This week’s #FloodlightFriday comes from Brentford’s Beesotted issue 39 in 1996. Simple but effective today; A picture of the “long established” Springfield Park’s boundary wall with the floodlights rising majestically above, all in black and white obviously.

The caption inserted previews the reason behind this magnificent photo being presented, the ongoing saga that was where Wimbledon were to play after leaving Plough Lane. I bet the Wigan Athletic soccer line was as good of the rest of them.

The Brentford fan’s letter is indignant about Wimbledon obviously but also a bit harsh on Wigan who hadn’t done much to deserve this and were already planning to leave Springfield for the sparkling palace that was the JJB and is now The Brick Stadium (despite not having a single brick in the place)

I know people get hot under the collar about this one but both Charlton and Luton had also considered moves to the brand that is MK. Added to that, a couple of years before in 1910 Newton Heath moved 5 miles across Manchester and in 1913 Woolwich Arsenal moved 10 miles across London, huge distances at the time. In 1930 South Shields, then of the Third Division North relocated 8 miles west to become Gateshead AFC. In Scotland Clyde have since moved to Cumbernauld and of course Meadowbank Thistle were sacrificed for Livingstone. MK were far from the first Franchise FC.

The comment about Ireland and Wales lead me down a rabbit hole. I remembered a proposed move to Dublin and then Belfast (a proposal endorsed by Tonty Bliar no less) but the list extends to Basingstoke, Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol, Scotland and as mentioned Wigan. There is a superb Wiki page¹ covering this in detail and as with all these stories, it is a bewildering tale which each side pick out their own bit of to make their point. In simple terms the Taylor report meant Plough Lane was doomed, the rest of the story was a mess of money, ambition and a rampant disregard for fans.

Let’s finish with a picture including one of Plough Lane’s floodlights.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relocation_of_Wimbledon_F.C._to_Milton_Keynes ↩︎