AFC Wimbledon rebuild may need another two transfer windows

Johnnie Jackson reckons the AFC Wimbledon rebuild could take another two transfer windows.

The Dons suffered their first relegation as a phoenix club last season, dropping out of League One on the back of a 27-game winless run.

There was a big turnover of players during the summer, with Luke McCormick, Jack Rudoni, Ben Heneghan, Nesta Guinness-Walker and Anthony Hartigan leaving.

Jackson replenished the squad with a mixture of youth and experience, bringing in Alex Pearce and Chris Gunter and also signing 23-year-old Josh Davison for a club-record fee from Charlton.

However, the Dons have yet to settle into life back in League Two, losing six of their first 12 games and only picking up three wins.

“People at the football club recognise that it needs a big rebuild,” Jackson told the South London Press. “We feel as though we’re putting a lot of the right things in place, but it’s going to take time.

“It’s going to probably take another window or two to get it exactly where you want – you’re not going just to change that overnight. We’re constantly working on that.

“We don’t want to talk about last year and what went on, but some of that stuff from last season resonates occasionally.

“We need to try and get that out of our game and our thinking and breed that winning culture.

“We don’t have as many wins and results as we would have liked, but the whole football club is moving in the right direction. We need to keep building on that, but at the same time, we have to keep putting wins and points on the board.

“It’s about getting it all coming together, which we feel we will.”

The target at the start of the season was promotion back to League One but the Dons are 17th in the League Two table, nine points off the play-offs. Their next four games are against sides who are all in the lower reaches.

“We know we haven’t had the start we wanted, but it is early in the season,” said Jackson.

“In our next four games, we have three at home, and we need to start nailing down some solid home form.”