"We need to get that down": Sweeting on MK Dons' busy transfer windows

The summer transfer window has been hectic for MK Dons sporting director Liam Sweeting three years in a row, and not by design.

Going into each pre-season break with a different head coach for the last four, and only having back-to-back transfer windows with the same man in charge twice in seven, it has meant a heavy emphasis recruitment and building a team suitable for the coach left in charge of it.

For Sweeting, the man tasked with heading that recruitment drive, it has meant signing far more players than even he would have liked each summer. Between seasons this year, Dons brought in 13 players prior to Mike Williamson’s departure, with Scott Lindsey set to be the fifth different head coach in five years to take a January window at Stadium MK.

“Believe it or not, I'm still striving to get to a position where we don't have to sign 12, 13, 14 players per summer,” said Sweeting. “We need to get that down. We tend to go bigger in the first-half of the season and then trim it, but that's because we have the Cups and trophies early on. But we head into the second-half with clarity of what we have left.”

Following summer’s massive recruitment drive though, most predicted MK Dons would be in and around the promotion mix. With 37 pros on the books, Sweeting admits the squad is too big for his liking, but as Lindsey has used almost all of those available to him during his two months in charge, it has proven everyone is playing a big part.

Sweeting said: “A lot has been made of the squad, it's very big, and we've needed everybody. It was bigger than we'd planned.

“The change of ownership before the end of the window changed the dial on what we could do, but we've ultimately needed everybody.

“Look at MJ (Williams) for example, he played a few games for Mike, but then he's come back again and has been excellent.”

He continued: “Scott Hogan has come into the group, we lost Liam Kelly for a spell, Tom Carroll has played, Joe White has dropped deeper - we've needed everyone in different places, and to keep winning games amongst those changes has been great.

“The group is starting to show that potential. There were signs early in the season - we missed some big chances, and I think the performances were better than the results showed, but confidence and the group personality has come out now. And winning games helps that.”