Tony Blair’s attempt to move Premier League club to Belfast uncovered in newly-declassified files

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had plans to move AFC Wimbledon from London to Belfast in the late 1990s.

Government papers from 1997 have been declassified to reveal that the former Labour Prime Minister thought it would be an 'excellent idea' to make the drastic move.

Shortly after Blair took office, a memo was sent 'following up earlier informal discussions about the possibility of an English Premier League football club relocating to Belfast'.

It was believed that having a Premier League club in Northern Ireland would be the best way to unite a divided city.

Wimbledon was chosen as the club to make the move, taking the Dons from south London to the Northern Irish capital.

It was also suggested that the club's name be changed to Belfast United, as well as building a 40,000-seat stadium.

The private sector would fund most of the project with a location picked on either Queen's Island in east Belfast or the North Foreshore in the north of the city.

Blair had responded by saying it 'would be excellent if Wimbledon were to move to Belfast and we should encourage this as much as possible'.

While the story was leaked to the Belfast Telegraph, it garnered local opposition with many believing it would kill the game in Northern Ireland.

Alistair Campbell, who was Downing Street's chief press secretary at the time, did make a note of Wimbledon owner Sam Hammam's intentions.

It was denoted that Hammam had 'explored the possibility of moving Wimbledon to Dublin' but wanted to know how serious such a plan was.

In July 1998, a few months after the Good Friday Agreement had been signed, Blair gave his personal support for the proposals.

A month later, another bulletin emerged noting the Irish football authorities strong resistance to the