Statement: AFC Wimbledon

Statement: AFC Wimbledon

Date: 04/12/2019

As the original group of fans responsible for drafting the recent letter to The Dons Trust with a series of questions about the problems over the development at Plough Lane, we note their response issued this afternoon (04/12/2019).

We have made the decision as a group to respond to this letter now, as we believe it’s important to ensure that the issue remains in the minds of Wimbledon fans over the coming days, particularly in the lead-up to the Special General Meeting of The Dons Trust on Monday 9th December.

We are of course glad that the board has responded to some of our questions. That it took this long, on an issue of this importance, raises its own concerns about the fitness of the existing board to handle the oversight of such a huge project. We will return to this at a later date.

AFC Wimbledon was reformed in order to keep the flame alive – the memories and achievements of both the previous players and fans – as well as being a living, breathing entity. It was also reformed to return Wimbledon’s football club to the heart of the community. We did it to once again belong, to be an active partner in the community, and to remind everyone how inclusive and enthralling a football club can be.

Central to that mission was keeping that entity safe from those who may by design or accident threaten that in the short, medium or long term. That – fan ownership as control and care – is not up for grabs, it is now part of our DNA.

We owe it to all those who fought for us to get this far and for all those yet to experience this unique little club that has consistently defied logic and odds, to never dilute our share, never making us just interested bystanders.

This is a bad deal for all of those reasons and we are already examining the alternatives – of which there are many, and we will return to those in the coming days.

Our hope is that Merton Council – who themselves recognised the supporters worth as far back as our struggles against bad owners attempting to wrench the club away – will once again sit down with us and help make even more history.

We are Wimbledon. All of us.

Signed by

Joe Blair
Peter Bowles
Lou Carton-Kelly
Nicole Hammond
Marc Jones
Kevin Rye
Kris Stewart
Charlie Talbot
Plus others

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