MK Dons plan to hold talks with 43-year-old about managerial vacancy
According to The Sun (paper issue 18/12; page 62), MK Dons is keen to speak to former Wigan Athletic boss Leam Richardson about the Buckinghamshire manager’s vacancy.
The third-tier side are still looking for a new manager following the sacking of Liam Manning, who led his former team to the play-offs last season but fell at the penultimate hurdle against Wycombe Wanderers.
But instead of building on that over the summer, Stadium MK officials let go of three of their best assets with David Kasumu departing after his contract expired, Harry Darling making the move to reunite with Russell Martin and Scott Twine being sold to Burnley.
Quiz: Have any of these 25 ex-MK Dons players ever played for a London team?
It was a major blow to Manning, who hasn’t been able to lead his side to the heights they reached last season – and they’re currently locked in a relegation battle as their summer signings couldn’t fill the gap left by big departures.
They secured a 2-0 away win at Portsmouth yesterday and are now in a better position than yesterday’s start of the game, but they are still 22nd with the club still three points adrift of safety at this point located.
However, they are keen to hold talks with Richardson in their quest to get out of this mess and as a big boost for them, the 43-year-old is already open to a return to football following his departure from Wigan last month.
The judgment:
Richardson is fortunate to be out of work at the time – because he didn’t have much to do after the summer ended as another recently promoted side at Sunderland did a lot more in terms of big signings than they did in the previous window.
With the Black Cats strengthening significantly and some clubs set to be relegated before the start of the season are currently doing reasonably well, including Birmingham City and Reading, escaping relegation can be a huge challenge for them.
However, the Latics still had plenty of time to pull themselves out of relegation danger and that’s why Richardson will be frustrated that he wasn’t able to get them out of danger before the dismissal.
If he is to be appointed by MK Dons, the third-rate team will need to provide him with a decent amount of funds to spend over the next month to give him the best chance of keeping them afloat.
He may be a talented manager – but the 43-year-old needs to make his mark on the squad because that squad needs fresh blood and fresh votes – with Richardson being able to provide the latter himself.
