FANS MISCONCEPTIONS

thats your view of it which you are entitled to

how many wimbledon fans did you meet ?

the wimbledon fans who have written books on the subject would differ

here is a quote from lawrence llowne , of the wimbledon independent supporters association


" we feel sam sold us down the river , he talked about the club being his "family " but he took over a community club which people had supported loyally for generations ..ok we had great years on the field , but he sold the club , sold our ground and walked off 30 million richer ..it was shattering "

thats quoted from david conns boom searching for the soul of football

Oh right so its perfectly OK to overlook the 'great years on the field?'

Just how did Lawrence llowne think all those 'great years' were going to be paid for?

Im sure that Sam is very pleased how little Wimbledon have grown into the MK Dons and their new stadium and their multi millionairre backers , plus Im sure he's also pleased to see the new AFC Wimbledon inch towards league football !

we are not talking about being happy to see swansea lose or get relegated

its this patronising attitude that seems to be prevalent that wimbledon should be " grateful " ..we know they were a small club and lived beyond their means ...some info for you ..so are we !!...but look at what happened to them after sam sold up

he moved them to selhurst park saying they had to move when in fact the football league gave them 5 years to upgrade plough lane

Its not just the Wimbledon argument.

It was the outlandish spending during his tenure here. We went from £1.5 million in debt to £30 million chasing a dream.
Yes it got us to the championship but Blackpool have proved that it can done and bettered without breaking the bank.

This is still a debt that is hanging round and has possibly put off prospective investors in the past and has limited our ability to move on due to not knowing who it's actually owned to. People see this and may have some resentment for Sam as a result.

Another reason for the mistrust could be the stories of Sam not allowing PMG's takeover unless he was given an £500,000. I don't think this point has ever been cleared up.

Im sure that Sam is very pleased how little Wimbledon have grown into the MK Dons and their new stadium and their multi millionairre backers , plus Im sure he's also pleased to see the new AFC Wimbledon inch towards league football !

I don't think so. I'm sure Sam is very pleased about the £8million he made from selling Plough Lane to Safeway in 1998 and also buying Wimbledon for £100,000 approx and selling for £30million approx.

Im sure that Sam is very pleased how little Wimbledon have grown into the MK Dons and their new stadium and their multi millionairre backers , plus Im sure he's also pleased to see the new AFC Wimbledon inch towards league football !

wimbledon fans on the whole want nothing to do with mk dons

its not sams fault in that respect , he didnt set them up , but the wimbledon fans who regularly contribute to football messageboards are not of the opinion that sam hammam should be lauded and praised the way he is by some of our fans

I tend to think they have a point

1 of the dreams that Sam chased and threw money at we sat in all of last season , Sam spent a lot of money on the new stadium . Plus he left with £24 mil debt at CCFC yes but since then Riddler has sold players of a value more than that I think plus how much debt are the likes of Man U and Liverpool in then ? A tad more than £24 mil I bet !

Sam wanted to take us to Dublin didnt he , he was talked out of that move thank God . Im sure Wimbledon fans could have stood up to him and besides after they moved from Plough Lane he sold the " club " to some Norwegians I think ? Ask them who sold out to Milton Keynes !

I suppose the Wimbledon fans look at Sam like we ( and Leeds and Barnsley ) do to Riddler .

1 of the dreams that Sam chased and threw money at we sat in all of last season , Sam spent a lot of money on the new stadium . Plus he left with £24 mil debt at CCFC yes but since then Riddler has sold players of a value more than that I think plus how much debt are the likes of Man U and Liverpool in then ? A tad more than £24 mil I bet !

big difference

liverpool and united are massive clubs who could sell out huge stadiums week in week out and sell millions of shirts and have millions coming in through to keep those debts at bay

we dont and never did have thousands of fans

the public of south wales let down sam ..big sam from the rams said that once and he was spot on the money 100 percent

but sam should have used his head and not spent way above what we couldnt afford when the gates didnt come

as for the stadium issue , I thought his quote that the stadium was his in the echo yesterday was plain silly

Sam wanted to take us to Dublin didnt he , he was talked out of that move thank God . Im sure Wimbledon fans could have stood up to him and besides after they moved from Plough Lane he sold the " club " to some Norwegians I think ? Ask them who sold out to Milton Keynes !

I suppose the Wimbledon fans look at Sam like we ( and Leeds and Barnsley ) do to Riddler .

the move to dublin was , as far as I am aware , the norwegians idea..who bought the club off sam ......not sams

1 of the dreams that Sam chased and threw money at we sat in all of last season , Sam spent a lot of money on the new stadium . Plus he left with £24 mil debt at CCFC yes but since then Riddler has sold players of a value more than that I think plus how much debt are the likes of Man U and Liverpool in then ? A tad more than £24 mil I bet !

Yes but they are competing at the top of the premier league, while I don't agree with thier business models, they are able to service thier debts due to revenue streams. We on the other hand are not and are still competing in the championship even with the debt.

Ridsdale continued to chase the dream and spend money we didnt have - again I don't think that was the right way.

