AFC Wimbledon co-founder hands FA chief explosive letter seeking an apology for football’s ‘crime of the century’

FA chief Mark Bullingham has been handed an explosive letter seeking a formal apology for football’s “crime of the century.” AFC Wimbledon co-founder Ivor Heller personally delivered the note at Wembley — while also calling for the FA to order Milton Keynes to drop the word “Dons” from their name. Ivor Heller signs a personal letter that he delivered to FA chief Mark Bullingham Credit: JUSTIN ALLEN Ivor Heller wants Mark Bullingham to get the FA to issue AFC Wimbledon an apology Credit: Unknown Ahead of Thursday night’s League One grudge match at Plough Lane, one of the club’s pioneers launched a blistering attack over what he calls an unforgivable betrayal. Two decades after a sham FA commission permitted the original Wimbledon FC to be uprooted and shipped to Buckinghamshire, Heller insists the wound still burns like acid. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! And after being rebranded MK Dons in 2004, Heller believes it is high time Bullingham and the FA stepped in. Heller fumed: “They may as well call themselves MK Coco Clowns, or whatever they want to call themselves. Because it just makes no sense. “When we first set our club up in 2002, we went to the London FA and asked to be called Real Wimbledon. And we got told a straight no on that. “Why on earth weren’t MK told a straight no at the time with the Dons? There was absolutely nothing historical to do with Milton Keynes.” Heller points out the stark double standards from FA bigwigs. While they love to take the moral high ground and posture over the antics of Gianni Infantino and FIFA, the AFC co-founder argues they refuse to clean up their own mess. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS AFC Wimbledon co-founder Ivor Heller was at Wembley to deliver a message to the FA He said: “If they want to put it right with Infantino, I think they should get their own house in order first and put right what happened to us. “I’m not asking to deny them, although I don’t think they should exist, but now they’re there. “We’re not going to change that. But to put pressure on and to find a way to make that name change would mean that we could all get on and forget about it and crack on with our football lives.” LATE-NIGHT BETRAYAL For Heller, the grudge is deeply personal. The 63-year-old’s fight started on the night of May 28, 2002, when his phone rang late in the evening. On the line was a high-ranking FA official who delivered a devastating verdict: “Ivor, you’ve lost.” Heller recalled: “I sat in my office at the print works I ran at the time. I had all my football photographs up and I focused on some of those images. Ivor Heller at home in his lounge which is a shrine to his beloved AFC Wimbledon Credit: Unknown Ivor Heller’s pride and joy — a signed AFC Wimbledon shirt from the club’s first game back in the EFL in 2011, a replica of the one they wore in their original debut in the League from 1977 Credit: Unknown “And at that point the entrepreneur and business side of me came out completely, where it was: ‘There’s only one thing to do here and that is start again.’ “I had a real serious gut feeling that if we didn’t get started quickly we wouldn’t make it. People just go, well we’re going to support Tooting & Mitcham, we’re going to Sutton United.” Instead of joining angry protests outside Soho Square where the FA were based at the time, the next morning Heller locked himself inside his print works. He made three urgent calls to trusted mates — Marc Jones, Trevor Williams and Kris Stewart — to draw up the blueprint for AFC Wimbledon. While Jones started designing a new badge and Williams mapped out football administration, the infamous FA commission report dropped at 11am. Inside was a line that burned into Heller’s soul. The FA panel declared: “We believe it would not be in the wider interests of football for a Wimbledon town type football club to start up.” Heller sneers: “Fast forward to today and look at those wider interests Today there is a team of three people working for the Dons Local Action Group volunteering, collecting food outside a supermarket for the people in South London that cannot afford to feed themselves. Ivor Heller's letter to Mark Bullingham Dear Mark, In 2002, your organisation oversaw the most calamitous decision in the history of our national game. An FA-appointed commission allowed our club, Wimbledon, to be relocated to a town 70 miles away from its natural homeland. The decision caused immeasurable hurt to the Wimbledon community, where a football club had played since 1889. I am writing now to assure you that hurt has not dissipated. While it may be impossible to turn back the clock, there is still time for you to at least repair some of the damage. In the first instance, I would respectfully urge you to consider offering a formal apology. There has never been the slightest indication of contrition, regret or remorse – despite the untold misery your commission’s decision caused. Something else I find deeply offensive is the fact that they continue to use our historic abridged name ‘Dons’. There is simply no logical reason for this: it is deeply offensive, provocative and a constant reminder of your diabolical decision – as well as a continuous cause for tension. Forcing the club in Milton Keynes to drop the name Dons from their name would restore some calm and common sense. To conclude, the pain your organisation caused on 28 May, 2002, can only be resolved if you have a desire to address the root causes. Everybody knows a terrible injustice was served upon our club and a simple apology would be a huge step towards righting that wrong. And returning our abridged name to us, its rightful, natural