EXCLUSIVE: '˜Ten minute promotion' took MK Dons by surprise

Karl Robinson’s side were chasing Preston until the final day of the season, capitalising on the Lilywhites’ defeat at Colchester to snatch the second automatic promotion spot at the last gasp.

But while the club was swept up in the hysteria of going up, chairman Pete Winkelman says it helped over-shadow areas the club failed to improve.

“The way we got promoted took us by surprise,” he said.

“We weren’t at the top, walking away with it, or going up through the play-offs where momentum builds.

“It was a 10 minute promotion. When I look back, that also had an affect on us.

“The emotion lasts a few months, and it means you don’t make the best decisions.

“Hands up, we got it wrong. Too many things came back to haunt us. There are still big things wrong with this club.

“We went into the season with a negative view. Our income doubled but maybe our ambition didn’t.

“Maybe we were trying to be a bit too clever, polishing more rough diamonds. In the Championship, you haven’t got time for that.

“You have to hit the ground running, and we had a team that came up that was running.

“But we allowed that team to slip through out fingers. Did we do enough to replace them?

“It’s that obvious thing where we made the mistakes. We had our eyes wide open.

“But we’ve been through bad times before. We’ll get through this.”