Sam didnt spend alot of money, our banks lent us alot of money which was subseuently transferred to Langston as loan notes.

we are not talking about being happy to see swansea lose or get relegated

its this patronising attitude that seems to be prevalent that wimbledon should be " grateful " ..we know they were a small club and lived beyond their means ...some info for you ..so are we !!...but look at what happened to them after sam sold up

he moved them to selhurst park saying they had to move when in fact the football league gave them 5 years to upgrade plough lane

TBH Sludge describing Wimbledon as 'living beyond their means' is also patronising, if want to be that sensitive. The fact is they ARE a small club with a small fan base who overachieved by an incredible amount. There is nothing wrong or patronising about stating the truth as fact.

Hammam did his best for them, if that's now viewed as not good enough then there is also a fair question to ask whether or not the supporters of that club are an ungrateful bunch.

Clearly some are not prepared to learn the lessons from history.

Hammam destroyed one club and nearly destroyed another - ours!!

And they want him back?!!! It beggers belief.

we didnt and dont have the fan base

people will go on and on about the fact that " nobody complained " at the time ..but there were plenty of fans who were uneasy

just read the fans stories in shattered dreams !!!!

WHY are we dwelling in the past AGAIN, the past just gets you lost and confused ffs.

One should not dwell on the past, but learn from it.

One should not dwell on the past, but learn from it.

And do you not think that a certain man has that right to correct the wrong he did...........?

we are not talking about being happy to see swansea lose or get relegated

its this patronising attitude that seems to be prevalent that wimbledon should be " grateful " ..we know they were a small club and lived beyond their means ...some info for you ..so are we !!...but look at what happened to them after sam sold up

he moved them to selhurst park saying they had to move when in fact the football league gave them 5 years to upgrade plough lane

TBH Sludge describing Wimbledon as 'living beyond their means' is also patronising, if want to be that sensitive. The fact is they ARE a small club with a small fan base who overachieved by an incredible amount. There is nothing wrong or patronising about stating the truth as fact.

Hammam did his best for them, if that's now viewed as not good enough then there is also a fair question to ask whether or not the supporters of that club are an ungrateful bunch.

tony , he made massive amounts of money out of the wimbledon deal

its not a case of being not good enough ..its a case of them being cast aside

they were a league club in 1977

in 1987 he tried to merge them with palace

the wimbledon fans who were against that ( fair enough I think !! ) found out sam owned acres of land around plough lane and would make millions if he sold up and sold their club

most football supporters around the land ,whichever club they support , have real sympathy for what happened to wimbledon and views sams actions there towards the end as out of order

except some of our lot

its incredible really , given that he over spent massively here and his debts still haunt us

One should not dwell on the past, but learn from it.

thats why Sam wants to come back working alonsgide TG / VT with no input or indeed output to the business or financial side of CCFC which to me is lesson learnt is it not ?

Sam warned us when he first come here that we were stepping onto a roller coaster ride and he wasn't wrong but we all went along with it in the beginning and i don't think too many people were worrying about the money when we signed Thorne and Kavagnah from Stoke. I think there is no doubt that Sam let his heart rule his head and i think the big difference between Sam and Ridsdale was that Ridsdale played lip service to being a fan while he worked on every way possible to screw as much money as he possibly could out of the Club however i genuinely believe Sam fell in love with the Club.

Would i have Sam back like many i'm not sure if you should ever go back and maybe his time as gone however if Sam coming back meant that a large proportion of the Langstone debt is written off once and for all then that can only be good for the Club.

So i would have Sam back on the proviso he has no control of finances works under TG and VT and sticks to football maybe scouting out young talent for the Acadamey?

Can't see it happening though but never say never especially at the city

tony , he made massive amounts of money out of the wimbledon deal

its not a case of being not good enough ..its a case of them being cast aside

they were a league club in 1977

in 1987 he tried to merge them with palace

the wimbledon fans who were against that ( fair enough I think !! ) found out sam owned acres of land around plough lane and would make millions if he sold up and sold their club

most football supporters around the land ,whichever club they support , have real sympathy for what happened to wimbledon and views sams actions there towards the end as out of order

except some of our lot

its incredible really , given that he over spent massively here and his debts still haunt us

So Sam’s big 'crime' was to make money out of Wimbledon whilst at the same time providing them with the greatest years in their history? I’m sorry I’m still at a loss to understand why the Wimbledon fans should be so ungrateful.

I don't know anything about the merger with C Palace but obviously it didn’t happen so why have sympathy for that?

I do have sympathy with Wimbledon for the way they were relocated to Milton Keynes, but as you said that it was not Sam Hammam but the Norwegian owners who followed him that moved the club. Surly the Wimbledon fans should direct their distaste towards those people and not Sam?

