Stadium mk

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Stadiummk
Moo Camp
150px
Denbigh stadium east stand 16 May 07.JPG
View of the stadium in 2007
Full name stadiummk
Location Denbigh, Milton Keynes, England
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Owner Inter MK
Capacity 30,500 all seated
Record attendance 30,048 (Fiji vs Uruguay, 2015 Rugby World Cup, 6 October 2015)
Field size 105 m x 68 m
Surface Desso GrassMaster
Construction
Broke ground 17 February 2005
Built 2007
Opened 29 November 2007 (first game 18 July 2007)
Architect Populous (then HOK Sport)
Main contractors Buckingham Group Contracting
Tenants
Milton Keynes Dons F.C.

Stadium mk (initially named stadium:mk, stylistically stadiummk, and also known locally as "Denbigh Stadium"[1][2]) is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous,[3] it is the home ground of Sky Bet Championship side Milton Keynes Dons F.C..

As of May 2015, the stadium has two tiers which hold a capacity of 30,500. Should it be required, there is the option to increase the capacity of the stadium again to 45,000 with the addition of a third tier, hence the high roof. The design will comply with UEFA's Elite Stadium specifications and includes a Desso GrassMaster playing surface.

The plans of the complex included an indoor arena, arena:mk, that was to be the home of the Marshall Milton Keynes Lions professional basketball team. However, the retail developments that would have provided enabling funding were deferred due to lack of financing, leaving the Lions without a home.[4] Following the conclusion of the 2011–12 season, the Lions could not secure a venue within Milton Keynes, resulting in a move south to the Copper Box.[5]

In addition to association football, the stadium occasionally hosts rugby union. The first such occasion was in May 2008, when Saracens (who at the time groundshared with Watford at Vicarage Road) played Bristol at Stadium mk because Watford needed their ground for a Championship play-off.[6] In 2011, Northampton Saints RFC used the ground for their Heineken Cup quarter and semi-final matches because their home ground is too small for major events. The stadium hosted three matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.[7]

History

Milton Keynes Stadium Consortium

A man in a dark suit with wispy brown hair and a wide smile looks into the camera.
Pete Winkelman, who led Inter MK and the Milton Keynes Stadium Consortium, and subsequently became chairman of Milton Keynes Dons F.C. (2011 photograph)

From the first days of Milton Keynes as a new town, designated in 1967, the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (1967–1992) envisaged a stadium capable of accommodating a top-flight football team.[8][9] What would become Stadium mk was first proposed in 2000 by the Milton Keynes Stadium Consortium or "Stadium MK", led by Pete Winkelman and his company Inter MK Group.[10][11] This consortium proposed a large development in the southern Milton Keynes district of Denbigh North, including a 30,000-capacity football stadium, a 150,000-square-foot (13,935 m2) Asda hypermarket, an IKEA store, a hotel, a conference centre, and a retail park.[12][13][14][15] The plan to build a ground of this size was complicated by the fact that there was no professional football club in Milton Keynes and that the highest-ranked team in the town, Milton Keynes City—based in Wolverton in northern Milton Keynes, and formerly known as Mercedes-Benz F.C.—played in the then eighth-tier Spartan South Midlands League, four divisions below the Football League.[16] The developers could not justify building such a stadium for a club of this small stature.[14][17] Rather than wait for MK City or another local team to rise to the professional leagues by promotion, Winkelman resolved to "import" an established League club to use the ground.[14][17][18]

Winkelman, an ex-CBS Records executive and music promoter, had moved to the Milton Keynes area from London in 1993.[19] He attested to a vast untapped fanbase for football in Milton Keynes—a "football frenzy waiting to happen", he said.[20] Critics of this claim pointed to the apparent lack of public interest in Milton Keynes City and the other local non-League clubs,[10][20] and argued that Milton Keynes residents interested specifically in League football already had ample access with Luton Town, Northampton Town and Rushden & Diamonds all within 25 miles (40 km).[10] In Winkelman's own words, in a 2013 interview, he "didn't have a clue about football" when he was proposing to move a League club from another town—indeed looking back he said "it was that naivety that enabled me to go and do it."[21] He was the only person in Milton Keynes publicly associated with the project;[12] his financial supporters, later revealed to be Asda (a subsidiary of Walmart) and IKEA,[14][18] were kept strictly anonymous.[12]

