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Judy Murray: I know Wimbledon champ Andy is on the mend.. he told me to shut up
It was mad and messy but it was a privilege to make history! Ten years on, MK ...
By Bob Hayes
PUBLISHED: 17:23 EST, 26 September 2013 | UPDATED: 17:23 EST, 26 September 2013
September 27, 2003... the day Milton Keynes staged its first Football League game - a 2-2 draw between Wimbledon and Burnley. Cash-stricken Wimbledon, controversially moved 50 miles north from their London base, were to be renamed Milton Keynes Dons a year later. The Dons first played at the now-demolished National Hockey Stadium. Next week the final seats will be installed at their 30,000-seater stadium. Ten years on, MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman, the former music entrepreneur who masterminded the Wimbledon relocation, talks exclusively to Bob Hayes about the move that rocked football.
It was an absolutely mad time. The whole move was incredibly messy. It involved a huge amount of work getting the National Hockey Stadium ready (for football). It took us six weeks to convert it from an astroturf hockey pitch to a Football League ground. The effort and attention was on making it happening.
Our football club is the bedrock of so much that goes on here now. Our community scheme and sports and education trust deals with 60,000 people individually.
One of my favourite evenings is the disability awards night here where we have 16 disability teams and a thousand people in the stadium's ballroom. That is quite humbling and puts things into focus how the football club can help engage people that don't have those opportunities in any other way to come together.
The reason I started and the emotional drive of everything I did was my own son Bobby's exploits playing football - the fact we had to go to Wycombe and later Northampton to get his opportunity for professional coaching.
When football came here, Bobby was an academy apprentice with Northampton. They let me take him here and it was one of my proudest moments when I saw him play for us against West Ham in the FA Youth Cup, crossing for one of the goals. Unfortunately he injured his right knee playing against Coventry and had five operations. We couldn't save his career but he went away and got his degree in sports science, came back and started working in recruitment.
We started our academy straightaway. It is only now that the graduates from the very first intake of Milton Keynes boys are actually coming through.
You can see the results of that in our first team with England international Dele Alli and Brendan Galloway getting games. We have nine internationals in our Academy. We have already seen local brothers Sam and George Baldock come through.
Sam went for a lot of money (to West Ham) and that really helped us continue that investment in the Academy.
His young brother George is in the first team now. These are exciting times.
This isn't just for the boys. We have a full girls FA centre of excellence, we have a ladies football team and 16 disability teams.
I knew why I was doing it. There's no doubt that you must have professional sport in a big city. People forget that Milton Keynes is the biggest place in the South-East of England outside of London. It's already bigger than Reading and Southampton or other huge cities in the South-East.
It's a massive place already and it's the fastest-growing place in the country. It has been for the last 30 years and that has continued throughout the recession. It's going to have 350-400,000 people in years to come. So it was really important a stadium was here.
In 1973, the first city masterplan included a 30,000-seater stadium. The irony is that in the next week we will finish putting in the seats to make ours a 30,000-seater stadium. But it's taken 40 years to do that.
My task has been to do everything we said we would do. The proudest thing has been the stadium. It's been a really hard journey - much harder than I knew (at the start).
Now I know why people don't try and build something as ambitious as I have because there are so many hurdles that you have to go through. When the recession hit, that put all of my plans back a few years but we have been able to do it.
People can see that we did what we said we would do, we believed in it. It was never about development and retail units other than the value they could bring to build one of the best stadiums in the country. And that has been noticed by people. The fact we were a selected stadium in the FA's bid for the 2018 World Cup in England was a big milestone for us.
But actually getting three games of the 2015 Rugby World Cup played here - that is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the people of Milton Keynes.
I don't think that would have been possible without a League football club to provide the day-to-day reason for the stadium to be there. What the stadium and the football team has brought is huge engagement across the whole of Milton Keynes. I know to grow the audience here I've got to have success.
Perhaps the biggest frustration for me is that, while off the pitch we have done huge leaps and bounds in terms of the infrastructure we are putting in, on the pitch we are still in League One. We have earned our right to be here by winning League Two a few years ago but we have to get out of this division and that is proving a much harder task and battle.
My task as the first chairman is to put the infrastructure in place. I often tell people the story of one our closest - what I would love to be - rivals in Luton Town.
They came to the Hockey Stadium a few years ago and they played us off the pitch. They went all the way up to the Championship but, because their infrastructure wasn't good enough and they didn't have the stadium to sustain a Championship club, they started going backwards. And in the panics that followed, lots of things went on and suddenly Luton Town aren't even in the Football League.
