THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

I kid you not, I have heard "fans" saying they are hoping we lose so that we can get Neilson out sooner.

First Post, Had to register just for this thread alone, plus some other things.

I am Milton Keynes born and bred, been watching them since the national hockey stadium days and I have been a season ticket holder for 4 years and for many years to come. I go to most cup games and try to get to as many away games, I also commute from East Northamptonshire to watch the Don’s at home so feel I have as much a say as anyone else.

So firstly on the Dean Lewington situation, mostly all we have is rumors and hearsay. Especially this one about a bust up at Bury, well if the bust up was that bad why did he play at LB against Oxford in the Checkatrade Trophy in November!!!! In which by the way he was terrible as I was one of the 101 home fans there. He gave Rob Hall a few kicks which was nice but he also gave away the penalty.
All we have to go on is what Neilson said to 3CR on Saturday which by the way 3CR totally took out of context typical small media speculating Dean had played his last game for us. You can hear the interview for yourself and can hear him mention nothing of the sort. Who cares about reading between the lines, listen to the facts we have.

I like many love Dean Lewingtons loyalty, passion and is without a doubt is a club legend, however I feel at the moment with some of our fans it’s a “who do I like most” competition and really has given those #neilsonout campaigners something to cling on to. However at times I feel some of our fans can be really two faced, last season people were really slagging Lewington off, saying he is passed it, living in fear when he was being played at CB this season he was booed away at Peterborough and one of our fans shouted “get that ginger #### off the pitch”

I for one am not in the Neilson camp here, I am also not in the Dean Lewington camp either. Could Neilson have handled the situation better, yes. Could Dean, oh yes, neither have covered themselves in glory here. If that picture of Dean is true then I am absolutely disgusted with him. At the end of the day whether you like it or not Neilson is the manager. By posting that picture he has only one thing in mind, it’s a childish poke at the manager, it’s to cause unrest with the supporters and the players under Neilson, in a hope that the club will fail and sack the manager. If Lewington was a legend and MK through and through then he would have understood that he is 3rd choice LB, not going to get any game time respected the managers decision and wished the club the best and work really hard to help this club be successful not cause more unrest for selfish reasons. Again if the picture is true the guy has gone down in my estimations.

Linked to this I saw Karl Robinson on Saturday in the car park after the game, I personally shook his hand and said “thank you for everything you have done for this club” as I don’t feel we ever got a chance to say that because the last time he walked on to that pitch as the manager fans were chanting for him to go and booing him. Anyway, he is at Stadium MK a lot and I really don’t think this is helping the situation at all.

Finally the fans, I mean no disrespect to anyone on this forum or twitter, FB etc, however it’s no wonder they call us plastic fans, all this “I am not renewing my season ticket” “I won’t be back until Neilson has gone” “Can I hand my season ticket in now” how about just supporting your club through thick and thin. I am fed up with all the keyboard warriors and now we have a bloody petition. There was one guy on Saturday tweeting 3CR (almost missed a Chuck Aneke goal while doing it) something about “surely Winky can see now, out played, outnumbered and out sung by Maidstone, he need to act soon” well for one we were not out played, we were just not clinical enough in the 1st half, 2 it was bloody Maidstone not Manchester United of course they were going to bring a lot of fans, this is a cup final to them but to us it’s a playing a team 2 leagues below us and I did not see him sing at any point.
We talk about the MK way, do we really have one? That’s not me saying “no we don’t” We are technically 13 years old, 6 of those 13 years we played a particular style under a particular manager. I feel we still have that vibrant youth feel to our club, look at the academy guys who are getting a chance under Neilson. We are not playing attractive football but who knows where the future takes us. At this moment in time the most qualified tactician out of all of us is Robbie Neilson and until that changes he has my support as I support this club.

This ridiculous petition talks about how the club is run and how we should have more insight, it mentions fan forums that have not been attended. Let’s attended them then rather than the British way of sending a strongly worded letter. Some people have also been talking about a disconnect between the players, manager and fans. Well maybe the manager is a little more moody than our last manager however I have not seen that with the players, every player that scored on Saturday went over to the fans. One of you has a GIF of Agard running the length of the fans in celebration!

I for one disagree with this letter, it would appear the letter will be sent anyway. I am a supporter of this football club and fundamentally disagree with some of the points on that letter so I am begging you to remove all statements that say “supporters feel” or “supporters think” and especially “Supporters feel that decisive action needs to be taken by the board – with serious consideration given to the termination of Robbie Neilsons Contract” I am a supporter and don’t want you talking for me.

I am very sorry for the long rant and that’s what it is. I am just really passionate about this club, yes I am not happy with where we are at the moment, yes I want us to win every game, yes I am aware Robbie has changed his tune and now we are talking about a 2/3 year plan, he is a young manager and we have a really promising young squad so I am willing to wait. We have seen some good performances under Robbie. I for one will never be handing in our season tickets we are lucky we have a great local club to support that in my opinion is fairly well run. Jesus we could be Coventry or Blackpool!

