Are MK Dons Still Beyond The Pale?

Yep.

And of course for QPR fans, it's more than just a theoretical abstract. It's personal.

I'll never understand how any QPR owner could have contemplated the merger with Wimbledon...

(or Fulham...or Brentford)

And recall when QPR announced they were going to play MK Dons...and the "Response" and then the decision not to play and Paladini's comments....

If don't remember, I happen to have...

qprreport.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-time-last-year-mk-dons-scheduled.html

QPR Schedule - and then cancel - a pre-season Friendly vs Milton Keynes Dons ("MK Dons" or "Wimbledon") after Brentford cancelled a game (Deja vu!) with Chairman Paladini expressing his unhappiness at "having" to do so.


QPR Official Site - June 16, 2006 - MK DONS GAME CANCELLED

Gianni Paladini would like to make the following statement, after making the decision to cancel the game against MK Dons on July 15.

"After several phonecalls and threats from our own supporters, I have decided not to go ahead with the game."I was extremely embarrassed at having to call the club secretary at MK Dons after he had done all he could to arrange a fixture on a day where we struggled to find any opposition.

"We were tremendously grateful to MK Dons for having initially agreed to play the fixture after Brentford cancelled the original game due to be played on July 18.

"Had that cancellation not have arisen, this whole situation would have been avoided.

"After Brentford pulled out, QPR re-contacted ALL Premiership and Football League clubs within a two hour travelling distance, yet MK Dons were the only club who answered our request.

"QPR apologises to everyone at MK Dons who pulled out all the stops to arrange a fixture at such short notice and also to all our fans that were willing to travel to the MK Dons fixture and were looking forward to visiting a new ground."
Gianni Paladini QPR

QPR Official Site - June 15, 2006QPR are pleased to announce a pre-season friendly against MK Dons on July 15.
After only just receiving the official word from Brentford that the game scheduled for July 18 was to be cancelled, QPR have been busily trying to arrange a fixture to take its place and are delighted that MK Dons have been able to fulfil our requirements.MK Dons were themselves trying to hastily find opposition after also having a game cancelled.
The game will take place at the National Hockey Stadium and will kick off at 3pm and will be the first meeting of the two clubs since the Dons' move to Milton Keynes.
Gary Waddock said: "I'm obviously very pleased to have managed to get another pre-season game fixed up as quickly as this, and my thanks go to MK Dons for answering our request.
"We needed another game around that weekend, and I'm now looking forward to visiting Milton Keynes for the first time with a QPR side.
"It's not that far and hopefully our fans will turn out in force to support us there." QPR

QPR1st Letter Sent to Club after MK Dons Game was announced - Letter

QPR OFFICIAL SITE - JUNE 13, 2006
BRENTFORD GAME OFFThis morning, QPR were informed that the pre-season game against Brentford has been cancelled.
Despite contacting Brentford last week, we were led to believe that the game would still be taking place in spite of the fact the Club had received several phone calls from fans to ask if the game was still going ahead.
Assistant Secretary Terry Springett explains: "It's very disappointing to have been informed of Brentford's decision to pull out at such a late stage, especially when we contacted the club last week when rumours had started to surface the game may have been in doubt.
"Only last Wednesday we were informed by Brentford that the game was indeed to go ahead, so at the time, felt it unnecessary to make an announcement on the official website."It would appear that their initial decision to take the game against us was taken without thorough consultation with their groundstaff, who have now informed the Club that the pitch at Griffin Park will not be ready in time."However, having received a phone call from Brentford this morning, we would like to inform our fans that the pre-season game against them, scheduled for Tuesday July 18, is indeed off.
"We will be doing our best in the next few days to find suitable alternative opponents for that week QPR

Spot on Derby.

Yes.

Nothing to stop them forming their own Club and working their way up as Wimbledon did - and are doing again!

Until then, they remain an open invitation to any predator to strip any Club of its identity. And we should know, having been the target of at least 3 attempts to emasculate us, which involved no less than four other Clubs.

No-one is safe.

YOU'RE NEXT! (For those who remember Don Siegel, Kevin McCarthy et al).

AFC won and went top of the blue square today.

And in 30 / 40 years time I guess the debate will continue - and for what??

Hell not so long ago I remember reading an article where somebody objected to the fact that the MK ground was used as a possible venue for the 2018 bid and how wrong it was and how the England bid should fail because of it. That is where the debate about MK has taken some people - to the point that it becomes all about emotion and little about substance.

