Wimbledon call for pause to stadium flood donations

The Plough Lane pitch has been excavated after damage caused by flooding on Sunday night and Monday morning

AFC Wimbledon have called for a pause to a crowdfund started by a supporter which has raised more than £120,000 for the club after their Plough Lane stadium was damaged by flooding.

More than 100,000 litres of water has been pumped from the site after concourses and club buildings were left flooded with standing water and areas of the pitch were damaged.

Work has begun to excavate the pitch but the club have said the full extent of the damage is still unknown and they have therefore asked for a cease in donations.

Dons fan Graham Stacey started the JustGiving page on Monday with an initial target of £10,000, which was hit within four hours.

Football fans around the country have donated to the page, with contributions from more than 2,800 accounts - including a £15,000 donation from the Dons' Carabao Cup round three opponents Newcastle United, who they were due to face at the ground on Tuesday.

That game will instead take place at St James' Park next Tuesday and the club have postponed their next League Two fixtures against Accrington Stanley [Saturday] and Crewe Alexandra [Tuesday].

'We're astounded by the response' - fundraiser and fan Graham Stacey

A JustGiving page set up by lifelong Wimbledon fan Graham Stacey, left, has raised more than £120,000 for the club

"Having spent the week investigating the issue with a number of experts, alongside our insurers, we have asked Graham to pause his fundraising drive," a statement said on the club's website.

"While investigations and a plan to address the issues remain a work in progress, and there remain several unknowns, we are hopeful that the funds raised by Graham's campaign will at least cover our significant insurance excess and contribute to inevitable ongoing costs.

"In the event the situation becomes more serious and costly during these investigations, we will notify supporters."

Lifelong fan Stacey, 50, was a member of the Dons Trust board, which owns AFC Wimbledon, from 2019 to 2022 and has been going to watch the club since the 1970s.

He said he had been overwhelmed by the support the crowdfund had received and was glad the money would be able to help the club.

"The Wimbledon fanbase and wider community have come together and it sounds like we've raised what we needed in the short term," Stacey said.

"We're astounded by the response, it's more than we could have dreamed of when the initial target was what we thought would be an ambitious £10,000.

"Now we're all looking forward to hopefully seeing games back at Plough Lane."

The flood left standing water in the concourses and club buildings and damage to the pitch