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#Post#: 17804--------------------------------------------------
Belfast United. And I thought our home-grown Politicians were id
iots...
By: EalingGreen Date: December 28, 2023, 6:52 am
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I remember when the sharks who bought Wimbledon FC were looking
to move them from South London, they suggested relocating them
Down Mexico Way, to become the Dublin City Dons. At the time I
thought this the stupidest idea I'd ever heard (though on
reflection it was probably just a ruse to persuade the Football
League to allow them to move 100-odd miles to Milton Keynes).
But no, Tony Blair no less, came up with something even
stupider, bat-shit crazy in fact:
Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair was keen on an idea to
relocate then-Premier League side Wimbledon FC to Belfast in the
late 1990s.
Previously confidential state papers include a note from 1997
described as "following up earlier informal discussions about
the possibility of an English Premier League football club
relocating to Belfast".
It was said to be something that would be a "significant
breakthrough if Belfast had a football team playing in the
English Premier League".
The note also said such a move "should be able to build up
strong cross-community support and provide a positive unifying
force in a divided city".
Another suggestion was that the move would come with a
principally private sector-funded modern 40,000-seat sports
stadium, and potentially an academy for sport, located on
Queen's Island in east Belfast or the North Foreshore site in
the north of the city.
The note suggested that Wimbledon FC would undergo a name change
to Belfast United.
HTML https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67832071
So there you have it - Belfast United playing in a 40k stadium
on Queens Island or the Foreshore. What could possibly have gone
wrong?
P.S. MK Dons are currently playing in League Two before crowds
of around 6k. That is in a 30k stadium, in a city of nearly 300k
people, with no other league team near them.
#Post#: 17805--------------------------------------------------
Re: I thought our home-grown Politicians were idiots...
By: exhausted Date: December 28, 2023, 7:12 am
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Was this not fairly well known at the time? I definitely
remember it being talked about
#Post#: 17806--------------------------------------------------
Re: I thought our home-grown Politicians were idiots...
By: EalingGreen Date: December 28, 2023, 7:25 am
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[quote author=exhausted link=topic=904.msg17805#msg17805
date=1703769166]
Was this not fairly well known at the time? I definitely
remember it being talked about
[/quote]It might have passed me by, but I think Blair's view on
the matter is a new one?
Anyhow, Wimbledon FC owner Sam Hamman and manager Joe Kinnear
were talking about the "Dublin City Dons" in 1995 - two years
before Blair's Belfast Utd. brainwave:
HTML https://www.dublinlive.ie/sport/soccer/superleague-football-dublin-wimbledon-skysports-20433364
#Post#: 17807--------------------------------------------------
Re: I thought our home-grown Politicians were idiots...
By: exhausted Date: December 28, 2023, 8:00 am
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[quote author=EalingGreen link=topic=904.msg17806#msg17806
date=1703769956]
[quote author=exhausted link=topic=904.msg17805#msg17805
date=1703769166]
Was this not fairly well known at the time? I definitely
remember it being talked about
[/quote]It might have passed me by, but I think Blair's view on
the matter is a new one?
Anyhow, Wimbledon FC owner Sam Hamman and manager Joe Kinnear
were talking about the "Dublin City Dons" in 1995 - two years
before Blair's Belfast Utd. brainwave:
HTML https://www.dublinlive.ie/sport/soccer/superleague-football-dublin-wimbledon-skysports-20433364
[/quote]
Yeah possibly that's it . I seen Beacom tweeting the Telegraphs
story from the time. It would have been a disaster I reckon
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