WombleWorld Season Preview 2025/26:
Not terrible. Possibly good. Definitely Wimbledon.
Let’s start with a shocking admission: AFC Wimbledon haven’t had… a bad summer.
We know, we know. That sentence alone has probably caused several “Well Meaning Fans” to spontaneously combust on WUP and Facebook groups, frantically typing things like “NO AMBITION”, “WHERE’S THE 20-GOAL STRIKER?”, and “WE NEED TO SELL THE CLUB”.
But here in the real world, where we have a League Two budget while being in League One, debt to repay, and can’t just magic up £400k from a dormant Cayman account we think there’s actual cause for something dangerously close to optimism.
Not wild-eyed promotion talk. Just a cautious, realistic hope that maybe - just maybe - we’ll be alright.
The Squad: AFC Continuity
This summer, unlike previous ones, hasn’t felt like the aftermath of a particularly chaotic episode of The Apprentice. Instead, we’ve quietly done something that looks suspiciously like good squad planning.
Ryan Johnson signed a new deal in June, having quietly been excellent since his return from injury last year. Marcus Browne also got a two-year deal, which surprised some that he didn’t run off to one of our league rivals for £50 more per week.
Alistair Smith is now officially ours after a permanent deal, a no-brainer given he already looks like part of the best Wimbledon midfield alongside Jake Reeves(C) since the last great Wimbledon midfield of Dannie Bulman and Jake Reeves.
Steve Seddon returned for his third spell, and at this point he should get a loyalty card and DT Membership. Joe McDonnell’s also back as backup keeper, while Delano McCoy-Splatt joins the midfield ranks with a name that suggests he belongs in a Guy Ritchie film, and if nothing else should guarantee a least 6 goals purely from the name based confusion among opposition defences.
And in goal? Nathan Bishop arrives from Sunderland, a solid pick-up, especially under the watchful eye of goalkeeping coach Ashley Bayes. Bayzo’s track record of improving keepers is well documented, and anyone who’s worked with him usually leaves either a better goalkeeper or a broken crossbar from training drills. Bishop could well be one of our shrewdest signings yet. And he’s not a loanee for a change. Which is nice.
Late additions: 3 players signed after the author had finished the article
Fresh from helping Walsall into the play-offs, and helping us get promoted by losing at Wembley…. Nathan Asiimwe joins on a season-long loan from Charlton. He’s a proper modern wing-back. He’s fast, fit, and apparently able to deliver a ball into the box. He also knows JJ from his Valley days, which apparently made us more appealing, not less.
Antwoine Hackford, once hyped by The Guardian as one of England’s “Next Generation” talents and the youngest-ever Premier League debutant for Sheffield United (16 years, 288 days, so basically still doing his GCSEs). This is exactly the sort of “big club drop-out” gamble is becoming Craig Cope’s speciality.
Danilo Orsi’s journey reads like a scroll that never ends: from Cockfosters to Florida to Wembley hero for Crawley. He’s bagged 25 in 50 to fire Crawley to promotion, then got a three-year deal at Burton, and then played crap under Robbo and was loaned out to Franchise where he was also crap.
Apparently he wanted to join us in January but ended up a Frannie due to “managerial relationships” (translation: someone else picked up the phone faster). Now he’s finally got his blue and yellow shirt and is raring to score with whatever body part is nearest to the ball. Can’t wait to see the trademark celebration.
We’re still waiting on a couple of loanees to supplement the squad, however we have the core upon which to build. Of course we want these sooner rather than later, but it’s a long season.
The Departures: Fine, Fair, and Nobody Cried
There’s been no Assal-style heartbreak, but we’ve still waved goodbye to a few names some more willingly than others.
James Tilley and John-Joe O’Toole moved on, the former an excellent league two mix of magical and mysterious; the latter an effective mix of experience, yellow cards and shithousery that couldn’t last forever.
Owen Goodman, last season’s on-loan keeper and shot-stopping wonderchild, signed a new deal at Crystal Palace, and swiftly departed on loan to Huddersfield dashing hopes of a return.
