Wimbledon F.C.

Wimbledon Football Club was an English football club formed in Wimbledon, southwest London, in 1889 and based at Plough Lane from 1912 to 1991. Founded as Wimbledon Old Centrals, the club were a non-League team for most of their history. Nicknamed "the Dons" and latterly also "the Wombles", they won eight Isthmian League titles, the FA Amateur Cup in 1963 and three successive Southern League championships between 1975 and 1977, and were then elected to the Football League. The team rose quickly from obscurity during the 1980s and were promoted to the then top-flight First Division in 1986, just four seasons after being in the Fourth Division.

Wimbledon's "Crazy Gang"—so-called because of the boisterous, eccentric behaviour of the players—won the FA Cup in 1988, beating that season's League champions Liverpool, and thereby became one of only three clubs to have won both the FA Cup and its amateur counterpart. In 1991, following the publication of the Taylor Report recommending all-seater grounds for top-flight clubs, Wimbledon left Plough Lane to groundshare with nearby Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park - originally a temporary arrangement that ended up lasting over a decade. The team remained in the First Division and its successor, the FA Premier League, until they were relegated in 2000.

thumb|Wimbledon FC Seasons + MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon

In 2001, after rejecting a variety of possible local sites and others further afield, the club announced its intention to move north to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. The idea of Wimbledon leaving south London was deeply unpopular, both with the bulk of the club's established fanbase and with football supporters generally, but an independent commission appointed by the Football Association granted permission in May 2002. A group of supporters, appalled by the decision, responded by forming a new club, AFC Wimbledon, to which the majority of Wimbledon fans switched allegiance. The move went ahead and Wimbledon played home games in Milton Keynes in the 2003–2004 season; Milton Keynes Dons would compete in the football League from 2004 onwards.

History

Non-League beginnings

thumb|The Wimbledon Old Centrals of [[1895–96 in English football|1895–96]]

Wimbledon Old Central Football Club formed in 1889, taking its name from the Old Central School on Wimbledon Common where players had been pupils. The club's first match was a 10 victory over Westminster, and it took only seven years for success to come to Wimbledon as they won both the Clapham League and the Herald League in 189596. Wimbledon won the Clapham League again in 190001, as well as two minor trophies. At a meeting convened on 1 May 1905, the decision was taken to drop "Old Central" from the club's name, and under its new name Wimbledon Football Club won the South London Charity Cup the same year; however, excessive debts caused the club to fold in 1910. A year later, the club was restarted under the name Wimbledon Borough, though 'Borough' was dropped from the team's name after barely a year. They continued to play on Wimbledon Common and at various other locations in the Wimbledon area until 1912, when the side settled at Plough Lane. Wimbledon joined the Athenian League for 191920, and finished as runners-up in their second season in the new division. Following these successes, the decision was taken for the club to turn professional for the 196465 season and to enter the Southern League. Wimbledon's success continued in their new league, and the team finished as runners-up at the first attempt. Wimbledon became nationally famous during an FA Cup run during the 197475 season; entering the competition at the first qualifying round, Wimbledon defeated Bracknell Town, then Maidenhead United, Wokingham Town, Guildford & Dorking United, Bath City and Kettering Town to find themselves in the third round proper. They then became the first non-League team of the 20th century to beat a First Division side away from home by defeating Burnley at Turf Moor. Their good form continued in the fourth round, as the team held the reigning First Division champions Leeds United to a 00 draw at Elland Road. Goalkeeper Dickie Guy saved a penalty from Peter Lorimer to earn a replay, which was narrowly lost 10 by an own goal in front of over 40,000 spectators at Selhurst Park. After winning the Southern League three times running, from 197475 to 197677, Wimbledon were elected to the Football League in place of Workington for the 197778 season.

The Football League

thumb|Wimbledon take on [[Oxford United at Plough Lane in a Third Division match during 1981–82]]

The 1977–78 season was a satisfactory Football League debut for Wimbledon, who finished 13th in the Fourth Division.

