The Lounge

[Colum]

I see Bayo can’t even play for 90 mins in the development squad now. Oh dear. How the mighty have fallen.

[onyadon]

The Mayor of London regally shafted the Dons on the Plough Lane ground planning application. Despite Merton Council’s unanimous approval and his very own GLA planning department’s advice, Boris Johnson has called in the planning application and will now act as the local planning authority and begin the consultation process again before a decision is made. The problem is by the time that takes place Boris Johnson will no longer be mayor and will have handed it on to his successor after mayoral elections. Earliest indications are that the new application process may not begin until July. Another setback, and one the Dons have frequently confronted and beaten in the past and will have to do so yet again. Nothing has come easy for Wimbledon/AFC Wimbledon. Interested in others thoughts….

[liamwimbo]

Am currently in London so heard about this almost as soon as it happened. Could not sleep last night and still have mixed emotions of shock and anger. I really thought Boris was just going to rubber-stamp the application, given he is not going to be in the job much longer. Now it seems he is trying to help out his Tory mates in the NIMBY land of Wandsworth. The club have done everything in the right and proper way only for one person to behave in such an appalling manner. Is it because we did not bribe the right people, in the same way the FFA were naïve in the World Cup bid? Nevertheless we must keep fighting for the injustice of 2002 to be put right. In other words “In Erik, We Trust”!

[Colum]

Actually Liam I am not that surprised, but then maybe I’m better placed to know a thing or two about Boris and UK politics. It is a setback, but not one we should be unduly worried about.

[Devon Womble]

The calling in of the decision can have nothing whatsoever to do with legitimacy. It can only be due to the stench of Boris currying votes in order to bolster his desire to be the next leader of the Tory party.
Outrageous, shameful, corrupt… and we think the Americans have a political problem?

[onyadon]

Given the circumstances this is a challenging Easter for AFC Wimbledon’s promotion push. The club’s optimism over the Plough Lane ground has been rocked by Boris Johnson’s intervention, putting some measure of doubt over the plans going ahead and that’s before the long trip to Hartlepool for the Good Friday match with the Monkey Hangers. Note the Dons have yet to get anything out of two trips to the Victoria Ground and the Pools are in some sort of form lately under new manager Craig Hignett. Then comes one of the big games of the season for the Dons before the TV cameras against Portsmouth at Kingsmeadow on Easter Monday. Both teams are going after the playoffs, there will be a capacity crowd and really it’s a game the Dons cannot afford to lose. So four points out of these two games could be a terrific spur for the final run-in and a great mood lifter after this week’s boot in the guts from Boris. This will be a really good indication as to how well placed the Dons are this late in the season. Let’s hope we don’t have a repeat of the Stevenage sickener in the days after the original Merton Council unanimous vote on Plough Lane back in December. It’s been a good season so far for Wimbledon: it could be an even better one come Monday night… we’ll see.

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