That lesson really stayed with me throughout the recession when it would have been easier to say we've got a 22,000-seater stadium and that will do.
We took 35,000 people to Wembley and that showed me we have the appetite for football here. If we have the right level of football here, we will sell out our 30,000 seats.
My task is to try and get there. I have to do it a sustainable way. We can't continue to throw huge amounts of money because the football has cost multi-millions of pounds to be here. So I'm learning to do that in a more sustainable way by developing our young players, by giving them first team opportunities and by playing a certain sort of football that Karl Robinson completely gets. That's why he is our manager.
You say you were naïve about football at the start, but you have given managerial starts to the likes of Roberto Di Matteo?I learned fairly early on that the first few managerial appointments were knee-jerk reactions to circumstances. After understanding more about what we were doing, I used the same principles in hiring anybody. Would you give this person a job? Can you trust this person with that aspect of your business?
When you meet Robbie, he is so focused. That is an impressive quality and you think to yourself I'd be interested to see what this guy is going to do. Of course those qualities almost got us promoted to the Championship that year - and led to Chelsea getting their European Cup success with him.
Another of our old managers, Paul Ince, is near the top of the Championship with Blackpool. When Paul has got his mojo, he is one hell of a person. He is so charismatic, a real leader and it was an absolute privilege to have him at this football club.
You know there is a funny thing with the Inces and Milton Keynes. Even his son Tom Ince scored his first League goal against us when Paul was at Notts County. I like being part of that Ince family tree because they are real football people. Lovely to see him near the top of table with Blackpool.
Karl is a young manager but he's quite a experienced manager now. Someone was telling me that he is now the seventh longest-serving manager in the Football League. How frightening is that but he's learning a lot here. We don't always get it right. Even after all these years I certainly don't always give him the best advice but we are learning, mainly by mistakes.
But we now have quite a good team of people around us and a fantastic backroom for the first team. Our players, our strength, our quality of football is getting better. All those things will bode well for us in the future.This is a journey that needs to be entertaining as we go along because it's very hard without those highs.
I'd like to think we can finish our infrastructure and the whole emphasis of the club is to try and focus on getting promotions. I know to be a successful chairman I have to be able to get out of League One. It is a real frustration that we haven't been able to manage it yet. But I think that is a royal 'We'. I don't blame a manager or an individual player or an individual recruitment, either good or bad, for those reasons.
You have to take it as it comes and in football you need luck. You make your own luck by working hard and that's the thing we are concentrating most on. You need all your players fit for most of the season, not to get red cards at the wrong time and for lots of things to go for you. We have seen clubs be able to do that and to kick on and go again.
I know the quality of our football is good enough that we can get to the Championhip and we can survive in the Championship. The kind of club that we are - and with the enthusiasam and ambition that we have - then I would love to believe that in 10 years' time this club will be in the Premier League.
It's been an extraordinary 10 years and I think I have been incredibly lucky to go on a journey that people in football haven't been on for maybe a hundred years... getting a club going in a new city. But I am privileged to have had the chance to do that.
I'm disappointed that so much of the good we do can be overshadowed sometimes by the way that we got here. But at the same time I really believe in what we are doing. I know how valuable and vital it is. And I think it has rekindled in other towns and cities the relationships with their sports clubs which maybe weren't as good before.
My goodness me, they can see that if Milton Keynes want it that badly then it must be something worth having.
It was mad and messy but it was a privilege to make history! Ten years on, MK ...
Marin Cilic 'pulled out of Wimbledon due to suspension, not injury'
The International Tennis Federation's anti-doping tribunal has reportedly revealed that Marin Cilic's claim that he pulled out midway through Wimbledon due to injury was false.
The 24-year-old, who was one of seven players to withdraw from the tournament, claimed that he had a knee injury when he pulled out of his match against Kenny de Schepper.
However, it has been revealed that Cilic was in fact given a provisional suspension for testing positive in a drugs test, but used an injury as the reason to avoid 'adverse publicity', according to BBC Sport.
Cilic was banned for nine months by the ITF for a doping violation.
Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon chief executive eyes Merton return
Last updated at 11:33 GMT
AFC Wimbledon's chief executive believes the club will achieve their target of returning to Merton.
The Dons have submitted a proposal to redevelop Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium which is on the same road as their old Plough Lane home.
