Long-term changes at MK Dons are the aim for Alexander

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting things to change. This is what Graham Alexander is having to fight at MK Dons.

As the side embarks on the League Two campaign this Saturday away at favourites Wrexham, Alexander’s journey as the club’s head coach begins too, not just to get the club promoted, but to end a lengthy spell of dismal seasons.

While the club came within a point of the Championship in 2022, the reality is that season was an anomaly. In six seasons, Dons have finished in the bottom half of their division four times, twice relegated and stayed up in 2020 by the skin of their teeth on points-per-game.

The fixes, the boss admits, cannot happen overnight, nor indeed in five weeks of pre-season training, with new issues arising as he sees his side in action and as time goes on.

“There is a need for change,” said Alexander. “Apart from one season, results have not been great.

“Doing the same things and expecting it to change is madness.

“We’ve come in with our own ideas not just to change things for the sake of it but we’ve learnt about things in the first five weeks that weren’t immediately apparent.

“The learning process has been vast and really important, but you learn as you go along.

“We’ve got good people, but until we’re playing competitively again, we won’t know what needs changing and what is working well.

“We don’t have to convince people that change is necessary because that’s obvious, but you have to convince people that the new way will work.”

His longer-term aim for the club then goes beyond just this season, and extends deeper than just the results on the pitch.

He continued: “Our aim is to turn us from what we have been into what we need to be. That’s my ambition.

“It has been one type of team for a while. I know what we need to be to be successful. If we don’t do that as a club, it’s a waste of time talking about our season’s targets.

“I won’t lose focus on what the next step is, which is Wrexham, but it’s important we don’t just concentrate on this one game. We have to try and win it, but we’re focused on what this environment, this group has to become.”