A recent storm in a
teacup for Franchise customers over their internet forum has reminded
me of just how completely they remain defined by Wimbledon – hence
'defined by a pub team', because that's how they started out deriding
us 15 years ago. Does it matter? Not if you're a Wimbledon fan, it's
extremely amusing to watch, but if you're a Franchise customer it
clearly throws up a lot of conflict. Devil's in the detail, so I'll
expound…
The event that
prompted me was the abrupt closure of the main internet forum for
Franchise customers, amid bitter recriminations, tantrums and
flouncing off – the usual. Within a couple of days a new forum had
popped up, called…
sitdownorwellstealyourclub.
I kid you not, their forum glories in the stealing of Wimbledon's
football club, reinforced by then calling itself “AFC The Concrete
Roundabout”, again referencing AFC Wimbledon. This from a customer
base that we're supposed to believe is sick of the grief they get
about Milton Keynes stealing away Wimbledon's Football League place.
They protest about that constantly – that it's not their fault –
yet they then perpetuate it through their own forum. Bizarre
behaviour? Of course.
The elephant in the
room is, naturally, the 'Dons' nicked-name in the Franchise team
name. While that remains, how can they be anything but a bad
Wimbledon tribute act? As much explored on this blog, nether side is
a “legal continuation” of Wimbledon FC, but AFC Wimbledon is
building a ground on Plough Lane, is called Wimbledon, is followed by
99% of WFC's fans, plays in Wimbledon's colours, uses the Wimbledon
badge… etc, etc… it's tedious now, there's been no doubt about
who the real Wimbledon is for more than a decade. And Franchise? What
do they have that makes their tribute act worth watching? 'Dons'.
That's it. If you paid £20 to watch a Wimbledon tribute act, you'd
be pretty pissed off to find the extent of the tribute was one
nicked-name and a clapped-out ginger left-back on the bench. It's
like a tribute band calling themselves MK Zep and claiming they're
the real Led Zep based on a session player who played two notes on an
album track once.
Don't be confused,
I'm not highlighting this to enhance AFC Wimbledon's claims of
continuation – I don't need to. One either believes a football club
is more than just the legal entity that controls it, or one doesn't.
Demonstrating the ludicrousness of Franchise's claim does not change
the validity or strength of AFC Wimbledon's claim. Think on this
though; the audience for a band know who they're turning up for and
99% of Wimbledon fans pre-2002 (not to mention ex-players) go to AFC
Wimbledon – working out who the real Wimbledon are isn't rocket
science.
Back to Franchise FC
being defined by a pub team… It's almost entirely self-inflicted by
them now. We've got all the big events out of the way at this point –
played them, beaten them, risen above them in the league, etc – and
very little gets said about them any more, everyone happy just
ignoring their existence for the most part, quite literally. The
oxygen for the fire now all comes from them – it's a bizarre
exercise in self harm. The only reason the media now still bring
things up is because they're clinging on to the 'Dons' nicked-name
and because they keep squealing in protest every time the subject of
Wimbledon comes up. If the 'Dons' nicked-name were gone, a meeting
between Milton Keynes and Wimbledon would stir up about as much
interest as Northampton Town vs Brentford.
And a small peek into the desperate mindset that some customers have
got themselves into – they used a quote from a recent Guardian
article, “The FA Commission recommended that the
club should always retain a link with its former identity”, as
justification for maintaining the 'Dons' nicked-name. It would have
some justification if it weren't for the fact that the FAC actually
said this (with my notes interspersed in {
}):
“112.
However, we recommend that the Football League agrees to measures
with WFC and MKSC to ensure that it retains the essential identity of
WFC and also ensures that WFC takes reasonable steps to help WFC fans
travel and watch WFC in Milton Keynes. Mr Winkelman was also, whilst
understandably excited about the prospects for Milton Keynes,
enthusiastic about retaining WFC’s identity and image. We believe
that it can be fairly stated that finding WFC a home in Milton Keynes
will add considerable value to a large community starved of First
Division Football, whilst at the same time that community (70% of
whom are from London) will add value to WFC.
{note
this includes the MKSC and Winkelman, so the later club ownership
change should not have impacted on Winkelman's 'enthusiasm' for
retaining all this WFC stuff – he'd already promised it}
113.
These measures would cover, in no particular order, and without being
prescriptive, (and these are essentially matters for the Football
League rather than ourselves) matters relating to:
Continuity
of:
·
Club name and nickname {one gone, one
incorporated in team name}
·
Club logo {gone}
·
Club colours {gone}
·
Club playing strip and other merchandise {gone}
·
Players {gone, as players do!}
·
Staff {all gone}
·
Shareholders {all
gone}
·
Directors {all
gone}
·
Academy {gone}
·
Community schemes {all gone}
·
Club website(s) {gone}
·
Club shop in Wimbledon; {gone}
{It's
already a mockery, but it gets worse. Remember, they're claiming
'Dons' fulfils the Commissions recommendations!}
Subsidised/free
travel to matches between Wimbledon and Milton Keynes (we are told
that trains can be chartered by the Club: the journey time is
approximately one hour);
{never
happened, not even once}
Discounted
tickets for existing fans at the new stadium in Milton Keynes;
{never
happened, not for anyone}
A
ticket outlet in Merton;
{never
happened}
Continued
communication with existing fans;
{never
happened}
Local
press (Merton) coverage of WFC and its results;
{mad
to suggest it, impossible to make it happen}
Promotional
material regarding maintenance of identity as WFC;
{never
happened}
Club
museum at the new stadium in Milton Keynes;
{never
happened}
Stadium
branding at the new stadium in Milton Keynes; and
{never
happened}
Re-naming
of local areas/streets in Milton Keynes to associate with WFC.
{never
happened}
114. We
consider these measures vital to ensuring WFC’s identity and they
should be agreed to and put in place as soon as possible. The
Football League will then be able to monitor and approve the process
of maintaining links.”
The
Commission
considered those measures vital and that they should have been put in
place as soon as possible, but nothing was ever done about ANY of it.
Now think again on how the Franchise customers think clinging to the
'Dons' nicked-name (quite literally the ONLY remaining link between
the Milton Keynes club and Wimbledon FC) is somehow justifiable or in
any way meets the criteria set out by the Commission. Ludicrous.
And
yet… they won't let it go. For whatever stubborn, irrational or
hate-fuelled reasons they have, they insist on keeping 'Dons' and on
having their club's entire existence defined by… Wimbledon, by us,
by whatever thread we feel like tugging on next to get them foaming
at the mouth. It's certainly justification for all those who want
Franchise saddled forever with the 'Dons' nicked-name, but only
extreme masochism explains why Franchise customers think it's a good
idea.
Great article. I blow hot and cold over whether they should 'Drop The Dons'. Clearly for their own good they must eventually. It's the mark of Cain for them. They can never draw a line and move one while they keep it and they will have their customers tying themselves in ever more complex loops of circular logic to justify it. Part of me wants us to become Wimbledon FC again once back at Plough Lane JUST to see the exploding heads it will cause, but AFC FC doesn't really matter we are Wimbledon and whatever they are, they are NOT the Dons
ReplyDeleteIt's currently looking good for Wimbledon to be playing next season in a higher league than the MkDonkeys...with Sunderland coming down how many clubs are left that have always been in a higher division than AFCW?
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