A favoured fall-back claim used by Franchise customers when they're on the run and trying to justify the unjustifiable is that Milton Keynes is a 'can do' place, whereas other places, like Merton, aren't. Now for starters it is obviously nonsense that a place can have an attitude, which is where one could happily stop analysing the nonsense, but there is a deeper delusion behind this - the one that people in MK are different to people elsewhere. And no, I really don't make this stuff up, these people really do say these things:
Perhaps they intend coming back later with a witty "Ha-ha, only kidding"? But I digress...
The reality here is simple - Milton Keynes is a new town that was and is given economic advantages and opportunities that are not available to existing towns not designated as 'new' towns. That's it. That's all there is to this 'can do' nonsense. Since the 1960s Milton Keynes has had every possible financial and legislative assistance thrown at it, with planning laws that apply elsewhere being waived to allow massive development of what would otherwise be protected land. Coupled with the incentives and grants given to businesses to encourage them to relocate there, that is the entirety of why Milton Keynes has been able to 'do' the things it has.
Do these people really think anyone in Milton Keynes is different from anyone anywhere else in the country? The idea is, of course, absurd, and yet they persist with this idiocy that MK and its people are somehow different to other places and people. The arrogance and stupidity of it are quite breathtaking.
And don't be fooled into thinking the whole 'new town' business belongs back in the '60s and '70s, Milton Keynes is still receiving significantly greater assistance than other areas:
Pete Winkelman isn't the only property developer and businessman to have taken advantage of the Milton Keynes situation to line his own pockets (he didn't even own the land on which the development is sited, it was council-owned land, despite what an ignorant few Franchise customers believe), but he is the only one who thought it was OK to destroy another town's football club to get what he wanted.
As for having a 'can do' attitude? The answer to that is the same as it has always been - Couldn't set up and support a football club up through non-League the way everyone else has. Couldn't do what Stevenage, another new town, has done. Couldn't do what Wimbledon has done twice. Could not, would not, will not... ever. Can do? Laughable.
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