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Wimbledon F.C.

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File:Wimbledon fc.png
Wimbledon F.C. crest
This article is about the football club known as Wimbledon F.C. between 1889 and 2003. For the continuation of that club since, see Milton Keynes Dons F.C. For the club founded by Wimbledon fans in response, see AFC Wimbledon.

Wimbledon F.C. was the name of a now defunct football club that played in south London. Founded in 1889, the club spent most of its history in non-league football, before a rapid ascent to the top flight of English football in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The club won the FA Cup in 1988 and spent most of the 1990s in the Premiership.

In 2003 following years of internal wrangling, the club moved seventy miles north to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire citing financial reasons, and the following year were relaunched with new colours and a new badge as Milton Keynes Dons. The club's supporters responded by forming a new club, AFC Wimbledon.

History

Amateur beginnings

Wimbledon Old Centrals F.C. were formed in 1889, taking their name from the Old Central School on Wimbledon Common, where players had been pupils. The name was changed 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 in the country, winning the Isthmian League title eight times, and lifting the FA Amateur Cup in 1963.

Turning professional

At the insistence of chairman Sydney Black, the club turned professional the following year, entering the Southern League, where they had continued success.

In 1975, the club became nationally famous during a spectactular FA Cup run. They were the first non league team that century to beat a First Division team at its own ground, when they defeated Burnley F.C. in the third round. In the fourth round they held the reigning First Division Champions, Leeds United F.C., to a draw at Elland Road, with goalkeeper Dickie Guy saving a penalty, before narrowly losing to an own goal in the replay at Selhurst Park, in front of over 40,000 spectators.

On the strength of three successive Southern League championships, and also the fame derived from their FA Cup heroics, they were finally elected to the Football League in 1977, after several failed attempts. They were then promoted or relegated every season from 1979 to 1984, before rapidly reaching the First Division in 1986. They finished sixth in the first ever top division season, and early in 1986-87 had topped the league.

FA Cup win

Dubbed "The Crazy Gang" because of the eccentric behaviour of their players and fans (and, indeed, the chairman, Sam Hammam), their greatest moment came in 1988 when, very much against expectation, they won the FA Cup beating the strong favourites Liverpool 1-0, with a goal from Lawrie Sanchez. Wimbledon captain Dave Beasant became the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in an FA Cup final, stopping a contraversial spot-kick (Clive Goodyear had clearly played the ball) from John Aldridge.

Just days after winning the FA Cup, the club's directors announced plans to relocate to a new all-seater stadium in its home borough of Merton. But, ultimately, 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 moved into Selhurst Park sharing with Crystal Palace, where it remained for the next twelve years.

The 1990s

Bobby Gould, manager of the FA Cup winning side, 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 1985 Heysel disaster.

Harford resigned in the autumn of 1991 to be replaced by Peter Withe, who remained in charge until the end of the season but was dismissed having proved highly unpopular with both players and fans. Wimbledon finished high enough in 1991–92 to become founder members of the new Premier League, and Joe Kinnear was appointed manager at the start of 1992–93. Wimbledon continued their strong form under Kinnear – the club's best seasons were 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1996–97, when Kinnear guided the club to respective sixth, ninth and eighth place finishes. There were many quality players in the side, such as 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, following sudden illness, Joe Kinnear resigned for personal reasons 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 had by now been taken over by a Norwegian consortium led by Kjell Inge Røkke, 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 too. However, the transition proved to be the beginning of the end for the club.

Relegation from the Premiership

On the last day of 1999-2000 season, Wimbledon lost to Southampton whilst their nearest rivals Bradford achieved a surprise win over Liverpool, meaning that the club were finally relegated from the top division of English football after 14 years. Olsen had been dismissed two games earlier, to be replaced by team coach Terry Burton.

Terry Burton remained manager of Wimbledon for two seasons in Division One until he was controversially sacked at the end of 2001–2002 after the club had narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs two seasons in a row. After Burton's dismissal, goalkeeping coach Stuart Murdoch took over as manager.

Move to Milton Keynes

Wimbledon's relatively low attendances, and the large number of rival clubs in London, had meant that Wimbledon could not enjoy the high gate receipts received by many other Premiership clubs. With the team homeless after the closure of Plough Lane, throughout the 1990s the club's directors mooted the idea of moving away from London entirely to a more profitable location, much to the anger of the fans. Dublin and Cardiff were considered as potential new homes, before the directors settled on Milton Keynes (which had a non League Football team) as the best opportunity.

Such a move (over 70 miles) was unprecedented in English football. The club's fans saw the move as sports franchising, a concept totally alien to English football; the traditional view of a football club is that it is an important part of the community and local fabric, rather than simply a business. Despite the ongoing and highly vehement opposition of the club's fans, and many other clubs' fans who held sympathetic views, on May 28, 2002 the club was given permission by the FA to relocate to Milton Keynes. The affair caused Wimbledon F.C to be nick-named perjoratively as "Franchise F.C."

Many of the club's fans, angered at the move and the removal of their team, founded their own club AFC Wimbledon, in 2002. Despite having to start at the 8th level of the football pyramid, AFC Wimbledon enjoys very sizeable support from former Wimbledon F.C. fans. The club currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division, having already achieved two successive promotions in its short history.

2002-03 was Wimbledon F.C.'s last full season at Selhurst Park. With most fans having by now deserted the club in protest, the average attendance at Selhurst Park fell to fewer than 3,000. Murdoch's team still manged to secure 10th place in Division One, the strike partnership of Neil Shipperley and David Connolly managed a total of almost 50 goals between them. After further delays, they began playing in Milton Keynes early in the following season.

2003-04 was a disastrous season for Wimbledon. After the move to Milton Keynes, attendances improved only marginally. But nothing could disguise poor league form which saw the club relegated in bottom place after 33 defeats - the joint second record for the most league defeats in English football history. Only Doncaster (34 defeats) have lost more games in a league season (when they were relegated to the Conference in 1998).

After the end of the season, Wimbledon F.C finally cut all existing ties to their home town and were renamed Milton Keynes Dons.

For the club's subsequent history, please see Milton Keynes Dons F.C.

Honours

Grounds

League history

1919-1921 Athenian League
1921-1964 Isthmian League
1964-1965 Southern League First Division
1965-1977 Southern League Premier Division (old First division renamed)
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)
2000-2003 Football League First Division

Managers since entering Football League

Famous players

See also

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