A Don from across the pond: AFC Wimbledon have chosen Merton, but what if Merton doesn't say "I choose you"

I kept getting hung up on the months-long series of events that led to the end of the relationship and wondering what I could have done to salvage it.

My friend, who was consoling me, turned to me and said that when it comes to relationships there’s good work and bad work.

Good work is figuring out where you’ll live, and who will clean up after dinner, and how you deal with difficult family members.

The bad work is more existential - it’s the kind of work where you spend a lot of time, effort and emotional energy trying to answer the question of whether you should be together in the first place.

My friend said that a lot of difficult questions can be answered and problems can be worked through, but there’s simply no substitute for “I choose you”. 

If you don't have that, it’s not going to work out.

I’ve thought about that conversation a lot in the intervening years. And lately I’ve thought about it with regards to the move to a new stadium.

Plough Lane: AFC Wimbledon football stadium or school?

When the club submitted its proposal for the stadium, our major hurdle was the greyhound people.

They fought the idea of a football stadium because they thought what the community really needed was dog racing.

AFC Wimbledon has more or less won out on that.

But now comes word that community members are clamouring for a school instead of a football ground.

It’s nowhere near an ideal location for a school, but regardless, some neighbours believe it’s better to have a school than football.

The return to Plough Lane has been such an incontrovertible part of the club and its ambitions since 2002 (and longer).

Ask almost any fan and they’ll say the most important thing for the growth and future of the club is to return to Merton.

But I wonder if we’ve stopped to examine whether we’re wanted back.

And I think we should consider that. Because there is really no substitute for “I choose you”.