Milton Keynes Dons: 'To be bigger, we need to be more important' - Winkelman
- Published
MK Dons' win over Sutton United in the Carabao Cup was their first victory of the season
MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman says the club have a renewed focus on the goal of promotion from League One in order to increase the fan base.
Winkelman wants to establish the club at a higher level following a solitary season in the Championship in 2015-16.
They finished third in the table last term, but were beaten by Wycombe over two legs in the play-off semi-finals.
"To be bigger, we need to be more important," Winkelman told BBC Three Counties Radio.
"When you talk about the big clubs (in League One), the Sheffield Wednesdays the Ipswichs, the Portsmouths, they've been in the Premier League, they've won the First Division, they've been there at different times in their history.
"We've yet to achieve that, and that's why we can't really be the big club that we want to be, until we do it. So the question is, how do we do it?"
Winkelman said one option would be to find a "friendly billionaire" to invest in or take over the club.
But he continued: "This is my baby and I won't give it up to people who are going to mess it up.
"I've watched all these people come and go, buy all these football clubs. They're not there now, I've outlasted them all."
After losing Scott Twine, Harry Darling and David Kasumu from last season's squad - all three moving to Championship clubs - the Dons have made a sluggish start to the new season.
They were beaten in their first two League One games before Tuesday's Carabao Cup win over Sutton United - all three decided by a single-goal margin.
"People will come to watch this club if we get in the Championship, and most people will come when it gets in the Premier League, it's only then in top-flight football that it gets interesting enough to get all those armchair fans into this stadium," said Winkelman.
"If we'd gone up, I don't think we'd have lost any of the players that we lost in the summer. People say 'well, for that money he'd still have gone'. No, no, he would have shown what he could do in this team in the Championship.
"If you can't go as fast as your players you accept that's going to happen.
"But overall, I think the club's in much better shape than it's been for ages because we're focusing on what we've got to do, get the club out of this division - and that's all that's important."