MK Dons Odds
As with all English football clubs, betting on MK Dons odds is extremely popular with bettors. Whether it be betting on Match Results or an MK Dons first goalscorer bet, MK Dons betting odds provide plenty of opportunities to make profit. Currently a League Two side, in a division known for it unpredictability, odds on MK Dons to get promoted are just as common as MK Dons relegation odds.
In matches of great significance, such as promotion clashes, relegation battles or matches against rivals, MK Dons odds can be subject to bookmaker offers. For example, odds on MK Dons v AFC Wimbledon can be enhanced or subject to money back specials, Coral being one such bookmaker to offer these on a regular basis. These kinds of games also give the opportunity to make profit by laying bets, with bookmakers such as Matchbook.
As well as match odds, markets on what happens behind the scenes at MK Dons are also common. MK Dons manager odds or transfer odds are popular, and provide extra opportunities to make profit when betting on MK Dons.
History
MK Dons, also known as Milton Keynes Dons, are a professional football club located in the town of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. Founded in 2004 following Wimbledon F.C’s move to Milton Keynes the year before, MK Dons have played in three of the four top divisions in English football, except for the Premier League. The club currently play in England’s fourth tier, League Two.
The history of Milton Keynes Dons begins in 2004. However, the origins of the football club stretch further back than that, with the town of Milton Keynes itself being a relatively new town.
The town of Milton Keynes was developed as a new town in 1967. With the desire of the new town to have its own football club, non-League teams were developed but didn’t progress into the professional game. As such, the idea was struck that an already established Football League club would move to Milton Keynes. Wimbledon were suggested for this move, along with Charlton Athletic and Luton Town.
The plans for Wimbledon to move to Milton Keynes were first discussed in the 1980’s. Ron Noades, who was owner of Wimbledon at the time, wanted to move the club and merge them with a non League Milton Keynes side. Noades even went to the lengths of buying Milton Keynes City with a view to merge this side with Wimbledon, but the idea was abandoned.
Wimbledon at that time were playing at Plough Lane, but after the Taylor Report advised that all English football league grounds should be redeveloped, the club moved to Selhurst Park in a groundshare with Crystal Palace. Sam Hammam had taken over the club by this time, and he looked at moving the club to Dublin. Eventually, Sam Hammam sold the club to Kjell Inge Rokke and Bjorn Rune Gjelsten, who were also keen on the idea of relocation.
In 2000, plans were developed to design a retail area in Milton Keynes, that would also contain a brand new football stadium. As part of the proposal, the consortium behind the plans suggested that an already established Football League side would use this new stadium as their home ground. Wimbledon were approached again, along with Luton Town, Barnet, Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace.
A new Wimbledon chairman was appointed, Charles Koppel, and he agreed to the idea of relocating to Milton Keynes. The Football League refused to give their permission to allow the move, but Wimbledon appealed the decision, eventually winning their case in 2002.
Wimbledon supporters were against the move by a huge majority, and formed their own club called AFC Wimbledon. The majority of Wimbledon supporters defected from the old club to support the new Wimbledon.
Before the move to Milton Keynes, the original Wimbledon went into administration. With the threat of liquidation hanging over the club, Pete Winkelman, who had led the Milton Keynes consortium, bought the club and moved them to the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes in 2003. The following year, Winkelman and his group Inter MK took the club out of administration, and renamed it to Milton Keynes Dons Football Club. The Dons is a reference to the Wimbledon nickname, and Wimbledon’s badge and colours were also changed. Because of this complete change in the football club, in particular its new name, most put MK Dons founding year as 2004.
MK Dons took Wimbledon’s place in League One for the 2004/2005 season. Stuart Murdoch, who had been Wimbledon manager, took charge of MK Dons. Following a bad start, Murdoch was sacked and replaced by Danny Wilson. Wilson managed to keep the club in the division, but mainly thanks to Wrexham punished with a ten point deduction after they went into administration.
MK Dons couldn’t avoid relegation the following season however, and were demoted to League Two. Martin Allen took over as boss and led his new side to the League Two playoffs in his first season. They were beaten by Shrewsbury Town in the playoff semi final, and Martin Allen left the club to be replaced by Paul Ince.
Ince helped the club to their first trophy - the Football League Trophy. MK Dons then followed this up with the League Two championship title to secure promotion back into League One. Ince then left the MK Dons manager job and was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo.
Di Matteo almost led the club to back to back promotions, but again lost in the playoff semi finals, this time to Scunthorpe United. Yet again, MK Dons lost their manager to another club, with Di Matteo joining West Bromwich Albion.
In 2010, Karl Robinson took over the MK Dons managerial reins, in the process becoming the youngest manager in the Football League at that time. The following two seasons saw more playoff heartache for the club, with two more semi final knockouts.
However, MK Dons didn’t have to wait too long for promotion. In the 2014/2015 season, a second place finish in League One saw the club reach the Championship for the first time in MK Dons history. It was a brief stay in the second tier, though, and MK Dons started the 2016/2017 season in League One.
MK Dons finished mid-table in their first season back in the third tier. However, the following campaign resulted in relegation as the club finished second from bottom. The 2018/2019 campaign saw MK Dons back in League Two for the first time in 11 years.
Crest
The first MK Dons crest is also the current MK Dons football badge. This crest features the club name printed horizontally, alongside a gold statue in the shape of the letter M.
The date of the club’s formation, 2004, is printed in Roman numerals underneath - MMIV.
Colours
The MK Dons kit colours are white with a red trim or black trim, occasionally a combination of the two. These kit colours are completely different from the colours of Wimbledon, who played predominantly in dark blue throughout their history.