The Guardian article is a perfect example of it; read it objectively and please tell me that, once you have taken the emotion & biase out of it, if our friend Barney had written anything ionformative or new. If not then why bother - unless it is to needlessly provoke something that isn't worth provoking.

I guess what I am about to say will not be music to the majority of people's ears & I will probably be shot down for saying it, but I do have differing views.

Maybe people need to live in other countries to realise that what happened in MK would not be so unusual - where mergers, changing names and moving clubs to other venues is par for the course. It is simply called survival or die - and in Wimbledon's case the club was dying - and rapidly.

Forget all the romantic stories that has since emerged after the formation of the AFC and the relocation to MK. The fact is that the Dons were beginning to sink down the table at a rapid rate and were losing fans at a massive rate that gates had shrunk to well below 3k. And this was before they moved to MK.

For sure Wimbledon always had a small fan base - as you would expect from a club that was formed in the late 60's / early 70's and moved from non-league football to top flight football in about a decade and a bit. And for sure the club had been destroyed by its "owners" - not to mention a host of Norwegian managers who dodn't have clue - but to pretend that life as Wimbledon was all nice and rosey and that we should all condemn Winkelman as been the panto villain of FL panto villains, is being a bit too disingenious.

As I said Wimbledon as we knew it was already in its death throes, it was on the verge on administration (if not bankruptcy) and its small fan base had virtually stopped going to its games. It was only a matter of time and somebody used it as an opportunity to establish a club in a city without a league club of its own (and yes, I know, it did have a non-league club playing in the lower league set-up).

Yes I understand the emotions over the fact that he basically moved the club to another venue as a shortcut to establish a club in MK rather than build from scratch - but is that really such a huge, huge crime - and was it illegal? And if not must we all now continue to wish that the club will die like friend Barney - and if so, for how long? 30 years, 40 years - until everybody's great grandkids have died? When?

Hell, go back to the 1880's when clubs in England where merged & changed to their current identities - not to mention moved to their current towns. Ever wondered why so many clubs in Holland have abbrevations in their names and why many of thsoe abbreviations end in C? Hint - the C means Combination - and some of those formations date back to as recently as the 50's & 60's.

Oh but this is different you will tell me. My answer to that will be different how? Because we are in a different era and that it no longer applies - if so, by whose rules?

In the late 70's & early 80's I remember teams like Crewe going up for re-election year after year and staying in the league set-up by virtual of the old pals act that was the FL. One NL team that lost out was non-league double winners Wealdstone. Who knows what would have happened if they had gone up - as it is they almost went bust a decade ago and are now forced to share a ground with a local team. I can't recall Barney & friends writing something about that.

For sure, I am glad the Wimbeldon fans realised what had happened and rebuilt & rallied behind the new club that is now 6 months or so way from possible FL spot. Good luck to those fans and AFC. A future game between AFC & MKD will sure be interesting and emotional.

But I certainly don't wish for MK Dons to die either - they seem to be doing okay, with a both a stable enough fan base and league position. What has happened has happened - and I am not going to blame the folk of MK or their team for it. It's time to accept it and move on.

As I said I doubt my views will be popular at all - and so be it. I just feel that their is another side to it that is also worth considering.

Thanks MM - I guess the real villains in this story are the FA & FL that allowed it (move to MK) to happen. But again, are they?

Maybe it was morally wrong but legally okay (and trust me there is a huge distinction between the two) and that's why they allowed it to happen. A case of morally damned if we do but legally damned if we don't. Who knows?

So is it then right to continue to condemn MK Dons and their fans for what has happened? That is the point of my argument.

I must admit I take heart from stories about AFC Wimbledon - not to mention Exeter, Aldershot & Accrington Stanley, and the likes of Bradford PA, Newport AFC & Halifax. Here's hoping that other teams follow those examples rather than go the short cut route.

But if they do please don't end up condeming the club for eternity because of it. It is not nearly as simple as many people, like friend Barney who really should know better, make it out to be.

Mac, which baseball franchise did DC nick? Montreal Metros?

Cheers, the metros were not too bad.

The critics have been far too cunning, saphilip.

If we condemn them, and wish them destroyed, we uphold what MK Dons themselves represent. The principle by which they exist.

That it is all right to destroy football Clubs.

If we wish them dead and buried, so a football club can take their place, it's no skin off our nose, but more to the point, on what basis would they defend themselves?

That it is wrong? Certainly, we think so.

Pity they don't.

Great discussion.