Milton Keynes Dons Football Club is an English association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire that has competed in the English Football League (Championship, League One and League Two, the second, third and fourth tiers in English football respectively) since the team was founded. The club found itself in League One after Wimbledon F.C. relocated to Milton Keynes in 2003. [1] The club gave back Wimbledon's trophies to the London Borough of Merton in 2007, and since then, officially, the club is considered to have been founded in 2004. The MK Dons currently compete in League One as of the 2019–20 season. [2]
The Dons record against each club faced in league competition is summarised below. The team's first league match was contested with Barnsley in the opening game of the 2004–05 Football League One season. [3] They met their 89th and most recent different league opponent, Burton Albion, for the first time in the 2019–20 EFL League One season. [4] The teams that the MK Dons have met most in league competition are Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town and Walsall, against whom they have contested 24 league matches. The team has won 13 matches against Oldham, the most they have won against any team. [5] Nine of the matches against Walsall have ended in a draw, the most draws registered by the club. Peterborough United have defeated the MK Dons eleven times each which is the most the MK Dons have lost against any team.
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 EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 2004, following Wimbledon F.C.'s controversial relocation to Milton Keynes from south London, when it adopted its present name, badge and home colours.
Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League Two side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National League South side Milton Keynes Dons Women. In 2022, the stadium hosted several matches during the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.
Cardiff City Football Club is a professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded in 1899, the club competed in local amateur leagues before turning professional in 1910, moving into the English football league system by joining the Southern Football League. Ten years later, they were elected into the Second Division of the Football League, winning promotion to the First Division in their first season. They achieved their highest ever position during the 1923–24 season, finishing in second place of the First Division but lost the league title on goal average to Huddersfield Town. They were relegated from the First Division in 1929. Since then, they have spent a further nine seasons in the top tier; the most recent return was a one-year spell in the 2018–19 season.
Benjamin Neil Reeves is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for League Two club Gillingham. Born in England, he has been capped twice for the Northern Ireland national team.
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Dean Scott Lewington is an English professional footballer and coach who plays as a left-back, as well as a centre-back for EFL League Two club Milton Keynes Dons, where he is club captain. He has held coaching roles at the club, and briefly became interim head coach of the club in August 2021.
Arsenal Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Holloway, London. The club was formed in Woolwich in 1886 as Royal Arsenal before it was renamed Woolwich Arsenal in 1893. They became the first southern member admitted into the Football League in 1893, having spent their first four seasons solely participating in cup tournaments and friendlies. The club's name was shortened to Arsenal in 1914, a year after moving to Highbury. In spite of finishing fifth in the Second Division in 1915, Arsenal rejoined the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur when football resumed after the First World War. Since that time, they have not fallen below the first tier of the English football league system and hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the top flight. The club remained in the Football League until 1992, when its First Division was superseded as English football's top level by the newly formed Premier League, of which they were an inaugural member. In 2003–04, Arsenal completed a league season without a single defeat, something achieved only once before in English football, by Preston North End in 1888–89.
The 2014–15 season was Milton Keynes Dons' eleventh season in their existence as a professional association football club, and their seventh consecutive season competing in Football League One.
The 2016–17 season was Milton Keynes Dons' 13th season in their existence, and was their first season back in League One, the third level of English football, following relegation from the Championship the previous season.
The rivalry between AFC Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons arose from the formation of both clubs due to the relocation of Wimbledon F.C. to Milton Keynes. For many years the two clubs played at different levels of English football, with the first competitive fixture between them taking place on 2 December 2012 - a second round FA Cup tie in which the two clubs were drawn against one another.
The 2017–18 season was Milton Keynes Dons' 14th season in their existence, and their second consecutive season in League One, the third tier of English football. Along with competing in League One, the club also competed in the FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.
The 2018–19 EFL Trophy, known as the Checkatrade Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 37th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in League One and League Two of the English football system, and also including 16 Premier League and Championship "Academy teams" with Category One status.
The 2019–20 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 38th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in League One and League Two of the English football system, and also including 16 Premier League and Championship "Academy teams" with Category One status. Due to their financial crisis, Bury were expelled from the EFL and automatically eliminated from the competition as well.
The 2020–21 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy before 28 October 2020 and later the Papa John's Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 39th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in League One and League Two of the English football system, and also including 16 Premier League and Championship "Academy teams" with Category One status.
The 2021–22 EFL Trophy, known as the Papa Johns Trophy for sponsorship reasons, the 40th season in the history of the competition, was a knock-out tournament for clubs in EFL League One and League Two, the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system, as well as the "Academy teams" of 16 Premier League clubs with Category One status.
Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional association football club based in Selhurst, South London, England. Founded in 1905, the club first played in the Southern League, and competed in this league for eleven seasons before being elected to play in the Football League in 1920 as members of the Third Division. Palace won the Third Division in their first season immediately gaining promotion to the Second Division. The team achieved their highest league placing in the 1990–91 season when they finished in 3rd place of the First Division. In 1992 the 22 teams in the First Division broke away from the Football League to form the Premier League, Palace were relegated from the inaugural season in 20th place, level on points with 19th place Oldham Athletic but with an inferior goal difference. The team would rejoin the Premier League and be relegated after one season in 1994, 1997 and 2004. They won the 2013 Football League Championship play-off final to once again be promoted into the Premier League where they currently compete.
Port Vale Football Club, an English association football club based in the town of Burslem, in Stoke-on-Trent, was founded in the late 1870s. In the club's early history, there was no league football, so matches were arranged on an occasional basis, supplemented by cup competitions organised at both local and national level. The club changed its name to Burslem Port Vale in 1884. In 1888, Burslem Port Vale joined the Combination, a league set up to provide organised football for those clubs not invited to join the Football League which was to start the same year. However, the Combination was not well organised, and folded in April 1889 with many fixtures still outstanding. Burslem Port Vale were founder members of the Midland League in 1890, and two years later were elected to the newly formed Second Division of the Football League. They failed re-election in 1896 and spent two seasons in the Midland League, before winning re-election back into the Football League Second Division. However they continued to struggle and folded in 1907. At this stage, North Staffordshire Church League champions Cobridge Church sought permission from the Football Association to change the club's name to Port Vale and bought the old club's ground. This was the start of a 12-year process that saw the newly formed club work its way through the North Staffordshire Federation League, North Staffordshire & District League and The Central League, to secure election into the Football League in October 1919. The club have remained in the Football League since that time, winning the Third Division North in 1929–30 and 1953–54 seasons and the Fourth Division title in 1958–59.