MK Don @ MK Dons

I realised the other day that I'm an MK Don! Don't worry, I haven't suddenly and inexplicably switched my footballing allegiance to a club that didn't even exist eight years ago, and only came to be following the highly dubious process of taking over Wimbledon Football Club and relocating from South London to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. No, what I'm saying is that I'm a don as in the university lecturer definition of the word, and working for the Open University, I'm based in Milton Keynes. So that makes me an MK Don in a non-football sense.

Milton Keynes is an strange place. The pretty village of Milton Keynes dates back to the 11th century, but the much larger town that has been built around it started life as one of the post-war new towns in 1967. It's famous for, amongst other things, the grid system of its roads, its numerous roundabouts and  of course its concrete cows. I've only been into the town centre on a few occasions, and have found it a grey and characterless place. Milton Keynes' outer areas, though, are green, pleasant and extremely pedestrian and bicycle friendly, with fields, lakes, canals and a wide variety of leisure facilities.

University Roundabout, Milton Keynes

The Open University, often referred to simply as the OU, is based in the parish of Walton to the south of central Milton Keynes. Walton Hall, the old manor house, is now a part of the university campus and is used as office space, including the Vice-Chancellor's office.

Walton Hall

The large campus is similar in look to many of the newer universities in the UK, but as the OU specialises in distance learning approaches, the only students on campus are the 200 or so postgraduate research students. The OU was started in 1970 by Harold Wilson's Labour Government, and has gone from strength to strength ever since, although the current changes to the funding of higher education in England are going to present the University with some real challenges over the next few years. Much of the campus has the feel of the 1970s, although in recent years it has been enhanced by a number of more contemporary and innovative buildings.

Jenny Lee Building

Each building is named after somebody important in the history of the OU. I'm based in Stuart Hall Building, which makes me chuckle every time I enter. After swiping my security card to open the automatic doors, I have visions of  a Belgian dressed in an over-sized animal suit attached to a length of strong elastic hurtling down the stairs to the accompaniment of wheezy and infectious laughter or half expect to hear those dulcet Mancunian tones pronouncing "And here we are at the Coliseum for a match of titanic proportions ..." Sadly, though, the the building is named after Stuart Hall, the eminent cultural theorist and not the loquacious broadcaster. 

Stuart Hall Building

My footballing namesakes, the MK Dons, play at Stadium mk on the outskirts of town towards Bletchley surrounded by light industrial and retail estates. Charlton were the visitors yesterday for a 7:45pm kick off, which provided me with the rare opportunity of attending a midweek away game. Not much to look at from the outside, inside Stadium mk is a spacious and comfortable place to watch football. The concourses are wide and airy, the seats padded with plenty of leg room and excellent sight lines to the pitch. As yet no seats have been installed in the upper tier, exposing yet more unattractive concrete. Stadium mk was chosen as a venue for the 2018 World Cup, and the plan was to put the rest of the seats in by then, but of course the English Football Association were not prepared to pay the necessary backhanders to FIFA officials, and consequently failed to be awarded the tournament. Therefore when or indeed whether the stadium will be finished off is anyone's guess. Even with the current capacity of 22,000, the MK Dons struggle to fill even one third of the ground with their own fans, so unless the opposition are a team like Charlton who were backed about a thousand noisy supporters last night, the ground must feel very empty and lacking in atmosphere.

Inside Stadium MK. It wasn't much fuller after kick off.

Charlton approached the game as league leaders and unbeaten in their first nine games of the season. MK Dons were only a few points behind, however, and were easily the better team in the first half playing some lively, attractive football. MK went ahead in the 21st minute thanks to a penalty awarded  for a rash challenge by Chris Solly on Dean Lewington. I was sitting behind the goal not far from the incident, and at the time I was convinced that there was little wrong with Solly's challenge and that the award of a penalty was harsh in the extreme. I must have been at just the wrong angle, because having seen the television replay there can be absolutely no doubt that the ref was correct.

A scramble in the box as Charlton press for an equaliser.

After the break, Charlton were much improved and the game developed into an exciting end to end affair. An equaliser seemed to be coming, but almost as likely was that Mk would equalise at the other end. On 75 minutes a superb spin by substitute Danny Green left his marker for dead and provided the time and space for the Charlton winger to whip in an inch perfect cross for another substitute, Yann Kermorgant, to latch onto with a powerful header that found its way into the net via the post and the motionless goalkeeper's leg. The travelling fans, myself included, erupted with joy. Further chances were spurned at either end before the final whistle, a draw probably the right result. Two good teams had produced an entertaining game, with fans of both seeming in very good heart as they started to make their way home.

The Charlton players thank the fans for their support.

A day in Milton Keynes that had combined business with pleasure was nearly at an end. Forty minutes later I was back home in St Albans after smoothly negotiating a succession of roundabouts and the relatively uncongested M1.