MK Dons: Chairman Pete Winkelman says seeing the club relegated to League Two was 'devastating'

Pete Winkelman (standing) has been MK Dons chairman since the club was founded in 2004

MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman says he "blew it" in his efforts to keep the club in League One and will change his approach in hiring the next head coach.

The Dons were relegated back to League Two after failing to win their last game of the season against Burton.

The result saw head coach Mark Jackson sacked after less than five months in charge at Stadium MK.

"There is still fight in us - we may be down on the floor but we are getting up," Winkelman told BBC Three Counties.

Relegation to the fourth tier for the first time since their promotion season in 2018-19 capped a depressing campaign for the Dons, who came close to going up to the Championship last term before losing in the play-offs.

Needing to win their final game to guarantee survival, their draw against the Brewers was not good enough as Cambridge beat Forest Green to stay up at the Dons' expense.

"I blew it," Winkelman said. "Not only for myself and the money. I've blown it for our city and supporters.

"People don't want to hear 'oh you've taken responsibility again' but I have to and I have to do something about it."

Chairman 'so sorry' for relegation

Winkelman, 65, said there was "never a dull moment with this football club", adding he would give "anything" to have the "mid-table mediocrity" he said they had had for "two of the last 18 seasons".

"I'm devastated," he said. "There's multiple things that have gone wrong. I've grieved for a couple of days. Could I have done more to have stopped it? I've been asking myself that question all the time.

"Even in the last game, I thought we'd be okay. At the end of the game, it was like someone had gone.

"For that I'm so sorry. It makes it even more hurtful when you consider the money that's been spent - significantly more millions than we spent last year in a successful year.

"It's not good at all. I can't whitewash it. It's real and we've got to deal with it."

New head coach will be lower-risk option

Attention will now shift to finding Jackson's replacement and Winkelman is keen to move away from the recent trend of hiring inexperienced managers.

Former Leeds United coach Jackson was the fourth of the club's past seven head coaches to be given their first senior management job by Winkelman, following Karl Robinson, Dan Micciche, and Russell Martin.

"We will be going for a different sort of manager going forward," he said.

"As much as I love our reputation for young managers and risk taking, I think when people keep seeing us going backwards, they get a bit tired of all that."

Winkelman said he has to make the "right decision now" and take a "lot less risk" with the next appointment.

"I have to see a lot more people, I have to do much more due diligence because I'm going to have to own this decision."