Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner listed amongst the favourites for vacant MK Dons job

Mark Bonner is being touted as one of the favourites for the vacant MK Dons job after leading Cambridge United to promotion last season.

Russell Martin’s decision to leave Stadium MK for Championship side Swansea City has left the Dons without a first team manager with less than a week until their opening League One game against Bolton Wanderers.

While the overriding feeling from the fans is that of immense frustration and anger, attentions have turned to replacing the former Norwich City man as quickly as possible. Most bookmakers have made Jody Morris the current frontrunner, having worked alongside Frank Lampard at Derby County and Chelsea in recent seasons.

However, Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner has also emerged as one of the favourites, with Sky Bet listing him at 8/1 at the time of writing. This is the same as ex-Dons striker Alex Revell and current club captain Dean Lewington.

While the likes of John Terry and Cheltenham boss Michael Duff are seemingly more likely to be given the job, Bonner is arguably a better fit for the Buckinghamshire club. In his short time as head coach of the U’s, he has implemented a free-flowing and attack-minded style of football, and that’s exactly what fans want to see at Stadium MK.

However, despite having a promotion on his CV, his limited experience is one of many reasons why the board may look elsewhere. After all, the 35-year-old has yet to manage a single game at League One level, and he would be expected to challenge for promotion with the signings that MK Dons have made this summer.

Furthermore, Bonner has favoured playing a 4-4-2 formation for much of his time in charge at Cambridge. Although he looks set to change to a 4-2-3-1 for the upcoming campaign, the Dons are very much set up to play with a five-man defence. This is a system that the U’s head coach has is largely unfamiliar with.

It wouldn’t come as a surprise for MK Dons to have a look at Bonner given his profile and preferred style of play. However, there are other managers who would perhaps be better suited to the task at hand at the club.

Lewington, who took the post-match press conference following his side’s 5-0 Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of Bournemouth, described the dressing room as “sad”, and it may take a more experienced manager to raise the players’ morale ahead of their opening League One game on Saturday.

Bonner is a boyhood Cambridge fan, working in the club’s academy for several years before taking over as head coach in 2020. While the Dons could come calling, it seems incredibly unlikely that he’d move to a rival League One club with less than a week until the start of the season.

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