When the owners ripped the heart out of Wimbledon there was only one solution: it was time to form our own club

The team captain, Joe Sheerin, did not know the names of all the players, the kit was borrowed and the team had just lost 4-0 in a pre-season friendly. And yet I stood as an avid fan and loved every moment. For the first time in 12 months I was able to watch football and enjoy it.

This was Wednesday night and the inaugural game of AFC Wimbledon against Sutton United. AFC Wimbledon was the answer from Wimbledon fans to our old club's decision to move to Milton Keynes.

I had expected a crowd of around 2,000 at most; instead the kick-off was put back three times as 4,657 people piled into Sutton's Gander Green Lane ground. By the first whistle even the trees overlooking the ground were swaying heavily under the weight of spectators. We had wanted to make our opposition to football franchising heard: the noise must have been deafening.

I have been a Wimbledon fan since 1982, but last season was more painful than any other. Two days after the season-ticket deadline, the club chairman, Charles Koppel, announced his intention to relocate the club to Milton Keynes. Koppel talked of losses of £20,000-a-day and claimed the club had no alternative but to move. The fans were less convinced: yes, the books had shown losses of more than £10m, but they had not included player sales.

He also chose to ignore what we believe was the only other comparable example: Charlton Athletic. They had played at Selhurst Park with gates smaller than ours, and when they returned home, thanks to fantastic marketing, they had become a community club with sell-outs at every game.

Charlton, we believed, should have been the route to follow, not the attraction of Milton Keynes.

The name "Milton Keynes" was to hang heavy in the air throughout the year. It turned home matches into morgues. The majority of the fans, like myself, were no longer interested in watching the team; matchdays had merely become an excuse for yet another protest. I was the editor of the fans' programme, Yellow and Blue, that by the season's end was outselling the official programme by three to one.

We had carried on supporting the club, attending matches, in the hope that the football authorities would see sense and bar the move. It was not to be.

I was there outside the Football Association headquarters in Soho on 28 May when the decision by the FA's independent commission was announced. It was a terrible experience; no one in football had thought we would lose. The FA chief executive, Adam Crozier, was among those who had been confident we would win our case.

It is hard to explain what this was like. I had been a season-ticket holder of my club for years, I had fought for its right to exist in the town whose name it takes and I had lost. The only comfort was that I was among friends, as 100 or so Dons fans had gathered in Soho.

It was in those moments of despair that the whispers that would lead to AFC Wimbledon began. My role as Yellow and Blue editor had put me in touch with the leaders of the Wimbledon Independent Supporters' Association and the Dons Trust. And they were moving quickly.

By the end of the day Kris Stewart, the chairman of WISA, Marc Jones, a founder member of WISA, and Ivor Heller, the vice-chair of the Dons Trust, had called the Ryman League, contacted several clubs about ground-share agreements and sounded out Terry Eames, who was to become the manager.

On 30 May, WISA formally backed the new side at its AGM. A week later, AFC Wimbledon had signed a ground-share agreement with Kingstonian, commissioned a new kit and raised more than £75,000. The Dons Trust also gave its backing and we were up and running.

There were knock-backs. We failed to get the necessary 95 per cent backing from the Ryman League chairmen: 11 of the 88 either abstained or voted against our application. So attention turned to the Combined Counties League, a feeder league for the Ryman First Division – a division Wimbledon had left in 1964 on their fairytale route to the Premiership. This time we would not be denied, with only one vote against our application.

We would now be facing the prospect of playing in a league where attendances regularly dip below 100, but so what? The heart of Wimbledon FC was back.

Admittedly, we still did not have any players: that was to come at an open trial on Wimbledon Common. Under the guidance of Eames, a Wimbledon player from 1977 to 1981 and a former manager of Leatherhead and Dorking, 230 players turned up. The quality varied massively, but the provisional 22 was to include several players released by football academies, Drew Watkins from Wimbledon and Arsenal's Chris Theodore among others. There was an England Schoolboy in Mehmet Mehmet, while Sheerin himself had played for Chelsea in the Premiership. And all would only be paid expenses.

Everything was moving quickly: friendlies were announced, a six-figure sponsorship deal with Sports Interactive was signed, support from other clubs was flooding in and so were season ticket applications. Sales of season tickets, set at £200 for adults, £75 for concessions and £25 for under-16s, have at the time of writing surpassed 650. A good start towards the target of £12m and owning our own ground.

The pinnacle, however, came on Wednesday. The team did not have a single player two weeks ago, had not even existed as an idea four weeks prior to that, but at the final whistle the crowd flooded on to the pitch to greet them as heroes. At last we, as Wimbledon fans, had something to call our own.

The club, set up as a limited company, owned by the Dons Trust and run by a legion of volunteers, numbering more than 150, would never be allowed to fall into the hands of one owner again.

As I drifted away from the ground, David Fry, who had just played the full 90 minutes on the right side of midfield, was doing television interviews with half a pint of lager in his hand. A Wimbledon fan from the Plough Lane days, Fry had refused to go to Selhurst; now he was playing a central role in taking back the heart of his club. This for me was what football should be about, not the large salaries or the egotistical players or the money-grabbing chairmen.

As for MK Dons or Franchise FC or whatever they want to call themselves, I expect their attendances to tumble. The reality is that AFC Wimbledon, despite playing six divisions below them, may well end up with a higher average attendance. In the long term I hope we pass them on our way up and eventually they vanish off the planet along with the concept of franchise football. No one deserves that, not even Crystal Palace fans.

But I have had enough of protests, all I want to do is watch football again. AFC Wimbledon play their second match at Dulwich Hamlet today. Hopefully this time Joe will know the names of all the players.

Yellow and blue dawn: how AFC Wimbledon were born

2 August 2001: Wimbledon chairman Charles Koppel announces desire to relocate to Milton Keynes.

16 August: Football League Board unanimously throws out proposed move.

31 October: FL announces decision will be referred to an independent FL arbitration panel.

14 December: 105 MPs sign an early-day motion opposing the move.

29 January 2002: The FL panel refers the decision on the MK move to an FA Commission.

10 February: The Dons Trust launches.

6 April: Fans vote for a season-ticket boycott.

28 May: FA Commission votes 2-1 in favour of allowing Wimbledon to relocate.

30 May: Move to create AFC Wimbledon made public at Wimbledon Independent Supporters' Association meeting. Appeal for funds launched.

13 June: Terry Eames named manager of AFC Wimbledon, kit and club crest revealed. £75,000 raised. Decision taken for the Dons Trust to own the club.

17 June: Ryman League rejects AFC Wimbledon's application.

24 June: AFC Wimbledon elected to Combined Counties League.

29 June: Trials for AFC Wimbledon attract 230 players.

10 July: Inaugural match against Sutton United attracts 4,657 fans. Six-figure sponsorship deal with Sports Interactive announced.

17 August: AFC Wimbledon's league season begins.