When Sam left CCFC he was owed £15m cash plus anything up to £9m from stadium naming rights. What he gave the new owners was a brilliant academy and most of the headline work for the new stadium. The assets he left far outweighed the liabilities (even if it wasn't obvious at the time) but it was the next incumbent (Peter Ridsdale) who completely cocked up the Langston debt by not paying a penny off and acting as though he didn't need to.

tony , he made massive amounts of money out of the wimbledon deal

its not a case of being not good enough ..its a case of them being cast aside

they were a league club in 1977

in 1987 he tried to merge them with palace

the wimbledon fans who were against that ( fair enough I think !! ) found out sam owned acres of land around plough lane and would make millions if he sold up and sold their club

most football supporters around the land ,whichever club they support , have real sympathy for what happened to wimbledon and views sams actions there towards the end as out of order

except some of our lot

its incredible really , given that he over spent massively here and his debts still haunt us

So Sam’s big 'crime' was to make money out of Wimbledon whilst at the same time providing them with the greatest years in their history? I’m sorry I’m still at a loss to understand why the Wimbledon fans should be so ungrateful.

how about having their ground sold and forced to play home games 40 miles away from where they lived ?

I don't know anything about the merger with C Palace but obviously it didn’t happen so why have sympathy for that?

no , you clearly dont

I do have sympathy with Wimbledon for the way they were relocated to Milton Keynes, but as you said that it was not Sam Hammam but the Norwegian owners who followed him that moved the club. Surly the Wimbledon fans should direct their distaste towards those people and not Sam?

When Sam left CCFC he was owed £15m cash plus anything up to £9m from stadium naming rights. What he gave the new owners was a brilliant academy and most of the headline work for the new stadium. The assets he left far outweighed the liabilities (even if it wasn't obvious at the time) but it was the next incumbent (Peter Ridsdale) who completely cocked up the Langston debt by not paying a penny off and acting as though he didn't need to.

I think you will find that irrespective of the threat of administration ( that never was ) there were plenty of reasons for their mistrust of sam hammam

wimbledon being one and a very important one at that

How many of those reasons for mistrust came from the same source as the administration that never was? As for Wimbledon winning the FA Cup and spending years in the First Division/Premier League despite a meagre supporter base doesn't sound like grounds for compliant to me.

thats an incredibly patronisng and arrogant attitude to take towards supporters of a fellow football club

only little wimbledon !!

we are not talking about being happy to see swansea lose or get relegated

its this patronising attitude that seems to be prevalent that wimbledon should be " grateful " ..we know they were a small club and lived beyond their means ...some info for you ..so are we !!...but look at what happened to them after sam sold up

he moved them to selhurst park saying they had to move when in fact the football league gave them 5 years to upgrade plough lane

they are a small club ..which is one of the reasons why some fans of our club ( which isnt a big club ) are being plain daft to suggest wimbledon should be grateful for what sam did !!

he made lots of money !!

it could have gone tits up for us too

Sam didn't take wage in fact the 6 million pound acrued thru management fees was given back to the club, and yes Black Friday was a close call and Sam was struggling, but to save admin he sold Kav and we carried on, he later sold earnie, Ginge and gabs, but soon after he rebuilt the team and we were top of the championship at Xmas with six points clear.

What year were we top by six points at xmas,you keep mentioning this but I can't recall it.

Sam didn't take wage in fact the 6 million pound acrued thru management fees was given back to the club, and yes Black Friday was a close call and Sam was struggling, but to save admin he sold Kav and we carried on, he later sold earnie, Ginge and gabs, but soon after he rebuilt the team and we were top of the championship at Xmas with six points clear.

What year were we top by six points at xmas,you keep mentioning this but I can't recall it.

2006/07 Season

And what was it he done wrong, built Wimbledon up into a viable business that was sold as a going concern to billionaire Norwegian shipping magnates.

Isn't that the plane evrywhere, buy something and increase it's value and sell it on for a profit if you can, is that bad?

And what was it he done wrong, built Wimbledon up into a viable business that was sold as a going concern to billionaire Norwegian shipping magnates.

Isn't that the plane evrywhere, buy something and increase it's value and sell it on for a profit if you can, is that bad?

No nothing wrong with that, and dont forget he profited from a land sale at Wimbledon, just like PMG at Cardiff.

He tried to do the same at Cardiff, a club down in the dumps.

How are you going to make it an attractive proposition to sell on in the future. Set up an academy, make the ground better so more people are encouraged to go to games and also improve the team.

Difference is, he said he loved Wimbledon, then he loved Cardiff, when really he thought he could make a profit at both clubs.
At Wimbledon he was successful and got lucky taking them up through the leagues on a shoestring, at Cardiff he wasnt so lucky.

OF course he thought he could make a profit, where have you been all those years us fans were begging for someone to take a punt on us, saying"we are in need of some investment and we are a great businees proposition and oppurtunity if some one could only just see that"

Are you saying we should have said "look we are in the shit, please come down, buy us but don't even think of turning us into a succesful business that you could sell for a profit as a going concern, please invets in us, make th e club rich and just walk away"

It's a wwonder there wasn't dozens of business men waiting to rip our hands off for such an oppurtunity.

No I'm not saying that.

I'm saying that at the end of the day, Sam is a businessman, he saw an opportunity to make a profit with us.
But just like PMG, he is/was in it for the money, not for the love of Cardiff City. The difference is PMG have never confessed their love for us.