New faces give Dons a new look

While eight left stadium:mk, including three on deadline day, the Dons boss bolstered his options by bringing in four new players and recalling George Baldock from his loan spell at Oxford United.

Jake Forster-Caskey and Jonny Williams already have minutes in Dons shirts under their belts since joining the club, but late swoops for strikers Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, on loan from QPR, and a permanent move for Alex Revell from Cardiff have calmed the nerves somewhat from the stands at stadium:mk.

“We’re stronger now with the five faces,” said Robinson. “And with the eight gone, there’s a swing.

“We don’t have many squad players left. I’ve got 18 first team players. We’ve got no-one making up the numbers. We’ve cleared the decks.

“I’m very happy with the way it went.”

The manager has had to be calculating in his approach to the window. Refusing to spend next year’s budget to strengthen during this window, Robinson has had to cut a lot of the fat in his squad, leaving very little meat on the bone.

He said: “I have learned that I have to be ruthless sometimes. It is difficult because I’ve not got rid of anyone because they’re a bad egg.

“There were good reasons we let them go. Not because of a lack of talent or them or us, it was different scenarios.

“I had to be ruthless.

“The players who have gone have done their job. We’re outside the relegation zone with a game in hand, and I think we’re better now too. We’ve not spent any money either. We’ve been clever and astute. We still might need one or two to go.

“Making way in the budget was useful, and there’s still room in there if we want to do something in the loan window. If we can sustain this and do well, maybe we can put the Chelsea money into the next budget. It’s exciting.”