2009/10 to 2017/18

Milton Keynes Dons never reached the Premier League in the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18, spending one in the Championship and eight lower down. Their best finish was 23rd in the Championship, in 2015/16. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £0 in transfer fees and took in £3.1m, a net profit of £3.1m.

MK Dons spent exactly one season in the Championship during this period, 2015/16, and it did not go to plan. Twenty-third place and 39 points sent them back to League One at the first attempt.

The rest of the decade was spent in the third tier, where the club became known for bringing through young players. Sam Baldock left for West Ham in 2011, Brendan Galloway for Everton in 2014 and George Baldock for Sheffield United in 2017. Fees coming in were small and money going out was smaller still.

On 115.football the Dons are one of the more unusual starting points: in summer 2009 the club was only five years old. That is the appeal. There is no history to live up to and no old peak to chase, only the question of how far £900m and hindsight can take a club from League One.