Ryan Bertrand won a Champions League, an FA Cup and a Europa League with Chelsea and played 19 times for England. His next job in football, if the members agree to it, is at a League One club in south London that only exists because its supporters built it from nothing.
Bertrand is fronting a consortium that has put an £87m minority investment proposal to AFC Wimbledon. The Dons Trust board took the plan to its members on Wednesday night, and the people who own the club now have until 17 November to vote on it.
How the money would arrive
The funding comes from Sloane Street Capital, an investment vehicle whose sole funder is British technology figure Omar Mir. SSC would pay £16m on completion for a 34% minority holding in AFCW PLC, the company that runs the club, with the remaining £71m spread across five seasons to 2030-31.
Bertrand's role would be senior football advisor, with SSC overseeing football operations inside budgets and processes set by the AFCW PLC board. SSC would take two of the 12 board seats plus an observer position. "We are not here to change what this club is," Bertrand said. "We are here to help it go further on and off the pitch, for the men's team, the women's team and the academy."
The protections the Trust kept
This is the part Wimbledon supporters will read twice. The Dons Trust currently holds 50.01% of the voting shares, the arrangement designed to keep the club fan-controlled, and those voting rights would be untouched by the deal. The Trust would keep veto control over the Cherry Red Records Stadium freehold at Plough Lane and over the club's name, badge, colours, ground and constitution.
There are exit clauses too. If SSC ever sold its stake, the Dons Trust would have first refusal and could block an investor it considered unsuitable. And if SSC missed a payment, its share of the club's value would stop growing immediately and control would return to the club inside three months. Stuart Fiertz, co-founder of Cheyne Capital, and sports executive Oliver Ward would join the board if the deal goes through.
A members' decision, not a boardroom one
Members voted earlier this year to allow outside investment on condition that fan ownership and control survived it. The board has looked at more than 20 potential investors since, with SSC emerging as the strongest, and the club's lawyers have completed source-of-funds and background checks on everyone involved.
Angus Fox, chair of the Dons Trust board, put it plainly. The deal brings at least £87m in over five years while the Trust keeps a permanent voting majority, the Plough Lane freehold and a veto over everything that defines the club. "The board recommends a yes vote, but this is our members' club and our members' decision," he said.
Deal context: AFC Wimbledon, League One. Sloane Street Capital would pay £16m on completion for 34% of AFCW PLC, with £71m more spread to the 2030-31 season. Ryan Bertrand, formerly of Chelsea, Southampton, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, would act as senior football advisor. The Dons Trust members' voting period closes on 17 November 2026.
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