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Milton Keynes Dons F.C.

Milton Keynes Dons
Full name Milton Keynes Dons Football Club
Formed 1889
Ground National Hockey Stadium , Milton Keynes
Manager Danny Wilson
Nickname The Dons

Milton Keynes Dons F.C. is a football club that currently plays in the English Football League One, having just been relegated from the First Division. Known until 21 June 2004 as Wimbledon F.C., their new name reflects their controversial move to Milton Keynes. Their traditional home is Wimbledon, south London, but since 2003 they have been based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Contents

History

Amateur beginnings

Wimbledon Old Centrals were formed in 1889, and changed their name to Wimbledon in 1905. The club played on Wimbledon Common until 1912, when they moved to Plough Lane , their home for the next 75 years. They became one of the best known amateur clubs, winning the Isthmian League title eight times, and finally lifting the F.A. Amateur Cup in 1963.

Turning professional

The club turned professional the following year, entering the Southern League, and were elected to the Football League in 1977. They were promoted or relegated every season from 1979 to 1984, reaching the First Division in 1986.

FA Cup win

Known as "The Crazy Gang" because of the eccentric behaviour of their players and fans, their greatest moment came in 1988 when they won the FA Cup, beating Liverpool 1-0, with a goal from Lawrie Sanchez. Wimbledon captain Dave Beasant became the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a Wembley FA Cup final, stopping a spot-kick from John Aldridge.

Just days after winning the FA Cup, the directors of Wimbledon football club announced plans to relocate to a new all-seater stadium in its home borough of Merton. But nothing came of these plans, and at the end of the 1990–91 season Wimbledon decided that its cramped Plough Lane ground was beyond redevelopment and it began to share Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace.

The 1990s

Bobby Gould , manager of the Wimbledon FA Cup winners, remained in charge until the summer of 1990 when he was replaced by Ray Harford, who in 1988 had guided Luton Town to victory in the League Cup. In 1990–91, Wimbledon finished an impressive seventh in the First Division, and with the ban on English clubs in European competition now lifted, Wimbledon fans hoped that Harford could guide the club to a European place for the first time ever — Wimbledon could not compete in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners Cup because of the ban on English teams following the Heysel tragedy of 1985.

Harford resigned in the autumn of 1991 to be replaced by Peter Withe, who remained in charge until the end of the season. Wimbledon finished high enough in 1991–92 to become members of the new Premier League, and their manager from the start of 1992–93 onwards would be Joe Kinnear. The first few seasons under Joe Kinnear suggested that Wimbledon could challenge for success once again.

The club's best seasons in the new Premier League were 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1996–97, when Kinnear guided the club to respective sixth, ninth and eighth place finishes. There were some quality players in the side like Robbie Earle , Dean Holdsworth , Warren Barton and Ben Thatcher . Wimbledon came close to domestic trophy success in 1996–97, when they reached the semi finals of the FA Cup and League Cup.

At the end of the 1998–99 season, Joe Kinnear handed in his resignation after seven years as Wimbledon manager. In the previous two seasons Wimbledon had finished just above the Premiership relegation zone, and the recent club record £7.5million signing of West Ham United striker John Hartson had done little to address matters. Wimbledon were taken over by a Norwegian consortium who appointed Egil Olsen as manager. Olsen had taken the Norwegian national team to the World Cup tournaments of 1994 and 1998, and his new employers were hopeful that he could be a success at Wimbledon. But in fact the transition proved to be the beginning of the end for the club.

Relegation from the Premiership

On the last day of 1999–2000 (the 12th anniversary of their FA Cup victory), Wimbledon lost to Southampton and their nearest rivals Bradford achieved a surprise win over Liverpool. Wimbledon were finally relegated from the top division of English football after a 14-year membership. Olsen had resigned two games earlier to be replaced by coach Terry Burton .

Terry Burton remained manager of Wimbledon for two seasons in Division One until he was sacked at the end of 2001–2002 after the club had narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs two seasons in a row.

Move to Milton Keynes

After Burton's dismissal, goalkeeping coach Stuart Murdoch took over as manager, and it was just after this transition that the club was given permission by an independent panel to relocate to Milton Keynes. It was the first time that an English league club had been allowed to relocate so far outside its geographical area, and club chairman Charles Koppel became one of the most hated men in football for making the decision which many people saw as "franchising".

Despite being given permission to relocate to Milton Keynes, Wimbledon were still playing at Selhurst Park and their plans for a new stadium in the Denbigh area of the Buckinghamshire new town were yet to be approved. The club's average attendance for 2002–03 was less than 3,000, the third lowest of all the 92 league clubs. But Stuart Murdoch's team was still able to secure a respectable 10th place finish in Division One and the strike partnership of Neil Shipperley and David Connolly managed a total of almost 50 goals between them.

In September 2003, Wimbledon moved into a temporary new home at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes. The club had gone into financial administration with debts of more than £20million, but the club's temporary stadium had been developed after businessman Peter Winkleman made funds available. Six months later, Winkleman agreed to take the club over and save it from liquidation, but it was too late to rescue Wimbledon's season. Wimbledon ended the season bottom of Division One with 33 league defeats — only Doncaster Rovers, with 34 defeats in the 1997–98 Division Three campaign, have ever lost more games in a single season.

