Hart is not expecting a busy January transfer window at MK Dons
The window will reopen in January but there might not be much to discuss at Stadium MK
Wholesale changes are not on the cards for MK Dons in the January transfer window.
Head coach Paul Warne is not expected to want to carry out ‘surgery’ on his side when the shopping begins again next month, and the club is not anticipating a vast amount of toing and froing.
“Other than having to run the club with games coming thick and fast, we’re not expecting a busy January,” said CEO Neil Hart.
It might not be entirely without business though, he continued: “We’ve planned with Paul, looking at our options both in and out. There will be a little bit of activity but I don’t think it will be massive.
“This is not a seismic shift, or a surgery required. There are one or two tweaks required. Any football club, manager, chairman, CEO, sporting director, if you can make your squad stronger during the winter, you take the opportunity within the budgets. If we can, we will.”
Similar was said this time last year though before Dons, under Scott Lindsey, fell apart in the run-up to Christmas, putting them on course for their 19th place finish a few months later.
Hart added: “We’re not seeing signs of a repeat of that in terms of performance and results. I’m fairly confident to say that.”
Though Warne brought in ten new faces over the summer, his decision to offer a clean slate to many of the existing players meant the changes during the last window were not at wholesale as anticipated either.
Hart said: “The brilliant thing about working with Paul and Richie and the rest of the staff is they’ve not wanted to do that. They have given people an opportunity. You look at the way Craig (MacGillivray) is performing in goal, Joe (Tomlinso0) at left-back, Liam Kelly has been performing really well, as has Kane (Thompson-Sommers) too. It has given players an opportunity and we’re seeing the best of them now.
“And we did need new players in the summer, we finished 19th in League Two last year which was disastrous, but we’ve done it in a sensible way.
“Paul cares deeply, he has honest discussions with everyone and we’re all aligned, we know what we’re trying to achieve here, and he’s committed to that.”