As Chelsea meet AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup, it's time to share one of the most widely known battles in modern English football history, AFC Wimbledon and its predecessor, the Milton Keynes.
The predecessor of Milton Keynes, Wimbledon FC, was a veteran team founded in 1889 in London's Wimbledon FC district. Wimbledon FC, which once played in the Premier League, won the name of "madman" because of its rough style. In 2001, at the initiative of businessman Pete Winkelman, Wimbledon decided to move the team to Milton Keynes, another city 90 km from the team's original location. Winkelman was seeking approval from the City Council to build a new stadium and its surrounding mixed used development, but the biggest hurdle was that Milton Keynes did not have a professional team and therefore there was no need to build a full capacity stadium. Winkelman decided to approach Wimbledon FC's management and persuaded management to move the team to Milton Keynes, and Winkelman's mixed used plan was completed.
In 2004, with the official settlement of Milton Keynes, the team was officially renamed Milton Keynes, commonly known as Milton Keynes. Dons, once a nickname for the Wimbledon FC team and fans, has now been moved to a location that has nothing to do with the original Wimbledon FC, and the use of the "brand" left by the old man naturally attracted strong opposition from Wimbledon FC fans. The team and the local community are inextricably linked, and Wimbledon's FC hierarchy has been accused of betraying the fans and the soul of the team. At the time, the top management claimed that the relocation was because "Wimbledon FC cannot support the long-term development of the team", and it was also pointed out. So the original Wimbledon FC fans established AFC Wimbledon, starting from the bottom of the regional league to challenge and climb the ladder of the professional league, until one day they can surpass the "pseudo-Wimbledon FC" in their hearts. Since you feel that the Wimbledon area has "no meat to eat", let the AFC Wimbledon, built on "barren" soil, climb higher than the "fruitful" Milton Keynes.
In the 2016/17 season, with AFC Wimbledon promoted from League Two and Milton Keynes relegated from the Championship, for the first time in history, the two teams faced each other in the same league as equals. Although the two teams have met in cup competitions before, for Wimbledon FC fans, it is more significant than any previous meeting to be able to compete with Milton Keynes, who "stolen" their history. AFC Wimbledon has never shied away from disgust for Milton Keynes, and in 2017 deliberately ignored Milton Keynes' full name in the field magazine and the scoreboard, only calling it MK or Milton Keynes, for the conceivable reason that Milton Keynes did not deserve the name Dons. AFC Wimbledon eventually ate EFL's ticket.
Since then, the two teams have mostly floated between League One and League Two. With Milton Keynes' relegation last season, the two teams are playing in League Two again this season. This history may not affect the next Carabao Cup match against Chelsea, but it is also a good story worth telling.