Dear football fans...

Paddy

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If anyone out there could support this epetition I would be most greatful. As you may or may not know the team I support, Kingstonian FC, is potentially being forced to leave Kingsmeadow (the ground built in 1989 for us) as a byproduct of AFC Wimbledon selling the ground to Chelsea for use of their reserve & ladies teams. This petition is to basically try to ensure that we don't get shafted again anymore so then we currently are.

(For once I mean no disrespect to the Womblefolk)

http://epetition.kingston.public-i.tv/epetition_core/view/Kingstonian

Copy & pasted from the epetition...

We the undersigned call on Kingston Council to ensure that the sale of the freehold of Kingsmeadow stadium ensure that both the covenant on the land is upheld and the future of Kingstonian is protected.
Kingstonian are Kingston's historical football team and to lose their presence in the borough would lose an important part of the town's cultural heritage: two signed Kingstonian shirts currently sit proudly on display in the Guildhall. There has been limited consultation with Kingstonian fans about any sale and move away from Kingsmeadow. We are not seeking any extra protection than what was already agreed in the covenant over the land in 1989, but after the sales of assets from Rajesh Khosla to AFC Wimbledon to Chelsea, the spirit of that deal is lost. The Khosla sale robbed Kingstonian of its only asset, and has left it in a struggling, vulnerable position ever since. We call on the Council to ensure that Kingstonian are not left homeless and futureless by the sale of Kingsmeadow.​
 

Aberstone

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In the process of signing.

Having been nomadic for years ourselves and now playing outside the London Borough of Harrow*, I can empathise with the position Kingstonian find themselves in.

*Worked out OK, but we're still in a perilous position.
 

Pliny Harris

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Welcome back Paddy. Haven' seen youm roun' these parts in a whoile.

Signed, obviously.
 

HertsWolf

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In the process of signing.

Having been nomadic for years ourselves and now playing outside the London Borough of Harrow*, I can empathise with the position Kingstonian find themselves in.

*Worked out OK, but we're still in a perilous position.

I hear Barnet are looking for a team to play in their borough:fart:
 

Paddy

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Welcome back Paddy. Haven' seen youm roun' these parts in a whoile.

Signed, obviously.

I view the forum a lot but outside of our inconsist form & now this issue I don't really have a lot to say :)




Thanks to all who have signed! Don't forget you need to validate the signing by confirming on an email!
 

Jemfy

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Just catching up on this situation, I have a ton of questions, so I'm going to number them. Some are just for clarification, some I have no idea on.

1. If Chelsea buy, you have to move out 100% and there is no option to stay? Has a conversation been had on this? Can Chelsea decide to just transfer the current lease from AFCW as it stands?
2. If you are forced to move out you gain a cash sum, do you have any approximate value on this? Followup: do you think some of the board might have £ signs in their eyes?
3. Is there a chance you can move in to AFCW new ground as tennants as a short term solution while trying to figure things out in Kingsmeadow? (obviously not ideal, but just an idea).
4. What is the covenant on the ground, and how does it protect you? (or rather, how was it intended to protect you would me more accurate I guess).
5. When does/did the vote happen? (If it's in the past, what was the %?)
 

Paddy

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Just catching up on this situation, I have a ton of questions, so I'm going to number them. Some are just for clarification, some I have no idea on.

1. If Chelsea buy, you have to move out 100% and there is no option to stay? Has a conversation been had on this? Can Chelsea decide to just transfer the current lease from AFCW as it stands?
2. If you are forced to move out you gain a cash sum, do you have any approximate value on this? Followup: do you think some of the board might have £ signs in their eyes?
3. Is there a chance you can move in to AFCW new ground as tennants as a short term solution while trying to figure things out in Kingsmeadow? (obviously not ideal, but just an idea).
4. What is the covenant on the ground, and how does it protect you? (or rather, how was it intended to protect you would me more accurate I guess).
5. When does/did the vote happen? (If it's in the past, what was the %?)

Well, as a supporter of Kingstonian FC I've been left in the relative dark about most of this until fairly recently so I'll try to answer these the best I can with what I understand to be going on in this messed up time:

1. Pretty sure they don't want us there. Initially back in January when news of Chelsea buying KM first arose AFCW (&/or selection of fans of AFCW) stated that no deal would take place without our future being safeguarded... since then, our board decided to perform the mother of all fuck ups & announce publicly - without consulting the fans of the club - that we were going to move out of Kingsmeadow. Where too? Fuck knows. They don't know. No one knows. Since then it's effectively meant that AFCW no longer have to feel guilty about flogging KM to those merchants. Even though they do, because they KNOW the fans of Kingstonian are against this & it is my understanding from our long proximity to them that it is the fans of a football club that are the spirit & soul of it, not the board of directors. But hey ho morality is only a price tag. Anyway now it seems the deal is set to go ahead with us not involved in any way shape or form.

