Every week an away team come to stadium:mk and their fans blast MK Dons for being a franchise and a ‘fake’ club, but it’s about time people started to respect the football club for what they do for the beautiful game and the city of Milton Keynes.

Being from Milton Keynes, but not a Dons fan because they didn’t exist at the time, it’s great to see what the club is doing for the community and football as a whole. Most recently they threw all of their support behind young Henry Allen who recently passed away by holding a world record onesie attempt and manager Karl Robinson gave a speech at his memorial service which is something the club didn’t have to do, but they did it anyway because they want to be part of the community.

And what better way is there to cement a football team as part of a community than to bring players from the city through your youth academy and into the first team? As recent as this weekend a Dons academy product, Brendan Galloway, scored his first senior goal for the club and this is on top of the rise of Dele Alli and George Baldock. Not to mention George’s brother Sam who earned the club in excess of £1 million. It’s great to see a football club investing in the future and giving young people in the area a chance to fulfill their dreams.

And they don’t just give young footballers the chance to play for them, the club also has fantastic schemes to allow young fans to watch their team. Regular Family Fun Day events see adults get into games for just £10, while under 18s only have to pay £1. On these days, families are invited to get involved with community events such as learning about fire safety and different cultures, so it really shows how Pete Winkelman has built MK Dons into something much more than a football club.

The Dons have been averaging 7,923 fans a game so far this season which is the eighth highest in League One and considering this includes huge household names such as Wolves, Preston and Sheffield United, it is a decent amount. And while MK Dons get a lot of grief for their support from other fans, it is worth noting that most of their fans are below the age of 16 as people over that age would have been brought up supporting other teams. And it also must be recognised that Milton Keynes is a growing city and itself has only existed for 50 years. So, it may not be for another few years until the true core of the Dons support can be established.

Returning to the footballing point of view, Pete Winkelman has given young managers the chance to begin and build their career at his club, with the appointments of Paul Ince (now at Blackpool), Roberto Di Matteo (went on to win the Champions League with Chelsea) and current manager Karl Robinson who is in his fourth season as manager and has been linked with many high profile jobs in the business.