Opponents of such a move surmised that the stadium was a "Trojan Horse" included in the blueprint to bypass planning rules, and that although the consortium described the larger development as enabling the construction of the stadium, the reverse was the case—Winkelman's consortium, they claimed, had to have a professional team in place right away to justify the ground so the development could get planning permission.[14][17][18][22] David Conn of The Guardian corroborated this assessment. "The whole project was indeed dependent on Asda and Ikea," Conn summarised in a 2012 article, after interviewing Winkelman. "Having seen the opportunity to build a stadium Milton Keynes lacked, and realised Asda did not have a store in the town, Winkelman acquired options to buy the land from its three owners, including the council. Asda would not have been granted planning permission for a huge out-of-town superstore unless it gave the council the benefit of building the stadium. [A League club] would move up, permission would be granted, then [Winkelman] would exercise the option to buy all the land, sell it to Asda and Ikea for very much more, and the difference would be used to build the stadium."[18] Conn retrospectively described this as the "deal of a lifetime".[18]

Relocation of Wimbledon F.C.; Milton Keynes Dons F.C.

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Starting in 2000 the consortium offered this proposition to several Football League clubs, including Luton Town, Crystal Palace, Barnet,[23] Queens Park Rangers,[24] and Wimbledon F.C..[11] Wimbledon F.C., who had groundshared at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park ground since 1991, adopted the Milton Keynes plan after the appointment of a new chairman, Charles Koppel, in January 2001.[25] Koppel said that such action was necessary to prevent Wimbledon F.C.'s going out of business.[11] He announced Wimbledon F.C.'s intent to move on 2 August 2001 with a letter to the Football League requesting approval, stating that Wimbledon had already signed an agreement to relocate and "subject to the necessary planning and regulatory consents being obtained" intended to be playing home games at a newly built stadium in Milton Keynes by the start of the 2003–04 season.[26] The proposed move was opposed in most quarters;[26] the League board unanimously rejected Wimbledon's proposed move in August 2001.[26] Koppel appealed against this decision, leading to a Football Association (FA) arbitration hearing and subsequently the appointment of a three-man independent commission by the FA in May 2002 to make a final and binding verdict.[27] The League and FA stated opposition but the commissioners ruled in favour, two to one.[28][29]

Wimbledon F.C. hoped to move to Milton Keynes immediately, but as the new ground was yet to be built an interim home in the town would have to be found first. The first proposal, to start the 2002–03 season at the National Hockey Stadium in central Milton Keynes, was abandoned because it did not meet Football League stadium criteria. While alternative temporary options were examined—Winkelman suggested converting the National Bowl music venue[30]—Wimbledon F.C. started the season at Selhurst Park and set a target of playing in MK by Christmas 2002.[31] A group of Wimbledon F.C. fans protested by setting up AFC Wimbledon, to which the vast majority of Wimbledon F.C. fans switched allegiance, in June 2002.[32] A temporary stadium in Milton Keynes proved difficult to arrange and Wimbledon F.C. remained in south London at the end of the 2002–03 season. Koppel announced a plan to convert the National Hockey Stadium for football and play there from the start of the 2003–04 season until the new stadium was built.[33]

MK Dons (white shirts) playing at the National Hockey Stadium during the 2004–05 season

Wimbledon F.C. entered administration in June 2003.[34] After the club missed a deadline to invest in renovations to the Hockey Stadium,[35] confusion arose as to whether Wimbledon F.C. would move and where they would play if they did.[36] The administrators arranged a return to Selhurst Park.[37] With the move threatened and the club facing liquidation, Winkelman made "the life-defining decision", to quote Conn, "of taking it on himself".[18] He secured funds from his consortium for the administrators to pay the players' wages, keep the club operating, and pay for the necessary renovations for the National Hockey Stadium to host League football.[35] Meanwhile, Milton Keynes City F.C. went out of business before the start of the season following an unsuccessful drive for new directors and investors.[10][20][38][39]

After hosting the first few home matches of the 2003–04 campaign at Selhurst Park, Wimbledon F.C. played their first match in Milton Keynes in September 2003.[40] A company voluntary arrangement was put together in March 2004 under which Winkelman's consortium would take Wimbledon F.C. out of administration, reportedly using a holding company called MK Dons.[15] The Football League threatened to expel the club if the takeover were not completed by 31 July.[41] Winkelman's Inter MK Group brought Wimbledon F.C. out of administration in late June 2004 and concurrently announced changes to its name, badge and colours.[42][43] The new name was Milton Keynes Dons F.C. (commonly shortened to MK Dons).[43]

