MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman has admitted his side are losing huge sums of money in pursuit of League One success, as reported by MiltonKeynes.co.uk.
The Dons were promoted at the first time of asking last season after slipping out of the third-tier and are currently 15th in the early league table.
Manager Paul Tisdale has been busy in the transfer market, bringing in the likes of Hiram Boateng, Rhys Healey and Regan Poole. Some might have been free transfers, but the costs associated with running the club are resulting in huge losses, as the chairman explained.
Football costs millions, and this year, we could be losing £10,000 per day and we have to manage that black hole,” he said.
“We’ve got an amazing gang of people working their tails off to make sure we’re not left floundering. If you forget that responsibility, or just worry about getting another player in, it becomes a real issue.
“Everyone in football is disappointed Bury found themselves in a position they did, and the Football League will be looking deeply at that.”
Bury lost their league status last week but Oxford, Macclesfield and Coventry have all encountered issues with paying players or regular income in recent months. Bolton almost went to the wall as well and big losses are not uncommon in football.
Winkelman admitted he’s ‘chucked money at it’ in recent years, but pondered how long the model would survive.
“We’ve been chucking more money at it in recent years, and you see situations like Bury and their fans, you can’t even think how terrible that was. To suddenly not have football is terrible.
“Our circumstances were hugely different. Wimbledon didn’t have a ground. But what we’ve learned is the sustainability of what we do. We afford more because we put everything into what we’re doing, and we try and balance it from sustainable businesses.
“That’s a model that can take us so far, and my worry is how far it can take us in the future.”
Our View
Many will read this and be appalled at Winkelman’s frank admission. They have chucked money at the situation and they have got some results for it; perhaps not the ones they wanted.
Money doesn’t buy success and at least the chairman has the honesty to admit how they’re operating. Some clubs mask what they spend or try to pull the wool over the fan’s eyes.
MK Dons are admitting to something that a lot of clubs are hiding away.