Erik Samuelson told BBC London 94.9: 'I'm notorious for being extremely cautious and careful about what I say.
'This is the best chance we have got of going home. Personally I believe it is going to happen.'
AFC Wimbledon's plans, which they have submitted to Merton Council, are for an initial 11,000-capacity stadium which could later be expanded to 20,000.
Six hundred homes would also be built on the site, in partnership with Gaillard Homes.
The League Two club's proposal is one of a number received by the council for the redevelopment of the Greyhound Stadium, which first staged racing in 1928.
'We have put in a very strong case for saying this site should be used for a football stadium,' Samuelson added.
'We, as a community-based club, should be back in the community where we come from.
'If Merton Council agree that and there is a government inspector who looks at it, when we come to put in a planning application that will be one hurdle which is lower than it might be.'
The original Wimbledon FC were forced to leave their Plough Lane ground in 1991 following the publication of the Taylor Report, which recommended that all top-flight sides should play in all-seater stadia.
The Dons shared Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace until 2002, when the club were given permission to move to Milton Keynes.
That relocation decision led to fans forming AFC Wimbledon. The club, which is owned by supporters, have played at Kingsmeadow in Kingston since their formation but have long held hopes of returning to the London Borough of Merton.
'We did a survey of all our fans about 18 months ago and asked 'what are the most important things you think about us',' Samuelson added.
'The first was we stay under the ownership of the fans and the second was we go back to Wimbledon.
'What we are doing is implementing the wish of the fans to go home.
'Wimbledon is our home. Even before Wimbledon played at Plough Lane we played on what is now the Greyhound Stadium site.
'It literally would be going to one of our original homes.'
Samuelson says submitting their proposal to Merton Council is a 'big step' in their ambition to return to the borough.
'Kingsmeadow has been a lovely ground and Kingston have been very hospitable hosts,' he said.
'We are constrained by the current stadium and it doesn't allow us much growth in crowds. We have very limited opportunity to generate any other income outside of football.
'The stadium was not built for League football, although nobody thought it would be.
'We need a stadium that will allow us to grow and generate more income and spend it on having a better football team.
'Most stadiums generally take a timeframe of about 10 years, from first stumbling attempts to do something up to the day when you open them.
'We have been working on this for five or six years and that is not a bad assessment of where we are. There is a long way to go.'
Wimbledon champ to miss rest of season
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will have minor surgery on a long-standing back problem and is set to miss the rest of the season.
'The aim is to be fully fit for the new season,' said a statement released by Murray's management company on Thursday.
The third-ranked Murray is likely to miss the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London on Nov. 4-11, as well as the Masters events in Shanghai and Paris in October. There are 13 tournaments left on this year's schedule.
Murray has had problems with his back before this year, but the complaint flared up at the Rome Masters in May, forcing him to pull out of the French Open that month.
He returned to win grass-court titles at the Queen's Club and Wimbledon, where he beat Novak Djokovic in the final to become Britain's first male singles champion at the All England Club in 77 years.
'But after recently playing on hard courts and clay, Andy once again sought medical advice about solving the issue once and for all,' the statement said.
The Scot's last competitive outing of 2013 looks set to be in Britain's Davis Cup match against Croatia last week, when he won two singles to help his team return to the world group.
Braintree Town loan Charlie Strutton from AFC Wimbledon
Last updated at 08:00 GMT
Braintree Town have signed AFC Wimbledon striker Charlie Strutton on an initial one-month loan.
Strutton, 24, made his first appearance of the season for the Dons in last weekend's loss at Chesterfield.
He is expected to go straight into the squad for the Iron's Conference Premier match at home to Southport on Saturday.
Dons boss Neal Ardley told the club's official website : 'I feel that the best thing for him is to go out and get more game time.'
Braintree boss Alan Devonshire has made no secret of his desire to sign a forward, as his team have scored just eight goals in their nine matches so far this season.
Strutton missed much of last season with a knee injury but signed a new two-year contract in May.
Curtain raiser to forget for Wimbledon RFC
Curtain raiser to forget for Wimbledon RFC
7:00am Friday 20th September 2013 in Sport By Tony Mann
Injured: Wimbledon missed the kicking skills of Tom Carter BT72886
Wimbledon will want to forget this London Division One South opener quickly after throwing away a half-time lead to the lose 15-18.
Despite some frenetic play and poor passing, a good try apiece from wings Peter Scott and Josh Charles put the Dons just about deservedly 10-3 ahead at half time.
