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In a soulless stadium in a soulless town, a soulless football club will host the Clarets.
On one level you could say that the battle has been lost. The truth is, that is not quite the case. It has been inevitable for some time that, come hell or high water, we would reach this day. That this match is being played is to a degree irrelevant: the true test will be whether this experiment in social engineering can actually flourish.
And that’s where you and I come in, fellas.
On the one hand, this whole pathetic saga has, perversely, been good news for the game. No, please, work with me on this one – of course it would have been better if football had not got itself into this ugly position in the first place. But the truth is that for some time the powers that be in the game have been working to an entirely different agenda from you and me.
For years, football supporters have been relegated to the periphery of opinion in English football. Football fans had plenty of reason for dissatisfaction, but it was scattered and lacked solidarity. Perhaps plenty of disastrous decisions could have been – indeed, were – taken without meaningful input from the great mass of people who watch the game and care for it.
But then the authorities decided to authorise the implanting of a football club in Milton Keynes. It was a diabolical affront to Wimbledon supporters, first and foremost, but to every other fan as well. Quite frankly, it acted as a kick up the backside.
It provoked a sensible, rational intelligent debate amongst football fans of all colours, ages and types which condemned the whole project. It forced everyone to consider where this game of ours was headed, and it helped spawn the Football Supporters Federation – a nationwide union representing supporters opinions and interests. It embarrassed and surprised the authorities who had authorised the move and who suddenly found themselves back-pedalling.
As a result of all this, I suspect football supporters have secured themselves a place at the game’s high table the next time such fundamental decisions are taken. I have personally heard David Davies admit that, before any discussions on admitting Celtic and Rangers to the English game are contemplated, the football public must be won over.
The true tragedy, for which we are all in part responsible, is that the borough of Wimbledon, and the supporters of that club, have suffered the ultimate indignity of having their club hijacked by a bunch of polished, manipulative businessmen. I read someone on this site suggest we have reacted rather than being pro-active. The point is that in the future, we will make damn sure this cannot happen.
Franchising in football won’t last; it can’t last. If away fans recognise that this is about much, much more than three points and go elsewhere for a day, if fans continue explaining to anyone who will listen the importance of ensuring that this experiment goes down as an embarrassing failure, if people who might consider going and watching football in Milton Keynes understand the stigma which goes with it, then Milton Keynes will not have a professional club for very long.
That is the key to all of this. The arguments about whether Wimbledon should have moved, and the absurdity of suggestions that the people of Milton Keynes somehow deserve a club in this fashion, have been rehashed over and over. We all know what the score is.
This supporter movement in support of the principles upon which the game is based has been a remarkable phenomenon. But Saturday is just a staging point on the journey. The pressure must remain. MK Dons, or whatever else they wish to be called these days, cannot be given a chance.
Hopefully, it will rain on Saturday, at least in Milton Keynes. A game of football which has long since lost its meaning will be played in an empty, rain-swept stadium with echoes rather than cheers on the sideline. It would be a fitting epitaph for a football club doomed to fail, which foundered against the strength of united opinion, and which held up a mirror to football and showed a reflection that nobody liked.
