Erik Samuelson is hoping to have another happy memory to put in his AFC Wimbledon treasure chest.

The Dons chief executive was in bullish mood when he considered the implications of reaching League One, with a snipe at those who said it could not be done.

However, as a fan he is looking forward to the League Two play-off final with fingers crossed that it is the Dons who come out on top.

He said: “It’s great that the fans can go to Wembley and see their team in the final – they can enjoy the success - of course you cannot truly enjoy it unless you win - but the day will go down in the treasure chest of memories.

“It’s about adding to the collective memory of what a great success this club has been since it started.”

He added: “I was talking to the chief executive of another club who have been to the play-off finals before, and he was talking about the things you need to do.

“And I was thinking ‘Blimey, he is talking about us!’”

AFC Wimbledon’s journey to the brink of the third tier of league football would not have happened if they had listened to the nay-sayers in 2002.

But listen they did not, and Samuelson turned to literature to capture the mood at the Cherry Red Record stadium.

He said: “I read a quote in a paper that appealed to me and took me back to when we started.

“It said: ‘People who say things cannot be done, should stop interrupting people who are actually doing it’.

“That sums it up.”

He added: “The FA said we would not be in the wider interests of football, now look at us.

“This is a further vindication of the decision we made to ignore the ludicrous decision to allow the move to Milton Keynes, and get on with having a proper community-based football club.

“I don’t want to make it about MK Dons, I don’t want them to get any publicity on the back of our success, but it just shows that fans and community-based football clubs are important and can be successful.”

While not wanting to tempt fate, Samuelson is licking his lips at the long list of potential League One opponents.

He said: “We could be playing Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United in a league game.

“I had the same feeling when we were in the Conference National and we were playing what I consider proper teams like Luton Town, Wrexham and Mansfield Town, and you ask yourself ‘What are we doing here?’.

“This is the same feeling, but with knobs on.”