Chief Executive Erik Samuelson on Saturday's incidents
“There was also an incident close to the end of the game when a banner containing an obscene word was unfurled at one end of the stadium. We work very hard to create a friendly, family atmosphere at the club and this totally undermines that work. At some stage in most of our meetings within the club we find ourselves asking the question – ‘what would be best for the club?’ It is impossible to see how displaying such a banner is good for the club. The people who did this have damaged our hard-won reputation among our own fans as well as football fans everywhere. We will do our utmost to prevent a repetition.”“This does not reflect well on anyone but we can only deal with our part in the incident. We will complete our investigation before reaching a final conclusion. However, while we won’t pre-empt that conclusion we wish to make it clear now that any abusive remark by a volunteer towards an opposition employee is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“The second incident involved the Charlton manager at the end of the game. Our fans get on well with Charlton fans and admire the way they have stuck by their club, in particular how they resurrected their club when they were forced to leave The Valley many years ago. However, in preparing for the game we were very aware that the presence at the game of Mr Robinson, a former Milton Keynes manager, represented a risk because many of our fans feel he was very disrespectful of our club in his time there. For that reason we went out of our way to avoid any incidents – at the start of the game he was accompanied onto the pitch by our manager, Neal Ardley, to try to reduce the hostile reception he got, and he was also accompanied on and off the pitch by a steward, without incident, before and after half time. Unfortunately, as he was leaving the pitch at the end of the game it appears that he was abused by one of our volunteers. Fortunately the steward was still present and, aided by Neal Ardley and assistant manager Neil Cox, he was able to restrain Mr Robinson from striking anyone.
Erik said: “Saturday’s match was a terrific game, full of excitement with a dramatic last-gasp equaliser. Unfortunately it was marred by two incidents, both of which we are investigating. The first was that a coin or coins were apparently thrown from the Charlton fans’ area and hit the assistant referee on the back of the head. We are combing through the CCTV footage to try to identify the person who did this reckless and stupid act.
On behalf of the AFC Wimbledon board, Chief Executive Erik Samuelson has issued the following statement following Saturday’s match against Charlton Athletic.