7: Neil Ardley, Wimbledon, Panini Football Sticker Album, The Official PFA Collection, A-Z of ALL the Top Players from All the Top Teams in ‘97

Frank Lampard’s first season in charge at Chelsea was presented as a huge success by many pundits and, by most club’s standards, it was. A fourth place finish in the Premier League was backed up with a run to the FA Cup final. Even more impressively Lampard achieved all of this despite a transfer embargo being in place against the Blues leaving the rookie manager to rely on similarly inexperienced players in key positions. Add in the returning hero narrative and you’re presented with a wholesome footballing story to warm the cockles of every neutral’s heart. Unless you mention that Chelsea were able to bring back a plethora of young talent that they had spent the last few years farming out on loan to Vitesse Arnhem to circumnavigate the transfer ban. Or the fact that Lampard had effectively had a year’s work experience at Derby County where he’d had first choice of Chelsea’s up and coming stars to take on loan. Or the fact that we’re talking about Chelsea here. And Frank Lampard.

As with Phil Babb, and the other stars of the questionable Panini PFA album, we are treated to a quote from the player in question and, in Neal Ardley’s case, he informed us that he had “been with Wimbledon since [he] left school”. They got that bit right but sadly failed to spell his first name correctly (not uncommon in 90s sticker albums – just ask Boncho Genchev and Mustapha Hadji). The midfielder made his Dons’ debut at the tender age of 19 in the 1991/92 season and was a key part of the side which finished twelfth in the inaugural Premier League campaign in 1992/93. Over the course of eleven years Ardley made over 250 appearances in all competitions and contributed 18 goals for his breakthrough club and even remained with them following their relegation to Division 1 at the end of the 1999/2000 season. After two seasons of attempting to return to the top table Ardley moved on to Watford before seeing out his career with spells at Cardiff City and Millwall. I appreciate this might seem like two unrelated stories but bear with me.

 

When Ardley left Wimbledon for Watford in 2002 the club’s chairman, Charles Koppel, had decided that the only way to keep the club financially afloat was to relocate to Milton Keynes. Despite initial resistance from the FA and widespread anger among the Dons’ supporters the decision was made and Wimbledon played their last season of Division 1 home games at the Buckinghamshire new town approximately 60 miles away from their actual home. Understandably, Wimbledon’s fans were outraged and abandoned the club in their droves to form a non-league side under the guise of AFC Wimbledon based in Norbiton. Meanwhile, Wimbledon were relegated and started the following season in the rebranded League One with a rebrand of their own: MK Dons. If you wanted to make a team sound like a dodgy Pro Evolution knock off then there’s your blueprint.

 

AFC Wimbledon worked their way up the non-league pyramid earning promotion to League Two in May 2011 with a penalty shootout victory over Luton Town in the Conference play-off final thus becoming the youngest club to enter the Football League. After an impressive fifteenth placed finish in the 2011/12 season, a dismal start to their sophomore league campaign saw long-serving manager Terry Brown shown the door in September 2012. The Dons’ shortlist for his replacement was very short: former Welsh international Rob Page and Neal Ardley. Ardley had earned the first of his coaching badges at the age of 24 and had taken a role at Cardiff City’s academy the very first day after his retirement from professional football. A homegrown hero was coming home.

 

Ardley’s first challenge was to avoid relegation and, despite a galling loss to MK Dons early in his reign, he led the club to safety thanks to a last day victory over Fleetwood Town. In his first full season in charge the Dons sat in the play-off places after a strong start but lost form around the turn of 2014 to finish down in twentieth place albeit comfortably safe from relegation again. A fifteenth placed finish in 2014/15 was further boosted by the club’s first appearance since their reformation in the third round of the FA Cup where they impressed in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool. Bolstered by this gradual improvement in fortunes the Dons made it all the way to the play-offs in the 2015/16 campaign and a 2-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle saw Ardley’s side reach League One. They finished fifteenth in their first season in the third tier and, despite flirting with relegation throughout 2017/18, finished in a credible eighteenth place. By this time Ardley had become the third longest serving manager in the Football League.

 

The 2018/19 season started with a run of ten games without defeat but football is a cruel mistress and, after ten defeats in twelve games, Ardley was relieved of his duties after more than six years and over 300 games in charge. Unsurprisingly he wasn’t out of work for long and since November 2018 has been in charge of Notts County. Despite his managerial departure Ardley remains linked to the club through the Wimbledon Old Players Association alongside the likes of Vinnie Jones and John Fashanu which continues to campaign for AFC Wimbledon to officially reclaim the history, and associated honours, of the original Wimbledon football club. There’s being “one of their own” and there’s giving nearly twenty years of service on the pitch and in the dugout and Neal Ardley’s commitment to the AFC Wimbledon cause is one of the more uplifting footballing stories. Definitely more so than Frank Lampard’s anyway.