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Leeds United v MK Dons: New boss has point to prove
MK Dons have confirmed that their first-team squad will be in the hands of assistant boss Karl Robinson at Leeds United on Saturday with Paul Ince's reign as manager effectively at an end.
Last season's play-off semi-finalists are in a state of flux ahead of a game at Elland Road which is crucial for Leeds and could leave United on the verge of automatic promotion to the Championship.
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Ince resigned as Dons manager last week and will step down from his post formally at the end of the season, but his tenure is all but over already with the former Manchester United midfielder one match into a five-game touchline ban.
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He did not attend Saturday's home defeat to Wycombe and it is unlikely he will be present for United's penultimate home game of the season.
Robinson is understood to have taken training this week and will be responsible for selecting the line-up against Leeds.
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The meeting between United and MK Dons will have a heavy bearing on the upper reaches of League One but, in contrast to pre-season expectations of Ince's squad, they will play no part in the play-offs.
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The club were dropped from the fight for automatic promotion many weeks ago and conceded defeat in the race for a top-six finish last week.
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The stakes for Leeds are monumental in comparison, and Simon Grayson's team are seeking immediate respite after a sorry defeat at Gillingham on Saturday.
They will host a shadow of the club who came within two points of finishing second in League One 12 months ago and, in the absence of
Ince last weekend, MK Dons suffered at the hands of a resurgent Wycombe side, losing to a goal from Kevin Betsy five minutes into injury-time.
A Dons spokesman said: "Paul is technically in charge of the team until the end of the season but, given that he is currently serving a touchline ban, our assistant manager Karl Robinson will be taking the team on Saturday."
Leeds and MK Dons contested a fractious league game in September, settled by a header from Robert Snodgrass in injury-time, but the competitive undercurrent created by their respective ambitions could be dampened this weekend.
The Dons completed seven games without a victory prior to Ince's resignation on Friday – a decision which appears to have come amid the threat of a reduced playing budget next season – and they were ruled out of the play-offs mathematically by a goalless draw at Oldham Athletic eight days ago.
Ince's absence will not be the only difference identified by Simon Grayson as he reviews the team his players faced in September and analyses Robinson's probable line-up.
Winger Jason Puncheon, who was sent off for a two-footed foul on Michael Doyle during the last meeting between the clubs, left to join Southampton in February, depriving Ince of one of his main assets.
Jemal Johnson, another attack-minded player who spent time with Leeds in 2007, is on loan at relegated Stockport and has been since January.
The squad left to Robinson has remnants of that which finished third in League One last season but the club have failed to maintain the progress made under Robert Di Matteo, the manager they lost to West Bromwich Albion during the summer.
Di Matteo replaced Ince in 2008 after the ex-England international left for a short and unsuccessful period in charge of top-flight Blackburn Rovers, soon after guiding MK Dons to the League Two title.
The club are not expected to rush into a new appointment with their season over in a competitive sense.
Chairman Pete Winkelman said: "On this occasion we have time on our side and we can consider the best road forward in what is undoubtedly the most important appointment at the football club.
"I'm a great admirer of Paul and we both felt it was unfinished business (when he came back to the club last summer). Someone described it to me as being like a love affair you go back to, remembering the great times you enjoyed together, yet you can't quite recreate that moment again."
Robinson might attempt to stake a claim to the vacant managerial post at stadium:mk and could be seriously considered by Winkelman if the club's results improve during their last three games of the season. He has no motivation for allowing an easy victory to drop into United's lap on Saturday.
Robinson said: "I'm employed by the football club for 18 more months and I've got a job to do.
"You don't know what's around the corner. I don't know what my job role will be and I don't know who is coming in. I'm just going to make sure I do my job."
Leeds are under pressure to deliver a suitable response to their chaotic defeat at Gillingham, and they will carry the expectation of a tense crowd at Elland Road.
Grayson's squad may require a maximum return of nine points from their last three games to be certain of automatic promotion, a prize which has been in their hands for most of the season but could still be stolen from them in the next fortnight. They left the Priestfield stadium last weekend with a slight doubt over the fitness of Luciano Becchio, but the striker should be fit to start, seven days after scoring his 16th goal of the season.
A raft of first-team players were involved in last night's reserve fixture at home to Middlesbrough, reminding Grayson of the alternatives available to him in the wake of a poor result in Kent, and Bradley Johnson is back in contention after his two-match suspension.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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