The Crazy Gang RIP

Few tears will be shed by the sprinkling of well-wishers who bother to turn up at Selhurst Park, but Sunday will be one of the saddest days in my football career.

It will be more of a wake than a farewell party as Wimbledon play their final game in London - against Burnley - laying to rest the spirit of the Crazy Gang before heading for a new life in Milton Keynes.

I scored on my debut in the club's first 'home' game at Selhurst Park, in 1991 against West Ham and, 345 appearances later, it is sure to be an emotional occasion when I watch Wimbledon's final match there from the stands.

Then on Monday I'll watch the other Wimbledon - AFC - take on Raynes Park Vale in their final game of the season at Kingsmeadow ... a roller-coaster 24 hours in the lives of old and new clubs.

Selhurst was never home but while we remained as temporary guests of Crystal Palace there was always the faint hope the club might one day return to its Merton heartland.

Come 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon Wimbledon will no longer be a London club and I can't help feeling upset that more wasn't done to keep the club here.

Wimbledon should be based in the borough of Merton and, if people at the club and the council had done their jobs properly over the years, then they still would be.

Now the existence of the club is in jeopardy so I can see why it has decided to go. I certainly understand it from a business point of view, but as a fan and an ex-player I would prefer the club to be in Merton.

Terry Burton once said he felt it was like a divorce where a child is forced to choose between mum or dad and I tend to agree with him.

Many of the former players I speak to feel the same way and accept that the move is the only way for the club to evolve, especially as there seem to be few other options. Others, however, think it is just plain wrong for Wimbledon to leave London. But at least a decision has been made.

In a way, once Sunday is over, it will come as a release as the process will have reached a conclusion and the club can move on.

Once Wimbledon get to Milton Keynes I think it will turn into a new club. During my time and the Dave Bassett/Bobby Gould era, everyone called us The Crazy Gang. We had a tremendous team spirit which we used to our advantage. I am not sure there is the same sort of feeling in the club now. I think it's a case of The Crazy Gang RIP and what goes forward will inevitably be very different.

It's a shame because it was a fantastic period. We had so many characters at the club and The Crazy Gang brought much-needed colour to the game, particularly in the Premiership. You just don't get rumbles in the tunnel at Chelsea any more!

Memories of Plough Lane were still fresh when I first joined from Port Vale in 1991 and even then I had a nagging suspicion that if they did not find a new home soon then they would be in trouble.

They had taken a gamble by becoming a lodger at Selhurst. It's okay to be a lodger for a short while but if it's any longer then you find it very difficult to get back on the property ladder.

While everyone else was developing their stadiums following the Taylor Report, we had given up our ground. The longer we stayed at Selhurst the more worrying it became.

There was talk of moves to Cardiff or Dublin, but there never seemed to be anybody discussing the move everyone wanted - back to Merton.

It never really felt quite right playing at Selhurst. We only went to the ground on the day of the game so we had little affinity with the place. All the stewards and the staff worked for someone else and our home crowds were poor.

Other teams used to say they found it hard coping with the lack of atmosphere caused by the half-empty stadium, but we had to deal with it 25 times a season.

When I played at Plough Lane with Vale, it was completely different. You knew what you were going to get at Wimbledon. The showers were cold, John Fashanu and Alan Cork growled at you in the tunnel before the game and you were happy to escape with a 2-0 defeat.

Joe Kinnear was very clever in recreating that mood within the squad at Selhurst Park. Everyone else looked down on us because they said we were too small to be in the Premiership, but he used their attitude to motivate us.

Under Joe, Wimbledon was all about personalities and characters. We were a small club but we used to get as many column inches as the biggest teams in the land.

I remember going to Manchester United and to calm the pre-match nerves Joe brought out a rugby ball in training the day before. There was a big pile-up and the players loved it. We all went into the game relaxed and came away from Old Trafford with a 1-0 win.

We also had a close relationship with the fans. If we lost heavily, Joe would not need to give a team talk after the game as we were forced to walk past the fans on the way to the players' lounge.

They used to slaughter us which we didn't enjoy but at least the players knew what it meant to them. Because we had so few supporters we knew a lot by name and we'd drink with them after games. It was unique - can you imagine that happening at Manchester United?

Wimbledon used to be seen as a beacon of hope for all smaller clubs. If we could compete in the Premiership, why couldn't they?

We were an example of what could be achieved on a small budget and Margaret Thatcher once even praised the club's achievements in a House of Commons speech.

Everyone wanted to "do a Wimbledon" and achieve success against the odds, but given the furore around the Milton Keynes move, how many clubs now want to follow their lead?

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