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AFC Wimbledon's boss has called on football fans to “get involved” after unveiling £18 million plans for a stadium yards from the club’s old Plough Lane home.

Disgruntled supporters formed AFC Wimbledon in 2002 after the original club, now MK Dons, announced a 50-mile move to Milton Keynes.

The club left Plough Lane — where it played for almost 80 years — in 1991 to ground share with Crystal Palace.

AFC is now bidding to tear down Wimbledon Stadium greyhound track, which has been operating since 1928, and replace it with an “intimate” 11,000-seater stadium and 602 homes.

Club chief executive Erik Samuelson told the Standard: “What a fantastic story it would be: a club uprooted from their home, moved up to Milton Keynes and the fans here saying, ‘We’re not having that,’ and 15 years later we could be in the new stadium playing a pre-season game against a massive team.

“It also shows if you really want to, and if you work hard, you can do it and that’s a message to all football fans everywhere: Get involved and you can change your team.”

The plans have been jointly submitted with landowners Galliard Homes and the Greyhound Racing Authority to Merton council. If successful, the club would move from Kingsmeadow stadium in Kingston to Plough Lane for the start of the 2017-18 season.

Greyhound racing fans are preparing a rival bid for a four-storey, 3,000-seater stadium and 230 homes.

At Kingsmeadow tonight, AFC Wimbledon takes on Liverpool in the FA Cup third round — a repeat of the 1988 final when Wimbledon FC beat Liverpool 1-0 at Wembley. The hosts will be playing in the third round for the first time since their rebirth in 2002.