Dons' Plough Lane move would end stock car racing

12:52pm Wednesday 15th August 2012 in Merton

"AFC Wimbledon do not have an automatic right to go back into Plough Lane and ruin a sports ground being happily used by other sports." "AFC Wimbledon do not have an automatic right to go back into Plough Lane and ruin a sports ground being happily used by other sports."

By Graham Brown, Berkshire

I read with interest your story about AFC Wimbledon thinking they are going to move back into Plough Lane .

With all due respect, they had their chance. Wimbledon used to be in Plough Lane and left.

They are now set up in Milton Keynes, which is good news; the less football in London the better.

Just because some re-incarnation of this club has risen from the ashes, so to speak, they do not have an automatic right to go back into Plough Lane and ruin a sports ground being happily used by other sports.

But my real issue with all this is that nobody in any of the stories covered has mentioned the most important “other” sport at Wimbledon Stadium, that of stock car racing.

The plan to make the stadium into the ultimate greyhound track did originally call for the retention of the car oval track, and I would like to think that this, despite it not being mentioned in your most recent coverage, is still a part of Mr Taggart’s plans.

We can only hope that AFC Wimbledon’s bid loses out miserably.

At least with Mr Taggart’s plan, we car racing fans (and I’ve been watching stock cars at Wimbledon for more than 40 years) might have a chance.

I have heard Mr Taggart quoted where he says that Wimbledon is the last big-time greyhound track left in the capital; it is also the last stock car track.

Make sure your voice is heard by sending your letter to: letters@wimbledonguardian.co.uk

Click here to go back to the letters page.

Comments(18)

georgegd says...
2:14pm Wed 15 Aug 12

Wow Graham from Berkshire, wow. Now while I appreciate that you clearly have some deep rooted hatred towards football (Were you never picked for the team at school?), but football is our National Sport, and there are FAR more people around that want to watch football as opposed to stock car racing.

I myself enjoy watching banger racing, and think it would be a great idea for you to petition in Berkshire for a banger racing track. But seeing as though this is in Merton, it really doesn't concern you - it is the decision for the LOCAL residents.

That whole area is incredibly run down, and desperately needs redevelopment, and surely the best thing for the area, and the local residents would be AFC Wimbledon's bid to develop the whole site and create a stadium for (not just football) sporting and non sporting events?

Please let me know how you get on with the stock car racing in Berkshire though. They are really quiet and not at all disruptive to the local residents on a Sunday night.

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bluebird55 says...
7:59pm Fri 17 Aug 12

"The less football the better"? Err there's several million cars in London, the pollution is unbearable some days,
the LESS CARS the better.

Anyway, you prob don't have that problem in Berkshire? I live 50 yards
from the greyhound stadium and I would be glad to see the back of the noisy stock cars and the dogs are a waste of a good site.

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stony bloke says...
8:17pm Fri 17 Aug 12

I think Mr Brown makes some valid points. He's obviously touch a nerve with georgegd who can't respond in a respectable manner but resorts to sarcasm and personal jibes. He (mr Brown) is factually correct regarding the move of Wimbledon FC. As regards AFC Wimbledon's desire "to move BACK to Plough Lane", that is factually incorrect. They were never at Plough Lane and they have no right to move there and oust the existing tenants and their followers, however unpopular they may be with football supporters. Each to his own, as they say.

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MK Fan says...
8:44pm Fri 17 Aug 12

AFC Wimbledon drove a cart and horse through Kingstonian FC's bid to purchase their own ground back from the Khosla brothers.

Now out of sheer desperation to move to Merton, they are trying to ride roughshod over other established sports whilst ignoring the views of the local community.

God forbid anyone should stand up to the arrogance and self righteous proclamations of AFC!

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bluebird55 says...
9:49pm Fri 17 Aug 12

MK Fan....I am part of the (very) local community and I back AFCW to be part of a redevelopment, partly from reasons I have stated above.

Not quite sure what this has to do with a supporter of a club 70 miles away?