Had both tries and several kickable penalties been converted, Wimbledon would have been out of sight - but with an ankle injury to number 10 Tom Carter, Dons' only kicker on the field, that was not to be.
The second half did not start well for Wimbledon, with a dubious yellow card for flanker Brooke Weck, but it picked up soon after when a delicate chip ahead from number eight Gary Crowe was well-gathered by the speedy Charles for a try in the corner.
Then the rot set in - a yellow card for James Watkins reduced Dons to 14 again, a mounting penalty count kept giving hard-earned possession and territory back to Chobham, as did a series of bewildering wrong options made by normally savvy Wimbledon players.
A resurgent Chobham seized their chance to score first through their number nine and then through a second penalty to bring the score to 15-11.
With all the momentum now behind the visitors another score looked inevitable, and so it was, just before full time, when Seers rounded off a good game by scoring the winning try and converting from the touchline.
The losing bonus point will be of little consolation to Wimbledon, given the four, or even five, that went begging.
Next week Dons travel to Cobham, where it is hoped normal service will be resumed.
VIDEO: AFC Wimbledon submits joint bid with developer Galliard Homes for ...
VIDEO: AFC Wimbledon submits joint bid with developer Galliard Homes for Plough Lane stadium
4:44pm Thursday 19th September 2013 in News By Lauren May, Chief Reporter
AFC Wimbledon chief executive Erik Samuelson: 'Two significant hurdles must be overcome'
AFC Wimbledon has teamed up with a developer in a bid to build a 20,000 capacity football stadium at its spiritual home - Plough Lane.
A joint bid for the site was today submitted to Merton Council by AFC Wimbledon with Galliard Homes who co-own the site with GRA Limited and Investment company Risk Capital management.
AFC Wimbledon had previously been working on plans with the Newridge Group - a property developer based in Morden Road, south Wimbledon.
Proposals include plans for a 11,000 capacity stadium, with flexibility to expand to 20,000, banqueting and conference facilities, 600 residential homes and a wide range of shops and community facilities.
The cost of the first phase of the planned stadium would be in the region of £16m.
Erik Samuelson, chief executive of AFC Wimbledon, said: 'There is a long way to go before our plans become a reality.
'Before we can submit a planning application, there are two significant hurdles that must be overcome.
'First, we must win the support of Merton Council for our proposal that the site should be developed as a football stadium.
'Second, the designation must be reviewed and approved by an independent inspector.
'The review will cover all the sites in Merton and it is likely that the result won't be known until about March 2014.
'If we get the green light on those two matters we will then submit a formal planning application in the spring, which could take many months to be approved.
'Even with a fair wind, it could take at least two years after that before work could begin on site.
'Remember, too, that the process is highly competitive, with rival plans being submitted for a new greyhound stadium to be built on the site, with adjoining residential and retail development.'
'AFC Wimbledon is a community-owned club. 'We are making a powerful case for transforming a dilapidated area into a stadium that will be at the heart of our community.
'As we explain in our submission, since our formation in 2002 we have been actively involved in Merton in an astonishingly wide range of activities, despite being based in Kingston-upon-Thames.
'Re-locating to the area we represent provides an outstanding opportunity for us to increase and extend this involvement many times over.
'Everyone who knows us recognises that, as a community-owned club, we are run in a prudent and sustainable way and the business case that supports our proposals is strong and robust.
'This is a significant stage in our ambition to return home and we will pursue it vigorously and in a positive way.'
Erik Samuelson, chief executive of AFC Wimbledon on the club's plans for a football stadium on the site.
Merton Council has confirmed that there are now two developers bidding for the site; Galliard Homes with AFC Wimbledon and Hume Consulting on behalf of Paschal Taggart who wants to build a world class greyhound stadium to the site.
His plans feature a four tier 4,500 capacity greyhound racing stadium, new squash club with seven courts, supermarket and residential apartments as well as a multi storey car park, medical centre, dance studio and gymnasium.
The Plough Lane site has been designated for 'sporting intensification' and is the subject of a draft sites and policies document by Merton Council.
The document, which outlines planning regulations for all sites in Wimbledon, will be subject to a public inquiry led by an independent inspector appointed by the secretary of state.
A final report will be given in early 2014 at which point the council will adopt the plan allowing formal applications for the site to be accepted.
More information about the plan is expected to be available on the council's website this afternoon.
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