Discussion about the former Premier League football club Wimbledon relocating to Belfast in the 1990s was “not the craziest idea” the Labour government considered in Northern Ireland, Alastair Campbell has said.
It emerged last month following the release of previously confidential state papers at the Public Records Office in Belfast that former UK prime minister Tony Blair was keen on the idea.
A note from 1997 was recorded as “following up earlier informal discussions about the possibility of an English Premier League football club relocating to Belfast”.
It was described as something that would be a “significant breakthrough if Belfast had a football team playing in the English Premier League”, and “should be able to build up strong cross-community support and provide a positive unifying force in a divided city”.
It also suggested Wimbledon FC would change name to Belfast United.
This came at a time when Northern Ireland was receiving a great deal of attention from the London government ahead of peace talks which would lead to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in April 1998
Another memo in the file dated July 16th, 1998, recorded Mr Blair’s view was that “it would be excellent if Wimbledon were to move to Belfast and we should encourage this as much as possible”.
However, another note, dated August 17th, 1998, described the matter as being at a “delicate stage”, recording that the Irish football authorities “continue to resist the idea strongly”.
Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, which he hosts alongside former Conservative government minister Rory Stewart, Mr Campbell said he had had an idea around the same time of Rangers and Celtic playing a match in Belfast.
He said he cannot remember the detail from discussions at the time, but did recall having a “vague discussion about it” with then Wimbledon FC owner Sam Hammam.
“They (Wimbledon) were ground sharing with Crystal Palace, that for some reason had to stop. They ended up moving to Milton Keynes, but somebody had the idea, ‘what about moving Wimbledon to Northern Ireland so that Northern Ireland felt it was part of the Premier League’,” he said.
“Whether they would stay there that long would be another matter but it was definitely discussed.
“I don’t think it got off the ground, it got further off the ground than the other ludicrous idea that I had of Rangers playing Celtic in Belfast, swapping their shirts before the game. That was definitely one of my crazier ideas.
“This (Wimbledon move) was not my idea specifically. Where it came from, I can’t remember, but it was discussed. I remember I went to Wimbledon against Manchester United – the reason I remember it is because Grace my daughter talks about it a lot because David Beckham touched her hair, so she was very excited about that.”
Mr Campbell said Wimbledon’s move to Milton Keynes “is an interesting one”, adding: “there are still some people who won’t go to Milton Keynes because they saw it as part of this modern franchised football”.
Meanwhile, speaking about the latest release of state papers, Mr Campbell said there was “a lot this year about my dispute with the BBC over Iraq”.
“That was under the 20 year rule … I don’t go and look at the whole lot, there are thousands of them that are put out there,” he added.
