Our new Monday columnist Edd Paul has been a Dons fan all his life, having first watched his heroes from the stands in 2000. For the past four seasons he has owned a season ticket, and he writes...

Around this time in 2006, AFC Wimbledon were gearing up for a third crack at the Ryman Premier.

At that point, a lot of us fans were all out of optimism - the supplies close to running dry thanks to two seasons of toiling away against teams like Fisher, Walton & Hersham and the two Ashfords.

Would we ever grace the promised lands of the Blue Square Bet South?

A decade on, things could not be more different.

In 2016/17, Kingsmeadow will be hosting such prestigious footballing names as Bolton, Sheffield United, Bradford...hell, even Walsall is an improvement on Banstead Athletic.

And I grew up near Walsall - nothing about that place is prestigious.

All because we are now in League One. League. One. As in, two leagues below the Premier League. The one below the Championship. Because we won the League Two play-offs.

No, it still hasn’t really sunk in yet, obviously, thanks for asking.

As has been a continuous trend in the short life of AFC Wimbledon, no-one knows what to expect.

We’ve signed some players; Ryan Clarke, a veteran keeper from Northampton; Dean Parrett and Chris Whelpdale from Stevenage; and Dominic Poleon from Oldham, whose last name is vaguely similar to a Pokémon (#relevant) so therefore he is my new favourite player.

We’ve also got new strips, which are blue and yellow and all kinds of lovely. That’s all the insight I can offer on that front, sorry.

There’s been the usual guesswork about how both ourselves and the new players will fare, but really - as ever - no-one knows what on earth will happen, especially after the complete WTF-how-have-we-won-the-playoffs-ness of the previous campaign. "Unexpected" is the word.

Us Dons fans are so used to the unexpected we’re on first name terms with its parents and have been to a couple of family BBQs.

We’ve been dealing with the unknown practically every year since 2002 - this season will be no different.

New teams, new players, new kits. Bring it on, 2016/17 season, let’s see what you’ve got.

Except you, Milton Keynes, you can do one.