Winning promotion from Conference and surviving in League Two bigger, says boss
Sunday 29 May 2016 14:15, UK
AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley does not believe his side getting to the Sky Bet League Two play-off final is the biggest achievement in the club's history.
The Dons were formed in 2002 following a decision to move Wimbledon to Milton Keynes and after starting a new club and climbing back into the Football League for the start of the 2011-12 season, the club now face Plymouth on Monday for a chance to play in League One next season
Ardley, who took over as manager in November 2012, believes the actions of his predecessor Terry Brown, who led his side to promotion through the Conference play-offs, were more important.
"Is this the biggest game in the club's history? No," said Ardley, whose side edged past Accrington 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
"Terry Brown getting us in the (Football) League was big, us beating Fleetwood on the last game of the season to stay in the League, they're significantly bigger.
"But 'Wimbledon, Wembley' has got a ring to it. Just seeing the fans and the elation and the comments you just think it means so much.
"As a kid I always wanted to be a manager even when I was young and I was playing.
"I always dreamed of not only playing at Wembley but more so leading the team out, and to realise that at a young age when my parents are still alive and my wife and daughters, I'm all of a sudden quite cool in my daughters' eyes.
"I was really emotional after the Accrington game. That game, the significance of that game wasn't just the promotion. Just to have this occasion is massive."
Ardley signed his first professional playing contract with Wimbledon in 1991 while he was still at school and stayed with the club for 11 years before joining Watford.
Despite the Wimbledon he played for becoming MK Dons and the fans forming the new club, Ardley believes this is another step in the club's history and not the first time Wimbledon have been to Wembley - the Dons famously beat all-conquering Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final.
He said: "It's the next time Wimbledon have got to Wembley.
"Wimbledon, my club, these fans that support me now and that are on my board, they used to watch me play.
"I ask the question - what's a football club?
Getting us in the (Football) League was big, us beating Fleetwood on the last game of the season to stay in the League, they're significantly bigger.
"The chairmen come and go, the players come and go, stadiums get built, everything can change in a football club, the one thing that stays constant, that gets passed down, is fans.
"What is a football club? It's fans.
"Ultimately these fans were there watching me, they were there in the '70s and the '60s and ultimately they're still there now, and the same fans who were asking for autographs from me when I was 16 and 17 coming through the ranks are coming up to me now and showing me photographs of that time now.
"I'm taking Wimbledon back to Wembley for the first time since 1988."
The history of the club is a story which is known all around the world and author John Green, who wrote The Fault in Our Stars, has signed the rights to turn it into a film describing it as "the greatest underdog sports story you've ever heard".
A win at Wembley on Monday would see Wimbledon move into League One for the first time and Ardley is confident the players will use the history to help them on the pitch and may even use some of the sentiment in his pre-match team talk.
He said: "I normally get a gut feel with the team talks.
"Normally I try to keep it quite level, but I will know that on the day, with five minutes to go.
"They know the aim is that we will be stronger next year than this year and listening to them talk, I think they are keen to leave a legacy.
"They look at the history of what has happened and they have more connection this group than any other team I have had with the fans and I think they are keen to say, 'This is our time now'. The story is Hollywood.
"I just think if we can win on Monday it might go from the film being cut at the play-off win that Terry Brown had and me not being in the film to the film just being extended and me getting a part!"
