From the first meeting to the final interview in the House that Pete Built

In 14 years of of working in Pete Winkelman's proximity, I never told him the story of when I first crossed paths with him.

While waiting for a tour of the still-to-be-finished Stadium MK on Sunday morning in 2007, stood in the dust carpark that is now Primark, up pulled the chairman who was just out to take a look at how work was progressing. Spotting the tour group though, Pete's trademark enthusiasm kicked in, and he took the group around the building site himself. Pointing out every bolt, every beam, every staircase, nook and cranny, the tour got a more in-depth look at Stadium MK than they every could have imagined.

I was on the fence about getting a season ticket that summer. I'd just finished university and was pretty broke, not even sure if I would stay in Milton Keynes. After that tour, my ticket was purchased.

It wouldn't be for another three years until I met him in a professional capacity, as the journalist tasked with covering MK Dons. And then on Friday, I carried out his final interview as chairman of the club.

"Why haven't you ever told me that story before?" he asked me when I eventually told him. After two promotions, three relegations, ten managers, a World Cup bid party, a surprise press conference in the Swindon Town board room, end of season awards, season post mortems, training ground updates, a few hundred away days and a few hundred more stood in the familiar surrounds of Stadium MK, I thought I was a little past telling him that story.

With plenty of conversations between us down the years, Friday's felt significantly different, and understandibly so. There was a heavy emotional air inside Stadium MK as he gave various other media outlets their ten minutes. When he came back to me, it was less an interview and more of a chat. We chuckled, we reminisced, we went off on a couple of tangents, and I told him the story.

There will be plenty of similar stories that people can tell about Pete. Any of the near 500 staff, those who have moved on to bigger and better since leaving the club, players, managers, excited 10-year-olds getting their first chance to pull on a Dons shirt in the academy, and I'm sure an England international too will have their own unique tale of how having MK Dons in their life has made an impact. The possibility of those stories never crossed his mind 20 years ago, and over the next few weeks, I'm sure he will hear plenty of them.

He does not want to be a 'ghost chairman' as he puts it, roaming the halls of Stadium MK and harking back. Of course he'll come to some games, but he wants to keep a low profile. He doesn't want a statue, or a memorial to celebrate his legacy.

But as I pointed out to him - we were sat in the dugouts of his legacy. We watched as the ground staff prepared the pitch for Saturday's season opener, as the sprinklers covered the pitch, we watched as the TV crew set up their cameras for the new season, and MK Dons' new era. With Bernie and Bobby in close proximity, we bid each other farewell.

As I walked up the tunnel, I looked back at the Winkelmans looking out across the pitch, at the House that Pete built. At the house he told me all about in 2007.