AFC Wimbledon, a failed £87m investment bid and the challenge for fan ownership

ملخص مفصل

Clubs with wealthy proprietors can maintain a loss-making operation but things can be more complex when the supporters carry the canWhen you walk up from Haydons Road train…

Clubs with wealthy proprietors can maintain a loss-making operation but things can be more complex when the supporters carry the can

When you walk up from Haydons Road train station to Plough Lane there is a blue AFC Wimbledon billboard that reads “Fan owned football”, directly opposite the site of the old Plough Lane stadium where there are now blocks of flats. There is a memorial to the old Wimbledon FC – a reminder that supporters can often have little say in the running of their club – on the same corner, just up the road from the new Cherry Red Records Stadium.

AFC Wimbledon are one of only two majority fan-owned clubs in the EFL – along with Exeter City – but that makes running a loss-making operation, as 94% of teams in England’s top five tiers are doing according to the State of the Game report, even more challenging. “In other clubs, the owner just puts their hand in their pocket, produces cash,” said Hannah Kitcher, who has been a member of the Dons Trust Board (DTB), which runs AFC Wimbledon, for seven years. “It’s harder when the owners are fans – you can only go to them so many times.”

Kitcher was speaking before kick-off in Saturday’s League One game at home to a Blackpool side dealing with a suspected norovirus outbreak in their squad. A superb arrowed strike from Alistair Smith and some vital late saves from Nathan Bishop ended Wimbledon’s winless run of 10 matches in all competitions. The 1-0 victory moved Johnnie Jackson’s side four points clear of the relegation zone and put a positive spin on a week that started with the fallout from the withdrawal of £87m of proposed investment, leaving the club’s finances even tighter.

Wimbledon made a £2.6m loss in the 2024-25 season – a figure expected to increase by £500,000 when they publish their accounts next month – which, as Kitcher pointed out, is not as loss-making as a number of other clubs in League One.

Wimbledon returned home to Plough Lane in 2020 but had to create a bond to complete the move and the…

مطلع المقال، مقتطف من The Guardian Business. لقراءة المقال كاملًا، افتحه على موقع الناشر.