Then there’s Josh Neufville, our Player of the Season and exactly the sort of player you’d ideally build around. Fast, direct, good in both boxes. Naturally, he turned down a new deal and joined Bradford, presumably for a few extra quid and the thrilling opportunity to play against us in the same division. Lovely stuff.
But the most emotionally devastating loss? Not Josh. Not Goodman. Not even O’Toole’s elbows.
No… the real tragedy was the sudden and mysterious exit of Dons Trust Board Chair Sean McLaughlin, who resigned mid-July “for personal reasons,” just six months into a three-year term and after staging a dramatic power grab for the Chair position. Reactions ranged from mild surprise to frantic speculation about a man who spent most of his brief tenure trying to be in charge of everything, only to vanish faster than a deadline day striker bid.
The Money: Not So Funny
Let’s be honest: our summer transfers have been savvy because they had to be. We’re not exactly swimming in gold doubloons. With limited budget and rising costs, we’ve had to get creative. The club’s been refreshingly transparent about that.
There’s a general backdrop of fundraising efforts all over the place. From Stadium upgrades, to begging notes on every article, and even Vice-Presidencies available if you have £100k sitting in your dormant Cayman’s account. It feels like every week there’s a new fundraising initiative asking for cash.
Enter the We Are Wimbledon Fund, which is technically trying to raise £250,000 for a January striker. At time of writing, they’ve raised £8.8k, which would probably buy us one of Matty Stevens’ less important metatarsals. Still, dream big. You can donate here or just send a fiver with “Buy JJ A Goal” in the post.
The Big Gap: Goals
Now for the elephant in the six-yard box. Matty Stevens scored double figures last year, mostly in the “festive optimism” half of the season. After that, our goals dried up faster than the DTB’s replies on Discord.
Nobody else hit anything resembling consistent form in front of goal. And while the midfield looks stacked with solid pros and a few wildcard options, we’re still a proven League One striker short of a genuinely dangerous front line.
Cope and JJ both said reinforcements are coming. They arrived just in the nick of time just after we’d finished writing this. Will they score goals? They’ll need to. Otherwise, we’ll be relying on Bugiel to head in a few and Isaac Ogundere to score a worldie every 14 games.
Things to Watch For:
Can Bishop thrive under Bayzo’s coaching? (We say yes.)
Is this Sasu’s breakout year? Or is he still just vibes? This season is make or break for him
Will JJ finally win over the doubters? He ended last season strong — now the narrative’s his to lose.
What will happen with Foyo? He’s been charged by the FA but still been involved with the squad whilst we wait for the hearing. This means either a very short or very long ban and we’d give you evens on each scenario.
Can the club balance ambition with reality — and still push on? Depends who you ask. (Don’t ask Wombles Had a Dream.)
Prediction: Might just surprise people
Here’s the thing: we’ve kept most of the players who made us good at the end of last season. We’ve added sensibly. JJ seems settled. The vibe around the squad, and the stadium is less frantic.
There’s something quietly pleasing about this squad. It’s not flashy. It’s not full of TikTok fan-favourites or thirty-goal merchants. But it’s experienced, settled, and knows how JJ wants to play. That alone puts us ahead of about six clubs who’ll still be trying to spell “cohesion” by November.
If our new strikers start to find the net we might even flirt with mid-table.
And if they don’t? Safety from relegation should be achievable. Which, for a club like us, with our budget, is nothing to be sniffed at.
Unless you’re a Well Meaning Fan. In which case, no doubt you’re already planning the leaflet distribution for a SGM at the Lincoln match because we didn’t have a vote on whether to sign an ex-franchisee.
WombleWorld is written by long-suffering Wimbledon Fans. We support the manager, back the team, and remain permanently suspicious of anything that calls itself a “Working Group.”
Follow us for more previews, reports, and occasional sarcasm-laced deep dives into things like floodlights, striker droughts, and spontaneous Dons Trust resignations.
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