Away Days - MK Dons
First Impressions -- Around the ground -- The Game -- The Stand -- Overall -- Pictures
Fixture: MK Dons vs PNE
Competition: NPower League One
Ground: Stadium:MK
Date: Saturday 2nd March 2013
Kick off: 3pm
Final Result: 1-1 Hayhurst
Admittedly this wasn't ground I had down as a priority to do - solely because of my feelings and opinions of how this plastic club came about. But in the interests of 'doing the 92' I had to get this ground ticked off at somepoint.
The coach got to the ground in plenty of time and from what I had seen of Milton Keynes of the way there, I had a feeling I wouldn't be impressed and my feelings weren't wrong either!
The stadium is set round a retail park which certainly isn't a great thing for me and possibly the majority of fans, but with MK Dons being a 'plastic' club they perhaps suit their surroundings.
Since we arrived with over an hour until kick off, me and my brother had plenty of time to walk around the ground. As mentioned above, the ground is set in a retail park so not a great deal of things to admire and especially with a club with no history!
Our first glimpse of the ground was of the East Stand. Working had been ongoing to finish the stand off with largely black breeze block (albeit with a decent 'shiny' finish) and two continuing 'strips' of windows. Admittedly it looked quite smart and made a change from the usual steel cladding you see on most stands.
The away stand (North Stand) was largely the same but the West Stand was a lot different with this being the 'main stand' at the ground. The front of it is largely the Doubletree hotel which is built into the ground. It was smart looking but wasn't particularly 'imposing' and just gave the impression of a 'corporate' look.
There was obviously quite a few MK Dons fans round the ground but I couldn't help but think "how can you just suddenly start supporting a club like this?". Of course, it could be argued that its better than jumping on the Man Utd/Man City/Chelsea etc bandwagon, but how the club was formed and the fact they stole a league place still irks me.
Finally, we came round to the club shop. My dad had wanted a fridge magnet (surprise surprise!) but I wasn't too keen on handing MK Dons anymore money (I had already refused to buy a programme) - buying the ticket was more than enough for me, so my brother did the honours.
The ground does look smart and tidy and the brickwork is welcome change from the usual breezeblock/steel cladding but overall the stadium just lacks character and its surroundings just summed up 'plasticness' of the whole place.
The game was pretty dire an uninspring to be fair. North End started brightly and had a couple of good chances but thanks to some very sloppy defending, MK Dons took the lead even though it was slightly against the run of play.
North End soon got back into it with an equaliser from Will Hayhurst - a well deserved goal from someone who had been playing very well recently.
Sadly, that was it for the rest of the game. Neither side could break each other down aside from a couple of chances, and the game as a whole was devoid of any spark and creativity. A draw was certainly a fair result but neither set of fans could go home knowing they had been entertained.
The stand was quite smart from the outside albeit not spectacular. Inside, however, was very different from anything I had experienced before. For starters, the concourse was actually 'open' so you could view from the pitch - this would be handy when queing up for food before half time! (Its worth noting that I refused to give MK Dons anymore money as I mentioned earlier!).
With the stadium being multi-purpose (concerts/gigs etc) it quite obviously showed with the general layout of the place from the actual turnstiles to the concourse, seats etc. Not neccessarily a very bad thing but it just gave me the impression that I was in an 'arena' rather than a football ground.
The view from the stand was pretty decent although I felt I was sitting 'low down' due to the style/manufacture of the seating and the general rake of the stand.
As for accoustics, well it can be said that it is pretty hard to try and create an atmosphere due to being an empty top tier above and a high roof. That coupled with the rather 'plastic' home fans (not the best description) made for all the atmosphere of a morgue.
It wasn't the worst ground I have been to but it was far from the best. The ground as a whole is pretty smart and tidy and there's a few food features to it such as plenty of leg room, decent facilities etc but my overall impression, as already mentioned, was that I was in an arena rather than a football ground.
The match was nothing to shout about either - it was pretty tedious and uninspiring.
In the end, I was just glad to get another ground ticked off and got this one out of the way. MK Dons is not a club I'm particularly fond of!
Ratings
Appearance: 7/10
Game: 5/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Fans: 5/10
Away Stand: 7/10
Overall: 6/10
