dependent on Asda and IKEA," Conn summarised in a 2012 article, after interviewing Winkelman. "Having seen the opportunity to build a stadium Milton Keynes lacked, and realised Asda did not have a store in the town, Winkelman acquired options to buy the land from its three owners, including the council. Asda would not have been granted planning permission for a huge out-of-town superstore unless it gave the council the benefit of building the stadium. [A League club] would move up, permission would be granted, then [Winkelman] would exercise the option to buy all the land, sell it to Asda and IKEA for very much more, and the difference would be used to build the stadium." Conn retrospectively described this as a "deal of a lifetime". Talks with Luton, Wimbledon, Barnet, Crystal Palace and QPR The first club approached was Luton Town, still based at Kenilworth Road, in 2000. As in the 1980s, Luton's owners liked the Milton Keynes idea but the fans strongly opposed it. The Football League stated that no member club could leave its own area and blocked the move. Nevertheless, Winkelman attempted to negotiate a move with two League clubs from London over the following months; he approached Crystal Palace and Barnet, but neither was interested. Winkelman then offered the ground to Wimbledon. He registered several internet domain names with variants of "Milton Keynes Dons" and "MK Dons" in June 2000. Wimbledon initially rejected the Milton Keynes idea. Røkke and Gjelsten appointed a new club chairman, Charles Koppel, in January 2001. According to Stephen Morrow in The People's Game?: Football, Finance and Society (2003), Koppel had never been to a football match before becoming involved with Wimbledon and "gave the impression of being completely unaware of the relationship that exists between a football club and its supporters." He was interested in an "enabling development" whereby a stadium could be created and funded as part of a business or leisure opportunity—exactly the kind of proposition put forward by Winkelman. Towards the end of the 2000–01 season Wimbledon and Queens Park Rangers, who were in financial administration, entered discussions over a merger; the new team would play at Loftus Road. The Football League announced on 2 May 2001 that it would give "favourable consideration" to a takeover of QPR by Wimbledon, but that the process would have to be very quick for the merged team to take part in