In June 2004, Winkelman announced that Wimbledon Football Club would change its name to Milton Keynes Dons, having previously promised fans a vote on the issue and had the committee of the notoriously tame Milton Keynes supporters' club vote unanimously to retain the word "Wimbledon" in the name. When the club formally emerged from administration under the new name and ownership on July 1, he also announced new team colours and a new badge, which he had not made even the pretense of consultation on. In the 2004–05 season the club is playing in League One of the Coca-Cola Football League (previously Division Two).

Its future does not look bright as attendances are still low, financial resources are tight and the club is near the foot of the division, which ultimately resulted in Murdoch's dismissal in November. He was replaced by former Bristol City manager Danny Wilson .

Interestingly, the new club formed in South West London by the fans of Wimbledon who opposed the move to Milton Keynes (which was nearly all), i.e. AFC Wimbledon, are making progress in non league football and get similar crowds to the MK Dons which is mainly made of away (traveling) fans unlike the AFC Wimbledon gates which are practically only home (Wimbledon) fans.

Life in Coca Cola League 1

The 2004/2005 season started with a draw against Barnsley with the club playing under the name of Milton Keynes Dons for the very first time. Just 1 point from the opening 5 matches left MK Dons in trouble in the league 1 relegation zone. However 1 defeat in the next 7 league matches got the MK Dons a useful 14 points from this period. This enabled them to get as high as 19th in the table. However another bad patch followed. Although a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday was a useful point gained, it started a 9 match winless streak in the league which only mustered 4 points. This spell included a terrible performance at home to Luton Town (who are currently the leaders of league 1) as the MK Dons were outclassed, out sung, and just about out everything as Luton strolled to a 4-1 win at the NHS. During this time Stuart Murdock was sacked by the chairman Pete Winkelman . Jimmy Gilligan was the caretaker manager. To his credit he managed to get the MK Dons into the 3rd round of the FA Cup as they just about managed to beat two non league sides, Lancaster City and Cambridge City, winning both games 1-0. Danny Wilson was brought in as MK Dons manager, and his mission was simple to save the MK Dons from going down. Some more terrible performances against Stockport County a 3-1 defeat, and against Hartlepool United a 5-0 defeat left the MK Dons further in trouble. A bad season was getting worst and Peterborough United knocked MK Dons out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round.

Their home form though started to improve and they have been unbeaten at home since October. Wins against Wrexham, Blackpool, and Colchester along with draws against Chesterfield and Sheffield Wednesday, meant that the MK Dons were picking up points during December and January, not quite enough to get out of trouble during this period, but at least they were in contention of getting out of the relegation zone. Along with all this Wrexham were deducted 10 points as the football club has entered into adminstration, and this placed Wrexham into the relegation zone.

A 1-0 loss to Brentford left the Dons 23rd in the league and in deep deep trouble. A surprise 4-1 win against Bradford City 3 days later though started a really good patch in form. 11 games unbeaten (4 wins, 7 draws) which included a 2-1 win over Stockport County at the NHS to enable the MK Dons to get out the relegation zone, for the first time since October meant that the MK Dons looked favourites to survive relegation. Again they went as high as 19th in the league table. At the end of the 11 game unbeaten run (by no means an English Senior Football League record) they were 6 points above the relegation zone.

Just when it looked as though they would be safe for at least 1 more year, Torquay United and then Luton Town managed 1-0 wins in two successive fixtures. With Torquay winning both of their matches during this time a 6 point safety net had being wiped out, and now MK Dons were only outside the league 1 relegation zone on goal difference. And with fixtures still to come against Bristol City (who are also fighting to try and get into the playoffs) and Tranmere Rovers (who will want to go into the playoffs in good form) there could still be a surprise left in the season. It looks like its going down to the final day of the season.

Honours

(as Wimbledon FC)

  • FA Cup
    • Winners: 1987–88
  • F.A. Premier League
    • Best season 6th: 1993–94
  • Football League
    • First Division best season 6th: 1986–87
    • Third Division Runners-up: 1983–84
    • Fourth Division Champions: 1982–83
  • Football League Cup
    • Semi-finals: 1996–97, 1998–99
  • F.A. Amateur Cup
    • Winners: 1962–63
    • Runners-up: 1934–35, 1946–47
  • Southern League
    • Premier Division Champions: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77
    • Premier Division Runners-up: 1967–68
    • First Division Runners-up: 1964–65
  • Southern League Cup
    • Winners: 1969–70, 1975–76
  • Isthmian League
    • Champions: 1930–31, 1931–32, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64
  • Athenian League
    • Runners-up: 1920–21
  • London Senior Cup
    • Winners: 1930–31, 1933–34, 1961–62, 1974–75, 1976–77

Grounds

  • Plough Lane (1912-1991)
  • Selhurst Park (1991-2003)
  • National Hockey Stadium (2003-present)

League history

1919–1921 Athenian League
1921–1964 Isthmian League
1964–1965 Southern League First Division
1965–1977 Southern League Premier Division
1977–1979 Football League Fourth Division
1979–1980 Football League Third Division
1980–1981 Football League Fourth Division
1981–1982 Football League Third Division
1982–1983 Football League Fourth Division
1983–1984 Football League Third Division
1984–1986 Football League Second Division
1986–1992 Football League First Division
1992–2000 FA Premier League (founder members)
2000–2004 Football League First Division
2004— Football League One (former Second Division)

Managers

Famous players

External links


Last updated: 05-16-2005 21:26:57