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Despite an excellent display in the 2023/24 Sky Bet League Two season, MK Dons head coach Mike Williamson may already find his position under threat.
With a poor start to the campaign, the pressure on results to improve swiftly will be heating up, especially given the major news at the club.
MK Dons have for the first time in their 20-year history new ownership, following the purchase of the Buckinghamshire outfit by a Kuwaiti consortium, fronted by Fahad Al Ghanim.
Pete Winkelman, the owner and master-in-chief of Milton Keynes having a Professional football club, said he is moving on with a heavy heart but that the new consortium are the right owners to take the club forward.
It is fair to say that the Al Ghanim family are not short of money, worth over £1.3 billion and Fahad himself has vast years of experience across multiple sectors, including real estate, investment, banking and the automotive industry.
His family also own one of the most successful football clubs in the Middle East, Kuwait SC.
With Al Ghanim making his first venture into English football, it will be interesting to see the changes and input he sees necessary to implement.
Immediately, his consortium has cleared the Club and Stadium debt, as well as funding the complete redevelopment of the National Bowl, set to become the training ground in years’ to come.
Fahad Al Ghanim, the new owner of MK Dons. Credit: Jane Russell
The consortium arrived on the eve of one of the most important seasons in the Dons’ history, following on from their lowest-ever finish, 4th in League Two.
Prior to the last campaign, Milton Keynes had two seasons in the basement-division, both of which resulted in automatic promotion.
Having failed to follow suit for the third time, they have laid down a marker in their summer transfer dealings, before this takeover even took place.
Having bought in 12 new bodies and 12 departures, only seven of the first-team staff have remained, with just three starting the first game in their defeat at home to Bradford City.
In the opening three matches to start the campaign, the Dons have lost all three, including a 5-0 drubbing away to Watford in the Carabao Cup.
What are the main four areas at which the Kuwaiti consortium will have to look at solving?
Squad depth across all areas
Despite the turnover in playing staff, there could still be further room for movement.
The main area of concern would be the forward options at Head Coach Williamson’s disposal.
Currently consisting of Callum Hendry, Matt Dennis and Ellis Harrison, the Dons have three to choose from, with the latter two of the three failing to really nail down any game time.
Having had to fight last year for second-foil behind Max Dean, who joined Gent in a multi-million pound move in July, they now find themselves behind Callum Hendry in the pecking order, the recent addition from Salford.
For both strikers, especially Dennis, who despite proving prolific throughout the pre-season friendlies, they will likely be looking to see if they can pursue a starting berth elsewhere, as there could well be a replacement coming in.
Harrison, who remains the ‘Plan B’ off the bench, may well be more willing to remain at Stadium MK, considering he only joined in the last 12 months.
Across the last campaign, the three had a combined total of 17 goals from 74 appearances, and, across the opening three fixtures of this season, none have yet found the back of the net.
Given that Dean netted 17 times himself, there needs to be a marked improvement from the current trio.
Training Facilities
Al Ghanim’s purchase and level of immediate investment shows that the Kuwaiti is willing to back and buy into the projects that the supporters have long-wished for.
After being informed by the ownership and board of directors in 2015 of the desire to build a training ground, instead of using local schools and public parks, funded by the sale of Dele Alli to Tottenham.
All that has come along has been the purchase of two pieces of land, one in Cosgrove on the border of Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, and another being the National Bowl three years ago.
Neither have been able to be built upon or developed as the initial purchase was a protected floodplain and the latter has seen more delays than King’s Cross Train Station on a weekend of planned engineering works.
This fundamental flaw of not having their own training complex has been an issue dating back to the 2015-16 Championship season.
After getting promoted from League One, the club approached a number of high-profile players to join but there was few who chose other options as a major reason.
One of the players who did join, veteran defender Matt Upson, suffered a career-ending injury during a training session in the opening weeks of the season, and, two other players the Dons fans would have been their hopes on for Championship survival, midfielders Ben Reeves and Jonny Williams, only managed to play 18 and 13 matches respectively.
Ever-since the club’s formation in 2004, the treatment room has always been rather busy- currently, there are already the first long-two absentees. Nico Lawrence, on loan from Southampton, underwent knee surgery following a training mishap and will be side-lined for between three to four months.
Midfielder Liam Kelly is rumoured to also be out of action for months instead of weeks following a training ground incident, however the club is keeping this under wraps.
This will be one of the major areas of concern that Al Ghanim will have to look to overcome.
MK Dons’ current training facilities, Woughton on the Green playing fields
Fan relations
Towards the end of Winkelman’s tenure, there became a period of disconnect between the fanbase and the hierarchy.
The Club has always made a point of publicly declaring that the fans remain at the heart, yet, some of the actions over the last couple of seasons has seen more and more calling for change at the very top.
In recent years, the club has had two fan bars close, the supporters open day get canned and a number of perks that came with the season ticket purchase disappear.
Going into the 2024/25 season, the total season tickets sold by the club fell to its lowest total, falling under the 4,000 mark the first time in history.
Inside a 30,000 seater stadium, the numbers are going the wrong direction but should be rather rectifiable if the right incentives are offered and future facilities put into place.
With a hotel and a parade of shops tied into the stadium complex, it is an envious setup and one with space to allow for further development.
The Managerial position
After been given the tools he would have desired and getting the vast majority of the squad built prior to pre-season starting, there can be no excuses for Williamson if the performances and results do not live up to the expected.
Including the end of last season alongside the current campaign, Williamson’s side are winless in six matches and only one victory in the last eight.
Despite the miracles from earlier on in his tenure, the current run must be beginning to ponder questions. With twelve new arrivals already through the door, as mentioned above, it may be a case of a departure having to move on to make space for someone else to arrive.
With the injured Lawrence the only current loanee, there is room for up to four more in the matchday squads.
With midfielder Dan Crowley from Notts County heavily linked with a move to Buckinghamshire, perhaps the two current injuries are worse than believed.
What is safe to be said, change is coming at Milton Keynes Dons, but nobody is 100 percent certain in which way.
The future definitely appears to see brighter days ahead, but it is anybody’s guess as to which what and when it will come.