2. Reported to be 6 figures & laughably the press initially reported it to be a 'donation' to the club & not buying us out of our lease. Since then we've learned that it's the lease value plus a 'generous donation' amount... because you can just chuck money at someone & take the moral high ground these days. It's not going to be enough to purchase land & build a ground in or around Kingston.

3. Well, to be perfectly honest despite not really having any options we would still be pretty pissed off if we ended up just down the road in Tolworth at Corinthian-Casuals' ground, let alone moving out to another borough entirely! In short - we want to stay in the town of Kingston upon Thames because we are the team of Kingston upon Thames, not the Kingston borough. With regards to tagging along the Womble express to Wombleland I would sooner see my team play on the fields of Imber Court & be Womble-free than follow the cause of all this to their super new shiny ground.

4. The covenant protects Kingsmeadow for the use of the senior football team of the borough (despite me just saying we represent the town of Kingston, not the borough... I think we deserve a bit of pro-double standards on this) which up until now, has not been broken as Kingstonian & later the Wombles have been considered the senior team (despite AFCW not actually wanting to represent this borough). When AFCW go & Chelsea move in the covenant will be broken. But obviously these things are awarded by politicians so can easily be revoked/overlooked/ignored when a few £££ are to be had.

5. I'm probably wrong on this but I think the Womblevote takes place at the end of the month. Or the deal actually gets completed at the end of this month. Something happens at the end of this month... & whatever it is, it's not going to be me winning the lottery & crashing the deal by out bidding them for the ground.
 

Greenacres

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MK Dons are despised by many for being a franchise club, could it be that AFC Wimbledon will now be regarded as little more than an opportunistic cuckoo.

Is it possible that Chelsea will actually develop the ground, possibly for use by their reserve and ladies teams, and it may actually be better in the long run. Bearing that in mind, are the council (or whoever controls planning applications) in a position to ensure that any further development comes with a caveat that Kingstonian should be able to play their home games at Kingsmeadow?
 

Paddy

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MK Dons are despised by many for being a franchise club, could it be that AFC Wimbledon will now be regarded as little more than an opportunistic cuckoo.

Doubt it. The media darlings will have it so any news of us being turfed out would be non existent among the hoards of national articles saying how brilliant it is this wonderful club, this last bastion of football decency opposed to making clubs move out of their natural areas, have finally managed to return to their spiritual home.

As for MK Dons... despite effectively being the reason AFCW exist, I don't hate them. They may have been the catalyst for what is now one of the most difficult periods of K's existence but they never made the decision for AFCW to move in to KM, they never made the decision for AFCW to buy KM off our asset-stripping chairman, they never made the decision for AFCW to sell KM to Chelsea.

Is it possible that Chelsea will actually develop the ground, possibly for use by their reserve and ladies teams, and it may actually be better in the long run. Bearing that in mind, are the council (or whoever controls planning applications) in a position to ensure that any further development comes with a caveat that Kingstonian should be able to play their home games at Kingsmeadow?

Chelsea probably will develop the ground, but that's even less desirable to us as most are in agreement the improvements made to the ground since AFCW moved in have made KM too big for our needs already. The hope was that they'd take their 'temporary' blue monstrosity covering the Kingston Road End away with them to their new ground, although looking at the proposed stadium design it looks like they don't need/want it. The seats are blue anyway so that would suit Chelsea.

The covenant on the ground *should* ensure we get included in on any plans for KM however as I said in my previous post our board have taken it upon themselves to dig another 6 foot in to our future grave by publicly announcing we were going to move out before any alternatives were found.
 
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Paddy

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JonnyWomble

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Signed the petition, hope everything ends well for you.

If I would ever win the euro lottery I'd do the same as you Paddy, jump in and buy the ground last minute. Ensure the safety of your football club, as would most of the Wimbledon fanbase IMO.
 

Paddy

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The petition has reached the 500 signatures required for it to be discussed in a council meeting.

Thank you all for signing, especially the Womblefolk - it means a lot.

If you could all keep sharing & getting more signatures that would be awesome... the more signatures we get the more it shows the council that people still care about local football.
 

Meadow

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Signed.

I feel bloody awful about it, but I have to put my own club first.
 

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