Dons losing 'hundreds of thousands' of pounds per month during coronavirus shutdown

Pete Winkelman has admitted MK Dons are losing hundreds of thousands of points every month the club goes without supporters watching games.

It is four days shy of six months since fans were last at Stadium MK for a game (March 7) and though the season is set to kick off on Saturday in the Carabao Cup at home to Coventry City, no supporters are expected into the ground until at least October.

With football finances coming under scrutiny following the expulsion of Bury last season, and problems for Bolton, Wigan and Macclesfield to name but three, money is tight up and down the country.

Redundancies are set to strike Dons once again after a first round during lockdown. Winkelman, Dons' owner and chairman, said while the recent sale of Rhys Healey will help manager Russell Martin fund the search for replacements, he admits the short-term business performance means not all of the money can be reinvested into the playing squad should another coronavirus outbreak be around the corner.

He said: "We can cope with it going backwards for a bit, but we're going backwards and we have to catch that up at some point.

"We're still here fighting with our heads above the water, but our club is going backwards by hundreds of thousands of pounds per month.

"If I was a business advisor, I'd be telling myself to not do anything. But this isn't business, it's football, it's about emotion, and that's why you have to break the business rules."