Should we not be BOYCOTTING MK Dons?

[Tooting Gull]

Surely it's about as relevant as protesting that Arsenal aren't in Woolwich any more.

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

ONE person not going won't make any difference.

I wouldnt worry about that. If you feel strongly enough about it to boycott then you should go for it. If there's one thing i hate its apathy.
Things like that have to start somewhere. Even if you're the only person in the world protesting against something then you're still sticking to your principles, and respect to you for doing so.

However i think an organised in-ground protest is an excellent idea.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Not very long to organise something now.

How about NOBODY buys anything at the ground other than a ticket? No programme, no burgers, no teas etc.

We could even get people to PICKETT the tea bar!

 

[Smythe]

Bollocks to MK Dons, support OUR team....they bloody need it....shit or bust Saturday...win and were stiil hanging in there, lose and its a relegation party!!

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

Surely it's about as relevant as protesting that Arsenal aren't in Woolwich any more.

Complete rubbish. Do you know or have contact with anyone who was there when Arsenal were moved to North London? Do any of us have any connection or experience of this at all? No.

The Wimbledon/Franchise FC issue is a contemporary issue which affects us all. Admit it, you just can't be arsed to have an opinion on it anymore.

 

[pork pie]

Complete rubbish. Do you know or have contact with anyone who was there when Arsenal were moved to North London? Do any of us have any connection or experience of this at all? No.

The Wimbledon/Franchise FC issue is a contemporary issue which affects us all. Admit it, you just can't be arsed to have an opinion on it anymore.

Are you using a Blackberry while waiting to get stuck into the old bill in London later?

I have a strong opinion. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AT ANY OTHER FOOTBALL CLUB - ONLY AT BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION FC. I DID NOT AGREE WITH FANS UNITED - AND NEARLY WACKED SOME PLYMOUTH FAN UNTILL HE MOVED. EACH CLUB SHOULD LOOK AFTER THEIR OWN.

There does that clear things up?

 

[Tooting Gull]

Complete rubbish. Do you know or have contact with anyone who was there when Arsenal were moved to North London? Do any of us have any connection or experience of this at all? No.

The Wimbledon/Franchise FC issue is a contemporary issue which affects us all. Admit it, you just can't be arsed to have an opinion on it anymore.

Define contemporary. And not that I'm saying you're a bit of a thickie, but didn't I just express an opinion?

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

Are you using a Blackberry while waiting to get stuck into the old bill in London later?

I have a strong opinion. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AT ANY OTHER FOOTBALL CLUB - ONLY AT BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION FC. I DID NOT AGREE WITH FANS UNITED - AND NEARLY WACKED SOME PLYMOUTH FAN UNTILL HE MOVED. EACH CLUB SHOULD LOOK AFTER THEIR OWN.

There does that clear things up?

Was i talking to you? No.

 

[WhingForPresident]

Bollocks to MK Dons, support OUR team....they bloody need it....shit or bust Saturday...win and were stiil hanging in there, lose and its a relegation party!!

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

Define contemporary. And not that I'm saying you're a bit of a thickie, but didn't I just express an opinion?

I suppose you did, fair enough. Glad you're not saying i'm a bit of a thickie, thanks for that.

What i'm saying is that you might have been as outraged as me at the time, but it seems now a few years have passed you can't be bothered to oppose the move anymore, and just shrug your shoulders*. Its riled me because a) it wasn't that long ago, and b) this is very similar to an argument that kicked off a month or so ago about Archer/Belotti/Stanley, ie. 'get over it', 'it was ages ago' etc.

Re. Contemporary. It happened in our life time for starters, and only a few years ago at that. I don't know you TG, but i'm guessing you weren't born in 1913 when Arsenal moved north, and there's a decent chance your parents weren't either? Thats certainly the case for me.
Plus football was a different game back then, whereas its very different now- in my opinion and many others the money men are ruining the game-,and the moving of a football club to a different part of the country and the automatic place in the football league granted to that club is another aspect of this.
Plus Woolwich Arsenal were in existence for approx 27 years before their move and re-naming. Wimbledon were in existence from 1889 until they were moved to MK.

I'm not saying your example of Woolwich Arsenal was SHIT, but do you see where i'm coming from?

*of course, if you didn't care in the first place then fine.

 

[reigate]

Not every away by any means but certainly more than three...

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My memory must be going as I normally sit next to you on the train for away games!

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

Pork Pie (and others), we could not have made our plight a national issue had everybody who supports another club felt the same way you do. Do you not even feel the faintest empathy with other supporters whose club was taken from them? How wonderfully compensatory the return of the trophies must have been - 'Tell you what, I'll swap these trophies which were yours anyway for you completely forgetting about the theft of your club and we'll say no more about it.'

Go and support the Albion by all means - you're entitled to your opinion. But MK Dons exist on false pretenses and should not be in the league. f*** them then, now and always as far as I'm concerned. I won't be going.

Not that it would make any difference where we were in the league or what our points tally was by the way, I wouldn't go anyway, but we're doomed to relegation. To spin some peoples' arguments round, what difference do you think your singing will make to the state of affairs? In the same way that MK Dons will not notice whether we buy burgers or not, the league table will not notice how many of us turn up either.