It would also appear that Merton Council have earmarked the whole site (and quite right too) for redevelopment, and have merely invited AFCW to submit plans which they duly did. Hardly the version of events you suggest!

And a quick phone call to a Kingstonian season ticket holder confirms what I thought...they were never in a position to buy back Kingsmeadow from Mr Khosla nor did they ever attempt to. No carts or horses anywhere, sorry.

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Bluegate says...
10:00pm Fri 17 Aug 12

Can I just point out that Wimbledon are not based in Milton Keynes. They now play their home matches about 2 miles away from where the club first started on Wimbledon Common in 1889.

In response to the MK fans who are trying to hijack this story I suggest they need to look closer to home to see examples of riding roughshod over other established sports. As a direct result of the MK Dons time as tenants of National Hockey Stadium in MK it has now been demolished and a Network Rail headquarters has been built on the site.

Also due to the MK Dons chairman reneging on a promise to accommodate the MK Lions basketball team at the Stadium:MK complex they have been forced to move to London.

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stony bloke says...
10:17pm Fri 17 Aug 12

Dear me, more tosh from people who don't know the facts and don't care to find out. As for "hijacking" this story, the originator of the article cited Wimbledon FC, now MK Dons, at the beginning of the piece. As for the nonsense about the Hockey team and MK Lions I can't be bothered to put you right. Just do a bit of research. Start with Wikipedia.

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NathanJones says...
10:17pm Fri 17 Aug 12

"the less football in London the better."

Great to see an informed and unbiased article on these local paper sites.

They are usually just pathetic bitter rants by inconsequential losers.

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NathanJones says...
10:19pm Fri 17 Aug 12

MK Fan wrote:
AFC Wimbledon drove a cart and horse through Kingstonian FC's bid to purchase their own ground back from the Khosla brothers.

Now out of sheer desperation to move to Merton, they are trying to ride roughshod over other established sports whilst ignoring the views of the local community.

God forbid anyone should stand up to the arrogance and self righteous proclamations of AFC!
What have Arsenal got to do with it?

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NathanJones says...
10:24pm Fri 17 Aug 12

stony bloke wrote:
I think Mr Brown makes some valid points. He's obviously touch a nerve with georgegd who can't respond in a respectable manner but resorts to sarcasm and personal jibes. He (mr Brown) is factually correct regarding the move of Wimbledon FC. As regards AFC Wimbledon's desire "to move BACK to Plough Lane", that is factually incorrect. They were never at Plough Lane and they have no right to move there and oust the existing tenants and their followers, however unpopular they may be with football supporters. Each to his own, as they say.
Please can you expand on your "factually correct" comment as I suspect you do not any idea of the facts of the case.

The legal entity Wimbledon FC Ltd went into administration and never came out of it, eventually being liquidated a few years ago.

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stony bloke says...
10:44pm Fri 17 Aug 12

NathanJones wrote:
stony bloke wrote:
I think Mr Brown makes some valid points. He's obviously touch a nerve with georgegd who can't respond in a respectable manner but resorts to sarcasm and personal jibes. He (mr Brown) is factually correct regarding the move of Wimbledon FC. As regards AFC Wimbledon's desire "to move BACK to Plough Lane", that is factually incorrect. They were never at Plough Lane and they have no right to move there and oust the existing tenants and their followers, however unpopular they may be with football supporters. Each to his own, as they say.
Please can you expand on your "factually correct" comment as I suspect you do not any idea of the facts of the case.

The legal entity Wimbledon FC Ltd went into administration and never came out of it, eventually being liquidated a few years ago.
Dear me, another one. See my last post.

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paul_uk says...
10:48pm Fri 17 Aug 12

**For full disclosure, I am an AFC Wimbledon fan**

Losing stock car racing from Wimbledon is a shame. It is an important part of Wimbledon tradition and will be sorely missed if the new stadium goes ahead. I hope both the greyhounds and stock cars are able to continue in some form either at Plough Lane or alternative venues

However, using the topic to antagonise AFC Wimbledon fans is highly counter productive. The interesting points raised are drowned out by cheap shots at AFC.

