Council calls on MK Dons to change name to MK City (From Wimbledon Guardian)

Merton Council calls on MK Dons to change name to MK City

9:01am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Drop The Dons By Omar Oakes

Merton's four political party leaders unite behind our Drop the Dons campaign (L-R): Iain Dysart (Lib Dem), Stephen Alambritis (Lab, Council leader), Debbie Shears (Con), Peter Southgate (Merton Park independent)

Our fight for football justice has been formally endorsed by Merton’s councillors, who have backed growing calls to extinguish the symbol of Wimbledon losing its football team to a franchise deal.

Merton Council passed a motion to back our Drop the Dons campaign, which calls on Milton Keynes Dons FC, the club formed after Wimbledon FC was relocated to Buckinghamshire, to remove their lingering nominal association to our community.

All four party leaders signed the Wimbledon Guardian's petition and also called on the Queen to grant Milton Keynes city status as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebration this year.

This, they said, would give the club another reason to drop the Dons and change its name to Milton Keynes City FC.

The motion, passed at last week's full council meeting at the Civic Centre, Morden, said: “Merton Council now believes that it is appropriate that Milton Keynes Dons FC drop the “Dons” from their title.

“There is recent precedent to such a name change, with Stevenage dropping the “Borough” from their name in 2010.

“This is also needed because there is every possibility that AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons FC wil either be drawn against each other in a cup tie or meet in a scheduled league match at some stage.

“Dropping the Dons would assist in contributing towards better relations between the clubs.”

“Merton Council also notes that Milton Keynes has applied for City status and wishes them every success in this endeavour.

“This council therefore calls on Milton Keynes Dons FC to apply to the Football Association for a change of name prior to the April 1 deadline, in time for the 2012-13 football season and to coincide with the application for City status, thus enabling the club to move seamlessly to being called Milton Keynes City FC.”

The leader of the council, Stephen Alambritis, said: "This is a campaign that deserves to succeed as the Dons nickname truly belongs to AFC Wimbledon.

"We want good relations between the two clubs and this can only happen if Milton Keynes drop the dons."