[Archived] Mk Dons @ Stadium Mk, Saturday October 17Th 15:00 Ko

[AllRoverAsia]

MK Dons v Blackburn Rovers

MK Stadium, Saturday October 17th, 15:00 ko

Following the International break Rovers play their first ever League game against MK Dons (nickname The Dons) but it's not our first visit to Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.

Rovers have played MK Dons once before losing 2-1 at Stadium MK in the Capital One Cup in August 2012. Only 3 of the Rovers team that day are still at Ewood, namely Hanley, Lowe and Olsson (Marcus) with the Goodwillies and Carlos Kickballs consigned to the history bin.

MK Dons started well in this, their first ever season in the Championship, with an opening day 4-1 win at Rotherham followed by a 1-0 loss at home to Preston, a 1-0 win at home to Bolton and a decent 0-0 draw away to Reading. After 4 games their 7 points from a possible 12 probably exceeded expectations, but excluding Reading their opponents so far had been mediocre at best. Their results since then have been quite awful........prior to their recent 1-1 draw at Bristol City they had lost the previous 6 games including a 6-0 home thrashing by Southampton in the League Cup. In the Championship it was 5 losses on the bounce with 3 of those at home and just 3 goals scored.

However, during this bad run they played reasonable quality Championship teams in Brum, Boro, Leeds, Derby and the Dingles. I watched the games against Derby and Leeds on TV and thought that MK Dons were a bit hard done by in both games after playing decent football but like us were poor at taking scoring chances. They are currently 19^th in the Championship on 8 points with a minus 5 GD and must try to win their home games to have a hope of getting away from the relegation zone. A positive for Rovers fans is that MK Dons are above Bolton and Preston in the table which isn't too bad a thing.

MK Dons base their team around a solid foundation of goalkeeper David Martin and defenders Dean Lewington (No.3), who is Club Captain with over 500 appearances for the Dons, Kyle McFadzean (no.5), Anton Kay (No.6) and Jordan Spence (No.12), all of whom have played in all League games so far this season. The other ever-present is goal scoring mid-fielder Carl Baker, the former Coventry City skipper who joined the Dons a year ago and was their player of the season in 2014-2015.

After scoring 101 goals last season in League One they are finding goals much harder to get in the Championship, just 9 goals in the 10 games played whilst conceding 14. Of the goals scored 7 have come from mid-fielders with striker Simon Church netting just 1 in 9 appearances and on loan 19 year old striker Sam Gallagher goalless so far in 8 games. To boost their attacking options The Dons have signed striker Nicky Maynard, after we opted not to, on a deal until the end of the season. Whilst the 29 year old Maynard has an impressive career record of 1 goal every 3 games he was at his most prolific earlier in his career at lower league levels with Crewe and Bristol City.

This game is the first of six matches for Rovers in three weeks which includes home games with Burnley, Preston and Brentford. Rovers are now playing good football with a team that's much more settled and we must go to Stadium MK to win to set us up for the busy period ahead.

I think the Dons will dominate possession but that Rovers will have a lot of scoring chances. Rovers need to take more of these and goals must start coming from other areas of the team. MK Dons are not strong in the air and we will be a constant threat to them from set-pieces, Duffy and Hanley need to get their attacking headers on target. Others also need to start showing up more in the goalscoring charts – Delfy, Koita, Conway and Marshall to name but four.

On Saturday Rovers will be without Koita (hamstring), Lowe and Brown but Kilgallon should be available and hopefully Guthrie. Rhodes returned early from the Scotland squad nursing a knee injury he got against Ipswich which begs the question as to why he was allowed to go in the first place. It's to be hoped that others return from their International duty unscathed.

Even though it's still early season it's pleasing that we now have a positive GD which is a good reflection on overall team performance and not just the defence....and also of our Manager.

Stadium MK: The Stadium was officially opened on 29^th November 2007 by the Queen. It is the home of MK Dons, Arena MK and DoubleTree Hilton Hotel. A first class Stadium although a bit of a walk from the nearest pre-match drinking Pubs in the Bletchley area. Within the stadium there is a bar at the Hilton Hotel which did allow away fans for a pre-match drink but I don't know if they still do. The stadium has an open concourse above the first tier with pitch views so hopefully you can eat your pies and not miss the game.

