West Brom coach Terry Burton recalls his Wimbledon agony

Dec 11 2011 by Christopher Lepkowski, Sunday Mercury

THE pressures of Premier League football will be small fry to Terry Burton compared to the loss of a football club.

Burton checked into his new role as Albion first-team coach earlier this week.

But the 59-year-old’s challenge will be somewhat less fraught than the battle he faced a decade ago when he was manager of Wimbledon.

At the time, the original Dons were owned by Norwegians, fronted by chairman Charles Koppel who sanctioned the controversial move to Milton Keynes, effectively transforming a football club with a modest, but proud, history into a franchise.

The Football Association rubber-stamped the move and while a minority accepted it, the majority turned their back on the club and built a new one, AFC Wimbledon, from scratch.

A decade on and the two are separated by one division – MK Dons are in League One, AFC Wimbledon in League Two.

The saga still resonates to this day. A legion of football followers and traditionalists refer to Milton Keynes as the ‘Franchise’, while AFC Wimbledon are lauded for their resurgance.

Burton was so opposed to the move that it probably cost him his job. He is still uneasy with the concept.

And while he bears no ill will towards Milton Keynes or their present owner Pete Winkelman, he insists the move should never have happened.