Warne will not rule out making sweeping changes to improve MK Dons

Head coach Paul Warne has not ruled out sweeping the decks this summer as he looks to rebuild MK Dons’ squad for next season.

The side goes into the summer with 17 players under contract for next season, and up to 12 set to depart through loans and contracts expiring. But after finishing an all-time low 19th in League Two this season, there could be more who depart during the course of the next couple of months as Warne brings in the bodies he wants.

For the head coach, he says the decisions he makes will not be personal, nor will he take it personally should players decide they want to seek pastures new during pre-season.

“We’ve got a lot of players under contract who have performed well, but I want them all to perform better,” said Warne. “All the contracted players will come back with a clean slate. We’ll ask them if they’ve come back in good condition, a work ethic, to be a better team player. If they have, great, I won’t have to replace them.

“My job is to improve the playing side of the team. But we need a greater depth of quality.”

He continued: “The success of the team depends on what they do on the pitch. We’re trying to make a culture that makes them feel valued, and to send the players out in a positive vein.

“Fundamentally, when the season starts, I want to look behind me to the bench and see players who can change it. I don’t want everyone to be the same type of player, there has to be different ways for us to play, home and away. Sometimes I’ll want two nines, or two tens. We need different things.”

The changes Warne has in mind will not come cheap, but the head coach says he has the backing of chairman Fahad Al Ghanim to make them.

Warne added: “I’m buzzing that I’ve got the chairman’s support to change what we need to change: that’s the training ground, we need to change a few things at the stadium, and we need some of the players, through natural erosion to a certain extent.

“We want to bring in players in key areas, it brings the whole team up. We’re not far away from being very good, but we want to be very good. We want to come off like gladiators every week, we don’t want to be high-fiving a 0-0 away.”