Winkelman admits shortcomings at MK Dons

It's fair to say it has been a disappointing five years for MK Dons. From the highs of securing promotion to the Championship in summer of 2015, Dons have been relegated twice, have sacked four managers and their highest finish has been 12th in League One. And it's a burden chairman Pete Winkelman bears.

The chairman admitted on-the-pitch affairs have fallen short of the mark over the years, with his once regular 'Premier League in ten years' claims now looking further away than ever.

"We still haven't delivered on the pitch yet, and that burden stays with me," Winkelman said. "I'm tempering my enthusiasm because I want to see it on the pitch in results. We are going in the right direction though for the first time in a few years.

"Whatever else we do, everyone knows, the football is the emotional driver. We don't do anything without the football being that emotional driver. I'm sorry and embarrassed and sad that I've not been able to do a better job to date, but that's not through a lack of trying."

After sacking Paul Tisdale last year and replacing him with Russell Martin, Winkelman said he is enjoying what he is seeing under the manager, returning to a brand of football more synonymous with how he sees MK Dons playing. However, he says results have to be more consistent.

He continued: "I lost my confidence in picking managers, and I felt I had to go down an obvious route. We've always been about being innovative and risk, and we're back in that world again and I'm enjoying what I'm seeing, I just want our results to pick up. Once we do that, the football club can move in the right direction.

"We need to get into the right place, with the right team in place and when all those factors come together, we've seen you can have success. And we've had a share of that, albeit a fraction of what we should have had. I hope over the next few months we have the chance to build and start going forwards. That's what this club needs."

Supporters returning to Stadium MK this evening marks the end of the nine-month lockout. That lack of cash flow has greatly affected football clubs all over the country, not least MK Dons. Supporters have been given plenty of options during the course of the lockout too, with season ticket holders offered the choice of refunds, shirts or continuing to pay to help keep the club running behind the scenes.

Those bleak months though, Winkelman admitted, were a worrying time, but he said he was wowed by the loyal Dons support.

He said: "We haven't had generations of fans coming to watch our football. So when times got tough, I did get scared, I did wonder we had been here long enough to get the sort of support that other clubs get. We got better support than most other clubs, and that makes me humble."