On my way home tonight I saw a guy walking through the city in a pre-Franchise Wimbledon FC shirt. Such conflicting emotions, was he an AFC fan remembering the pre-Koppell glory days? One of the few scabs unconscionably still hanging onto the excitement of mid-table First Division football? Or one of those people who buy a shirt because it looks good (and it still does) and has no idea about the team. These people often claim to support bigger clubs even when they're wearing
By my estimation it was a 1995/96 season shirt, and I'm assuming it was a legit fan because it had "THORN 16" on the back - and you're hardly likely to find too many Andy Thorn fans amongst the casual supporter. It was too depressing a sight to pass comment on. In happier days I used to greet fellow fans with a hearty "Go the Dons!" whenever I saw them, but now the situation is so clouded it's not worth trying now. If he's a Franchise fan I don't want to encourage him, if he's an AFC fan I don't want him to think I'm one of the Franchise scum. Who says there's no emotion left in sports?
For the record all my original Wimbledon shirts are in storage now, probably never to be seen again and my new AFC version has been ordered and I should be debuting it to the waiting Melbourne audience ("Is that the Manchester United away shirt?" *SMACK*) within a month.
(Meanwhile this morning; AFC Wimbledon 5, Raynes Park Vale 0. The relentless march towards the football league continues)
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