 

[Jamon Jamon]

see my avitar


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[Tooting Gull]

I'm not saying your example of Woolwich Arsenal was SHIT, but do you see where i'm coming from?

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Not really. How long ago stuff happened is irrelevant, we can learn a lot from history. And it's probably good for your own sake to acknowledge the example, since this board is public, there are no/few better English examples, and you certainly haven't produced one.

Look, I'm all for protests. I protested for Falmer, it was important to me and I thought we could win. But in the same way that Lewes District Council eventually decided in December not to contest the revised stadium planning application, sometimes the battle is lost. By your logic, LDC should still be fighting against Falmer. I'm glad they finally saw which way the wind was blowing and called it off.

 

[pork pie]

Pork Pie (and others), we could not have made our plight a national issue had everybody who supports another club felt the same way you do. Do you not even feel the faintest empathy with other supporters whose club was taken from them?

No. Why, should I? The whole fans united mamby pamby liberal thing drove me mad with embisment. It was our problem, we protested - people listened.

All this love-in stuff with Wrexham for example is pathetic. Bollox to them!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I have thought about this and feel there is little point now. The original reason to boycott was so show a dislike for the nature in which MK Dons was set up. I understand the loop hole has now been closed and it will not be possible for a team to be moved in the manner Wimbledon were. Protesting is a pointless exercise in this case. There is now nothing to protest about in my opinion.

BUT, if I felt there was a need to boycott I would not hesitate to do so whether the Albion needed my support or not. In fact the only time I have ever rung Harty's phone-in was to explain this when this scenario cropped up a few years back.

 

[Dandyman]

Not going for the obvious reason. Those who are going to support the Albion - fair enough.

As for the Arse, I live in north London and have to pass Emirates on my way to work each morning. I'd happily see the cheats relegated back to the division they never won promotion from and sent back to Woolwich too.

 

[Mick Beard BHA]

Not really. How long ago stuff happened is irrelevant, we can learn a lot from history. And it's probably good for your own sake to acknowledge the example, since this board is public, there are no/few better English examples, and you certainly haven't produced one.

Look, I'm all for protests. I protested for Falmer, it was important to me and I thought we could win. But in the same way that Lewes District Council eventually decided in December not to contest the revised stadium planning application, sometimes the battle is lost. By your logic, LDC should still be fighting against Falmer. I'm glad they finally saw which way the wind was blowing and called it off.

I totally agree that we can learn alot from history, but 'how long ago stuff happened' ISN'T irrelevant. The example that you gave of Arsenal happened 65 years before i was even born. I don't know anyone who was there, or who was affected by it. As far as i can tell it has little relevance to football today, whereas the case of Wimbledon has massive relevance. There are still many people around who were directly affected by the Wimbledon 'move' and who feel very strongly about it, and they have as much of my support as i can give them. Is there anyone around today who was directly affected by the Arsenal move and who is still angry or protesting about it? We all have a connection to what happened to Wimbledon. We do not all have a connection to what 'happened' to Woolwich Arsenal.

If you'd like to set out how the Woolwich Arsenal case is as relevant or more relevant to modern football clubs and supporters, then i genuinely would like to hear it.

And i accept that you're 'all for protest'. But again you've made a weird comparison by bringing LDC into it. By my logic the LDC should NOT still be fighting Falmer. They had to accept that they would never win the case, and as you know it went through many stages before the LDC came to that decision.
I'm not saying that i want MK Dons returned to Wimbledon- but i do still think we can continue to demonstrate to the powers that be etc that you can't just pick a club, move it somewhere else, call it something else and continue in exactly the same spot and expect it to be accepted. MK Dons will always be pariahs in my eyes.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Pork Pie (and others), we could not have made our plight a national issue had everybody who supports another club felt the same way you do. Do you not even feel the faintest empathy with other supporters whose club was taken from them? .

Of course I care about other clubs. For what its worth I have written in support of certainly Bury, and I'm pretty sure others over the years. I've been to see an AFC Wimbledon game in some sort of show of support. What good did me going there do? Probably none.

But I just don't agree that is this kind of support that won us our day. It was a local planning issue, that was going to be won with local protest, local pressure on councils, and winning the local planning battle.

The ONLY aspect that demanded a national angle/support was a specific part of the planning process, and that was nothing that a high-profile member of the FA representing the national interest couldn't have delivered (and I think did, from memory, at the inquiry).

I wouldn't dispute for a second our plight was made a national issue, and it wasn't UN-helpful. I'm just not sure in hard currency how much that affected the outcome. I think the tireless arguing of the case at the inquiries, with the councils, with relevant ministers, putting over the case for Falmer locally, the Seagulls Party, and debunking some of the antis' myths were more effective.

 

[Dandyman]

No. Why, should I? The whole fans united mamby pamby liberal thing drove me mad with embisment. It was our problem, we protested - people listened.

All this love-in stuff with Wrexham for example is pathetic. Bollox to them!

Hmmm...another Chelski fan sneaking into Albionland?