Now, I'm not one of those people that will always reference that MK Dons are a franchise, or just a rip off of Wimbledon because quite frankly, I couldn't care less about who they were, what they are and where they came from.

Last season saw MK Dons' first decent season since formation back in the 2003/4 season. Just like he had done at Brentford, Martin Allen turned a side that constantly fought against relegation to promotion challengers before Allen eventually fell at the semi final stages of the Playoffs for the third year in a row.

They made very few friends last season with their negative tactics and bruising style of play. However, just like Lincoln under Alexander it worked near enough perfectly and they were challenging for automatic promotion up until the last game of the season. They failed in that task but most thought they would get past Shrewsbury and go to the Playoff final, but the Shrews surprised everyone by reaching the Playoff final, beating MK Dons in the final game to the played at the National Hockey Stadium.

Since then Martin Allen has departed for Leicester and MK Dons' choice for a replacement was slightly odd. There seems to be this belief in football that because Macclesfield won their first of the season when he was in charge that Paul Ince is some kind of miracle worker. Would Macclesfield have won eventually without him, yes, it was just pure coincedence that their first win of the season came when he was in charge.

If Paul Ince was so good, why were Macclesfield still in danger of being relegated on the final day? It seems an odd choice to appoint Ince when there were far better managers available, such as Micky Adams.

Fortunately for Ince he has a very accomplished squad to work with. Somehow the Dons have managed to keep hold of Izale McLeod, and that is the main reason I'm predicting them for a Playoff Finish. His strike partner is likely to be Leon Knight, the former Chelsea star has scored goals where-ever he has been, with the exception of MK Dons for whom he only scored once in 18 games last season.

Man for man they do have one of the best squads in the division but the loss of Clive Platt could cost them a higher finishing position, and I personally don't believe that Paul Ince will come even close to guiding them to automatic promotion, which quite a lot of people in MK seem to have got themselves into thinking.

I was originally going to predict MK Dons to finish as Champions before Allen and Platt left, but now that they have gone I can't see MK Dons finishing anything higher than 7th.

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