Andrew Cullen is pleased MK Dons now have clarity on the 2019/20 season, with the focus now able to shift towards preparations for the 2020/21 campaign.
It was announced on Tuesday that the League One clubs had voted, by an overwhelming majority, to formally end the 2019/20 season, with placings to be decided on an unweighted points per game basis.
While there is still some uncertainty as to when the 2020/21 term will kick-off, the Dons do now know they won’t be forced back into action imminently to complete the 2019/20 campaign, while they also have confirmation of what division they will be playing in when football resumes.
“Up until now, it’s all been about dealing with this season and how we get through it,” Andrew Cullen said in his interview with iFollow MK Dons, where he covered all the fall-out from Tuesday’s decision. “Everyone has been itching to have some clarity.
“We were ready to come back [to complete the 2019/20 season] if that had been the decision – we had no problem with doing that, whatsoever.
“What was becoming increasingly clear, though, was that a number of clubs were going to suffer severe financial difficulty if they were to continue. We did our own calculations and, for us, it would have been several hundreds of thousands to continue. For a lot of clubs, it might have been a lot more.
“Having looked at all the clubs’ proposals, we didn’t feel comfortable voting against any of them because they all had various merits in them. What became clear that the overwhelming majority view was to end the season on a points per game basis. That was the one we voted, in the affirmative, to support.
“Coming in the afternoon was an overwhelming majority vote that the season should be curtailed. Because it was so overwhelming, it’s made it very clear what the clubs wanted to do, although, obviously, there will be a number of clubs who will be hugely disappointed.”
So what does that mean, now, for MK Dons?
“Our position in League One is now secure for next season,” Cullen confirmed. “We will kick-off the 2020/21 season, whenever that will be, in League One.
“For all clubs, now we know where we are, we can have talks with our out of contract players advising them on the different ways forward. After the 23 June, we can also start making contact with other players who become free agents as well.
“We have to be ahead of the game and make sure we can get a squad that is as competitive as possible so that we can go into next season with the mindset that we can compete and that we can have a really good year.”
