Franchise-Forgive and Forget?

[Behind-the-Gulls]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24287468.

Don't think this will ever be forgotten really and certainly can't see AC Wimbledon fans being anymore conciliatory towards MK, anytime soon.
Perhaps if MK dropped the "Dons" title and AC moved back to Wimbledon the wounds would heal a bit-or if Winkleman resigned.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I think that they should all just try and get on with their respective lives. Obviously the Wimbledon fans who refused to support the new MK Dons side will still feel aggrieved and will always do so but they have got a new 'old' club now and they should be so proud of what they managed to achieve. MK Dons should IMO drop the 'Dons' suffix and just now cement themselves as an independent team in their own right (which I guess they kind of are now anyway) but the 'Dons' belongs to Wimbledon and not MK.

MK Dons is a really progressive club and although any Wimbledon fans who chose to follow them are IMO a bit simple (I had a similar dichotomy when Salzburg became a franchise club and I chose the new club however both teams Red Bull and Austria Salzburg both remained in the same city). I cannot for the life of me see why a Torquay fan for example would go and support a new club in Taunton say when it isn't even in the same area. I would either go and support the phoenix club if one was set up or cut ties completely and go and watch somebody else.

Just crack on now, both are clubs in their own right and although it would be a mark of respect I feel if MK dropped the Dons bit I feel that it is time to look to the future for both.

[SuperNickyWroe]

bo**ocks to the fake dons.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Succinctly put as always Chris and spoken like a true Yorkie!

[yellowforever]

Not to mention we went down at their expense in 04/05...

[AustrianAndyGull]

Not to mention we went down at their expense in 04/05...

Yes but that was because we were sh*t and deserved it over the course of a season. =D

[yellowforever]

Yes but that was because we were sh*t and deserved it over the course of a season. =D

Indeed. Had Bateson loosened the purse strings a bit more (Constantine aside)', then we would have stayed up. We were a different club entirely back then.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Fair point yellowforever.

[Lloyder5]

And actually we weren't shit, we did pretty well with the resources available and accumulated a decent points total. But hey, a long time ago.

[Kernowgull]

And actually we weren't sh*t, we did pretty well with the resources available and accumulated a decent points total. But hey, a long time ago.

We were a decent goal-keeper for the whole season away from mid table that year. Oh whar could have been!

[chunkygull]

we most definitely were not sh1t that season. we were extremely unlucky not to stay up. towards the end of that season we were really pulling it together and looking like we were getting to grips with that league.

dont forget we had sold our top striker, david graham who had been outstanding for the team in recent seasons. we bought leon constantine, but it wasnt the same, graham had great movement, scored goals and got involved in working for the team a lot. a couple of decent signings probably would have helped us a lot, but short sightedness ruled again.

we easily matched many teams for football, passing a lot of them off the park, we shipped a lot of goals at times, 4 on a few occasions, but most of the teams were scoring with every chance they had, that was mainly the only big difference maker in that league, the lethal/clinical finishing. we received praise and acolades from many other teams about our football and how unlucky we were and we shouldnt have been near the bottom. no consolation though when you have just lost and are sliding down the table.

we were only relegated on goal difference finishing on 51 points, which is usually unheard of. the 3 teams below ended the season with 43 - 40 - 26 points.

the atmosphere at our last 2 home games was electric and we really looked to be giving it a go, port vale was great, 1.0, last few seconds, twice taken constantine penalty, andy marriott our keeper went nuts both times the ball went in. then v blackpool a crowd of about 5300 saw us win 2.0, the crowd was buzzing. i remember coming away thinking we were actually going to do it, we were going to stay up.

last day we didnt turn up at colchester and went down losing 2-1. however, i will never, ever forgive or forget the digusting conduct of b@st@rd tranmere. mk dons v tranmere was a delayed kick off which shouldnt be allowed in the last game circumstances, dons scored their winner near the end of the game. i will never forget radio devon switching to coverage of the last 10 minutes of the dons game and the commo stating how tranmere had made wholesale changes to their team and played a weakened side because they were in the upcoming play-offs.

the commo kept saying how tranmere were strolling about putting in next to no effort whatsoever and werent even trying, they were abysmal and not bothered or interested all afternoon and just got worse. in those last game circumstances, when relegation/promotions are riding on results it, what tranmere did should not be allowed, if that was the premier league there would have been absolute uproar.

i dont know about the goalkeeper comment in previous post, but, marriott was bloody awesome when he came in.