The club was founded in 2002 by former supporters of Wimbledon F.C. after the Football Association allowed that club to relocate to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, about north of Wimbledon. Most of the Wimbledon F.C. supporters were very strongly opposed to moving the club so far away from Wimbledon, feeling that a club transplanted to a distant location would no longer represent Wimbledon or the club's historic legacy and tradition. Wimbledon F.C. moved in 2003 and formally changed the name of the club to Milton Keynes Dons in 2004.