Milton Keynes Central Station on any given Saturday is a blaze of vibrant polyester, almost all of it leaving on trains to different parts of the country.
Red and blue are heading north-west. Old gold and claret are heading to the Midlands. All the colours of London football are heading south. You might catch a glimpse of MK Dons’ white, but you’d be hard pressed to guess this was their home turf.
It is the nature of a new city. Those who have made it their home will have roots elsewhere and loyalty to football is an easy reinforcement for a lost identity.
MK Dons is a club that has inspired hatred since its inception, when the FA allowed Wimbledon, then ailing and homeless, to be ripped from its heartland in south-west London and moved 60 miles north.
Yet by the age of 20 they have been sliding closer to footballing irrelevance, clinging to memories of a season in the Championship and the days when teenage midfielder Dele Alli had Premier League scouts swooping for tickets – and that is arguably worse.
MK Dons have been controversial since their creation, when the FA allowed then-ailing Wimbledon to be carved out of its south-west London heartland and moved 60 miles north.
Under ambitious owner Pete Winkelman, they had plans for promotion to the Premier League.
But 20 years after their creation, MK Dons find themselves languishing in League Two.
They beat Walsall on Saturday to move away from the bottom of League Two, with just 6,547 spectators inside a fabulous 30,000-capacity stadium in a city with a population of over 287,000 and rising rapidly.
This was not in the master plan devised by Pete Winkelman when he bypassed the football pyramid and brought professional football to his adopted home without the drawbacks of winning promotion.
Winkelman set out to reach the Premier League, recognising he had to win hearts and minds.
It promised attractive football, youth development and strong community ties. In theory, those founding principles have largely remained true.
Head coach Mike Williamson is committed to a pure passing style, but in practice it has been much more difficult since relegation from the Championship in 2016.
Winkelman’s Dons lost their way. Playoff failures failed to conceal a downward spiral, while the club’s reputation in the community was damaged by a long-running dispute between the MK Dons Sport Educational Trust and MK United, one of the city’s largest grassroots clubs, with 18 youth and adult football teams.
The independent charity Dons SET, affiliated with the football club and linked to the board, threatened grassroots volunteers with private legal action over what it claimed were unpaid fees for pitches they managed on behalf of the council. These fees are the subject of fierce controversy. In reality, they are the difference between the prices recommended by the Football Foundation for the community facilities in question and the inflated prices charged by Dons SET on behalf of the council.
Fans cling to the good times of a Championship season and a young Dele Alli (left)
The club is at a crossroads, with Fahad Al Ghanim taking control from Winkelman last month.
The result of this is that MK United have been banned from renting any municipal grounds run by the Dons SET for months.
On a broader level, this is indicative of the attitude of modern professional football towards grassroots football, which is in a state of serious neglect and survives on the goodwill of volunteers. On a micro level, this reflects poorly on MK Dons.
Winkelman sold the club last month and accepted defeat. Even with his passion and his powers of persuasion, the dream of reaching the Premier League is more fanciful than ever.
The club that many wish had never existed is at a crossroads. Its new chairman, Fahad Al Ghanim, head of a Kuwaiti consortium, is an Arsenal fan who owns a house in Milton Keynes and has bought the club, the stadium, the arena next door and the car park company.
Al Ghanim rented a corporate box to watch the Dons last season and following the takeover his agent Moath Al Manayes told fans the ambition remained to reach the Premier League, albeit through sensible investment. Al Manayes promised it would not be a “playground for billionaires”.
On Saturday they visit AFC Wimbledon and the animosity is set to be as intense as it always is when the teams meet. It is a unique rivalry, one that sometimes has an unpleasant edge.
Boss Mike Williamson is committed to a pure passing style, but things have not been straightforward
They are due to renew hostilities with arch-rivals AFC Wimbledon on Saturday afternoon.
Both clubs were fined after a mass confrontation at Plough Lane last season, which was sparked when Ronan Curtis won the match for the home side in the last minute and provoked the visiting fans.
Wimbledon’s Harry Pell was also banned and fined for kicking the ball towards MK Dons fans during the warm-up.
While in some parts of the country intense hatred is turning into indifference, nothing is going to change in SW17.
FIVE THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK…
Kane still has a lot to give before reaching his century
Harry Kane will become the tenth man to reach 100 caps when he leads England against Finland tomorrow.
He has done it in a decade, with 66 goals along the way. Kane should have scored with a header in the first half against Ireland, but he looked to be in fine form.
Impatience can be a concern when a great player with a long career reaches this stage of his career, but Kane is only 31.
Viable alternatives are few and far between, and with Ivan Toney’s departure to Saudi Arabia, Kane should not be dismissed from the English scene prematurely.
Robert Lewandoski (36), Edin Dzeko (38) and Cristiano Ronaldo (39) scored during this international break.
Harry Kane is set to win his 100th cap for England in their Nations League clash against Finland
Non-league team scores goal of the week
Two classy goals to enjoy from Jack Grealish and Declan Rice in Dublin, but the goal of the week belongs to Danny Cashman.
On the counter-attack, he dribbled from box to box and scored twice for Worthing against Boreham Wood in the National League South.
Worrying signs for Morecambe
Full marks for consistency, but no points and no goals yet for Morecambe, who have lost their first five League Two games in binary fashion: five defeats, all 1-0.
The club have defied gravity since promotion to the EFL in 2007 but fell out of League One last season amid ongoing financial chaos and ownership issues. It is a tall order for Derek Adams, now in his third spell as manager.
Things are not looking good for Derek Adams’ Morecambe after five defeats to start the season
Bristol Street Motors Trophy wins the love of Birmingham fans
The Bristol Street Motors Trophy is a strange competition, little loved by fans until they have to make faces with giant sponge fingers at Wembley.
With Sky Sports now showing all the games live, I was intrigued to see the attendance in the early hours of the morning. Some games saw fewer than a thousand people, but the most striking was the 9,752 people who turned up to watch Walsall win on penalties in Birmingham.
It was the largest group stage crowd since the format was introduced in 2016-17.
It was a testament to the positivity under new ownership at St Andrew’s and the first derby between the clubs in 23 years.
There is a sense of positivity in Birmingham under boss Chris Davies and ambitious owners.
We have come a long way since San Marino’s last victory
All the excitement surrounding San Marino’s first win in over 20 years made me wonder what might have changed since they last beat Liechtenstein. In April 2004, José Mourinho was still at Porto and Arsenal were at the end of their Invincibles season.
Charlton, Bolton and Birmingham were all in the Premier League’s top 10.
Wimbledon was played in Milton Keynes, but MK Dons did not exist.