Still in south London, 1980–81 saw Wimbledon regain Third Division status at the first attempt, at the end of an eventful season which saw chairman Ron Noades walk out of the club to take over Crystal Palace, taking manager Dario Gradi to Selhurst Park with him. Wimbledon once again regained Third Division status at the first time of asking, triumphing as Fourth Division champions in 198283, and in the next season the Wimbledon players continued to excel as they achieved a second promotion to the Second Division after finishing runners-up with 97 league goals. The only downside of this triumph was that the club would not be able to compete in the European Cup Winners' Cup, as the ban on English teams from European competition following the Heysel Stadium Disaster was still in operation at this time. Wimbledon also finished seventh in the league this season.

thumb|Cup-winning captain and goalkeeper [[Dave Beasant, pictured in 2003]]

Just days after the FA Cup triumph, Wimbledon directors announced plans to build a new all-seater stadium in the club's home borough of Merton. In the season following the FA Cup triumph, Gould steered Wimbledon to a secure 12th-place finish in the First Division, and in 198990 the side finished eighth. Consequently, the club moved to Selhurst Park before the 199192 season, ground-sharing with Crystal Palace. Harford suddenly resigned in October 1991, with the Dons in the top half of the table, to be replaced by Peter Withe. Withe lasted until just after the turn of the new year, winning just one league game in three months. Joe Kinnear was promoted from the role of youth team coach, initially taking over as interim manager and overseeing strong form which lifted the club out of the relegation. After guiding Wimbledon to 13th place in the First Division and booking a place in the inaugural FA Premier League, Not that it mattered; after losing Barton to Newcastle, 199596 saw a drop to 14th.

The 1997–98 season looked highly promising for Wimbledon as late on as Christmas, as the team were regularly in the top five. However, the side's form in the second half of the season was less impressive, and the club dipped to 15th place in the final table – the lowest finish yet for Wimbledon in the top flight. Despite opposition from Wimbledon fans, The Football League, and The Football Association, The approval of the decision to move the club caused supporters who were against the move to found a new club, AFC Wimbledon, to which most Wimbledon fans switched their allegiance;

gates at the new club were over 3,500, compared with 2,500 or less for the relocated club. Murdoch's team finished 10th in the league during the club's last full season at Selhurst Park. and played their first match in Milton Keynes in September. The administrator in charge of the club's financial affairs sold any player who could command a transfer fee and Murdoch's team finished at the bottom of the league.

The club were brought out of administration at the end of the 200304 season, and Milton Keynes Dons

The colours most associated with the club were blue and yellow.

thumb|upright|Wimbledon's final proposed logo, adopted before the [[2003–04 in English football|2003–04 season but not used on playing kit Despite being officially adopted in April 2003, the logo's use was inconsistent: the club officially announced that it would be used "on all club kit, merchandise and literature from the start of [the 200304] season", but this never occurred; both the home and away colours from 2002 to 2003 were retained for the following year with the municipal arms still present. Moreover, the old crest continued to appear on official club statements and literature towards the end of the 200304 season, making the status of the new badge ambiguous at best.

Mascot

From 2000 to June 2003, the original Wimbledon had used a Womble mascot named "Wandle", named after the local River Wandle, as a club mascot. However, in light of the controversy over the moving of the club to Milton Keynes, the legal licence to use the character was withdrawn by the Wombles' creator, Elisabeth Beresford, in protest at the nature of the club's relocation.

Stadium

left|thumb|[[Plough Lane (1912–1998)|Plough Lane's South Stand, pictured in 2000]]

Wimbledon originally played on Wimbledon Common, using the Fox and Grapes public house in Camp Road as the team's headquarters and changing room. The club moved to Plough Lane in September 1912. During the 1930s and 1940s, crowds of between 7,000 and 10,000 were not uncommon at the ground. Wimbledon's highest attendance at the ground came on 2 March 1935, when 18,080 people were attracted to an FA Amateur Cup tie against HMS Victory. Floodlights were first used on 3 October 1960 in a London Charity Cup match against Arsenal.

The Plough Lane ground remained comparatively basic, and by the time the club had risen to the First Division the stadium had not changed greatly from Wimbledon's recent non-league days. At the time of the club's acceptance into the Football League in 1977, applicants had only to meet minimal stadium criteria, and once in the League these same criteria sufficed regardless of whether the club subsequently found itself in the Fourth or First Division. However, following the Hillsborough disaster and the subsequent Taylor Report, the football authorities introduced far stricter safety rules, which gave top-flight clubs specific deadlines by which to redevelop terraced grounds or to build new all-seater stadiums. The board of the club decided that Plough Lane could not be made to comply with these new requirements economically and, in 1990, they announced plans to temporarily groundshare with Crystal Palace at their Selhurst Park stadium.

