IT’S TIME TO SAY SORRY, NOT BULLY WIMBLEDON

USING a sledgehammer to crack a nut, the Football League are going to war with AFC Wimbledon over their slight against Milton Keynes Dons. Wimbledon are accused of behaving in a disparaging way when the teams met on September 22. They left the name ‘Dons’ off the match programme and scoreboard. They did not use it in internal emails. s. When Wimbledon played the away fixture, their directors refused to accept the hospitality offered at Stadium MK. Incredibly, this spat could end up in court. Contrary to what is being suggested, Wimbledon do not want Milton Keynes to relinquish the ‘Dons’ in their name. They would prefer it if they did, but there is no campaign. They do, however, reserve the right to do without it in private documents, and not to antagonise their fans, in their own ground. The Football League think refusing to use the name ‘Dons’ could lead to disturbances. The opposite is true. The mention of Milton Keynes Dons is likely to raise the hackles of any Wimbledon fan. It is a reminder of the way their club was stolen and reloc relocated two dec decades ago. Th The League were co complicit in that at the time. It se seems rich that the they still seek to bully Wimbledon into submission all these years later. Milton Keynes surrendered their claim to Wimbledon’s history in 2006 — admitting they didn’t actually win the FA Cup in 1988, for instance — and all that remains is the Dons sobriquet. It would be nice if they could let that go, gently, too. Nicer still if the League would admit their part in one of football’s gravest travesties, see the rancour it continues to cause, and mediate sensibly rather than issuing threats.