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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Dec 30, 2009 17:07:56 GMT
It always saddens me when a sports ground disappears like that forever, even when it's the old greyhound tracks near me such as St Anne's Road in Willenhall and the Norton Canes track.
Loy- Wimbledon colours. I was at the 1987 FA Cup Final and if memory serves the Dons were playing in royal blue then- i thought they only adopted the navy blue later on. Then again could be wrong, i often am.
Meadow- where was the old Plough Lane speedway track in relation to the footy ground? Was it gound issues that forced the Don's Speedway to shut down, too?
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Post by loy PRA on Dec 30, 2009 18:33:01 GMT
Loy- Wimbledon colours. I was at the 1987 FA Cup Final and if memory serves the Dons were playing in royal blue then- i thought they only adopted the navy blue later on. Then again could be wrong, i often am. They often did, but the first ever Old Centrals strip was dark blue. Then again they also played once in green and white stripes (yak!) I'm a bit of a closet Womble as they were my Dad's team. Weren't their biggest fans when they relegated Sunderland in '97 but to see that disgrace over Plough Lane and sold down the river to legolan really angers me. What sort of area has it's original club playing some 70 miles away in Oxon/Bucks and the replacement playing in Kingston? Knock down the flats! build a new Stadium! Bring back the Turret!
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Post by old wimbledonian on Dec 30, 2009 23:46:48 GMT
Being an Old Wimbledon fan, back from 1970 when I first saw the Dons play Romford in the Southern League Cup Final ( in the days when the league cups really meant something, and the final was the biggest crowd of the season, baring a last day league decider or FAC match against a league club), firstly how saddened I was to hear about Allen Batsford, a true legend, a football tactician extraordinarie, a man who preferred a controlled 2-0 win to a 5-3 mayhem. I stopped going to Wimbledon when we moved to Selhurst Park, and for me, to be honest, the Wimbledon move to Milton Keynes meant little personally, just a symptom of the way the club's soul had disappeared in those wilderness years, and emblematic of why, if I had not become a football fan in those days, I certainly wouldn't bother now. At one time the third round of the cup (remember both Wimbledon, and five years earlier Sutton's matches against Leeds' FIRST team) was something to look forward too. This time, for example. how many Sunderland players will be rested for the visit of Barrow? and as for Man United Youth v Leeds Reserves ??However, the football bug gets you and I am now involved with another non league club, which I will not name here, and the enjoyment is just the same as being at Plough Lane between 1974 and 1984, before the club overreached itself and ultimately became a victim of the money men, in the late 90's, even before then we were fenced in, searched, etc during the final seasons at Plough Lane, which put me off League football for good. Maybe I am a bit Tinpot, I loved the same players in the team week after week and no squad rotation, the way, for example, Wimbledon played a full first team on a rock hard, frozen pitch at Barking the Saturday before the Second Round of the FAC in December 1976, when Geoff Bryant's shot skidded across the ice to set up a 1-0 win. And this was in the London Senior Cup!!!. No glory hunters there, the attendance in the next programme reported as 200. True Tinpot heroes all of the, from the ghost of Tinpot Christmases (Long)Past. All good wishes for 2010.
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Post by Meadow on Dec 31, 2009 11:23:02 GMT
Meadow- where was the old Plough Lane speedway track in relation to the footy ground? Was it ground issues that forced the Don's Speedway to shut down, too? It's still in use - Greyhound and Stock Car racing. The Speedway team disbanded in 2005. The site of the old ground is arrowed, so you can see it's a very short distance away. Interesting input from old wimbledonian - thank you.
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Post by bh on Jan 1, 2010 16:25:13 GMT
Drove passed what used to be the ground the other day. Always makes me think what might have been. Watched the Dons play in all four divisions when Us didn't have a game. Used to be able to ride the motorbike there and park just round the corner after about fifteen minutes ride!!!
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