The boys Don good

Tuesday, 24/05/2011

Nine years ago Wimbledon FC ceased to exist. Their club was "sold out" and became MK Dons - a side more than 80 miles up the M1 from the original home of Wimbledon in south west London.

The fairtytale story of how a non-league team had climbed dramatically up the leagues to reach the Premier League had come to an end. A struggling team with few followers were no more. The dream was over... or at least that's what many people believed.

But for thousands of die-hard supporters it was the start of a new beginning and the birth of AFC Wimbledon, nine tiers down the football pyramid. What odds would you have got from the bookies that a side could ever be put together that would climb back into the league under a new name? Very, very lengthy...

Yet last weekend the AFC miracle happened when the side returned to league football following their extra-time Conference play-off victory over Luton.

Three promotions over the last four seasons saw them finally reach their first major destination and they have high hopes now of reaching League One.

It all harks back to the good old days of Wimbledon's Crazy Gang which spawned such legends as Vinnie Jones, John Fashanu, Dave Beasant, Alan Cork, Lawrie Sanchez and a side that shocked Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final.

Crazy days, amazing days and ones I remember well, reporting from the ramshackle ground that was Plough Lane. You had to enter the cramped press box via the bar. If you didn't get to your seat in the corner early you had to climb over other scribes.

Post-match press conferences were often impromptu affairs and sometimes staged in the boiler room under the stands. No formalities here when Dave Bassett was in charge – you even got into the dressing room with the manager's blessing and no player turned you down for a chat. But watch out for the scissors on your trouser legs!

AFC have had an amazing non-league following during their climb through the various tiers. Let's hope this continues now they are in the League. They may still be a far from fashionable club but their fans and players have proved that real football still exists and the game is not about just how much money is in your bank account.

• 

• Have your say