Workington and Wimbledon’s links go back 45 years and have strengthened over time, highlighted by a trip south this weekend by Reds officials.
The Workington board, along with community directors Richard Lewthwaite and Simon Collins and Alec Graham, were given a tour of Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium.
The common denominator currently is director Chris Root, who has been in business in Cumbria for a number of years and was part of the new consortium which took over at Borough Park.
Chris has always been a Wimbledon fan and has been a member of the supporters trust which was instrumental in the club returning to Plough Lane.
Reds chairman Dave Bowden said: “Chris was keen for us to go down and have a look round and forge friendships. Although our proposed new stadium isn’t the same, it was very interesting to look round.
“I had the chance for a chat with the Wimbledon chief executive while our community directors met the equivalent at Wimbledon. It was all very interesting and worthwhile.”
The Workington deputation had travelled down by train on Friday, returning today and they had been guests for Wimbledon’s League One game with Sunderland which finished 1-1.
The two clubs were first mentioned in the same breath back in 1977 when Reds lost their Football League status and were replaced by Wimbledon. They came up against each other competitively for the only time when they met in the FA Trophy on January 30, 2010.
Wimbledon were back in non-league, playing at Kingsmeadow and Reds produced on of their finest non-league moments to win 3-2 with goals from Johnny Wright (2) and Shaun Vipond. The friendliness of the Wimbledon fans and officials on that day struck a chord with the travelling Reds supporters.
The trip south was organised to coincide with a free Saturday for the Reds when they were without an NPL West fixture.
Unfortunately on the day, as far as Workington were concerned, their main rivals Marine, Warrington Rylands and Leek Town all closed the gap with victories.
Reds now lead Marine by a point, but they do have a game in hand over the Merseysiders. Rylands are now three points behind but from two games more while Leek trail by nine points from the same number of games.
