Friendly whets Pete Winkelman appetite

MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman hopes the international friendly between Ghana and Latvia at Stadium MK is a sign of things to come.

More than 8,000 fans saw Ghana win 1-0 on Saturday.

Milton Keynes could host World Cup football if England's bid to host the 2018 event is successful.

Winkelman told BBC Three Counties Radio: "It was an amazing experience. It's just a tiny little taste of what a World Cup could be all about."

He added: "The colour, the spectacle, the minute you got anywhere near the stadium, today, you could tell there was something special was going on.

"And, as you got closer and closer, the atmosphere built up until, when you're inside the stadium, it was just a magnificent noise and colour, as I say, a real event.

"So I think the people who were here today have seen something a little bit special and certainly means the dream's intact."

Winkelman hopes Milton Keynes could accommodate many more if England host the 2018 finals.

He said: "I think we're getting better and better at it. I think every event you learn some more things. You can do things such as getting the anthems cleaner and all that sort of thing.

This not only gives us all a flavour and that little bit of experience, but for me it lights the blue touch paper of enthusiasm and of excitement

MK Dons chairman Pete Winkelman

"But overall I think the fact that we're able to host an event like this and to have such great feedback from the officials of both Ghana and Latvia about how well they've been looked after, how the staff treated them, how the people treated them when they met them around about the place.

"I think Milton Keynes put a good foot forward and I think we showed our credentials today.

"This not only gives us all a flavour and that little bit of experience, but for me it lights the blue touch paper of enthusiasm, of excitement, because it is something a little bit special, a senior international game.

"And you think what it will be like with five times the amount of people, and competition on the edge of it, as well, a spectacle that I can't really fully get my head around, we got a little taste of that today and it's something we're all going to be looking forward to."