As a club in the football league, we have to co-exist with Milton Keynes. To actively be looking to cause offence and to agitate each other is just petty and unhealthy.

Enjoy your club, it's yours now. We started again and are doing fine. There's nothing to be gained from picking at old wounds.

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Balanced View.. says...
10:52pm Fri 17 Aug 12

Bit of context required here. Yep, 25 odd years ago Wimbledon did little to preserve their ground in Merton-and Merton did even less to preserve football within the Borough-despite the it being important to a lot of people within the community. But at the time the preservation of their club by finding a home, sadly with Rackman Ron Noades was the order of the day. The sorry tale for the rest of football (and the boroughs that they reside in who surely must be culpable for allowing it to happen) when asset strippers moved in at Wimbledon from the business world has still never been headed-perhaps with the exception of the Dons Trust. We all know (former resident now in Claygate) that Merton has never been a well run borough-simply look at their woeful accounting and management of local tax payers money over those 25 years. But, times have changed and some people have moved on. Merton seem as inept as ever but Wimbledon do not. And talking of inept, that pretty much covers in a very polite way any individual that could support Milton Keynes football club. Insane would cover anyone within the South West London area who could have any warmth towards Milton Keynes FC after theirs and their tinpot leaders ruination of a club 75 miles away from them: AFC Wimbledon have done it the correct way if you want to establish a football club, a fact that seems lost to alleged Milton Keynes fans that air their views in an area 4 counties away from them. Maybe if you had the passion and vision to start your own club rather than hijack an ailing club you would be seen as more than thieving cuckoos. Having had some involvement with K's over the years I can tell you that we were in rack and ruin. It may not suit everyone but Wimbledon's (yes Wimbledon) purchase of the lease at Kingsmeadow to allow them to rebuild also allowed K's to continue to breath. Fact. Whether Wimbledon have a right to return to the borough is ultimately for the residents and the supporters of Wimbledon to decide. Ask the majority of residents: local football club with history and community roots or an anti social non inclusive "sport" called "banger" racing? Perhaps Mr Winkleman could welcome all 37 banger racers from Wimbledon with open arms to his arena. Wimbledon may have quite a few self righteous bods involved at their club, not least one or two directors but the ethos of the club overall, its re-birth and desire to try and move a few miles back up the road to their historical area is one that I hope no one stands in the way of and that a semi useless London Borough does the right thing and does what it can to help, whether it is to re-vamp the tip that is the greyhound stadium or close by. Milton Keynes, in the eyes of the vast majority of football and sports fans are not a valid club. Club Cuckoo would be more apt. Good luck to the Dons and K's too.

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Mike T AFCW says...
12:24am Sat 18 Aug 12

ah yes, the old "look on Wikipedia" chestnut... well done, that wins the argument. Nothing inaccurate on there at all. Is that where you saw Wimbledon FC were never at Plough Lane, "stony bloke"? Which is true, if you ignore the small matter of 80-odd years until 1991....

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BathWomble says...
11:37am Sat 18 Aug 12

One football-hating Berkshire resident does not really amount to much. Two Franchise customers getting their pants in a twist because of it amounts to even less. The reason for Wimbledon fans to be bothered about what happens to our old League place in Milton Keynes, is obvious. The reason for any Franchise customer to be bothered about a stadium in Wimbledon, escapes me completely. Just how bitter, twisted and bizarrely obsessed are some MK residents that they are trawling the net for stories like this and then commenting on them? Weird, really weird.

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Balanced View.. says...
1:18pm Sat 18 Aug 12

All seems to of gone silent from the cuckoos in Buckinghamshire..

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Balanced View.. says...
1:19pm Sat 18 Aug 12

Seems to of gone silent from the cuckoos in Buckinghamshire..

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stony bloke says...
10:12pm Sun 19 Aug 12

Balanced View.. wrote:
Seems to of gone silent from the cuckoos in Buckinghamshire..
It's 'have'. And yes, you're right. I've made my point ref. Mr. Brown's excellent piece. There's no more to be said.

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