AFC Wimbledon supporters have already raised more than £10,000 to help with repairs of the club’s pitch.
Severe flood damage at Plough Lane means tonight’s EFL Cup game against Newcastle has been called off.
It’ll now be played at St James’ Park instead next week.
Statement from AFC Wimbledon:
“Supporters are likely to have seen images or footage circulating of the significant pitch damage at our stadium, following record levels of water at the nearby River Wandle.
It has been an immensely difficult day for club staff given the extent of the flooding, with related damage to our pitch and stadium. No doubt it’s been a difficult day for our supporters and volunteers, seeing the scenes online too.
Staff encountered significant flooding of the ground level of the stadium, affecting our offices, the shop and museum, reception areas, lifts, and tunnel area, as well as all concourse areas at ground level.
This afternoon, several independent contractors have visited the site and conducted surface level investigations. More investigations are required in the coming days in order to plan for repair works to the pitch as a priority, and we are in regular contact with our insurers.
Earlier, we postponed the Newcastle United game, and thanks to them and the EFL for their swift action and agreement to reverse the fixture. As a result, our match against Crewe Alexandra also needed to be postponed.
We are still trying to find a solution for this Saturday’s match, although there is no possibility that this can be at our stadium. We are also doing everything we can to ensure that the Blue & Yellow Club’s fundraising event on Thursday, as well as Geoff Northcott’s comedy fundraiser on Friday night, proceed as planned.
We have overcome many setbacks by working together and this one will be no different. We genuinely appreciate all the messages of support and offers from volunteers and members to help us fix the damage. We ask for some patience whilst we complete our investigations and formulate our plans before getting to work. We will advise further what supporters can do to help us soon; thank you.”
