Robbo's excited for Rovers return

Robinson was a coach at Ewood Park having moved with former Dons boss Paul Ince, who took over the top job at Rovers. While Ince’s tenure in charge was short-lived, Robinson thrived under Sam Allardyce before returning to stadium:mk when Ince took over for a second spell.

Robinson fondly remembers his time with Blackburn, admitting it was the hardest decision of his career to leave top return to MK Dons.

“This was the only game I really looked for when the fixture list came out,” he said.

“Looking back now, one of my hardest decisions wasn’t leaving Liverpool, but leaving Blackburn to come back to MK Dons. It’s a phenomenal football club. It was one of the nicest places I’ve ever worked.

“The one reason I left was because I owed so much to Paul. I felt it was the right thing to do. I’d just been offered a new contract with Blackburn too.

“Some would say that was the wrong decision, but looking at it now, you can never tell what’s around the next corner.”

Rovers find themselves falling dangerously into the jaws of the relegation battle along with Dons, making Saturday’s game at Ewood Park all the more important for both sides.

Dons were comfortable 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season, but Rovers are now under new leadership, with Paul Lambert at the helm.

It has been a tough week for Blackburn too, having suffered a 5-1 thumping at the hands of West Ham on Sunday in the FA Cup, and narrowly beaten 1-0 against Derby County on Wednesday night.

Robinson though is confident that his former side have enough to stay out of the relegation battle.

He said: “The players they have are excellent, and their squad is too good to get relegated.

“They deserved more from the game against Derby. Blackburn played some excellent football and could have nicked something out of it late on.

“There’s frailties in there though, because they’re down where we are. They played on Wednesday and played on Sunday against a Premier League team with 10 men.

“They’ve had a hard week, but Paul Lambert is one of the most worldly managers. It’ll be a testing afternoon.”