Well, here goes, the first voyage into the unknown this season as we take on teams like the current league leaders, Stevenage, that will be very difficult to set this quiz for in its usual format. Given that Wimbledon were first elected to the Football League in the late seventies, I’m sure I’ll be able to put together a six decades quiz for the team we play tomorrow, but something for the sixties that would give anyone answering a question from that decade at least a chance of some sort of getting it right might be a problem!
Anyway, let’s get into it and see how it goes – the answers will be posted on here on Wednesday.
60s. As this decade dawned, the professional career of this Northampton born player looked to be over before it had begun. Released by Chelsea as a teenager, he signed for Wimbledon, then of the Isthmian League, as an amateur. He soon established himself as a first choice and was rewarded with a wimer’s medal from a Wembley Final and three Amateur caps for England. League titles also followed along with a runner’s up medal from the Southern League and it all helped get him back into league football as he signed as a pro for a club with a distinctive kit which featured Wimbledon’s blue that was enjoying the most successful spell of its exiatence up to them. Going on to represent this team in the First Division, our man eventually moved north to play for another side that wore blue and, again, he was part of a squad which at the end of their road reached the top flight, although he was mostly a reserve when they got there. Released in 1976, he concentrated on coaching, but, when the manager at the first club to employ him was sacked, he took over at what was a Second Division club at the time for nine months before resigning. He never managed again, but was Assistant Manager at Palace, Fulham and West Brom before concentrating on a specialised area of coaching which he certainly had plenty of experience of and eventually he returned to Fulham to work with someone who took him to Liverpool and then England in the same role. Who am I describing?
70s. Which team comes next in this sequence;-
Bracknell Town
Maidenhead United
Wokingham Town
Guildford and Dorking United
Bath City
Kettering Town
Burnley
and, as a bonus, how and where do City fit, very loosely, into the answer?
80s. During this decade, Wimbledon were the team that condemned City to a relegation, can you name the three members of the Dons squad that day who ent on to play for England and the one who would play for Wales?
90.s What’s the connection between a Wimbledon defender of this time and the daleks, cybermen, Captain Pugwash and Bill and Ben?
00s. Who managed Wimbledon in their last game in the Premier League?
10s. Stevenage and Woking are linked by a connection with the one previous meeting between City and AFC Wimbledon, how?
20-s. Top scorer or twice runner up from Carmarthen?
Answers:
60s. Mike Kelly played in goals for QPR and Birmingham after winning the Amateur Cup and gaining Amateur international caps while playing for Wimbledon in the Isthmian and Southern Leagues. Kelly managed Plymouth for nine months in 1976 and worked closely with Roy Hodgson in later years as a goalkeeper coach with Fulham, Liverpool and England.
70s. They’re the teams beaten by Wimbledon in their run to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup in 1974/75, so the answer is Leeds United. The fact that Wimbledon had become the first non league side to win an FA Cup tie on the ground of a First Division. side in the 20th century when they won 1-0 at Burnley in the Third Round is all but forgotten now as people remember Dickie Guy’s penalty save which helped them to a 0-0 draw at Elland Road (the Dons provided much tougher opposition for the reigning First Division title holders at Elland Road than Cardiff did when beaten there 4-1 in the Third Round). In front of nearly 50,000 in the replay at Selhurst Park, Wimbledon again proved very tough opposition for Leeds before going down by 1-0 to a cruelly deflected goal.
80s. Wimbledon beat City 2-1 at Plough Lane on 11/5/85 to send them into the Third Division. Dave Beasant and Nigel Winterburn started that day, as did Wales’ Glyn Hodges – Denis Wise came on as a sub that day.
90s. Peter Hawkins played over a hundred leas games for Wimbledon in the late nineties and early noughties, while his namesake was an actor who became best known for providing the voices for television characters such as the daleks and cybermen in Dr Who and, among others, Captain Pugwash and both Bill and Ben on children’s TV.
00s. Former City Assistant Manager Terry Burton was appointed caretaker manager for the final two matches of the 99/00 season following the sacking of Egil Olsen.
10s. When City met AFC Wimbledon in the First Round of the League Cup in 2015, current Stevenage manager Alex Revell was playing for us, while AFC Wimbledon were managed by former City winger Neil Ardley who is now in charge at Woking.
20s. Matthew (Matty) Stevens is currently AFC Wimbledon’s top scorer with two goals, while Carmarthen born Matthew Stevens has twice been runner up in the World Snooker Championship.
