AFC Wimbledon - Plough Lane

AFC Wimbledon

The Cherry Red Records Stadium

Plough Lane

Wimbledon 

London 

SW17 0NR

0208 547 3528

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Ground Number: 1068
Saturday 18th April 2022
AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers
League 1

WIMBLEDON AT PLOUGH LANE

The ground was originally home to Wimbledon FC. They played in local leagues on Wimbledon Common after being founded in 1889, moving to Plough Lane in 1912. The club was originally known as 'Wimbledon Old Central' due to its links to a local school, but they had dropped that part of the name before they moved to Plough Lane. The First World War soon threw a spanner in the works but when football returned in 1919 Wimbledon joined the Athenian League and finished as runners-up to St Albans City in their second season. The club then decided to join the Isthmian League and although they struggled at first, they soon found their feet.  They won the league championship on eight occasions, including three times in a row between 1962 and 1964. After this, they took the opportunity to turn professional and join the Southern League, perhaps better placed for a much-coveted and hard to obtain place in the Football League. They had to start in the league's second-tier but they finished as runners-up to Hereford United in their first season and won promotion to the Premier Division. The club were more than often around the top end of the table including in 1968 when they finished as runners-up to Chelmsford City, another team with Football League aspirations. It wasn't until 1975 that they would win their first title but once they did, they were champions three times in a row.

Alan Batsford was the mastermind behind these wins, taking the Wombles from a mid-table side to champions. His astute management paid off when after their third title in 1977, Wimbledon were elected to the Football League in place of Workington. Their debut season saw a mid-table-finish with Batsford resigning in January and being replaced by future Crewe Alexandra legend Dario Gradi. He guided the team to promotions the following season but Wimbledon came straight back down, albeit with Gradi keeping his job. It was around this time that the first talk of a move to Milton Keynes was mooted by controversial chairman Ron Noades but the plans never came to fruition. The team stumbled around the bottom two divisions before Noades and Gradi left to join Crystal Palace in 1981 after they had won promotion to Divison 3. Assistant Dave Bassett took over the role and although the side was relegated back straight away, Wimbledon stuck with their man. They were rewarded when the side were Division 4 champions in 1983 and this spurred a rapid rise through the leagues. Wimbledon finished as runners-up to Oxford United in 1984 to win promotion to Division 2 and then in 1986, they won promotion to the top flight after a third-place finish. Their debut season saw them finish an incredible 6th place, the best in the club's history. Bassett then left to join Watford and be replaced by Bobby Gould. The club then enjoyed their finest hour, beating Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final. They became the only side to have lifted both the FA Amateur Cup and FA Cup, having beaten Sutton United in the former, back in 1963.

Following the FA Cup win, the club's board announced plans for a new all-seater stadium but these plans never came to fruition. The Taylor Report which was introduced following the Hillsborough Disaster meant that the stadium was no longer suitable for top-flight football in its present form. Wimbledon's final first-team match at Plough Lane came on 4 May 1991, coincidentally against Crystal Palace. 10,002 spectators saw Crystal Palace beat Wimbledon 3–0, before swarming onto the pitch to bid farewell to the ground. Ironically, the club then entered into a groundsharing agreement with Crystal Palace in what was supposed to be a temporary measure. However, Wimbledon would remain at Selhurst Park until they ceased to exist in spirit during the 2001/02 season, in location from 2003 when they made the move to Milton Keynes (officially at least) and then in 2004 when the reformed business changed its name to represent its new location, some 60 miles from their original home. This footballing injustice has been covered at length elsewhere and in brief on here, so I'll say no more. As for the original Plough Lane, it was used for both Wimbledon and Crystal Palace's reserves sides up until 1998 when Wimbledon chairman Sam Hamman sold the land to Safeway supermarkets. After four years of failing to get planning permission, they sold it to a property developer and it is now housing.

The new club AFC Wimbledon worked its way honestly and diligently through the leagues, winning six promotions to reach the third tier, finally sharing a division with their former selves, the Milton Keynes outfit having been relegated from the second tier during their early years and bounced around the bottom two tiers ever since.  AFC based themselves at Kingsmeadow, home of Kingstonian FC who themselves were suffering the potential loss of their home thanks to the actions of their then chairman. They would be given a stay of execution until around five years back, paying minimal rent but the upshot of it was that they were forced to relocate and face a nomadic existence following the sale of the ground to Chelsea.

The new Plough Lane stadium was located around 150 yards down the road on the site of the former Wimbledon Stadium, used for greyhound racing. This operated from 1928 until 2017, closing due to falling attendances. As with the old football stadium, the site was sold for residential development. As part of the deal, Galliard Homes built a new stadium for AFC Wimbledon, following the first 18 years of their history five and a half miles down the road in Kingston Upon Thames. AFC Wimbledon played their first match at the ground on 3 November 2020 against Doncaster Rovers - a 2–2 draw, with the first-ever goal at the new stadium scored by Wimbledon's Joe Pigott in the 18th minute of that match. There were no fans in attendance though due to COVID-19 restrictions. The first game at the new stadium with fans was on 18 May 2021 when 2,000 people watched the Dons play Liverpool's under-23 side in a test match. AFC Wimbledon's first home league match in the 2021-22 season was watched by 7,728 fans, in a 3-3 draw against Bolton Wanderers. Three sides of the ground are temporary, with planning permission secured to expand the capacity to 20,000 when needed. The stadium is currently sponsored by Cherry Red Records and the largest attendance at Plough Lane of 8,224 was recorded on 16 October 2021, in Wimbledon's 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. Other uses for the stadium include a Covid-19 vaccination centre and as the home of the London Broncos American football team.

