FABULOUS BOY’S PAR
Winger celebrates going from Coventr y
IN the Champagne soaked aftermath of MK Dons’ promotion to the Championship, gaffer Karl Robinson told his players not to “go silly” on the liquor and soberly savour the memories of a lifetime. So did they listen?
“We were out straight after the game, then again on Monday,” laughs winger and freshlyanointed player of the year Carl Baker.
“It was a couple of days of heavy drinking, which none of us are used to, so I paid for it. It was my wife’s birthday and I spent all day Tuesday walking round shopping looking like a zombie. I felt awful, but I’m not complaining. It was all worth it.”
Blowout
Baker and his boys certainly earned their blowout after completing a run of nine wins from their final ten games to overhaul Preston on a dramatic final day.
Though 4-0 up against rockbottom Yeovil at half-time, the Dons needed relegation-haunted Colchester to do them a favour by taking points off a Preston side one point ahead and unbeaten in 18 matches.
An impossible task? Just tell George Moncur, whose goal eight minutes from time kept the U’s in League One, broke Preston hearts and sent the Dons into the Championship for the first time in their brief history.
“When the news came through, it was the biggest, loudest cheer I’ve heard since I joined the club,” says Baker, who arrived from Coventry in August.
“We were all buzzing on the pitch, and then ten minutes later there was another big, massive cheer. I looked over to our bench and I could see all our staff and subs arm in arm and jumping about. That was the first time I knew for sure that Preston had slipped up.
“Our injury time was three minutes but it felt like three hours. All our fans were hanging over the advertising boards, waiting to run on the pitch. When they got on, trust me to be on the far side – it took me about half an hour to get back to the dressing room so I missed most of the celebrations.
“But I don’t care about that. Lots of players go their whole career without experiencing a promotion and, at 32, I thought I’d be another one. I can even describe how good it felt and how happy I was to be on the pitch at that moment.”
For the Dons, it is the culmination of a quest that has twice ended in play-off failure. For Baker, it was the perfect response to Steven Pressley, the Coventry manager who sent him packing last summer.
“When he pulled me into his office and said I was no longer part of his plans, I was really shocked,” said the former Stockport man, who started out with Non-League side Southport.
“I’d been there for five years. I was the captain. I still had a year left on my contract. I’d scored 25 goals in two seasons, got loads more assists. It wasn’t like I’d let anyone down.
“He basically said ‘If you’re here, we’re happy to have you – but you aren’t going to get the regular football you’ve been used to’. If I’d been 22, I might have fought for my place. At 32, I had to go and when MK Dons showed an interest, it was perfect.
Brilliant
“To be fair to the Coventry fans, they were brilliant. Normally you get a bit of stick when you leave a club, but I didn’t get any.
“They were 100 per cent on my side and couldn’t believe I was going. They seemed as gutted as me. Even so, I left determined to prove a point to Coventry and the gaffer there that he’d made a big mistake and that I still had something to offer.
“This week I’ve won player of the year, scored my tenth of the season and got promoted to the Championship so I hope I’ve done that.”
Of course, Baker hasn’t done it alone. Skipper Dean Lewington – a Dons player since their controversial inception 11 years ago – has been his usual model sistency at the back.
Will Grigg’s 22 goals fil void left by departed Benik Afobe while Dele peerless performances in midfield have earned t year-old a £5m move to Sp
“Dele’s ridiculous, pro the best player I’ve ever with,” adds Baker.
“It’s scary because I don he even realises how good or how good he’ll becom