Mark Robinson watched last night’s superb victory for our Under-18s with great pride – and he is determined to bring those traits into the first-team environment.
The young Dons grafted away to upset the odds versus category one academy side Burnley, right-back Ben Mason summing up the effort with a never-say-die display down the wing at Plough Lane.
Our Head Coach said: “The academy was built upon a no excuse culture. People may call us idealists, but it’s better to be that than coming up with excuses, and that’s how the academy has been built: that you can achieve anything. No ifs or buts, no excuses, no deflection, and you saw that last night. We were playing against a category one academy again, and it wasn’t the first time.
“Our FA Youth Cup record must be up there with some huge clubs. I talk about mindsets, but they take time to change. The culture of the academy has always been to have no excuses and never deflect, no matter who you are playing. It probably hasn’t been the same here at first-team level. That takes time to change because people will straight away go back and say ‘he was at fault, or we blame the ref’, and all the other stuff that you have no control over. It basically has no real influence on the performance. It was great to watch last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“If you saw what Ben did to get a scholarship and the presentation he did, it’s a very different place. To earn scholarships the players go to Michael and present why they should be a scholar and why they should play for Wimbledon. That’s the culture that’s built there and they present their own personal plans and what they are going to do to get better. If you saw young Ben’s plan, it’s unbelievable and they are all the same. They have to be brought back into line with the values, but it’s exactly everything that you want at first-team level. It’s no excuse to go, ‘oh, that’s development’. Life is development, you never stop learning and you never stop getting better.”
Robbo was speaking in his first-team update ahead of Saturday's match versus Charlton. Click on the link below for team news, and more, in the build-up to the big game at Plough Lane.