Our new Friday columnist Marty Fullard has followed Dons since he was four years' old and was in the crowd when they paraded the FA Cup in 1988. Following the yellow and blue runs in his family - his dad has been a Womble since 1954, as was his late grandad, and the pair have season tickets for the Chemflow End.

Getting the personnel right has proved to be Neal Ardley’s specialty.

Bar a minority, it’s hard to recall too many so-called “errors of judgement” in the transfer market.

We have learned to trust our manager… since last Christmas anyway.

It’s clear that James Shea has a lot of work to do, and the fact that Ryan Clarke was brought in, and not a young keeper, underlines the fact that we need a safe pair of hands between the sticks on those gloomy January days when the referee seems against us.

So far he has impressed, and you get the impression that his experience could be worth a few points this year.

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Midfield has been a bone of contention for a while now: they have given the ball away too much and scored too few.

Reinforcing this area has been Ardley’s biggest job over the summer, and happily there have been few complaints about hopeful remedies Chris Whelpdale and Dean Parrett – the latter having found the net already.

We can’t rely on Lyle Taylor as much as we did last year, and while he will need decent service from the midfield, we also need Tom Elliot to start sharing the duty.

Pre-season is always harder for a new striker. There is pressure to score that first goal, and if you don’t find the net soon you quickly become a pariah.

Fortunately, new boy Dominic Poleon has tempered our expectations already by netting twice.

It remains to be seen whether he is worthy of a started XI place or as an impact sub.

Ardley found a working formula at the end of last season, and with personnel tweaks the same model should work again.

If Wimbledon can finish mid-table then it can be considered a success.

The key, though, is evolution. Not revolution.