A friendship forged at the City of Manchester Stadium almost twelve years ago has led to Fraser Franks and Steven Gregory teaming up again.
The duo will be involved in our Festival of Football at the stadium on May 14, along with many of their former Dons teammates from our memorable victory over Luton, when a Wimbledon legends squad take on star-studded opposition led by MC Harvey.
You can secure your place at the event from our online ticket shop. Funds raised will go towards AFC Wimbledon Foundation.
“We created a real bond back in 2011 because of what we achieved,” said Fraser. “We were just a load of misfits that came together, and it was just a great connection that we were so lucky to be a part of.
“I was injured for the play-off final. I was on crutches and wearing a knee brace, but it didn’t matter because that was without doubt the best day I’ve had in football. As a team we achieved, and we got a trip to Vegas out of it as well!
“As soon as I walked in the door, you’re playing for something bigger than yourself. I came in a year after ‘Gregs’, but I quickly got to know the history and you almost fall in love with it. The mission was always to get to the Football League back then and I think it happened quicker than people thought it would in the end.”
Listen in full to Fraser Franks and Steven Gregory below, when they attended our recent victory over Walsall.
“The connection that I have with the club is that the moment that I signed, I was told the history straight away,” said Steven. “We went away on a pre-season tour to the Isle of Man and Ivor Heller gave us a real sense of purpose.
“He told us about how the heart and soul was ripped away from Wimbledon and what we wanted to achieve. I immediately bought into that, I knew that the vision was to get back to Plough Lane and to see that become reality now is massive.
“I hear the fans saying we’ve been struggling a bit on the field recently, but I said to Fraser – look how far they’ve come! Sometimes, maybe, there just needs to be that reality check. Just realise what has been achieved.
“From playing on a park just over twenty years ago, to playing in this amazing stadium at Plough Lane in a league game is absolutely phenomenal. Sometimes it’s good to have a bit of perspective.”
Both Fraser and Steven played their part in leading up to our unforgettable return to the Football League, but now, well over a decade later, they’ve also embarked on a new adventure together.
“We’ve started a new movement, I guess you could say, it’s called ‘Outlier’, said Steven. “We’re launching a podcast. It’s all about getting outside to help the inside. There’s a lot of focus around mental health and being outside and what it can do for you.
“We’ve both got young children and we want to make sure they are outside a lot, but we’re not trying to be anyone special – we’re just a community of two who have helped each other in our own lives and maybe it will help others.
“I hadn’t seen ‘Gregs’ for the best part of ten years, until about two years ago,” said Fraser. “We’d completely lost connection when we stopped playing football together, but we then followed each other on social media.
“We’re both very different people to when we played football in our early twenties. We’ve both since got married and have children.
“Some of the things we did as athletes came as part of the job, but when you stop playing you have to go out of your way to get back into the right habits such as eating and sleeping the right way and getting outside. We just really connected again and now we hope to help as many people as we can as well.”
Main photo: Ian Stephen (Pro Sports Images).