Another sad twist in the 'Wimbledon' saga

The continuing saga of Wimbledon FC took another strange turn after the Football League sanctioned the club's proposed name change to Milton Keynes Dons FC.

When I first read this I had to admit I checked the calender to make sure it wasn't April 1st. But no, it's really true and for those Dons fans that stuck with the club through it's move to MK, it's now time to throw out all their Wimbledon FC scarves, hats etc etc and embrace the new name, despite the fact they apparently had no say in the matter.

The club's officials claim they had "intended to ballot supporters on the name change - but delays in the takeover agreement prevented such a vote taking place before the fixtures are published". So of course they went ahead and did it anyway.

The Dons fans who formed the breakaway club, AFC Wimbledon, must now be nodding their heads in an 'I told you so' kind of fashion. It's ironic that an 'independent commission' ruled that the formation of such a club "would not be in the wider interests of football".

Meanwhile, AFC Wimbledon have thrived and last season climbed their way back up the non-league pyramid to the Ryman First Division, under the watchful eye of their president and the 'old' club's legendary goalkeeper, Dickie Guy.

The InterMK consortium, that runs Wimbledon FC, responded to the FA Commission's recommendation "that the club should always retain a link with its former identity', with the laughable statement, "We feel the name 'Milton Keynes Dons FC' will represent the past, present and future and place the club at the heart of its new community".

How on earth the FA\Football League let them get away with moving the club to another city, going into administration and then completely changing the name of the club and yet not kicking them out of the League is surely beyond me.

The fact that the club was relegated from the First Division of the Football League at the end of last season will perhaps seem a small measure of justice in the eyes of the 'real' Wimbledon's fans.

Elsewhere, football supporters the length and breadth of the country will perhaps look a bit closer at their own clubs present situation and worry that the same thing could happen to them. In other words a US-style 'franchising', whereby top sports teams are regularly bought and sold and move from city to city with no regard to the fans.

A worrying precedent has now been effectively set by the FA\Football League.