MY VISIT

When the fixtures came out last June, the first game I looked for was AFC Wimbledon v Wycombe Wanderers. Along with Brentford, it was one of two new grounds that I needed to visit to recomplete the 92 grounds in the Football League. There was initial disappointment when the game was scheduled for Easter Monday when I was sure to be working. However, I got in early and booked Easter off as we had also had a home game against Plymouth Argyle on Good Friday. Looking at the reviews of the new stadium, they were very mixed with a clear disparity between home and away fans. The home fans got the only permanent stand at the ground and some really nice looking food. Away fans were obviously put in one of the three temporary stands but the food looked very poor in comparison, fobbed off by the usual rubbish that gets served in league football grounds. At least I'd be able to eat outside and when it came to booking the ticket a few weeks ago, it was one of the cheaper in League 1 at £22, not bad at all.

 After my previous game at Battersea Ironsides, I headed to Wimbledon Lidl. They were closed for five months for a 'lick of paint' although for that amount of time I'd have expected full-on fellatio rather than just a lick. At least I had time to spare so I headed to a Takeaway called Chicken World which had two BBQ strip burgers and two fries for £6. There was also a shop for drinks next door so I got stocked up. All was very good, even if it wasn't my original plan. Both were fairly decent and worth the money. I then headed to the ground, doing a circuit to get pictures outside and as much as I could inside. The stewards' search was rigorous but friendly enough. Before kickoff, there was a guard of honour for Darius Charles who had served both clubs brilliantly.

 

Despite Wycombe being in decent form, I was not overly confident about the game. Wycombe had only beaten AFC Wimbledon once in 12 league meetings, with the Dons triumphant on six occasions, the other five games ending in draws. They just seemed to hold the Indian sign over us, much the same as we had against Plymouth Argyle despite the league placings saying that it should not be so. We are also the only team to have a 100% league record against Manchester City. That last and only win against Wimbledon came on 18th October 2014, current Wycombe player Adebayo Akinfenwa played for the Dons then, as did a couple of lesser players with Wycombe links - Ade Azeez and Alan Bennett. I started doing my research for this game the day before on Sunday and was shocked by AFC Wimbledon's form. They'd looked a decent side when the sides last met and I remember Jack Rudoni giving us some problems.

After a difficult second half of January and February, Wycombe had sparkled in the last two months and were unbeaten in nine games. Since our 3-2 defeat at Accrington on February 26th, we had won six - two of the most notable wins coming in the last two as we beat Plymouth Argyle 2-0 and won 4-1 at Cambridge United. There had also been three draws - including the most disappointing result of the run as we drew 1-1 at Gillingham. We sat in 6th, precariously in the playoffs and almost certainly out of the automatic promotion reckoning thanks to the seven games without a win before that. AFC Wimbledon were in 22nd place and on a stinking run of 25 games without a win including being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Boreham Wood. The run had started, surprisingly enough on 11th December when the two sides had drawn 2-2 at Adams Park, their last win coming as they won 2-0 at Accrington Stanley on 8th December. The first half played out fairly evenly but guess what, Jack Rudoni gave Wimbledon the lead in the first half with plenty of endeavour, but little quality. But Wycombe equalised, Bayo Akinfenwa the hero once more, just as he was in the reverse fixture. It wasn't totally deserved but you gotta take what you can from these situations. We looked the most likely towards the end but any win by us would have been a bit cheeky. In any case, other results went our way but we really have a crunch game next week against Sheffield Wednesday.

We got on the bus near the ground. Some Wycombe 'fans' had been turfed out in the second half but apparently, the stewards were wrong and they were innocent. In any case, I met up with some good guys, Colin Paul and George and I had a pint back at Tooting Spoons. Colin was keen to depart so I grabbed a can of Irn Bru and got on the train to Euston. I'd arranged to go to the Euston Cider tap but that was closed. Bowing to Colin's superior knowledge, we walked towards Marylebone. We stopped at the Met Bar, another pint of Black Dragon was consumed. Then Five Guys where I got a big meal for £15 to kill time. Very good and filling it was too. I got the 8.12 to Wycombe, being sure not to make the error of staying on until Oxford. Maybe I should have stayed on, as walking home I was hit by an egg that some degenerate turfed out of a car window and was glad to get home and get changed. I was wide awake and wanted to do my blog and so stayed up until 2am with no work in the morning.

THE GROUND

PLOUGH LANE or the CHERRY RED RECORDS STADIUM is a new build stadium and is pretty decent. Only one side is permanent with the other three sides modular and able to be upgraded when finances permit.  That said, like Brentford, space around the ground is limited. Although not perfect, it's far better than their old venue, the capacity is around 9,500 all-seater. Views and legroom at least in my experience are good. It's definitely one to do by public transport with parking limited. It's probably best to eat and drink around Tooting Broadway, 20 minutes walk away but there are various places near the ground.