Coach and skipper say the players are prepared as new campaign dawns.
MK Dons head coach Paul Warne has said he won’t be able to eat before this Saturday’s football season opener against Oldham Athletic. But he adds he is not feeling anxious about the task facing his rebuilt Dons team
Last Saturday and following a run of pre-season friendly matches that ended in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Stevenage FC, Warne said that ‘50% of our game wasn’t good enough’.
But now, as this Saturday afternoon’s kick-off approaches, the manager has said that his team have ‘been able to address problems’ which has put him in a more relaxed and confident mood.
“Straight after a game I am always a bit emotional,” said Warne. “I was disappointed with parts of our game at Stevenage.
“But I was pleased that I was disappointed, because it enables us as teachers and coaches to say, ‘this is what’s wrong and this is the outcome’ and ‘if you don’t do this you are going to lose football matches’.
“We have been able to address problems and I think we are in a good shape, the lads understand the messaging.”
Pre-match nerves have not set in for the experienced coach who played nearly 500 professional games and who has previously managed Rotherham United and Derby County.
“I haven’t got any pre-season anxiety yet, which is good,” said the 52-year-old. “That’s not an arrogant thing to say. I just think in previous seasons I have beaten myself up quite a lot so I have decided to be a bit nicer to myself.
“When I wake up Saturday I will have that feeling that I can’t eat, which I always get, but I think the joy of getting older is that you just appreciate what you do a bit more.
“Maybe in previous years I have taken it for granted or didn’t appreciate it for what it was but this is a really good opportunity for this club to try to get promotion and I have got to try to look forward to it.
“I am not going to get too down or too up; I am just going to enjoy it for what it is. And if that helps the players a bit then great. If we hadn’t signed the players that we have, I would have been a bit more anxious but I get to watch the lads daily and they are in a really good place.”
His positivity was echoed by club captain Alex Gilbey, who has played 180 games for the Dons over two terms at Stadium MK.
“It feels different this time, really exciting,” said Gilbey. “The lads are just counting down the minutes (to kick-off). When you are playing with your mates everything is so much easier. Everyone’s got a spring in their step. And if you haven’t it gets spotted quickly and the lads pick you up.”
He says that promotion is what the club is set up for this season ‘100%’ and adds that the standard of new signings, including forwards Aaron Collins, Nathanial Mendez-Laing and Callum Paterson, demonstrates the club’s ambitions this year.
“You bring players of that calibre in to win the league and then go again, be relentless,” he said. “That’s one thing the gaffer said, it’s to be relentless in everything we do.”
The former Wigan and Charlton Athletic midfielder admits the club was in a dip last season and it was not a great experience, but he says all that has changed now and the players are ready for a far more successful campaign.
“The place was in a real bad spot last season, on and off the pitch; the players, the fans, nothing was together and that comes from ultimately the performance on the pitch. The changing room wasn’t the greatest place to be in. The mentality wasn’t what was expected.
“But fast forward all these months and look at what the gaffer’s done, the players he’s brought in and the feel-good factor he has created and I think it’s a completely different place.
“Promotion is the aim but if we get a medal round our neck come May I think everyone will be happy and we will have achieved our goal.”
