FEATURE: Where is every former MK Dons manager now?

It would be fair to that the managers who have managed MK Dons since their 2004 formation have had a mixed time of things in their careers since leaving Milton Keynes.

The track record of Paul Warne’s 14 predecessors as MK Dons’ permanent manager or head coach includes winning the Champions League, winning promotion to the Premier League, managing in Thailand or leaving management altogether.

While we are not looking into caretakers, here is what the managers who’ve managed MK Dons are now up to.

Stuart Murdoch

Murdoch’s only job as a senior manager was, it’s fair to say, chaos. Murdoch was in post when Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes in 2003 after a prior spell as caretaker, but a slow start to the 2004/05 season saw Murdoch fired in November 2004. The experience saw him revert to backroom roles, serving as a coach and scout at Bournemouth, Norwich, Millwall, Southampton and Gillingham, before becoming Fleetwood Town’s Director of Football. He was named the Cod Army’s Life Vice President in late 2024.

Danny Wilson

The first manager hired by MK Dons was an experienced option in Wilson, who had previously managed in the Premier League with Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday and was something of a coup when he signed up in December 2004 after resigning following play-off heartbreak with Bristol City the previous season. Wilson would be fired after the Dons’ 2006 relegation to League Two, before spells with Hartlepool, Swindon, Sheffield United, Barnsley again and Chesterfield. He hasn’t managed since leaving the Spireites in 2017, while he released his autobiography in 2022.

Martin Allen

Nicknamed “Mad Dog” for his playing style with QPR and West Ham in the 1980s, Allen arrived in Milton Keynes in 2006 after falling out with the board at then-League One Brentford. He spent just one season in MK, being the last manager at the National Hockey Stadium. He left for Leicester City, only to leave after just 4 games following a quickfire relationship breakdown with then-Foxes owner Milan Mandaric. Allen was a lower league managerial journeyman for years afterwards, including having 5 separate spells at Barnet, but he has not managed since leaving Chesterfield in 2018, and he has since focused on media work.

Paul Ince

Ince took charge of the Dons in two non-consecutive terms. The England international midfielder won a League Two and EFL Trophy double in 2007/08 in the Dons’ first season at Stadium MK, and after a brief spell in the Premier League with Blackburn, he returned to MK Dons for another single season stint in 2009/10. After leaving MK again, Ince had spells with Notts County and Blackpool, before turning up at Reading in 2022 a full 8 years after leaving the Tangerines. He has been out of management since leaving Reading near the end of the 2022/23 season, and has since done some media work.

Roberto di Matteo

Chelsea legend di Matteo had a great first season as a manager, finishing third with the Dons and narrowly missing out on promotion to the Championship in the 2008/09 season. He was poached by West Brom, where he won promotion from the Championship only to leave the Hawthorns in early 2011. The Italian then took charge of Chelsea on an interim basis in 2012 and pulling off a shock Champions League win along with winning the FA Cup. Chelsea made him permanent boss, only to sack him 6 months after their Champions League trophy win. di Matteo hasn’t managed since underwhelming stints at Schalke and Aston Villa, and was last seen starting a technical role in 2023 with South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Karl Robinson

It would be fair to say that Robinson has been a familiar face to MK Dons fans since leaving in 2016. The longest serving MK Dons boss, Robinson was in charge at Stadium MK for 6 years and was there for noteworthy moments like 2 play-off campaigns, the 2014 thrashing of Man United and the 2015 promotion, but he would leave after a slow start in 2016/17. Robinson then have a brief stint at Charlton, a longer spell at Oxford United, four games as an assistant to Sam Allardyce at Leeds United and is now in charge of the Dons’ League 2 rivals Salford City, who are currently vying for promotion via the play-offs. He is also sometimes seen at Stadium MK, including an appearance on radio commentary for the Dons’ FA Cup tie with Oxford in January.

Robbie Neilson

Neilson arrived in MK with a decent reputation for his work in Scotland with Hearts, whom he’d lead to promotion in his first season as a manager and then third in the Scottish Premiership the year before moving to Milton Keynes. But he couldn’t produce the same magic at Stadium MK, leaving with the team in early 2018 in the relegation zone. Neilson returned to Scotland with Dundee United, then returned to Hearts and had a spell in Florida with the Tampa Bay Rowdies. He now works in Belgium as assistant to former Bristol City and Sunderland boss Lee Johnson with Lommel SK, Manchester City’s Belgian satellite club.