and historic owners, would be a further step towards a more conciliatory relationship. In fact, may I suggest, these modest actions would be in the wider interests of football. Yours, Ivor Heller, Co-founder, AFC Wimbledon “We’ve got people that are delivering furniture for people that have just got housed, have been homeless, and we supply IT and internet-ready equipment to people that can’t afford it. “At the same time we’ve got the AFC Wimbledon Foundation that is serving 3,500 people a week in the area with fitness and health. “If you took AFC Wimbledon out of this community now it would leave a black hole that would be massive. “Don’t you think it’s about time that the FA looked at that statement and said, ‘actually we’re sorry about that?” TWO TEARFUL MOMENTS That “righteous indignation” fuelled a miracle sprint from the Combined Counties League back to the EFL in just nine years — one year ahead of their own 10-year target. Yet throughout the crusade, Heller admits he has only ever broken down in tears twice in football — two contrasting moments of raw emotion. The first was pure grief. When AFC Wimbledon first travelled to MK for an FA Cup tie in 2012, Heller arrived at the head of a 20-coach convoy carrying 3,500 fans. Heller said: “My then-wife had a very strong eye on me that day because she knew that it was very emotional for me and I was very wound up about it and I could do something stupid that day. “When we pulled in, it was like this huge kind of sterile stadium, a concrete bowl. I caught sight of our name on their ground for the first time. AFC Wimbledon fans protest at MK Dons when the clubs met for the first time in 2012 Credit: Getty Images – Getty AFC Wimbledon fans encroach the pitch as they celebrate scoring in that game Credit: Alan Walter “I got off the coach, my foot touched the ground and I just combusted. I broke down, which is something I never do. I’ve never known anything like it except, unfortunately, I lost both my parents and it was a real grief. “It was a moment where I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing here? I shouldn’t be here, this should not exist.” It was surreal — like I was visiting a parallel universe. “Everyone was there to throw venom and bile. There was none of that high-fiving — there was a real genuine feeling of sheer anger.” Contrast that nightmare with the second time Heller wept — a moment of unadulterated joy. It came during a trial match with restricted crowds during Covid at the brand-new Plough Lane in 2020 when he stood in the concourse and heard fans cheering inside their spiritual home for the very first time. He recalled: “I was standing in the main stadium but I was facing into the bar so I couldn’t see anything that was going on. “And then I heard a noise and then I heard some clapping and cheering and then I realised that people were in our stadium enjoying it and that made me go again. “I broke down there. It was a significant moment and it was the pure joy of hearing people clapping our team as they walked out.” KEEPING THE FAITH MK took Wimbledon’s league place in 2002, but Heller insists they could never steal their identity. Original 1970s legends like goalkeeper Dickie Guy — who is now club president — and former captain Ian Cooke still travel home and away supporting AFC Wimbledon. And Heller scoffs at claims from MK fans that Wimbledon should simply “move on” after nearly 25 years. Heller argued: “Why does anyone apologise for anything? You apologise for something when it’s wrong. “The government have apologised for the injustices of historical events because it’s been still a thing. So, therefore, I’m afraid, until this is put right, it’s still a thing.” SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT Heller’s lifelong fight and the story of the club’s resurrection are mapped out in his autobiography, We Shall Not Be Moved. Explaining his inspiration for writing it, Heller said: “I kept hearing from people our story and every time I heard our story I was like, well hang on, that’s not quite right and that’s not quite right. “And then people kept saying to me you should get it written down. And it wasn’t just a few people, a lot of people were saying it.” The book tracks his early life alongside the meteoric rise of the original Wimbledon through the leagues, showing how those same values fueled the fan-owned rebirth. Ivor Heller has written an autobiography of his AFC Wimbledon story We Shall Not Be Moved Credit: JUSTIN ALLEN He added: “When I say that we are the continuation of Wimbledon’s football club, this book personifies that. “It also tells a bit about my life and how that shaped me to be in the position that I got into, to dedicate a large chunk of my life to this football club and take it from where it was to where it is now.” Heller is keen to stress that his campaign is a personal crusade. He insists his letter and views represent his own raw passion as a lifelong supporter and co-founder — not the official stance of the AFC Wimbledon board. Heller’s message to the game’s lawmakers could not be clearer: strip MK of the stolen title, give them the name MK City, and leave the Dons where they belong — in South London. He added: “They’re a city now. I think that would suit them down to the ground. They’re a city that’s known for many roundabouts and fantastic, good for them. “Milton Keynes FC or Milton Keynes City, that would be better. “And if you’d have been in the stadium when Ronan Curtis scored a last-minute goal against them in a 1-0 win two years ago — that was the biggest eruption of fandom that I’ve ever seen. That was magic, pure magic.” WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED by Ivor Heller, published by Birlinn, is available for pre-order on Amazon HERE Comment now