The stadium has a capacity of 30,500 but the high roof allows for a 3^rd tier to be added and an increased capacity of 45,000. Last season in League One MK Dons averaged 9,047 for home games. Looking at their home games so far this season it looks like they now have a core of home fans of about 11,000 which is not too shabby for a 'growing' club. The attendance for the visit of Leeds was 19,284 but the Leeds vandals travel in hordes.The record attendance for a football match was in August 2014 when 26,969 turned up to watch MK Dons Capital One Cup 4–0 defeat of Manchester United.

Stadium MK hosted 3 games in the Rugby World Cup 2015 and a total of 87,356 spectators attended. Attendance records were broken 3 matches on the bounce with a new Stadium record of 30,038 attending the Fiji v Uruguay game on 6^th October, perhaps showing that Bucks is still more Rugby than Football country.

A comprehensive guide for away fans visiting Stadium MK can be found here and contains a lot of info on eating and drinking in and around the Stadium and nearby:

http://www.footballgroundguide.com/leagues/england/championship/stadium-mk-milton-keynes-dons.html

A Bit of History: Back in the early days of this century a south London based football league club, Wimbledon, who had been in turmoil for years under changing ownership made the decision to move 56 miles north of London to Milton Keynes. To the surprise of Wimbledon's owners this was deeply unpopular both with the bulk of the club's established fan-base in south London and indeed football supporters generally. The peasant revolt was ignored by the totally independent and impartial commission appointed by the know-nowt FA(s) who granted permission for the move in May 2002.

Wimbledon played their first match in Milton Keynes in 2003, and then sensibly adopted the name of Milton Keynes Dons Football Club in 2004. The club now officially considers itself to have been founded in 2004, when it adopted its present name, badge and home colours. They are usually referred to as just MK Dons.

Initially based at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes, the club competed as MK Dons from the start of the 2004-2005 season. After two years in League One they were relegated to League Two but gained promotion back within 2 seasons and they also won the Football League Trophy in this period. Now playing at the new Stadium MK and having appointed Karl Robinson as manager their fortunes improved further and last season gained promotion to the Championship by finishing 2^nd, with the nice twist of pipping Preston for the 2nd automatic promotion spot on the final day of the season.

Whatever ones views on how MK Dons were formed they are very well run. To build their supporter base MK Dons have been successfully promoted as a family/ community club and have integrated into the local community in sporting and many other activities - certain other clubs could learn a lesson or two from this.

Things in Common

Paul Ince: After a successful playing career and following a stint as manager of Macclesfield Town, Ince was appointed manager of MK Dons in September 2007. It has to be said that Ince's short first spell at MK Dons was successful in winning the Football League Trophy at Wembley in March 2008 followed by promotion as League Two champions in April.

Then, in June 2008, for unfathomable reason, Rovers, then a Premier League club, appointed the still inexperienced Ince as their manager. The 2008–09 Premier League season started well for Rovers and Ince with a 3-2 away win at Everton (I remember watching it on the Telly). However things quickly turned sour and after winning just 3 games in 17, Ince was rightly sacked in December 2008. Ince had been with Blackburn only 177 days, one of the shortest reigns of a Premier League manager.

To Ince's credit he signed goalkeeper Paul Robinson for Rovers but on the downside was responsible for the arrival of Vince ''sick-note' Grella, the well past his sell-by-date Robbie Fowler and others.

Having failed miserably at Rovers, Ince followed up with spells at MK Dons (again) for 9 months, 6 months at Notts County where he set a Club record of losing nine games in a row and finally a year at Blackpool Circus.

Perhaps bored with what had become a nomadic life and the dawning fact that he was a crap manager Ince seems to have decided that he had the skill-set to be a TV football pundit. He may be wrong about that.

Keith Andrews: In September 2008 Ince brought Keith Andrews from MK Dons to join him in his push to mess up at Rovers. Andrews made his Rovers debut as a substitute in September 2008 against West Ham, a game Rovers lost 4–1. In the eyes of many his Rovers career went downhill after that or possibly from that games kick-off. He was a squad player at best often filling in when injuries dictated it and deserved some credit for that.

In August 2011 he went to Ipswich on loan and he never wanted to return to Rovers and was quoted as saying in a BBC interview "I don't particularly like the way I was treated at the club [blackburn]. Not just the manager, the club in general."........bearing in mind the shambles at Ewood at that time and the flack he was getting when playing that statement was not unexpected.