I would also like to point out that ‘is Neilson the right man to take this club forward?’ is not a simple Neilson in or out question and is worded in a way to get people to answer ‘no’. Being unsure that Neilson is the right person to take this club forward is a very different prospect to wanting him sacked.

Not forgetting the AFC, Luton, cobblers and Peatboghorror fans/moles/wum's that are "members" on this very forum...

FD, I love reading your posts and congratulate you for your fantastic achievement for Hyde Football Club (with alby) but a petition approach, at this time, isn’t for me. Too soon and not the right issues, particularly as we’re not yet in a Blackpool, Charlton, Coventry or Leyton Orient scenario.

We should have known that Robbo going, at the same time as the squad was past its ‘best before date’, would result in absolutely massive upheaval plus an enormous sense of bereavement, even for those that championed his departure. The free flowing style that he had adopted was almost unique in leagues 1 and 2. Maybe PW was naïve in promising that it would continue? Even when the next manager is appointed, it’s unlikely that it will resume. Also ‘previous-regime’ players, some who may have thought that were ‘bullet-proof’ and fans’ heroes, would have found the change from Robbo’s very matey management style to what is probably a very direct dour style today almost impossible to come to terms with.

Very recently, a fans’ forum provided an opportunity to voice concerns and have them discussed. It was disappointing in terms of the poor attendance (why when this forum and twitter suggests there’s lots of issues?). We complain that local journalists don’t press Dons’ officials hard enough but when a question was asked on the training ground and Andrew Cullen gave a ‘nothing’ two-sentence answer, no fan really pressed him further. OK, the Lewington and Dove changes have happened subsequently but no employer will ever reveal confidential details in respect of personal situations even though football social media may demand that they do and even though the rumour mill adds 2 to 2 and makes 5.

What should we do? Recognise that the perceived Robbo and Robbie approaches are two very different ways of managing and playing, that we will never learn details about confidential situations, that planning permissions are very difficult to achieve (ask Bristol City fans about Ashton Vale), that every club goes through poor patches, that most owners and managers talk unrealistically about winning promotion (except those that talk about 2 to 3 year projects and then get shot for it), get behind the team at every match and renew the season ticket.

I accept that I’m a forum voyeur (and will get slaughtered on here for these views, disagreement is fine) but having watched football for over 50 years including the Cobblers’ journey from the Third Division South up to what is today called the Premier League then down to the Fourth Division, and having visited nearly every ground in the top four leagues in the country seeking out opportunities to talk with home fans in doing so, the fact that we even have a league football team in Milton Keynes and with such a passionate and approachable chairman and a great Executive Director (Football), is just *****y brilliant.

Hope you get the answers you want.

Just got in from work, and have read all the replies and indeed the letter. I'm fundamentally against this. I'm not a fan of Neilson, never have been. The footy's shite, dull, boring and ultimately uninspiring. But calling for someone to be sacked goes way beyond the pale in my opinion.

This whole thing is just embarassing. How would you feel if someone wrote a letter to your company asking for you to be sacked based on their perception of your performance?

Getting pretty fed up of people not having read the letter properly and ignoring the replies in this thread clarifying things. So, once again..

The letter is not calling for Neilson to be sacked - it was reworded after valid points were raised that it was too harsh/overbearing to ask the board to go to the extreme of terminating his contract. Read it again and tell me where it specifically asks for the board to sack Neilson? It is a letter expressing supporter concern for issues including the club's handling of Lewie, the lack of clarity on the situation and a call for more transparency/efficient communication between the club and fans.

Out of 3 pages, there are less than 4 paragraphs talking about the club under Neilson and how a number of fans are frustrated about the club under his management - which are valid concerns raised by many over the past few months. Concerns include a lack of identity/soul, a poor relationship between the team and supporters, a lack of entertaining football and poor results not meeting the targets of the club and Neilson himself. Again - these are all points brought up numerous times on here, elsewhere on social media and match days by lots of fans.

The letter is asking the board to act, and make positive decisions - regarding Lewie's situation, communication between the club and fans, and the state of the team/club. To them, if that means a change of management then that's their decision. I would be very happy for Neilson to stay in charge if the issues raised were improved upon or changed, but I just can't see that happening.

Finally, I'm not really bothered whether a few individuals in this thread aren't happy with it. Too many of us criticise the club/staff/players on forums and social media without taking any positive action. Myself and several other supporters are deciding to take things further for a change.

68 supporters, many of them long standing season ticket holders have endorsed this letter in the space of less than a day, and are passionate about the issues mentioned. I'm not going to apologise to the 4 or 5 individuals who are upset about it, especially as their claim its asking the board to sack a manager simply aren't true. It's just asking for positive change within the club, whatever form that takes.