“We had to do something about it”: Winkelman on sacking Manning

Dons chairman Pete Winkelman felt he had no choice but to sack Liam Manning as head coach of MK Dons after the club dropped to 23rd in League One on Saturday.

The 37-year-old had guided the club to third place last season, but has struggled to find form this term, picking up just four league wins from 20.

Not many fans laid the blame for Dons’ plights solely at Manning’s door though, with many pointing the finger at Sporting Director Liam Sweeting for his recruitment process over the summer and a lack of investment from the chairman after sales of Rhys Healey, Callum Brittain, Andrew Fisher, Richard Keogh, Matt O’Riley, Harry Darling and Scott Twine in the last few years.

And Winkelman admitted there were others at fault too, himself included, for the club’s current position, but he said the buck had to stop with Manning.

“I really liked Liam, he did a fantastic job for us last year,” said the chairman. “I liked what he stood for and how he represented the club. It has gone wrong this year, he's not solely to blame, but he takes the can as the man who picks the team and picks the shapes.

“But we've got Liam Sweeting who will be looking at the process of going forwards. We are where we are and we had to do something about it.”

Sweeting, charged with finding Manning’s replacement, also has a huge job on his hands when it comes to player recruitment in January too, as he looks to fix some of the problems created with the summer transition, when 14 players left and 14 new ones arrived.

The chairman though said the transfer window, which opens next month, will be a lot harder given the club is at the wrong end of the table.

He said: “I don't want to over-hope in January - it's a lot harder to get in the right players when you're at the bottom of the table instead of at the top. We have to get our heads around that but there is no doubt we had to make changes to give ourselves a fighting chance.

“Whoever takes over has to take that on and have the spirit and leadership to take us through it.”