My first actual Dons game. Despite being at the stadium previously for a U21's game, my Dad didn't fancy travelling from Bedford for games of a club he didn't support, with the car park the way it was back then (remember the puddles?) etc it wasn't a hassle he fancied. Of course though he came out for Wembley, and we've had Season tickets pretty much ever since. I watched Dons on TV whenever they were on, and got up early for the goals in the morning on ITV, all 15 seconds of it. Despite having never been, I always wanted to go because my uncle had season tickets and kept plugging us to come.
I barely slept the night before. I can remember vividly listening to James Whale's overnight show on talkSPORT and he mentioned the game, saying he doesn't and never has cared for football but even he knew we were the Satan of football... I must've slept 2 hours max, because the sun was up before I went to sleep and the game kicked off early.
My dad woke me and my sister up to some bacon sandwiches and coffee - being 13, that was a moment. Drinking espresso!
I got my Dons shirt out, and having had tickets to Tottenham v Chelsea at Wembley only 4 weeks prior but unable to travel as I was really ill (thankfully by the end, personally) I was even more excited. My uncle got me and my sister a white replica shirt for the occasion, with the embroided Wembley printing under the badge.. the club shop told him we were wearing our home strip
..
Driving from Bedford to MK and seeing cars pass us even from Bedford with Dons flags and scarves out of windows is something I'll never forget.
Getting to the ground seeing all the coaches, face painting tables, programme stalls and MK Citizen special editions... we were ready for the journey after an hour of queuing.
I can remember being quite underwhelmed at the ground, in the middle of a shithole that a young boy imagines looks like paradise... I later realised as I travelled with Dons that's footballcin a nutshell.
I recorded the whole game on my ipod. Not footage. Just the sounds. And I listened to it countless times in bed even though I couldn't see anything, I remembered every moment just by the gasps, and the comments from people around me. It was a magical day where I met all the people I sit around the East Stand with now who've seen me grow up.
My sister who'd never been to a football match thought the commentary would be played over the speakers. I saw a man laid in his own piss, drunk on the concourse surrounded by stewards, and despite all my mistakes, I'm proud I've not hit that point... yet.
After the game and getting on the coaches I can remember giving gestures to the Grimsby fans next to us in their coaches, two wearing Man United tops and one wearing a Real Madrid one, grown men btw. I made a Grimsby kid really upset by calling him a fat loser on a notepad some other passenger had in their bag. That was fun.
I remember listening to the Merseyside Derby on the way home on my dad's portable radio... we didn't get many pictures and of course due to smartphones being not quite there yet, the video quality on my phone was effectively pointless... its mostly in my head. But yknow what? That's the way it should be. That's how I fell in love with Dons. Not because they won, if we'd lost it'd have been the same I think... having what I never had at Chelsea games - the sense of community. My dad seeing an old work friend every 20 seconds it felt like... some bloke telling me he "can't believe how much I've grown" since he saw me last at 18 months old... and the bloke who played Charlie Slater on Easter Dersingham was on the concourse for so reason...
I'm going on a bit here... I just love talking about that day because without it, I don't know if my Dad would've caved... he's disabled, didn't like taking me to Chelsea as he struggles walking. Kinda lost his love for football over the years and that reignited it and since, we've been to countless away games, had season tickets ever since and seen it all since.
We got a Chinese when we got home and I sat there reading the programme. Any time I read a programme now I think of the smell when I opened the Wembley one...
..I've been back a few times since, concerts, football etc. And it's a pretty shit experience tbh. It really isn't that good. But that feeling I had as a kid, despite being underwhelmed initially, was special. So if we get there, take as many pictures as you can and take your younguns. Because its a memory they'll never forget.
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