Inconvenient facts

I've previously linked to a document that exposed the lies Charles Koppel told about the franchising of Wimbledon FC, but the website this was originally housed at no longer exists, so this blog post serves to repeat the original post and make sure this information is readily available for others. Bear in mind the original post was made some years ago, but it is all the more powerful in its damning assessment for that reason. What it demonstrates perfectly is the level of lies and subterfuge that Koppel and the others involved in franchising a Football League team, were prepared to go to:

Over recent months it has become clear to Wimbledon fans that WFC Ltd Chairman Charles Koppel has no interest in any outcome other than his plan to kill WFC and move the franchise to Milton Keynes.

Mr Koppel has made a number of statements concerning this issue, the most persistent and misleading of which we have reproduced below. Each of them is contradicted by a quote from sources ranging from himself, to his own co-directors to official Merton Council Spokesmen.


Facts

• The majority shareholder in Wimbledon Football Club Limited is Kjell Inge Roekke, who has a fortune totalling over 0 million (more than £480 million) (Source, Forbes Rich List). Sole shareholder in Aker RGI, in November he acquired the international engineering and construction group, Kvaerner. Greenpeace estimate that he fishes 20% of the world's catch - including more than 30% of the US market (Source, www.greenpeace.org)

• To date, WISA has produced a professional and viable plan for a stadium at Plough Lane (Further information from WISA). The club have produced nothing (No more information from WFC Ltd).


• In December 2001, ICM Research Ltd. carried out an opinion poll of in Merton and South-West London. The results showed that 83% of residents in the borough wanted a return to Plough Lane for Wimbledon. Some 10% of Merton residents asked would attend matches at Plough Lane regularly. That's around 18,000 of the total population of Merton. (Full results on www.icmresearch.co.uk)

Charles Koppel VS The Truth

Charles Koppel says...
"It's perceived that we are trying to move the club to Milton Keynes because we do not want a local solution, but that is not true" (Charles Koppel, WFC press briefing, 03/01/02)

The Truth is...
"We want Wimbledon Football Club to play in Milton Keynes" (Charles Koppel, Documentary, TV2, Norway; URL: http://frihet.tv2.no/index.cfm?episode_id=6660)


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Charles Koppel says...
"We cannot afford the land. I think that the cost of it would be £20 million the cost of acquiring the land would [be] £15 [million] so it would cost us £35 million pounds which the club doesn't have." (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
'Gjelsten insists that if land can be found for a new stadium, the owners will pay for it. "It will cost anything from £30m to £60m. Obviously it will be funded partly by myself and Kjell [Inge Rokke]. We might look for partners in the club, but they have to show some passion for the sport and show the same long-term focus as us. We are trying to rebuild the club in its local community."' (Bjorn Gjelsten, WFC Ltd's second largest shareholder, Four-Four- Two Magazine, Jan 2001)


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Charles Koppel says...
" We do not believe that Plough Lane is deliverable within the planning frameworks" (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
"The site is historically a stadium. Merton Council would not contest the building of a new stadium on the site". (Gene Saunders, Press Spokesman for Merton Council, 16/12/01)


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Charles Koppel says...
"In order to achieve that aim [a new stadium at Plough Lane] the travellers would need to be relocated. Now obviously that's not an easy task." (Charles Koppel, WFC press briefing, 03/01/02)

The Truth is...
"This is not a problem. The council own some land nearby and by swinging the travellers site around we can accommodate it" (Gene Saunders, Press Spokesman for Merton Council, 16/12/01)


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Charles Koppel says...
"And then there's the electricity pylon, which would be very expensive to move, if it can even be done." (Charles Koppel, meeting with Merton Council and WISA 13/12/01)

The Truth is...
"If there's a will, that pylon can be moved. It's about a £500,000 will, but in terms of a new stadium that's not an awful lot of money" (Gene Saunders, Press Spokesman for Merton Council, 16/12/01)


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Charles Koppel says...
"The first time Andrew Judge ever had a conversation with Safeways was on the 20th December" (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
"We have already contacted Safeway seeking urgent discussions" (Andrew Judge, writing in 'Yellow and Blue, the Wimbledon supporter's matchday programme, 16/12/01)


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Charles Koppel says...
"I think we'll have a lot who want to be part of it [the move to Milton Keynes]. I accept we'll have some who won't. They're the ones who'd prefer we went back to Plough Lane and played Third division football. They're not true supporters". (Charles Koppel interviewed in the Guardian 08/09/01)

The Truth is...
The only pro-Milton Keynes candidate who stood for election to the Official Wimbledon Fan's Forum polled a total of 30 votes. (Source, www.wimbledon-fc.co.uk); WISA has a current membership of nearly 1,500 (Source, WISA membership)


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Charles Koppel says...
"The mere thought of coming back frightens the living daylights out of them" [talking about WFC staff] (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
"Going home to Wimbledon would be great for everyone" (Former Wimbledon midfielder, Kevin Cooper)


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Cha rles Koppel says...
"Andrew Judge in his heart of hearts knows that Wimbledon Football Club can never come back to Merton". (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
"We believe a stadium can be built on the site [Plough Lane]". (Andrew Judge, Leader of Merton Council, writing in 'Yellow and Blue, the Wimbledon supporter's matchday programme, 16/12/01)


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Charles Koppel says...
"Football supporters are not necessarily the kind of people you want sitting on your doorstep" (Charles Koppel at a Meeting of the Haydon's Bridge Residents' Association. 07/01/02)

The Truth is...
Wimbledon supporters are the fourth best behaved in the country (Source, National Criminal Intelligence Service - Statistics on football related arrests, 2000/2001 figures, www.ncis.co.uk)


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Charles Koppel says...
"We realise that no agreement could ever be reached without consulting our supporters first" (Charles Koppel, April 2001)

The Truth is...
No consultation was made with Wimbledon fans prior to the Milton Keynes Announcement. Mr Koppel failed to turn up for a meeting (organised at the supporter's expense, but at Mr Koppel's request) in July which was intented to clarify the ground situation.


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Charles Koppel says...
"All discussions of Milton Keynes are pie in the sky - we are a London club and that is where we will be going." (Charles Koppel, April 2001)

The Truth is...
"Wimbledon has signed an agreement to move to a new home ground in Milton Keynes." (Charles Koppel, August 2001)

If the original author of the document wants to contact me via the blog I will be delighted to credit them fully for this always informative collection of facts, none of which do the MKSA see fit to include in their laughably titled 'Facts of the move', which, as a result of this and many other omissions, makes them a ludicrous misrepresentation of the truth.

Edit to add: Every fact in the original document is correct and verifiable. MK's own local paper can even be used to fact-check content! http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/local/koppel_we_still_want_to_come_to_milton_keynes_1_859906 Which makes it amazing the depths of denial and delusion some Franchise customers will go to in trying to avoid the truth. They should pick up their own paper once in a while! ;)