Milton Keynes Dons continued to play at the National Hockey Stadium while the development including the new ground was constructed in Denbigh. Asda paid Inter MK £35 million for its section of the site, IKEA £24 million.[18] Ground was broken on the stadium in February 2005.[44] In December 2005 MK Dons set a target of playing at the new ground by January 2007;[45] in February 2007 they revised their proposal to a 22,000-seater stadium ready in July of that year, with provision for expansion to 32,000 (it had originally been intended to seat 30,000).[46] The new ground, Stadium mk, hosted its first match in July 2007.[47] Four months later, on 29 November 2007, it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.[48]

Stadium size

Initially there were concerns that the size of the stadium may have been too optimistic. Although attendances increased since leaving the National Hockey stadium, the stadium has yet to sell out for Dons' games.[49] The MK Dons average attendance of 10,550[50] during the 2008–09 League One season remains below half the ground capacity. The MK Dons average home attendance for the first part of the 2009/10 season was ranked 6th out of 24 teams in League One.[51] The average attendance for the 2012–2013 season was just 8,612, in the 2013–2014 season it was 9,047.[52]

The record attendance for a football match at Stadium MK was on 26 August 2014 when a crowd of 26,969 attended Milton Keynes Dons' 4-0 win in the Capital One Cup over Manchester United.[53]

Events

Although Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the stadium in November 2007, it hosted its first game on 18 July 2007, a match against a Chelsea XI, which resulted in a 4–3 win for the home side. Later in July an England Legends XI took on a World Legends XI in a match in memory of the late England footballer Alan Ball.

The stadium was used as a centrepoint for the 40th birthday celebrations of Milton Keynes which took place during 2007.

It has hosted two England under-21 internationals. The first was a 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 3 match against Bulgaria’s under-21’s on November 16, 2007. The hosts beat the visitors 2–0 with Ross Noble scoring twice (on the tenth minute and the seventeenth minute) and James Milner scoring on the twenty sixth minute with 20,222 in attendance. The other was an international friendly against Azerbaijan’s under 21’s March 31, 2009. The hosts thrashed the visitors 7–0 with Kieran Gibbs scoring twice and single goals from Michael Mancienne, Craig Gardner and Jack Rodwell as well as own goals from Elcin Sadiqov and Elvin Mammadov with 12,020 in attendance.[54]

The stadium also marked another first on 8 May 2008 when it hosted its first rugby union fixture. Guinness Premiership side Saracens entertained Bristol away from their regular Vicarage Road ground, due to Watford F.C. playing at home in the 2008 Championship play-off semi-final.

On 5 June 2010, the stadium hosted a full international friendly; Ghana beat Latvia 1–0 in their last warm-up before the World Cup in South Africa.[55]

On 1 June 2014, the stadium hosted the 2013–14 FA Women's Cup final.[56] Arsenal defeated Everton by 2 goals to nil.[57]

Naming of Stands

The South stand of stadiummk is known as the Cowshed by Dons fans, as Milton Keynes is known for its Concrete Cows. This nickname was also used for the home end at the Dons' previous ground in Milton Keynes, the National Hockey Stadium, now demolished.

The North stand is known as the Boycott End, after the famous boycotting of the first fixture between the Dons and AFC Wimbledon in which the fans of the latter brought more than 3,000 fans to the game, equal to their home gates.

The side stands are known for the direction in which they are from the pitch (East and West), although the upper tier of the West stand (commonly used by the club's top brass and distinguished guests) is referred to as "Prawn Sandwiches".

England 2018 World Cup bid

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In December 2009, the English FA awarded 'Candidate Host City' status to Milton Keynes. Had England won the bid, stadiummk would have hosted some games. For this to happen, the stadium capacity would have had to be increased to 44,000.[58] However, on 2 December 2010, FIFA decided not to award the World Cup to England.

