Chelsea Set to Buy Kingsmeadow Ground
Chelsea are set to buy the Kingsmeadow Ground, the home of League Two side AFC Wimbledon, reports BBC Sport.
The Dons Trust, owners of AFC Wimbledon, has agreed in principle to sell the ground to the Premier League club, although the sale depends on whether the Dons get planning permission to build a new stadium in nearby Merton.
Should the completion go in Chelsea’s favour, then the Kingsmeadow Ground, which is also home to non-league Kingstonian, will be used by the youth team and for women’s matches.
AFC Wimbledon has been at the ground since 2002 and bought the lease on the Kingsmeadow a year later. They have, however, always had aspirations of returning to Plough Lane, where the original Wimbledon played from 1912 until 1991, and now want to build a new stadium on the site of the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck had been in negotiations with Wimbledon’s chief executive Erik Samuelson since last year over purchasing the ground as the Blues cannot host crowds at their training ground in Cobham, Surrey. Their youth and women’s team had no proper base and have been playing matches at the Electrical Services Stadium – the home of Aldershot Town – and at another non-league ground in Wheatsheaf Park of Staines Town.
Other top-flight clubs have bases for their youth teams. Manchester United U18s for example, play their home matches at the club’s Aon Training Complex in Carrington, while City built their own 7,000 Academy Stadium as part of their Etihad Complex, which opened in December 2014, after years of playing at Hyde United’s Ewen Fields ground.
The Daily Mail reported last year that Chelsea and Manchester City had invested heavily in their youth set-up with the Kensington outfit being in the final of the FA Youth Cup six times in the last eight seasons, including last year’s win over Manchester City.
