FLAMBOYANT owner Pete Winkelman had a ten-year plan to take the MK Dons to the Premier League.

Barring the greatest of late escapes, they will kick off next season where they were a decade ago – back in the basement division.

Sunday’s sacking of rookie boss Dan Micciche, after just three months in the job, was the final, desperate throw of the dice at a club most had expected to be challenging at the top end of the table not slipping out the trap door.

Six points off safety, even a win at Valley Parade tonight may not prove enough if other results at the bottom do not fall into line.

Defender George Williams said: “We’ll keep fighting until it’s proven we’re down.

“We have to go to Bradford and win. There’s no other choice.

“We’re all hurting as you can imagine. All we can do is go there and do our best.”

Winkelman acted in the wake of the weekend’s 4-0 thumping at Southend, their worst performance of a wretched campaign.

It was the fourth successive defeat for the Dons and proved the end for Micciche after only 15 games in charge.

He had briefly steered their heads above water last month when three wins in four took the Dons out of the bottom four.

But the current slump has effectively killed hope of pulling clear and Micciche, who alienated fans after recently criticising them for publicising keeper Lee Nicholls’ season-ending injury on Twitter, paid the price after the Roots Hall flop.

Experienced number two Keith Millen will take charge for the remaining three games although the usual suspects head the list of possible successors in the summer.

Uwe Rosler, John Sheridan and Steve Cotterill are the names already being mooted for the task of resurrecting Winkelman’s dream.

Micciche, famous for coaching Dele Alli from the age of 10, was not helped by injuries to key players. But his team averaged less than a goal a game after failing to land another striker during the January transfer window.