Training ground will help elevate Dons to the next level

Planning permission for MK Dons to begin developments of their training ground at the National Bowl will help elevate the club to another level, Mark Jackson hopes.

The club has for years worked out of Woughton on the Green, while also utilising various astroturf pitches around the city - including at Fairfields and Sir Herbert Leon School.

With the intention to begin work on two playing pitches and several training grids towards the second-half of 2023, Dons hope to have their roots sewn at the Bowl by the end of the year before more plans can be hatched to make the venue their base of operations.

Head coach Jackson said the opportunity to bring together all of the club’s squads into one place will be hugely beneficial for everyone, helping get the club to the next level.

“Having that purpose-built place and base where the players can be is really important,” he said. “We've got fantastic facilities here at Stadium MK but the plan is to develop that, where we can have a full base. That will take time but we want to make it our base.

“It doesn't need to be comfortable for the players, it's a work-place. We've got a good base at the moment, we're comfortable where we're training and we're able to get the work in. This is for the future.

“It's an opportunity for us to train with the younger squads all together, which I feel is really important. We had two of the young U18s with us in the week, and it's doable but there are a lot of moving parts to get those players there. If we can have a programme where we're training side-by-side, and in a way we can use those players to enhance sessions, but also to give opportunities to those young players as well.

“The jump from U18s to the first team is massive, and to get that exposure to senior players is really important too.”

Midfielder Josh McEachran, who developed his game in the vast Chelsea training ground in Cobham, added: “It’s massive, we’re there day in, day out. Having that stability of where we are and a base to drive into day-to-day is brilliant for us and the club too.

“You see how nice the Stadium is and a training ground is arguably bigger than that because of all the facilities and stability it needs for what we constantly do there. I don’t see why it wouldn’t elevate us as a club.”