Dan Micciche

The theory went after Neilson’s exit that a young coach with an experienced number 2 might be the way to go, echoing appointments the Dons have made on multiple occasions. It was more chaotic than hoped for with Micciche however, as whatever magic he showed at youth level didn’t quite accompany him to the senior game. He would ultimately be sacked with 3 games of the 2017/18 season remaining with the Dons all-but down. Since then, he has reverted to youth coaching, spending time in the youth set-ups at Arsenal and Everton, as well as a stint as an assistant manager at Crawley Town, before taking a Head of Academy position with Saudi club Al-Ahli in 2025.

Paul Tisdale

It would be safe to say Tisdale didn’t enjoy a glowing reference from fans of his most recent venture. Tisdale moved to Milton Keynes after 12 years at Exeter City, and the Ted Baker aficionado earned promotion in MK but would leave in November 2019 after a long winless run. Following stints at Bristol Rovers and Stevenage, Tisdale began work behind the scenes as a transfer consultant. This eventually lead him onto the radar of Celtic, who made him Head of Football Operations in late 2024. He left Celtic Park in January, seemingly taking the blame for the disastrous appointment of Wilfried Nancy.

Russell Martin

Like his Dons predecessor, Martin was recently chewed up and spat out by a member of the Old Firm. Martin’s first managerial role was the gig in Milton Keynes, which he walked out on in 2021 to move to Swansea. He jumped ship again in 2023 to take over at Southampton, where he would win promotion to the Premier League, but was sacked after dismal form in the top flight. Despite this, Martin would be the take over at Rangers last summer, only to get fired by the Glasgow giants a few months into the season after a bad start in the high pressure environment.

Liam Manning

It would be fair to say Manning’s first EFL gig went rather well, as he arrived in Milton Keynes from Lommel and nearly managed promotion on the first try. After leaving the Dons just before Christmas 2022, Manning had a brief spell at Oxford United before joining Bristol City, where he nearly managed promotion via the play-offs a year ago. Manning left the Robins for his hometown side Norwich, but left after failing to win any home matches, before a brief stint with Huddersfield. Manning missed the final 2 months of this season for compassionate reasons relating to the tragic loss of his son in 2024, and he will not return to the Yorkshire club for next season.

Mark Jackson

Jackson represented something of another leap of faith, with the former Leeds academy boss taking the reigns with the Dons in the relegation battle in his first managerial role. 6 wins in 25 games wouldn’t be enough to prevent the Dons’ 2023 relegation to League Two and he would duly leave. Jackson moved to Australia and got off to a flier, winning an A-League and AFC Cup double with the Central Coast Mariners. Jackson left Australia last October and duly took up a job with Buriram United in Thailand, winning the Thai League 1 this season.

Graham Alexander

After a couple of youthful bosses, MK Dons went for experience in summer 2023 to turn to Alexander. This wound up being an unhappy fit, however, as Alexander and the players struggled to gel and after just 16 games, the former Scotland international was shown the door. Alexander would land on his feet, taking the Bradford City job a few weeks later. Things have gone rather well for him there, winning promotion from League Two last season and reaching the League One play-offs this term, although they would ultimately lose their tie against Bolton Wanderers.

Mike Williamson

Williamson arrived in MK for his first EFL job with a decent reputation after impressing at Gateshead. But a series of defeats by 3+ goal margins undermined the Dons’ promotion push and a sense is there Williamson jumped before pushing when he moved to Carlisle in September 2024. That would be more of a disaster, however, with Williamson sacked after only 4 months. After a brief spell assisting Martin at Rangers, Williamson has returned to the North East, taking a job as Director of Performance with National League North side South Shields, who are managed by his former assistant Ian Watson.

Scott Lindsey

The first managerial appointment of the post-Pete Winkelman era had some logic to it. Four months earlier, Lindsey’s Crawley had demolished the Dons in the play-offs and hiring a man with a good reputation in League Two circles and a promotion on his CV seemed like a good idea. But after starting brightly with a run to the automatic promotion places, MK Dons’ form collapsed with a run of 2 wins in 16 seeing Lindsey dismissed. He duly returned to Crawley, ultimately too late to stop their relegation from League One last season. He was then sacked by Crawley in March as the Sussex club wound up in danger of going down again and is currently without a club.