Milton Keynes is around 55 miles away from London. It’s a large town which homes around 220,000 people.

Until 2004, apart from the plucky attempts from a handful of non-league clubs, there was no notable football team in the area. That was until it was suggested a Football League club could potentially relocate there. This is widely unspoken of and was widely criticised by supporters around the country.

To simply take a team, relocate it and its supporters and dump it miles away seemed stupidly unfair.

Wimbledon FC were a side established in South London in 1889 and were elected to the Football League in 1977. They had a fairytale rise from the pits of English football and by the end of the 80’s they were well-established in the top division of English football.

The Taylor Report was published in 1991, recommending the development of English football stadiums up and down the country. Wimbledon left their home to ground share with Crystal Palace and when they did so, then owner Sam Hammam said the club couldn’t afford to redevelop Plough Lane.

A new stadium didn’t come to fruition, Hammam sold the club to Norwegian businessmen and the Dons were relegated at the end of the 1999-2000 season.

In 2000, a consortium led by music promoter Pete Winkelman, Asda and Ikea proposed a large site in Milton Keynes be converted into a Football League-standard stadium. The likes of Luton, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace, Barnet and QPR were approached by the trio and it was Wimbledon who were “selected”, pushed into the deal by newly appointed chairman Charles Koppel.

Wimbledon fans were disgusted, heartbroken and in awe as the League and FA stated opposition against the commisioners, who ruled in favour in May 2002.

The original Wimbledon remained at Crystal Palace until June 2003, until they went into administration. Winkelman bought the club and as quick as he could he secured funding and took the Dons to Milton Keynes where he rebranded the name, badge and colours.

Milton Keynes Dons were born, and lots of football fans weren’t happy about it.

MK Dons are a club that begun life in League One, and that seemed unfair. As well as the controversy surrounding the club about their principles and the way they formed out of Wimbledon, this frustrated many lower league clubs around the country.

Effectively, Pete Winkelman had cut out the middle-man. Most new clubs' first few seasons are make-or-break. Take FC United of Manchester for example - they are a club that have shot up the lower leagues of English football and are now only two divisions away from the Football League. But these years are the hardest in any teams' early history- both financially and on the pitch.

Most found it unfair that just because MK Dons were founded the way they were, that they were allowed to quite simply jump straight into League One.

They only renounced Wimbledon's history in 2007, convinently after cementing themselves as a club that aren't going to fall straight out of the football league - very clever indeed.

MK Dons is a little fake, cheap and artificial. It's a brand, and there is very little that has that "good old English football" feel about it.

Emirates-style leather seats accompany an average attendance of 12,900 (in a ground that holds over 30,000). The stadium is three miles away from the town centre, which is huge in footballing terms and not great for anyone that wants a proper footballing experience.

It’s an atmosphere-less example of corporate ownership at its best. Winkelman is no football fan and didn’t hesitate in taking Wimbledon away from its true home when there could have been a fight to save them.

Many simply argue that Wimbledon were dead but there are countless stories of clubs' fighting to the death to save themselves and then reforming and playing better than before.

Their match against Chelsea proved their franchise-esque status.

The whole occasion was like a rugby match - fans lightly applauded a goal and songs are rarely sung in the paddocks. It's an all-seated affair and everything about the club seems very artificial.

So, MK Dons: No atmosphere, no passion, no history, no point.

[ad_pod id='football-survey' align='center']

[ad_pod id='writeforus' align='center']