June 21 – Franchise FC | On This Football Day

June 21 – Franchise FC

FOR the first 40 years of its existence Milton Keynes was most famous for its roundabouts, but today in 2004 England’s newest town had its own football team, albeit in highly controversial circumstances, as the team was soon to dubbed ‘Franchise FC’ by football puritans across the country.

Sports fans in America are used to seeing their teams leave town when the city mayor won’t build them a new stadium. The NFL’s Baltimore Colts even ditched their city overnight, packing up a convoy of trucks with shoulder pads and helmets, turning up in Indianapolis the next day, as shown in this clip.

In England however, this kind of behaviour had not even been considered previously. Some smaller clubs had merged or moved from one side of London to the other in previous years, but when the club formally know as Wimbledon FC were taken over by Peter Winkelman he announced that the clubs would be changing their name to MK Dons and moving 60 miles up the M1.

Prior to this Wimbledon had been struggling, as the days of John Fashanu, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise and the rest of the Crazy Gang were well behind them. The club’s 14-year stay in the top flight ended in 2000 when they were relegated and dwindling attendances meant their finances took a turn for the worse, eventually resulting in administration in June 2003.

This brought about Winkelman’s controversial takeover, with the club now having slipped to League One. Figures throughout the football world condemned the move, arguing that in England football clubs are a part of a town or city’s identity and local fabric, rather than the big-business franchise system of American sports.

Both the Football League and the FA also initially objected, blocking the move, but this was then overturned after the new owners appealed the decision. Adam Crozier, the then-chief executive of the FA was dismayed at the plans and called it an ‘appalling decision.’

Wimbledon’s fans voted with their feet, as they stayed away in the club’s final year at Selhurst Park as attendances struggled to reach 1,500, with most of these being away fans.

This led Winkelman to completely rebrand his team when the move went through, cutting all ties to Wimbledon’s history, changing the name to MK Dons and introducing a new all-white strip.

Disillusioned Womble fans quickly set up a new side at the bottom of the football ladder. AFC Wimbledon began life in 2002 when rumours of Wimbledon FC’s move began to circle and have been a massive success, quickly rising up through the Non-League structure and now finding themselves in the Conference National, one step away from league football. They can also boast of holding the record for the most games unbeaten by a senior English football club after they went 78 without defeat over three seasons.

MK Dons meanwhile are also enjoying life of late, with Roberto Di Matteo continuing Paul Ince’s good work at the club, although they remain one of the most hated teams in the country.

See a short film on the birth of AFC Wimbledon below and click here to see what we were bringing you this time last year. We’ll be back in the morning to help you get over the fact it’s Monday again, so until then, stay classy.