MK Dons have confirmed that Paul Warne has been appointed as the League Two club’s new Head Coach.

Warne has joined MK Dons on a contract of undisclosed length that the club describe as a “long-term deal that will give him the security and support to develop an impactful culture shift at Stadium MK”.

He will take charge with immediate effect, starting with the Dons’ next match against Newport County on Good Friday.

The deal sees Warne become the successor to Scott Lindsey, who left MK Dons in early March after six months in charge. Ben Gladwin had taken interim charge of the Dons’ last nine matches following Lindsey’s departure on March 3rd.

Warne will be accompanied at Stadium MK by assistant manager Richie Barker, who worked with Warne at Rotherham and Derby. The move sees Barker return to MK Dons, having been an assistant to Karl Robinson between 2014 and 2016 at the club, and also taking caretaker charge for 8 games following Robinson’s departure.

In his first interview as MK Dons Head Coach, Warne told MK Dons’ official website that he was excited to get started with the project.

He said, “I’m over the moon to be joining MK Dons with Richard at such a pivotal moment in the club’s history. The potential of the team under the ownership of Fahad and the Board is truly limitless, and I’m extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to manage the side over the coming years.

“This is an amazing project, and we’re so excited to drive it forward. I can’t wait to get on the grass, we have some talented players in the squad who we’re really looking forward to working with. I’d like to thank Fahad, Neil and Liam for putting their faith in us and I can’t wait to meet the Dons’ supporters on Friday.”

Warne enjoyed a lengthy playing career in which he made over 500 competitive appearances for clubs including Wigan, Rotherham, Mansfield, Oldham and Yeovil, before retiring at Rotherham in the early 2010s.

After a spell as a coach in Rotherham’s first team set up, he became a first team boss for the first time at Rotherham in 2016, first as a caretaker and then as a full-time boss. He managed the Millers in a time as a yo-yo club, winning promotion from League One three times but also enduring three Championship relegations, while he also delivered an EFL Trophy in 2022.

Warne left Rotherham to take charge of Derby County in 2022, earning promotion from League One last season before leaving the Rams in February after a difficult patch.

The move sees him join an MK Dons side currently sat 19th in League Two and seeking to rebuild for next season.

MK Dons Chairman Fahad Al Ghanim hailed the move to bring in Warne.

He said, “Paul Warne is a phenomenal football manager and I’m absolutely delighted he’ll be joining us at MK Dons – he was our number one choice. Having met with him, I was extremely impressed, not only with his vision for the team but also with his character. I truly believe Paul was the best manager available to us and I’m thrilled to have secured his services at Stadium MK on a long-term deal.

“I’d like to congratulate Paul and thank him for his belief in the project and the fantastic opportunity we have at our club. It’s my hope we can now enter pre-season full of optimism while looking ahead to an exciting future with Paul at the helm.”

This was also echoed by MK Dons’ Sporting Director Liam Sweeting, who said, “This is, quite simply, a massive appointment for MK Dons.

“Paul is someone we’ve admired for a long time. We got to know him well during the 21/22 season when we competed with his Rotherham side, and we’ve followed his progress closely since then – particularly his continued success at Derby. Paul will undoubtedly help us develop further as a football club and play a key role in driving us forward on this journey under our new ownership group. We’ve seen first-hand what can happen when performance on the pitch connects with the people of Milton Keynes in the stands.

“We truly believe that, under Paul’s leadership, we can re-establish that connection – playing an exciting, attacking brand of football and building the right culture and environment to give our First Team squad the clarity they need to succeed. We’re also really pleased to welcome Richie Barker back to Stadium MK and look forward to working closely with both him and Paul in the years ahead.”

Red Bull saw both drivers take points at the Bahrain Grand Prix but had a race where they failed to challenge for podiums or the win.

Max Verstappen took 6th place, thanks in part to a last lap overtake on one time teammate Pierre Gasly, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished 9th, taking his first points since being promoted into the Red Bull senior team.

This was the first race of 2025 where both Red Bull drivers finished in a points position, but it provided little other consolation to Red Bull in a race where they struggle to keep pace with the McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes cars ahead.

With four races of the F1 season done, Red Bull see Verstappen sitting third in the Driver’s Championship. The Dutchman has 69 points after four races, 5 points behind second place Oscar Piastri and 8 behind early championship leader Lando Norris.

Tsunoda’s first points as a Red Bull driver means the Japanese driver now has 5 overall, with his two added to three points scored at Racing Bulls before his promotion last month. He sits 14th in the championship.

In the Constructor’s Championship, the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull team sit third with 71 points. They are 14 points above fourth place Ferrari, 22 behind second place Mercedes and 80 off early leaders McLaren.

Although Verstappen had won the previous round in Japan, Red Bull arrived expecting the Bahrain Grand Prix to be difficult and they started with an off-the-pace run in qualifying, with Verstappen starting 7th and Tsunoda 10th.

Verstappen was passed at the start by the fast-starting Williams of Carlos Sainz, but the Dutchman was able to pass his one-time Toro Rosso teammate a few laps into the race.

