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The final piece in the funding to complete the Plough Lane stadium has been achieved..

Loan facility for Plough Lane ..
+ 18-month bridging loan of £4 million
+ Club don’t have to borrow all of it – it can be drawn down in stages.
+ Solely for stadium work. Money only released for the construction project.
+ Nick Robertson’s £2.5m investment in AFCW PLC approved.

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) July 15, 2020

Joe Palmer’s statement

London Evening Standard report

So the pre season excitement goes up another notch with the release of details about next season’s season tickets. Some big decisions to be made soon, and do I want a debenture? We’ll have to await on details on those, but the fact we’re having to think about these questions shows how far this club has come.

Decision one is whether I sit or…[Read more]

To while away a few minutes here are my thoughts on the club’s release list.

The three ‘high earners’ on the list were liable to be Appiah, Wordsworth and Wagstaff.

Appiah was a ‘dead man walking’ since he never fully recovered from the hamstring injury he picked up against the Franchise. After that he lost pace and looked fearful of getting…[Read more]

Hi Liam and Dave,

IMO the debenture is ideal for those who can only make it to a few games a season (funds permitting in these tough times, of course).

Other than the £500-600 outlay, the seat can be given back with no cost for all the games that you can’t make.

The ability to join together in groups is also great for keeping family and…[Read more]

Hi Dave, hi John.
Yes, I am fully up to speed about the debenture scheme and have done the survey giving it a positive vote. I reckon it will be perfect for me for the coming season and also for other Dons fans based outside the UK. Most people I have talked to are in favour and I think SD and her gang are definitely going to go for it. It might…[Read more]

Interesting thoughts from Windlesham Don on the debenture offer. I’m totally in support of the reasoning behind the proposal. Yes it does give you a chance of a guaranteed seat which is attractive to some and absolutely it goes some ways towards bridging what will be a massive cash flow predicament for AFCW until the easing of restrictions…[Read more]

On Friday the club published details of a debenture scheme for the allocation of seats at Plough Lane. Whilst sure to annoy some who may see it as the club cashing in on their wealthier fans to the disadvantage of those who are in financial difficulty, the scheme has been broadly welcomed.

It is designed to provide enough funds up front to…[Read more]

These are fraught times in football as this piece with Glyn Hodges quoted shows….

Dons may have to release all their out-of-contract players depending on finances

Wimbledon released 11 players the day after learning the season had been officially curtailed, among them some high earners and home produced youngsters..

Wimbledon’s released player list

Sobering reality dawning with the release of so many players, among them high earners/our own youngsters leaving a massive task ahead for Glyn/staff to shore up a competitive squad for next season (whenever and what form that takes). Plough Lane return the shining beacon.

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) June 11, 2020

Some good…[Read more]

In the end the vote was clear: 18 clubs to end the season, four clubs to play on and one club could not get its virtual vote through. So Wimbledon will be staying up for another season in League One when the next campaign gets underway (who knows when as yet!) and probably at Plough Lane. The EFL ended weeks of dithering to decide that Coventry…[Read more]

League One decision day was supposed to be today,but just read on BBC that it has been put off until tomorrow. So we will know the outcome on Wednesday morning Oz time.
Everything pointing to points per game with play offs going ahead. So the Done should be safe from relegation.

Given the likelihood of fans not getting the opportunity to farewell Kingsmeadow before the much-anticipated move to Plough Lane, the club has produced a fine tribute to the Meadow of Kings and its memories… take the time to savour this video.

Fitting farewell to Kingsmeadow, no opportunity for the fans to say a proper goodbye given the current situation. The ground served its purpose in the growth and evolution of the fans club. Well done to all involved in the video production.https://t.co/X25zkZNtJe

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) June 2, 2020

Meanwhile, the dithering goes on with the fate of this season…

EFL calls a meeting for 8th June to decide changes to its framework. Any alternative proposals must be submitted by Tues 2nd June. This is essentially for L1 clubs. Championship indicated will play on while L2 have agreed but EFL will want some sort of consistency across its Divs

— Ian Dennis (@Iandennisbbc) May 29, 2020

Great to hear that the final contract for the stadium has been signed and is due to complete this October. Also welcome to Nick Robertson and I appreciate the detail that the club shared on our new minority shareholder in their statement.

We are told that he has taken a 10% stake and invested an unknown amount in our club. I would imagine that…[Read more]

Thanks for the update and the chat Rob.
Truly a historic day, given the timing of the announcement 18 years ago.
A day that knocked the wind out of me. I left work in a daze and went to FA HQ in Soho Square that day, even though I knew there was nothing I could do.
But from that dark day, we have shown the world “WE ARE WIMBLEDON”

Some big and welcome news on the Plough Lane Stadium….

Take outs from #PloughLane stadium announcement:
– Final construction contract has been signed, ground scheduled for completion by October 25.
– New minority shareholder Wimbledon resident Nick Robertson taking 10% stake and invested on terms that leave the Dons Trust in control

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) May 29, 2020

– Dons Trust remain the majority shareholder (over 75%)
– Robertson's shareholding will come from allocating some more of the shares that were approved but not used in the Seedrs issue.
– A General Meeting of AFCW PLC to approve the allocation of shares will be announced soon.

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) May 29, 2020

Stadium announcement

On the 18th anniversary of that three-man commission suggesting ‘resurrecting the club from its ashes is… not in the wider interests of football’ The Wider Interests Of Football Limited enters a construction contract for our new stadium in Wimbledon.
We’re going home, folks! pic.twitter.com/EYhPhMRtwI

— The Dons Trust (@TheDonsTrust) May 28, 2020

Joe Palmer – "This really is a historic moment for our club. Without doubt, it's thanks to our incredible fans that we're in this position. The Seedrs crowdfunding and #PloughLaneBond were the game changers."https://t.co/UDEyXu1URO

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) May 29, 2020

Agree with all your points, CCW, and on a purely selfish note it would likely be the case that resuming the season behind closed doors would disadvantage us more than any of the other relegation candidates.

Assuming that Bolton and Southend are beyond rescue, then four sides (Rochdale, Franchise, us and Tranmere) would be fighting to avoid the…[Read more]

First up I have to say that I have full respect for Tranmere Rovers as a club and the fans are amongst the best in League One. When our group went to Prenton Park in December, we headed into the tent that doubles as the Fanzone and were made very welcome. Marco Cura, Pat and I did The Away Turnstile podcast and it was a lot of fun there. As a…[Read more]

It certainly seems like there is now no appetite for completing the league fixtures. As far as we are concerned, we have everything to lose and little to gain from playing on so IMO it was a ‘no brainer’ to come out with the statement that we did. The major question for me now is whether the EFL and football authorities will make any structural…[Read more]

Joe Palmer talks with the BBC..

The view I’m getting from clubs is that we want to see the end of the season.

We as a club don’t want to do anything that is going to put us in a worse off situation and if playing out the rest of the season does that we would be against it.

Given what we’ve learned in recent days in terms of the financial…

[Read more]