The 2009–10 season was

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

' sixth season in their existence as a professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, and their second consecutive season competing in

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. As well as competing in League One, the club also participated in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

League Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

. The season covers the period from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010.

Season overview

It was manager

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, star ...

's single season in charge of the club during his second spell as manager. He had replaced former manager,

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chelse ...

who had moved to take over the manager's role at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. Ince resigned in April 2010 blaming proposed budget cuts as a reason for his departure. Ince's assistant manager was

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

who would go on to replace him as manager in May 2010. Top scorer for the season was Welsh striker,

Jermaine Easter Jermaine Maurice Easter (born 15 January 1982 in Cardiff) is a former Welsh international footballer who played as a striker. Club career Easter started his career as a trainee at Wolverhampton Wanderers, before being released, and joining Ha ...

who was Ince's second singing for the club, in July 2009. Also signed by Ince in July 2009 was former

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

goalkeeper,

Stuart Searle Stuart Andrew Searle (born 27 February 1979) is an English football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach of Chelsea Women. Club career Born in Wimbledon, London, Searle joined Premier Leag ...

who was signed to serve as back-up goalkeeper to

Willy Guéret Willy Julie Guéret (born 3 August 1973) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Career Guéret was born in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe, Saint-Claude, Guadeloup ...

. Milton Keynes Dons finished in 12th position in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, 20 points outside of the play-off positions. A long injury list and a poor disciplinary record undermined their chances of success. Although in fifth place and in the play-off places on Boxing Day, 2009, following a 4–1 win against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

, they lost their next game, away to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

, and did not regain a place in the play-off positions for the rest of the season. They fell away badly from the league leaders towards the end of the season, failing to win any of their last 11 games. A season total of 236,663 people watched the team play their 23 home League One games giving an average attendance of 10,290 per match, the 7th highest in the league. MK Dons reached the Third Round of the

before being beaten 2–1 in Milton Keynes by

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. Managed by

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

the creativity of

Chris Eagles Christopher Mark Eagles (born 19 November 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. After coming through the youth system at Watford, he began his professional career with Manchester United, but was unable to b ...

and the thrust in attack of Steven Fletcher were prominent features of the game. A goal from Fletcher and a penalty by

Graham Alexander Graham Alexander (born 10 October 1971) is a professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell. In a lengthy playing career, Alexander represented Scunthorpe United, Luton ...

won the match with a single goal from MK Dons' Dean Morgan in response. They played only in the First Round of the

before being eliminated 1–4 by

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. The defeat was manager Ince's first since returning to the club. The opening goal for Swindon was a lob of the goalkeeper,

by Jon-Paul McGovern. They reached the Southern Area Final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy before being beaten 4–1 on aggregate by

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Competitions

League One

Final table Source
Sky Sports
Matches

FA Cup

Matches

League Cup

Matches

League Trophy

Matches

Player details

:''List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition.'' :''Players with squad numbers struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.''

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

References

External links

*
Official Supporters Association websiteMK Dons news on MKWeb
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Milton Keynes Dons F.C. season Milton Keynes Dons F.C. seasons