During MK Dons’ first season, the MK Dons players wore all white shirts featuring a yellow trim. The trim colour was changed to red for the 2006/2007 campaign, before changing to an all white strip the following season.
The 2009/2010 season saw the club wear white shirts with black sleeves, white shorts and white socks with a black trim. Red was added to the design for the following season. For the 2012/2013 season, the club wore all white again, though the shirt featured a red cross across the top.
In 2013/2014, the MK Dons players wore a white kit with a red trim, with a black stripe with red stripes either side featuring vertically on the shirts. This kit was changed for the following season, with an all white strip featuring a thick red trim being worn.
For the 2018/2019 season, the MK Dons players wear a white shirt with gold stripes, white shorts and white socks with a gold trim.
MK Dons Stadium
The current MK Dons stadium is the Stadium MK. Also known as the Denbigh Stadium, the MK Dons stadium capacity currently stands at 30,500, making it one of the largest stadiums in the Football League.
The MK Dons stadium layout features four main all seater stands. These are the South Stand, also known as the Cowshed; the North Stand, also called the Boycott End; the East Stand and the West Stand, where the majority of executive guests sit.
When MK Dons were first formed, the team played their home games at the National Hockey Ground, before moving to the Stadium MK in 2007.
Supporters
The majority of MK Dons supporters come from the Milton Keynes area. Very few Wimbledon fans followed the club up to Milton Keynes, with the majority of them choosing to support the fan-founded club AFC Wimbledon.
There are various MK Dons supporters clubs across the country, including the Milton Keynes Dons Supporters Association. This association was first refused to become members of the Football Supporters’ Federation, until they gave up their claim to the successes of the now defunct Wimbledon Football Club.
There is a huge rivalry between MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon. Both clubs lay claim to the history of Wimbledon Football Club, and this has led to the massive rivalry that exists to this day.
MK Dons supporters also enjoy a rivalry with Peterborough United, who have been promotion rivals in the past and there is also a rivalry in other sports in the two towns.
Wycombe Wanderers are also rivals, and MK Dons v Wycombe is known as the Bucks Derby.
Ownership
The current MK Dons owner is Pete Winkelman. Winkelman is also the chairman of the club after buying Wimbledon Football Club and relocating them to Milton Keynes.
Winkelman is also the managing director of Inter MK, the development company who constructed amongst other buildings the MK Dons stadium, Stadium MK.
Stats
MK Dons stats begin with their top appearance maker. Dean Lewington holds that record, having so far, up to September 2018, made 678 appearances for the club from 2004 to the current day. Lewington is also the club captain, and appeared for Wimbledon, staying with the club as they relocated to Milton Keynes.
MK Dons record goalscorer is Izale McLeod. McLeod scored 71 goals for the club across two spells, firstly from 2004 to 2007 and then from 2013 to 2014.
The club’s record transfer signing is Kieran Agard. The fee is undisclosed, but the club confirmed he was their record signing when they bought him from Bristol City in 2016.
The highest transfer fee MK Dons have received is £5 million, a fee paid by Tottenham Hotspur for Dele Alli in 2015.
MK Dons record victory is 7-0, achieved against Oldham Athletic in 2014. The club’s record defeat is 5-0, and MK Dons have been on the wrong side of this scoreline on no less than five occasions - against Hartlepool United in 2005, Huddersfield Town in 2006, Rochdale in 2007, Carlisle United in 2010 and Burnley in 2016. The club were beaten 6-0 by Southampton in 2015, though this took place in the League Cup.
Stadium mk’s record attendance is currently 28,127. This number of spectators watched MK Dons take on Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2016.
MK Dons Players
The current MK Dons players list stands at 28 members of the first team squad, supported by the MK Dons Development Squad and Academy.
Notable ex MK Dons players include Jon Otsemobor, Mark Wright, Angelo Balanta, Aaron Wilbraham, Clive Platt and Willy Gueret.
Only 20 players have made more than 100 appearances for the club, with Luke Chadwick, Dean Lewington, David Martin, Daniel Powell and Darren Potter the only players to have made over 200 MK Dons appearances.
MK Dons Manager
In their short history, MK Dons have had nine different managers at the helm, as well as three caretaker bosses. The current MK Dons manager is Paul Tisdale. Tisdale took over in June 2018.
Paul Ince is the club’s most successful manager in terms of win percentage. In his first spell at the club from 2007 to 2008, Ince took charge of 55 MK Dons matches, winning 35 of them giving him a win percentage of 63.6%.
The ten permanent and three caretaker managers in MK Dons manager history are Stuart Murdoch (August 2004 to November 2004); Jimmy Gilligan (caretaker manager from November 2004 to December 2004); Danny Wilson (December 2004 to June 2006); Martin Allen (June 2006 to May 2007); Paul Ince (June 2007 to June 2008 and July 2009 to May 2010); Roberto Di Matteo (July 2008 to June 2009); Karl Robinson (May 2010 to October 2016); Richie Barker (caretaker from October 2016 to December 2016); Robbie Neilson (December 2016 to January 2018); Dan Micciche (January 2018 to April 2018); Keith Millen (caretaker from April 2018 to June 2018); and Paul Tisdale (June 2018 to present).
MK Dons have also had a number of coaches who had great success as players in English football. These include Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright, Dietmar Hamann, Alan Smith and Alex Rae.
Honours
The MK Dons honours list consists of one third tier runners up spot (2014/2015); one fourth tier title (2007/2008); one Football League Trophy (2007/2008); one Berks & Bucks Senior Cup win (2006/2007) and one Berks & Bucks Senior Cup runners up place (2005/2006).
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