I’ve talked before about football and the trap of managed expectations.

To some degree, tempering one’s attachment to outcomes is the only way to get by as a football fan. This is especially true when one’s team lingers in the middle and bottom end of the table.

Right now AFC Wimbledon are in two major competitions. By the time you hear from me, it may well be one.

The Dons travel to Wycombe Wanderers on Sunday for their second round tie in the FA Cup.

A place in the lucrative third round, where Championship and Premiership teams enter the fray, with all the money and visibility that brings, is on the line.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon are stuck in 16th in League Two after a reasonably promising start to the season.

They’re well outside the relegation zone - for now - but the play-off spots are drifting farther off into the horizon.

For all the quality Neal Ardley added over the summer in Bayo Akinfenwa and Sean Rigg, among others, there’s a sneaking suspicion that the Dons don’t quite have enough in the tank to go the distance in multiple competitions this season.

Which begs the question: “What does a successful season look like?”

Would fans be alright with finishing in the bottom half of the table again if we make it to the third round? Perhaps beyond?

Does this need to be the year we push on for promotion to League One, even if that means leaving the cup behind?

Or does none of the above matter, so long as we stay in the Football League and keep our club in the community’s hands?

These aren’t easy questions to answer. And regardless, football has a way of disregarding what we want.

Perhaps the Buddha, with his talk of detachment from expectations, had a point.