Will they or won't they? Wimbledon will start the 2002/3 season at Selhurst Park but could be playing in Milton Keynes before the coming season finishes.

Efforts to move the club into the National Hockey Stadium in the town while a new stadium is built have failed because the ground does not meet Football League criteria.

....there's the Bowl and other places in Milton Keynes - what we have to make clear about this is that the effort continues.

Pete Winkleman

But according to Pete Winkleman, the man behind plans to build a new home for the club at Denbigh North, the Dons could be playing in Milton Keynes at some point during this coming season.

He is confident the club will be playing within months in the town but not necessarily at the Hockey Stadium.

However Mr Winkleman, speaking on the BBC Three Counties Milton Keynes Breakfast Programme, won't be drawn on exactly where the Dons will be playing:

"There are other places we are looking at but I'm not going to say" he said. "But there's the Bowl and other places in Milton Keynes - what we have to make clear about this is that the effort continues."

Those in charge of the Hockey Stadium say there are no discussions with Wimbledon FC for the club to be playing there in the future.

Hockey Centre Ltd says at the moment it's happy to continue developing the stadium and using it as it was beforehand, which includes holding banquets and conferences.

The company's chairman Tony Bilson says that given more time they might have worked out a deal with the Dons but there were several reasons why it didn't happen:

"How the deal was going to be operated, what the residual effects of the deal would be, how things would progress after Wimbledon had finished .... there were so many aspects that overall we weren't able to conclude a deal on it" he said.

Critics have said that moving a football club mid-season would be a logistical nightmare, particularly as many season ticket holders would want rebates. A move is therefore unlikely to happen before next season.

Relocate
Dons chairman Charles Koppel was granted permission to relocate the club to Milton Keynes by an independent Football Association commission in May.

A statement on the club's official website read: "Wimbledon Football Club will commence the 2002/2003 season at Selhurst Park, playing there for the forseeable future. It still remains the club's intention to move to Milton Keynes as soon as possible."

Wimbledon supporters have written an open letter to the Football League calling for an EGM to challenge the commission's findings and block a future move.

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