that much from what went on with mk dons, other than of course the fact that neither west ham nor us would have probably been renamed

you are clearly a WUM with another reference to that Gatwick stadium c1980. some of us were around then, it never even got to tyre kicking stage. it would never have happened, The fans (we had a 25,000 average then) would never have allowed it to happen, In them days people demonstrated and stood up and fought for their beliefs, the age of keyboard warriors and the "It happened, get over it" brigade were still over 20 years away