Pitching players the proposition of playing for MK Dons this summer was far easier than expected for sporting director Liam Sweeting, according to a report from Toby Lock at MK Citizen.
The club were able to attract Graham Alexander to the manager role earlier in the summer and were also able to recruit 11 players during the summer transfer window, with eight of the 11 players all arriving from clubs in higher divisions. Due to this business, they have started the season in League Two excellently, sitting second having won four of their first six games.
What’s Been Said?
Speaking to the MK Citizen, Sweeting felt that despite the club’s relegation at the end of last season, players were keen to make the move to stadiumMK to try and win the club promotion back to League One.
“What was interesting was that players said they wanted to come to get promoted.
“People talked about their most enjoyable moments in their careers were getting promoted and they wanted to come and do it again.
“We under-sold the club. I think the relegation hurt us so much, and we thought recruiting was going to be a far bigger problem than it was. We’re an extremely attractive proposition, with our facilities, the club, the style and expectation.”
Players that made the move to MK Dons this summer include the likes of Jack Payne, MJ Williams, Ellis Harrison, Craig MacGillivray and Anthony Stewart. Those five are prime examples of players who were all playing League One football last season, with Stewart already having played five games for MK at the back end of last season, having once again arriving on loan from Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen.
Nevertheless, as good as MK Dons’ business off the pitch has been, promotion for them will be the end goal at the end of the season.
Writers’ View
MK Dons will fancy themselves as an attractive place to go for most players, especially as a League Two club. They have the stadium, they have the finances, and in Graham Alexander they have a manager that knows how to win. For me however, the best bit of business the club were able to do was keep hold of Mo Eisa. A player I hold very high in regard due to his fantastic spell at Cheltenham, but in my opinion, he is far too good a striker to be playing League Two football – and with four goals in his first five league starts this season, this proves that I am right.