In 1967 the Government sanctioned the creation of a new town (commonly referred to as a "New City"), subsequently called Milton Keynes. They appointed a body, the Milton Keynes Development Corporation, to oversee the development. In 1974, the Corporation took over responsibility planning and development issues and produced a blueprint for growth in the area. This body tried to plan for all future eventualities and wrote into their blueprint a vision for a stadium. The pre-history of Milton Keynes Dons began in 1979 when Ron Noades, the chairman of Wimbledon, entered talks with the Milton Keynes Development Corporation about the possibility of moving Wimbledon to Milton Keynes. At this time Noades purchased Milton Keynes City, and Wimbledon's directors became directors of Milton Keynes City also. The idea was subsequently abandoned and Milton Keynes City was sold on.
In 1991 Sam Hammam, by now the Wimbledon chairman, moved the club out of Plough Lane and into a groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. This arrangement lasted twelve years, during which time Hammam sold the Plough Lane ground to Safeway and sold the club to two Norwegian businessmen — Bjorn Rune Gjelsten and Kjell-Inge Rokke. Wimbledon were relegated from the FA Premier League nine years later and attendances dropped during the following season to an average of just 7,897. The board announced that they were in dire financial straits and claimed that attempts to move the club back to Merton had failed. They subsequently began to search for a new location for the club, and a consortium from Milton Keynes that included InterMK Ltd made it known that they would be prepared to build a new stadium for the club. The club approached the the Football Association to sanction the move, and the relocation was authorised by an FA Commission on 28 May 2002, despite over a year of fan protests against the idea. Days later, a group Wimbledon of supporters broke from the club to form AFC Wimbledon.
Although there have been club relocations in the UK, there had never been such a relocation of a professional club within the English pyramid system, and this move attracted widespread criticism. Those who interpreted the League decision as American-style sports "franchises" gave Wimbledon the disparaging title "Franchise F.C.". At the behest of the Football Supporters Federation, the fans of other teams boycotted games against the club and crowds dwindled to non-League levels. On 5 June 2003, Wimbledon went into financial administration with debts of more than £20 million.
During the 2003–04 season, Wimbledon F.C. was run by the administrators and many of the team's players were sold. At the end of a dismal season, the club was relegated to League One. During the summer of 2003, the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes was converted for use as a football stadium, and in September 2003, Wimbledon F.C. moved into the National Hockey Stadium. In June 2004, Inter MK Ltd, led by chairman Pete Winkelman, brought the club out of administration. Upon buying the club, Winkelman announced that he was changing the name of Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes Dons F.C.. When the club formally emerged from administration under the new name and ownership on 1 July, Winkelman also announced that he was changing the club's blue and yellow kit to all-white, and introducing a new club badge. The new badge bore the letters "MMIV", signifying that 2004 was a new start for the Milton Keynes Dons.
When the 2004–05 season began, the team were still being managed by Stuart Murdoch. They started the season badly and Murdoch was sacked to be replaced by Danny Wilson. Under their new manager, MK Dons began to improve and they were suddenly looking good enough for survival. They managed to beat the drop from League One on the final day of the season — but only because of Wrexham's 10-point deduction that had been their penalty for going into administration. The following season, MK Dons struggled all year, and were relegated to League Two. Wilson, meanwhile, was sacked.
Wilson's successor for 2006–07 was Martin Allen, who had just taken Brentford to the brink of a place in the Football League Championship. With a new manager taking charge of a team in a new division, MK Dons looked more convincing than they had done in either of the previous two seasons. They looked like serious promotion challengers for much of the season and were in the hunt for automatic promotion right up to the last game. In the end, they finished fourth and had to settle for a play-off place. They suffered a defeat to Shrewsbury Town in the play-off semi-finals and the promotion dream was over. During the 2007 summer break, Allen terminated his contract with MK Dons to take over at Leicester City in an arrangement that lasted just five games before his contract was terminated.
For the 2007–08 season, former England captain Paul Ince took over as manager. MK Dons reached the final of the Football League Trophy, while topping the table for most of the season. The final was played on 30 March against Grimsby Town — Milton Keynes Dons won 2–0 at Wembley to bring the first professional trophy to Milton Keynes. The club capped the trophy win with the League Two championship, and the subsequent promotion to League One for the 2008–09 season. Following his successes, Ince left at the end of the season to manage Blackburn Rovers.
Ince's replacement was managerial rookie Roberto Di Matteo. MK Dons occupied second position for much of the 2008–09 season, but they lost out to an automatic promotion spot by two points, finishing third behind Peterborough United and Leicester City. They were knocked out of the play-offs by Scunthorpe United, who defeated MK Dons by penalty shootout at stadium:mk. |