Hall wants to clear his name in the eyes of MK Dons fans

“I’ve been waiting a while for the opportunity to put my side out there,” said Rob Hall when he answered the phone. It is a story long-overdue.

The 29-year-old’s name is much-maligned amongst MK Dons fans. Vilified for his move to Oxford United – who Dons play this Saturday – in the summer of 2016, Hall has been booed, jeered and abused by Dons supporters ever since, stemming from a story only half-told.

Suffering a serious knee injury while on loan from Bolton Wanderers at Dons, having been a part of Dons’ League Onepromotion winning side in 2014/15 as well as the one relegated from the Championship a year later, Hall was doing his rehab at Stadium MK when he was released by the Trotters, before signing for the U’s.

Dons have long since been carrying out rehab on players who have suffered injury while playing for the club, even after leaving or seeing their contracts expire.

Then-boss Karl Robinson, revealing the news on the sidelines at a pre-season game at Corby Town, saw Hall’s move as a snub, claiming the winger had abused his situation and the use of Dons’ medical team before moving on.

Hall though, who now plays for Barnet alongside former Dons Laurie Walker and Daniel Powell in the National League, sees it differently.

“I never had an offer from MK in writing,” he said. “I was offered a one-year deal at MK, with options if I came back. My agent told me to be smart, I might not come back the same player I was after the injury. So when I heard Oxford were interested, and they were offering me a three-year contract, it had my attention. I get where MK's offer came from, they didn't know if they could take the risk, but I loved my time in Oxford and how they treated me when I was a 17-year-old there on loan, so I made the move.

“Technically I was still a Bolton player, but Simon Crampton and Adam Ross were there for me all the way through my rehab. When the first team went off to Ireland on pre-season tour, they had guys back at the stadium to make sure I was still doing my rehab. I was all in on being an MK player.

“It wasn’t until I saw some of the abuse I was getting on social media, and the interviews that Karl had given afterwards, that I realised how it had been portrayed.”

Despite the comments, he and Robinson though remain close. The pair reunited at Oxford when Robinson took over at the Kassam Stadium, and Hall said he was the first person to text him when he returned to the pitch following his knee injury.

Following the move though, Hall’s name was mud for Dons supporters. Heckled every time he has played them since, he did get some revenge when he scored at Stadium MK in 2017, but the stick he gets, he admits, still hurts.

He said: “I remember the first time I went back to Stadium MK, I was given stick getting off the bus, all the way through the warm-up too. It made me play with something to prove, and I scored the next two times I played them.

“While it helped get more out of me, it hurt deep down. I was a part of one of the best teams ever to have come out of MK, but I think we got to grips with the Championship a bit too late.

“I loved my time in MK and would loved to have stayed.”