As I start to type this AFC Wimbledon trails Stevenage 1-0 in the 33rd minute as the team that is most certainly not from Milton Keynes tries to gain entry into the third round of the FA Cup.
Despite opposition that shared non-league status with Wimbledon just one year ago the vast majority of neutral observers want the “minnows” to beat the “giants.” The history of Wimbledon is irresistible to most sports fans and understandably so.
Formed from the ashes of Franchise FC’s move away to greener pastures, AFC Wimbledon represents the very opposite of what the kids today call modern football. I, certainly, am pulling for a Wimbledon win and a dream third round match-up with a big Premiership club. I understand the desire to cheer for the little guy against the big money big boys.
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Of course I’ll also change the channel on my TV at 10 a.m. to spend the next couple hours willing Manchester City – the richest football club in the world – onto victory. Isn’t that a disconnect, you might ask. How can I empathise with the supporters of little Wimbledon and at the same time cheer for the more-money-that-they-know-what-to-do-with Manchester City. Am I against modern football or not?
There is no disconnect. What happening is a massive misperception about what modern football means. Or, rather, what it doesn’t mean.
Modern football is not about resisting money. Money has driven the game since the very start. From the days of Major William Sudell mining the best Scottish talent down to Preston North End, through the years of Juventus giving “jobs” at the Fiat plant to its “amateur” players and continuing today with oil money trying to close the gap on traditional powers, there has always been one constant in football. The club with the most resources usually wins. If not every year then eventually. It’s inevitable.
It’s also about context. Wimbledon has torn through the non-league pyramid in eight years and is looking good for a return to the Football League very soon. The reason they have moved up so quickly is quite simple. They have more money than the teams they are competing against and that money is directly related to the history of the club that is now MK Dons. Without that history – including the bad history of the final years -- they don’t have the support that they have and without the support don’t have the money. It’s really that simple. Eventually all clubs find their level and settle in, but unless you have a salary cap every level of football is going to have both haves and have nots.
So if modern football isn’t really about the money what is it about? What it’s about is control and connection. What makes the story of Wimbledon’s move to Milton Keynesso appalling is the way that it completely disregarded the loyalty of its supporters. They were treated as consumers, rather than what they were – a living, breathing part of the overall thing that was Wimbledon.
Many people like to point out that sports is a business. Of course it is, but it’s not a normal kind of business. Wal-Mart sells razors and coffee makers. Sports sells community and hope. In that way sports is a business, like Wal-Mart in the same way that I am a writer, like Hemingway.
Most of the fans that fill Eastlands each week to watch rich City are the same that filled Maine Road to watch typical City. That connection from father to son, grandmother to granddaughter is the same today as it was a decade ago when the club was in the middle of a season that saw it relegated. City fans wear the 34-years label with pride because it speaks to their loyalty and the current ownership understands and fosters that. Yes, City has spent a lot on players, but it has also spent money on improving the overall experience for supporters.
It’s hard to see how that equals modern football.
This is the debut of Duane Rollins' weekly world football column. It yet to has a name. Suggestions are welcome.