"It's still a lot of money": Hart addresses MK Dons' £5 million losses
After suffering big losses in their first season, MK Dons believe they have made strides to prevent that happening again
Neil Hart believes MK Dons’ owners should be judged on the accounts of their second year in charge rather than their first, which revealed losses of more than £5 million.
After taking over the club in August 2024, Dons went on to finish 19th in League Two despite big investment in the squad, though a lot of that came from former chairman Pete Winkelman prior to the takeover.
The losses, which read £9.1 million before tax and money accrued from transfers, showed the heavy price of football in Milton Keynes, but was followed up by automatic promotion a year later and a return to League One after three years in the fourth tier.
Chief executive Neil Hart, who made the move to Milton Keynes from Bolton just a few weeks after the Kuwaiti ownership group took control at MK1, admitted the losses were significant but changes have been made in the way the group’s other businesses - including the hotel and events in the arena - are run.
“It’s still a lot of money, let’s be honest,” he told the Citizen. “There is a desire from the ownership group, from Fahad (Al Ghanim) and from myself to try and drive us into a more sustainable position. We’ve got to balance that with success on the pitch. And to get that success, you have to invest in the squad and that costs.
“What you’ll see in the 25/26 accounts is a much improved position, you’ll see continued investment from the ownership group too. I think the supporters should start to judge us from a financial point of view when they come out next year.”
Speaking about the recently released accounts, covering 24/25, he said: “They were our first year. The accounts were not something we could impact significantly. It was the first year for everyone being here.
“You saw a little bit more expenditure on the footballing side, more investment coming into the group and obviously that didn’t deliver the output we wanted because we finished 19th. It wasn’t a good year on the pitch, and we had a lot to sort out behind-the-scenes.”
The club’s accounts were under the banner of the MKD HoldCo Ltd, which also includes the other businesses sold by Winkelman. Since then, Hart said there has been restructuring behind-the-scenes to try to ensure those losses as seen in the first year will not happen again.
“We’re structured differently to a lot of other football clubs,” he continued. “A lot of our revenue is sat in other areas of the business. We’ve got the stadium group where the arena revenue sits, the catering side, the hotel. Just looking at the club accounts doesn’t tell the full story. This is a very unique model we’ve got here.
“What you’ll see in 25/26 and into 26/27 is a rebalancing because you’ll see commercial revenue going up, more revenue in the arena and the hotel, and they will support the club even further. That will hopefully see our losses and our reliance on large sums of money from the owners.
“But the owners also understand the need to invest and they are willing to do that. The strategy is to drive this club and the group of businesses into a consolidated sustainable position.”