Manager hunt will take 'as long as it takes' says Sweeting

Liam Sweeting was not willing to put a timeframe on how long it will take to replace Russell Martin as MK Dons manager.

The former Norwich City man left Milton Keynes on Sunday to take up the manager's role at Swansea City just seven days before Dons kick off their League One campaign away at Bolton.

Dean Lewington will take interim charge of the team until a new manager is found to replace Martin, with the skipper not interested in the position full-time.Although Dons' Sporting Director Sweeting admitted he had applications before Martin had even confirmed his departure, with some coming as early as Friday when Swansea filed their official approach for the manager, there is no-one currently in the pipeline to take over in the immediate future.

"It will take as long as it takes," he said. "We were prepared for it in it's infancy, but it will take as long as it takes. We're talking to people, we've had some interesting applicants as well as the people I had in mind. We recognise games are coming thick and fast but we want it sorted as quickly as possible.

"We had applicants on Friday! Sometimes, it's not a bad thing and a lot of them have been polite and reminding us they're interested. Sometimes those first ones out the blocks can prove they really want the opportunity. But I'm not just being reactive, there is a proactive process for people who we think would be a good fit.

"I don't know who it will be yet, so I can't put a time frame on it. And I think the club is in safe hands with Dean Lewington. If we didn't have him, I would think differently, but it will take as long as it takes."

Dons' style and philosophy led the recruitment process throughout the summer as Martin looked to build a team for the forthcoming season, but with the manager now gone, Sweeting said any new manager coming in would have to have a similar ethos in order to make the team work as it has been designed.

He added: "The club has a clear style, an element of control in possession which we've been successful with and we won't come away from that. This group has been recruited with that in mind, so it'll be at the forefront of our thinking. We won't move away from our ethos.

"But it's broad, and we'll look at the applicants in the interview process as to how they would apply those principles to their team, in their shape and their formation."