Milton Keynes Dons head coach Graham Alexander has spoken of his desire to create an atmosphere within his squad and reward fan loyalty at Stadium MK this season.
The Dons began life back in League Two in promising style with a 5-3 victory over early promotion favourites Wrexham, and they face their very first home league fixture of the season when Tranmere Rovers travel to Milton Keynes this Saturday.
After making such an impressive start to the new campaign, Alexander is keen to create an atmosphere within his playing squad to help repay fans for their loyalty after what has been a difficult 12-month period for the club.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference this week, Alexander spoke about what that entails.
He commented: "I want us to create an atmosphere with the team that the supporters can hook into."
"It's a two-way street, the supporters can help us with the noise they create but also we have to give them something to create that."
"I would say it was the other way around at Wrexham. I was sat in the changing room while the lads were out warming up and all I could hear was our fans singing songs. I thought it was a home game, to be honest."
He continued: "Our changing room was right under our supporters and it was fantastic. When the first guy came in I was like, is that our lot out there? So, we used that as a little bit of inspiration for the players going out there."
"You can't let them down. They're here in brilliant numbers showing loyalty after a difficult time, we have to respond to that and give them to reward them for that support.
"Other times, it will be us that's triggering that, and that's what we have to do."
Speaking specifically about Stadium MK, he explained: "Here, because it's such a brilliant stadium but it's very big, we won't be able to fill it, certainly right now. We have to create an atmosphere within the team, as in attention and intensity. When we've done that, even in just the pre-season games, the supporters have responded to that in numbers behind us."
"So, we have to do that here, I know that's a fact. And that's what we're trying to do. We try and create an intensity in training, there's absolutely no-one there because it's training, but there has got to be an atmosphere, an intensity and a feeling, an emotion around how we play. That's what we want to bring here."
"I know, from listening to supporters and meeting them on occasion as I have done over the last month or so, that they want to get behind us. So, we have to reward that sort of loyalty again."
He added: "One game isn't enough, it's a great start against Wrexham, but if we can tap into that, it's a community that we want to bring together, as in this football community."
"The supporters, the fans, the players, the staff, everyone together. It was brilliant to be a part of that. Any player, staff member, support got a massive buzz from that last week, not just the result but actually the connection that we had together."
He concluded: "We need to work hard to continue that."