He left Rovers on transfer deadline day January 2012 on a free transfer to West Bromwich Albion, after handing in a transfer request at Rovers. He had made 70 appearances for Rovers mainly as a defensive midfielder scoring 5 goals but is perhaps best remembered for his funny run and finger pointing.

Karl Robinson: Following a playing career in the lower leagues Robinson coached at the Liverpool Youth Academy and later at Rovers. Ince (him again!) persuaded Robinson to join him at MK Dons as his assistant manager. He was appointed manager of MK Dons in May 2010 and at 30 years of age was the youngest manager at that time in the Football League.

After 5 successful years at MK Dons he is now one of the longest serving managers around. He has a reputation of building teams who play what has proved to be, at least in Leagues One and Two, a successful brand of attacking passing football.

As recently as July 2015, Robinson signed a contract extension at the Dons. He could well have a stellar career ahead, maybe not with The Dons.

Meanwhile back in south London..............The large majority of Wimbledon F.C. supporters had strongly opposed the idea of moving their club out of south London and in 2002 supporters set up AFC Wimbledon which rightly in my view considers itself the successor of the original team. Formed by and majority controlled by supporters they have been a great success.

Starting out in the 9^th tier of English football within 9 seasons they made it up to the 4^th tier in League Two. Following supporter group pressures, MK Dons in 2007 gave back the 'history' and honours won by Wimbledon FC to the London Borough of Merton, the original home of the club. AFC Wimbledon now have plans in progress to return to a new site at their spiritual home of Plough Lane. A great story and lesson and shows what can be done by fans faced with adversity but committed to their Club.

[chor808]

Great write up.

This is my 'home' match so looking forward to this one. We have to win this to keep moment up for clash with the dingles.

[sambo]

Brilliant preview.

Read on the Rovers Twitter feed that we have shifted over 850 tickets so far, meaning there could be a decent following at the game.

No idea what to predict. The pessimist in me doubts that we can go 5 unbeaten, whilst on paper it's a winnable game and we're in good form.

Think Rhodes will be fine - if he is, I'm going to be optimistic and say we win 3-1.

[philipl]

Great preview. Whatever the mess of their antecedents, there is a football club in Britain's fastest growing new city and one that is doing pretty well under a good young manager.

This game will be all about taking chances (or not) as both sides will carve open the other's defence. A win and the talk will be about chasing a play off place, a defeat and we will be in the dangerous mire again. Probably will be a draw....

[the original david brent]

Great preview. Looking forward to going to this. Having a drink in stony stratford before hand which should be good. Although I don't know why rovers fans have been shoved into the upper tier, leaving a vast empty bottom tier beneath!

I was hoping we may have mustered 1500 given the novelty of the fixture and the form picking up recently. Seems it may fall a little short although a 1200 plus following is decent.

From a footballing point of view quite frankly this is a must win. MK are bottom of the form guide having lost 5 and then scraped a last minute draw at Bristol City.

[Mike E]

Great preview. Looking forward to going to this. Having a drink in stony stratford before hand which should be good. Although I don't know why rovers fans have been shoved into the upper tier, leaving a vast empty bottom tier beneath!

I'd have thought it'd be obvious, as we did the same wit the Darwen end under Sparky and Sam

[Mattyblue]

I was hoping we may have mustered 1500 given the novelty of the fixture and the form picking up recently. Seems it may fall a little short although a 1200 plus following is decent.

I'd imagine quite a few who like to tick off new grounds would have gone to the League Cup tie, I seem to remember we took a decent following that night.

[Al]

Great preview. Whatever the mess of their antecedents, there is a football club in Britain's fastest growing new city and one that is doing pretty well under a good young manager.

This game will be all about taking chances (or not) as both sides will carve open the other's defence. A win and the talk will be about chasing a play off place, a defeat and we will be in the dangerous mire again. Probably will be a draw....

Good to hear from you again Philipl. I miss your intelligent posts. Please do not be put off by knockers. Some of us appreciate your comments.

[blueboy3333]

Great preview. We'll need Duffy and Hanley to defend well and have their wits about them because MK play a lot of stuff on the ground which we're always a bit susceptible to.

A hopeful Rovers 2-1 win.

[the original david brent]

I'd have thought it'd be obvious, as we did the same wit the Darwen end under Sparky and Sam

The difference is we were more or less filling both sides of the Darwen end bottom tier with home fans, so we could take the luxury of shoving the away fans out of the way to the upper tier.

