Wimbledon v Blackburn Rovers - Peter White's big match preview

JOE Kinnear's £2 million pursuit of Blackburn-born winger Gareth Ainsworth from Port Vale was not a departure from Wimbledon's much-vaunted system of producing talent - far from it.

If anything, it was a perfect example of how the Dons manage to compete on a far from level playing field in the Premiership, as Blackburn Rovers will no doubt discover once again at Selhurst Park tomorrow.

Home grown or imported from lower down the leagues, at the kind of fees some clubs talk about in terms of players' annual salaries, Wimbledon do it their way.

And Kinnear is a fervent believer that, for the Dons at least, it is the right one.

Ainsworth could be an identikit of the ideal Kinnear capture.

Released as a youngster by his hometown club Blackburn Rovers he is still a fan! - Ainsworth was still determined to make the grade.

He left just as the Ewood revolution was gathering pace, joined Preston and went on to learn his trade in the lower divisions, largely under the influence of John Beck.

Since joining First Division Port Vale, he has been tracked by a number of Premiership clubs but Kinnear was the first to come up with Vale's £2 million valuation for a player he saw as another one he could polish, at the age of 25, into a Premiership pearl.

That kind of cash is pocket money to some of their Premiership rivals, but Kinnear is proud of the way Wimbledon do business and he readily points out that it has produced the desired results in the past and is doing so again this season.

The Dons currently stand five points ahead of Rovers in mid-table respectability and Kinnear said: "I'm delighted with the start we've had, even with the limited resources we have here. "But of course there's a massive divide between the top six and everyone else.

"Everyone knows who they are. Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal will always be out in front but now we're pushing ourselves towards the top of the chasing pack."

Kinnear's confidence is understandable because he knows exactly where his club's strengths lie.

And, while he does occasionally move into the market in a reasonably big way, such as for Ainsworth, he doesn't go for the top of the tree, ready-made types.

He likes to "educate" them.

"Everyone in this league has strengthened with £20 million worth of talent but there isn't a single player in my team I haven't bought from the lower leagues or brought through the youth set-up," he said.

"Some of them have needed to be educated but it's a major part towards the Wimbledon success.

"They've all got the Joe Kinnear stamp on them.

"I never buy for the sake of it. You look at Bolton, they spent millions on new players and £80 million on a new stadium and they went down.

"Crystal Palace bought Lombardo and they got relegated.

"It's simple economics. I can't shop at Harrod's, I have to go to the local corner shop.

"I just demand team unity and I've never had a problem getting 100 per cent from my players in the nine years I've been here."

That will not be a surprise to Rovers. Every Premiership team knows what they are taking on when the Wimbledon fixture comes around.

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