Milton Keynes Dons F.C.
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. is a
football club in
Milton Keynes,
England. As of
the 2006â€"07 season, it plays in
Football League Two.
The club came into existence on 21st June 2004 after a name-change by
Wimbledon F.C., which had
relocated to Milton Keynes nine months earlier. It is legally the continuation of Wimbledon F.C., but most of that club's original fans no longer support it, having instead founded their own club,
AFC Wimbledon, in south-west London, which they regard as the legitimate successor to Wimbledon F.C.
The club's current home stadium is the
National Hockey Stadium, which is beside
Milton Keynes Central railway station and which has been temporarily converted for football.
In February
2005, the club's contractors started work on a new stadium and arena complex at
Denbigh North near
Bletchley railway station, provisionally called
Denbigh Stadium. The complex will combine a 22,000 seat outdoor stadium (with provision to upgrade to 30,000
[http://www.miltonkeynestoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=415&ArticleID=1226960] at a later date) with a 5,000 seat indoor arena, where the
MK Lions basketball team will be based. The stadium, designed to
UEFA's Four Star specification, is on schedule to be completed by December
2006, though the date of its official opening has yet
[http://www.mkcitizen.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=415&ArticleID=1327628] to be decided. The latest information is the stadium will host the first game of the 2007/08 season. There are plans to use the stadium as a centrepoint for the 40th Birthday celebrations of Milton Keynes which are currently still being planned.
The club currently uses the public sports facilities at
Woughton on the Green for training. The club's academy sides also play their home games here. During the 2005 close season a new plastic-covered artificial training pitch nicknamed 'the bubble' was constructed.The club put forward a bid to redevelop the
National Bowl as a future state-of-the-art training facility, but lost out to a competing bid.
The club spent most of the
2004â€"05 season in the
League One relegation zone;
Stuart Murdoch was dismissed in November with relegation looking certain. He was replaced by former
Bristol City manager
Danny Wilson, who was given the seemingly impossible aim to save the team from relegation. Wilson managed to restore the team's home form and they escaped relegation on
goal difference, above
Torquay; had
Wrexham not gone into administration and had ten points deducted (finishing 22nd), then MK Dons would have been relegated instead.
The
2005â€"06 season was another tough one for Wilson's men. They failed to record a league win until their eleventh game of the season. A brief run of good form saw them climb to mid-table, but another decline soon set in and they spent the first three months of 2006 at the foot of the table. Three wins in a row gave fans hope of another "great escape", but they were relegated to the Coca-Cola
League Two after failing to win their final game of the season, finishing two points adrift of safety.
Since the club began playing in Milton Keynes, they have dropped to two divisions below where they were when they last played in London (as
Wimbledon). They will also be joined in League Two by also-relegated
Swindon Town. These two teams will become the first former Premiership sides to drop into the lowest tier of the Football League. Danny Wilson was sacked just after the end of the season and was replaced by
Martin Allen on
21st June 2006.
As of 3 August 2006:
*
Stuart Murdoch (2002â€"2004)
*
Jimmy Gilligan (2004)
*
Danny Wilson (2004â€"2006)
*
Martin Allen (2006-)
*
Livingston F.C., which is the re-incarnation of
Meadowbank Thistle after it moved from
Edinburgh to
Livingston.
*
Gateshead F.C., twice the re-incarnation of
South Shields F.C. after moves between the two towns.
*
Airdrie United F.C., the controversial re-incarnation of
Clydebank F.C. following the bankruptcy of
Airdrieonians F.C..
*
Milton Keynes Dons' official site