An early problem would beset the Red Bull operation, however, with a fault with the automated pit lane traffic light delaying both Verstappen and Tsunoda when they made early pit-stops.

The slow stop saw Verstappen get undercut by Esteban Ocon, while Tsunoda would overtaken by Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari after initially undercutting the 7-time champion.

Verstappen struggled on hard tyres after the stop, and after getting overtaken by Kimi Antonelli and then Hamilton, he was brought in for a second time, albeit not helped by a slow removal of the front right tyre that lead to another slow pit-stop.

Tsunoda, meanwhile, would soon be involved in pivotal action. A fight between him and Sainz in the opening sequence of corners at the start of lap 31 lead to debris being scattered across the track, largely from the side of Sainz’s Williams and culminated in the safety car being deployed.

Verstappen was 7th at the restart, and he was eventually able to clear Gasly’s Alpine with a move on the final lap to take sixth on the track. Meanwhile, Tsunoda would make a move on Jack Doohan, whose Alpine struggled with worn-out tyres, but the Japanese driver would have to settle for 9th after being unable to make a move on Ocon ahead.

The Red Bull team will be hoping for better next time around when they make a trip to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with round five of the season being the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Milton Keynes City Council have launched an initiative to warn parents of sub-standard toys for their children.

The Council’s Trading Standards team have warned of a shocking rise in unsafe toys on sale through online marketplaces is putting local children at risk, hence the launch of plans to raise awareness of this.

As part of a Toy Safety Matters initiative and in partnership with the British Toy and Hobby Association, the city’s Trading Standards team have been raising awareness about the dangers of toys that don’t meet UK standards. Toys bought from third-party sellers on major online marketplaces can be prone to serious safety failures.

Research from the British Toy and Hobby Association has found consistently high levels of illegal and unsafe toys being sold by third-party sellers operating through well-known online marketplaces. Their annual toy safety testing and investigations since 2018 have shown little improvement and their latest checks in 2024 showed 85% of the toys they purchased were not compliant with UK toy safety requirements putting children at risk of serious harm or injury.

The most common risks identified were around magnets, batteries, and other small parts that children could swallow, as well as cords and materials that could strangle a child.

Milton Keynes City Council’s Trading Standards team developed its Toy Safety Matters project to educate local parents and caregivers about these risks. Over the last month, Trading Standards officers have held 20 educational talks in libraries and family centres around the city and given advice to hundreds of local people. They’ve also created a short video explaining the dangers of unsafe toys and what to look out for in order to keep children safe.

The team’s advice include buying from trusted retailers and taking extra care if you buy from a third-party seller on an online marketplace. Unlike traditional retail outlets, online market places are not legally responsible for checking the safety of products sold by third parties. Read reviews to find out what other buyers thought, and search for any product recalls.

The group also advised parents to check toys have a UK address on packaging and a CE or UKCA mark this could indicate a UK based company. However, research that company carefully to ensure they are reputable and can be contacted in the event of a problem. If a seller isn’t based in the UK or Europe, don’t assume safety checks have been followed.

Cllr Mick Legg, Cabinet Member responsible for Trading Standards, said, “They also said to make sure that once you’ve bought a toy, check for any loose or broken parts, sharp edges, and small pieces like batteries or magnets that could be removed.

“Toy safety should never be taken for granted. With support from the British Toy and Hobby Association, we’ve been helping local families better understand the risks of unsafe toys so they can make informed decisions, especially when shopping online. The scale of unsafe toys being bought in the UK is shocking and it’s not worth taking a risk with children’s safety.”

To learn more about toy safety, visit www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/toy-safety-matters

Northampton Town picked up a point towards their survival bid after a 0-0 draw with play-off chasing Reading despite ending the game a man down.

Nesta Guinness-Walker was sent off in a clash against his former club, but the hosts were able to keep out a Royals side that began and ended the day sixth in the League One table.

With four games of the season to go, Northampton sit 19th in the League One table. They are two places and five points above the relegation zone, on a weekend that saw Burton Albion climb out of the bottom four and jump above a Bristol Rovers team that have now lost six straight games.

Having picked up a comfortable four goal victory over Peterborough in their last assignment, Northampton looked to pick up a first home win since late February as they welcomed play-off chasing Reading, who have been in fine form despite off-field drama regarding their ownership situation.

The hosts made a bright start at Sixfields, with Ben Perry hitting the side-netting before Dara Costelloe fired over.

Reading then had the best opportunities in the remainder of a tight first half, with Lee Burge saving well to keep out Charlie Savage’s deflected shot before the keeper kept out Jayden Wareham.

Northampton began the second half by creating a few opportunities, as Costelloe saw a curling effort just fly wide before Joel Pereira in the Reading goal thwarted Cameron McGeehan.

Pereira would later make another good stop to deny Northampton substitute Tyler Roberts, before the game then seemed to turn in Reading’s favour when Northampton had a man sent off.

With 13 minutes to go, former Reading defender Guinness-Walker was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Harvey Knibbs.

Reading missed the best opportunity for a winner after that moment as Savage side-footed the ball wide in the final moments after being found by Knibbs.

Having picked up a point from the contest, Northampton will face a big test in their next match when they travel to play promotion chasers Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Good Friday.