the 2001–02 season. Noades—by now the owner of Brentford, who were themselves interested in a move out of Griffin Park, either to groundshare at Loftus Road or to a move to Woking,—said that Wimbledon would have to give him 12 months' notice to leave Selhurst Park. The majority of Wimbledon and QPR fans quickly made their opposition to a merger known. Following Wimbledon's draw with Norwich City at Selhurst Park on 6 May, Koppel came onto the pitch and told the mostly jeering home fans that "there never was a merger proposal with QPR"; the Loftus Road club had instigated the talks, he said. QPR abandoned the amalgamation plan two days later, citing potential fan alienation, while also announcing that there would be no further talks with Brentford, who would seek and eventually obtain an option to move into Kingstonian's ground Kingsmeadow, before Noades sold his shares in Brentford to Bees United in January 2006, with the club still at Griffin Park. A month later, Winkelman offered his Milton Keynes stadium site to QPR, promising that the club's name and blue-and-white hooped strip would be kept in Buckinghamshire and that the fans would be represented on the board of directors. "We have real resources to put behind the club," said Winkelman. "They are fast running out of solutions and we are the answer to their problems." QPR dismissed the offer, leading the developers to once again contact Wimbledon later that month. With Koppel in charge, Wimbledon were more receptive this time around—Koppel said that Wimbledon's owners were subsidising the club to the tune of £6 million per year and that such action was necessary to prevent its liquidation. As talks progressed, Winkelman approached the owner of Milton Keynes City, attempting to buy the club name. It soon became clear that the bulk of Wimbledon's support strongly opposed a move of this kind. Authorisation process Announcement and rejection; appeal Koppel announced Wimbledon Football Club's intent to move to Milton Keynes on 2 August 2001 with a letter to the Football League chief executive David Burns requesting approval. The letter stated that Wimbledon had already signed an agreement to relocate and "subject to the necessary planning and regulatory consents being obtained" intended to be playing home games at a newly built stadium in Milton Keynes by the start of the 2003–04 season. The proposed move was opposed in most quarters: along with