Given the location of the Plough Lane ground, at the junction of two major roads and beside the River Wandle, major redevelopment of the site as a modern all-seater stadium might have been difficult, though not impossible. The club's board of directors maintained that it had "searched exhaustively with Merton Council" for a site in or around Merton on which to build a new stadium, looking at "14 different sites over a period of five years", in addition to commissioning feasibility studies for redeveloping both Plough Lane and the neighbouring site at Wimbledon Stadium. Despite this, nothing ever became of the board's continual promises to redevelop the site or to build a new ground within the borough, and the club remained as tenants at Selhurst Park for twelve years.

Wimbledon's first match at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes was played on 27 September 2003.

Following the sanctioning of the move, most of the team's support left in specific protest at the club's relocation, to follow AFC Wimbledon,

Rivalries

During much of Wimbledon's amateur and later semi-professional history, a strong local rivalry existed with neighbouring Tooting & Mitcham United.

From the mid-1980s, the club's main rivals were considered by fans to be fellow south London club Crystal Palace (who were their landlord from 1991 to 2003) and west London-based Chelsea; however, neither of these rivalries was seriously reciprocated. Wimbledon were in the same division as Palace for a total of 11 seasons between 1984 and 2004, and in the same division as Chelsea for all but one season between 1986 and 2000.

Records and statistics

thumb|upright=1.4|Wimbledon's progress through the [[English football league system from 1920 to 2004. Horizontal black lines represent (from top): 1 (post-1992) – Premier League 2–4 (1–4 pre-1992) – The Football League 4–6 – Southern Football League 6 – Athenian League; Isthmian League]]

The record for most appearances for Wimbledon was held by Roy Law, who turned out for the club 644 times between 1958 and 1972; Law's 433 league appearances was also a record. The closest to Reynolds's record was Ian Cooke, who notched 297 between 1964 and 1977;

The records for most appearances and goals for Wimbledon in the Football League were both held by Alan Cork. Cork scored 145 league goals for the club in 430 matches. Wimbledon's most capped player was Kenny Cunningham, who was capped 16 times for the Republic of Ireland during his time at the club. The highest fee that the club received was the £7 million Newcastle United parted with to sign Carl Cort on 6 July 2000.

Wimbledon's best win was a 6–0 league victory over Newport County on 3 September 1983,

Wimbledon's highest attendance, 30,115, was set on 9 May 1993 for the FA Premier League match against Manchester United at Selhurst Park but their official home attendance record is 18,080 vs HMS Victory in an FA Amateur Cup tie on 9 March 1935 at Plough Lane due to Selhurst Park being borrowed from Crystal Palace FC.

Players

First team squad

:The squad given here is made up of the players registered to the club on the date of Wimbledon's final league match (Wimbledon 10 Derby County, 9May 2004). Updated 9May 2004.

:a Denotes players who stayed on to play for Milton Keynes Dons

:b Denotes players who later played for AFC Wimbledon

:c Sourced to Soccerbase .

Notable former players

Managers

thumb|130px|[[Joe Kinnear managed the club from 1992 to 1999.]]

Prior to the appointment of H. R. Watts as first team manager in 1930, a committee would deal with first team affairs, such as choosing the team on a matchday. Doc Dowden was appointed manager in 1946, His replacement was Dave Bassett, who took Wimbledon to sixth in the First Division before moving to Watford.

:Statistics apply to competitive league and cup matches only. Wartime matches excluded.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"

!Name!!Nationality!!From!!class="unsortable"|To!!Matches!!Won!!Drawn!!Lost!!Win %!!class="unsortable"|Notes

|align=left|

|align=left| English

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|align=center|

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|align=left| English

|align=left|

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|align=left| English

|align=left|

|align=center|

Managers from Dowden until Batsford sourced to:

Managers after Batsford sourced to:

Honours

Wimbledon were a successful club even before election to the Football League, winning eight Isthmian League titles (including three in a row from 1962 to 1964) and three successive Southern League titles (from 1975 to 1977). Having also won the FA Amateur Cup in 1963, the run of Southern League titles prompted Football League election in 1977.