Rugby

Premiership

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Saracens were the first club to host a Premiership rugby match at Stadium mk when Bristol Rugby visited on 10 May 2008, providing a grand stage for Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Richard Hill's 288th and last appearance for the men in black. A last-minute try from Kameli Ratuvou ensured Hill's 15-year club career finished on a winning note.[59]

On 30 December 2012, Saracens hosted Northampton Saints for a regular season match at Stadium MK, while their new stadium at Barnet Copthall was still being built. The Saints hosted Saracens in April 2015 before a record 27,000+ crowd, as a Premiership game and additionally as a preparation exercise for the stadium's planned hosting of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.[60]

European Rugby Champions Cup

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On 24 January 2011, the Northampton Saints Rugby union club announced that their 2010–11 Heineken Cup quarter final match against Ulster would take place in the stadium, because their Franklin's Gardens ground is too small to meet the minimum 15,000 seats demanded by the organisers.[61]

The Saints had previously indicated that they might play future major games at Stadium mk as their proposal to expand Franklin's Gardens using an enabling (ASDA supermarket) development had encountered planning difficulties.[62]

Accordingly, their quarter-final match was played at the stadium on Sunday 10 April 2011 in front of a (then) stadium record crowd of 21,309 supporters[63] who witnessed the Saints (the 'home' side for the day) beat Ulster 23–13.[64] This secured for the Saints a place in the semi-final of the Heineken Cup where they went on to beat USA Perpignan, again at the Stadium mk.[65]

On 21 January 2012, Northampton Saints played their final 2011–12 Heineken Cup pool match at Stadium mk against Munster. Saints were defeated 36–51 but the game set a new stadium record attendance of 22,220.[66]

Rugby World Cup 2015

On 8 October 2012, the organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup announced that the Stadium was one of seventeen to be short-listed for detailed appraisal, leading to the final choice of twelve stadiums to be announced in March 2013[67] It was officially announced as a venue for the 2015 Rugby World Cup on 2 May, and with the venue capacity to expand to 32,000, it hosted three fixtures. The first was a Pool D match between France and Canada on October 1, 2015 with France winning 41–18 with 28,145 in attendance.[68] The second was a Pool B match between Samoa and Japan two days later with Japan winning 26–5 with 29,019 in attendance.[69] The third and final was a Pool A match between Fiji and Uruguay three days later with Fiji winning 47–15 with new stadium attendance record, with 30,048 in attendance.[70]

Northampton Saints played Saracens again at Stadium mk on 25 April 2015 in an Aviva Pemiership fixture, with an announced attendance of 27,411 present. Saints won 25–20. This event, titled 'Best of English' was formally a Rugby World Cup test event.

Location

Stadium mk is located in Milton Keynes
Stadium mk
Stadium MK, Grafton St, Denbigh, Milton Keynes, MK1 1ST
zoom in

The stadium is in south central Milton Keynes located in Denbigh, a part of the Bletchley and Fenny Stratford civil parish, near the junction of the A5 and the A421 spur.

Transport

The nearest railway stations are Bletchley and Fenny Stratford. Both of these are about 1.3 miles (2.1 km) away from the Stadium. Milton Keynes Central station, about 2.6 miles (4.2 km) away, has more intercity services. Milton Keynes Central and Bletchley are on the (busy) West Coast Main Line to London, the West Midlands and the North-West; Fenny Stratford is on the (quiet) Marston Vale Line to Bedford. There are shuttle bus connections from the Central and Bletchley stations. Car parking beside the stadium is limited and expensive: on some occasions, the National Bowl is used for overflow parking.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. Minutes of Milton Keynes Council See item 5a.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  4. Winkelman can't guarantee arena! – MK Citizen 26 November 2008
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Saracens to play Bristol at Stadium mk in Milton Keynes – Saracens
  7. http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/mm/Document/Tournament/Mediazone/02/06/65/07/rwc-2015-match-schedule.pdf
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  48. The Queen visits Milton Keynes BBC News
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  57. Women's FA Cup Final: Everton 0 – 2 Arsenal Arsenal F.C..com 1 June 2014
  58. Milton Keynes in dreamland after being selected for World Cup bid The Times, 17 December 2009
  59. http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/news/newsid=2067542.html
  60. Northampton Saints 25 – 20 Saracens  – Premiershiprugby.com, 25 April 2015
  61. Northampton forced to move Ulster tie to Milton Keynes – BBC Sport
  62. Northampton Saints chief considering Stadium mk move BBC Sport 27 August 2010
  63. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i_121s1CkdCCvwFqpgxUokceSyZQ?docId=N0506681302446580231A
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  65. Heineken Cup semi-final: Northampton Saints 23–7 Perpignan Northampton's Jim Mallinder wants more after reaching Heineken Cup final – The Guardian, 1 May 2011
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  67. Stadium mk in the running to host World Cup rugby matches in 2015Milton Keynes Citizen, 8 October 2012
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External links