MK on the other hand are just leaving the bottom tier empty. It seems strange as it just makes their support look rubbish on TV with a vast empty stand.

[JHRover]

MK are doing exactly what we should do with away fans and shove them out of the way. Bringing away fans closer to the pitch just helps them to support their team more.

We could make the Darwen End upper tier the designated away area and then charge away fans more than home fans in the tier below as it is a different area of the ground. So we could hammer away fans with £30 tickets and charge home fans much less (something which numerous other Championship sides do week after week).

Instead we put away fans next to home fans in the Darwen End which means we have to charge the same ticket prices as home fans in corresponding areas. So when Leeds etc. come and we want to cash in on the away following we have to offer the same price to home fans, reducing the walk on numbers.

[joey_big_nose]

To be honest the people who made the decision to relocate have been justified totally on every basis except in regards to the fans.

I wonder if it will ever happen again. A good statto question - what is the largest English or Welsh town/city without a professional football team?

[Doug]

To be honest the people who made the decision to relocate have been justified totally on every basis except in regards to the fans.

I wonder if it will ever happen again. A good statto question - what is the largest English or Welsh town/city without a professional football team?

It's at the back of my mind that it's Warrington. There is a good chance this is completely wrong!!

Edit - Thank you for an excellent preview ARA.

[Mattyblue]

To be honest the people who made the decision to relocate have been justified totally on every basis except in regards to the fans.

I wonder if it will ever happen again. A good statto question - what is the largest English or Welsh town/city without a professional football team?

Warrington.

[Dunnfc]

Top preview, allot of effort went into that!

[the original david brent]

To be honest the people who made the decision to relocate have been justified totally on every basis except in regards to the fans.

I wonder if it will ever happen again. A good statto question - what is the largest English or Welsh town/city without a professional football team?

I saw this recently and believe it is Wakefield? Although I'm surprised it's not Salford.

[Mattyblue]

For the town itself it's Warrington, 200,000 population.

Wakefield, Gateshead etc. are quite small towns but lend their name to a much larger council area.

Yeah yeah I'm that sad.

[joey_big_nose]

For the town itself it's Warrington, 200,000 population.

Wakefield, Gateshead etc. are quite small towns but lend their name to a much larger council area.

Yeah yeah I'm that sad.

Wiki agrees with you. Great shout!:-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

The next one down I can identify is Slough - which would be convienient for our poster David Brent...

When Wimbledon were looking at options I remember Belfast being mooted but ultimately shot down by the Football League. If someone could squeeze it by the the governing bodies its obviously a huge market.

[Tom]

The manager has got the team playing the last few games, this won't be easy but I fancy us to come away with a win.

[AllRoverAsia]

Wiki agrees with you. Great shout!:-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

The next one down I can identify is Slough - which would be convienient for our poster David Brent...

When Wimbledon were looking at options I remember Belfast being mooted but ultimately shot down by the Football League. If someone could squeeze it by the the governing bodies its obviously a huge market.

In 1996 Sam Hammam tried to move Wimbledon to Dublin and the name Dublin Dons was mooted - the PL were ok about it but the idea failed after opposition by the FAI and FIFA. Maybe Bluster B's browny wasn't big enough. Dublin city population of 1.3 million and 1.8 million in the Greater Dublin Area. It would have been a licence to print money. I wasn't in favour at the time but would have been great away days.

Lee Williamson has picked up an injury: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/13842528.Blackburn_Rovers_midfielder_Lee_Williamson_injured_while_on_Jamaica_duty/?ref=mac

[1864roverite]

1-0 win takes the game.

Watching Chorley for this one with the Wheelton/Chorley annual reunion.

[TeamGB-11]

Mk dons 2 rovers 0.. Sorry..

[chaddyrovers]

3-1 Rovers win

[joey_big_nose]

Impossible to make any sort of prediction until we know whose fit - question marks over Evans, Guthrie, Koita and Rhodes. Without those four we don't have a chance.

If Rhodes and one of Evans or Guthrie are fit we should be alright.

[TeamGB-11]

Impossible to make any sort of prediction until we know whose fit - question marks over Evans, Guthrie, Koita and Rhodes. Without those four we don't have a chance.

If Rhodes and one of Evans or Guthrie are fit we should be alright.

Williamson injured too, and we can't blame bowyer for suspect training methods this time either..