Manager Karl Robinson has called upon the fans and the players to stick together as his MK Dons side look to return to form.
The Dons slipped 12 points adrift of the play-off places on Tuesday night following a 3-0 defeat to Carlisle United; a defeat which came just 24 hours after reigning Player of the Year Shaun Williams left to join Millwall for an undisclosed fee.
And although Robinson admits he’s disappointed with the recent results and performances, the Dons boss has urged everyone to come together, as well as moving to clarify his own position as manger.
Speaking exclusively to MK Dons Player on Monday morning, Robinson said: “I’m obviously disappointed with (the results) and losing Dale Jennings, Shauny and Patrick in the last month - it has been a blow to us all.
“But football clubs only succeed through the drive and determination of the owner, the manger, the players and the fans and without any of them components, you’ll be a lot weaker. We’ve got to stick together at these times.
“We’re 10th in the League, we’re probably still above where our salary is, we’ve just set such high standards of ourselves. We have good, good players here, we just didn’t play well the last two games.
“We’re not a poor side, we’ve just have one or two bad games and I think it’s time for people to starting sticking together and moving forward because there’s only one way you’ll move forward and that’s through togetherness.
“Some people say I’ll be packing in but I can assure the first question the Chairman asked me (in our meeting on Wednesday) was ‘do you want to be here?’ and my answer was ‘100 percent’. That doesn’t change whether we’re winning or losing games because my passion for this Football Club goes beyond being a manager.
“I still don’t want to write this year off and I still think we can be competitive and have some memorable moments. Is it disappointing to see us where we are? Of course it is, but my passion is still to stay at this Football Club. I’m not going to walk away through being frustrated.”
Eyebrows were raised on Monday afternoon when it was confirmed defender Williams was join Millwall after two-and-a-half seasons at stadiummk but Robinson also clarified that it was the players decision to leave and not the Football Club’s.
He added: “It’s not a deal that we wanted to do but the player wanted to go to Millwall, it’s as simple as that. He wanted to go and play in the Championship and you can’t knock him for that, he wants to play at that level.
“He felt that this year wasn’t the year for us so we would have been 28 or 29 by the time he could reach that level and he may have felt that was too late for him to develop. It was the same with Gary MacKenzie.
“The Chairman has said I can use all of Shauny’s money to try and do what I want to do. We had a really good meeting (on Wednesday) and off the back of that I’ve put bids in for two players, for permanents and they’re two players of quality and note. I’d like to think I can get two more loan players in as well.”