After a couple of cup outings and a league defeat at home to Luton Town, Reading have their first league away match of the season this Saturday. It’s a trip to AFC Wimbledon, a club that did the double over the Royals last season following promotion from the fourth tier in 2024/25, and who’ve just signed former Reading captain Andy Yiadom on a six-month deal.
To find out more about the Dons, we spoke to someone who knows them very well indeed – Robert Smith from the Wombles Downunder fanzine. You
can find them on Twitter @Downunder and their website right here.
We asked Robert to sum up last season and explain the mood in the Dons fanbase coming into 2026/27. Plus, of course, we asked for a score prediction for Saturday’s game. Thanks very much to Robert for his time.
Somehow, the Dons did it. Despite just four points out of the last 33, Wimbledon did just enough to get over the finish line and stay in League One. It was one of huge relief after months of mounting anxiety.
In essence, injuries to key players cruelled the Dons’ hopes in the second half of last season, goals dried up and it was all hands to the pump, a late winner by substitute Antwoine Hackford at Wigan proving a God send.
Most, if not all pundits, have the Dons for the drop. Wimbledon embark on their eighth season in League One over two spells.
It has been a challenging existence overall with a 15th placing (57 points) the high-water mark for AFCW under former manager Neal Ardley in their first season in the third tier back in 2016/17. It’s been a bumpy ride since – 18th, 20th, 20th, 19th, 23rd (relegated) and last season’s nip-and-tuck 19th.
One of the main reasons is money, or in the Dons’ case, a lack of it, to financially arm-wrestle with the other clubs in the third tier.
It’s no different this time as Wimbledon shape up for what looms as another campaign of struggle against the odds.
But it’s not for the want of trying. Director of football Craig Cope has been working assiduously to build a competitive squad.
The Dons lost Joe Lewis, Patrick Bauer and Omar Bugiel from last season’s squad, sent skipper Jake Reeves off on a season-long loan to Barnet (the end of his Wimbledon career), retained Steve Seddon and Callum Maycock, recruited defenders Dan Sweeney and Steve Sessegnon and signed permanently Zach Nelson and James Tilley, who were both on loan in last season’s squad.
The key signing with under two weeks left in the summer window is experienced target man Jayden Stockley from Port Vale. It is hoped the ‘Headmaster’ will provide the goals to make the Dons competitive.
Chelsea midfield youngster Ollie Harrison is in on loan, while this week the Dons signed experienced defender Andy Yiadom until January, at this stage, after his release from Reading. Most fans expect a couple more incoming before the window shuts.
A key loss is exciting young winger Junior Nkeng, said to be the target of a number of higher-placed clubs, particularly Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, for a fee for the academy-raised prodigy with add-ons above £1m over time.
Dons fans are expecting another struggle, hoping the much-anticipated financial input of minority outside owners in the fans-owned club eventuates in the next little while as they pay off their stadium debt.
So it will be where the goals come from and how the experienced, if somewhat pedestrian, backline can keep the defence tight for the coming season.
It’s a solid squad, hard-working under young manager Johnnie Jackson, looking to get the season off to a positive start, much like this time last season.
They will look forward to doing one over Reading this Saturday. Things have to go well for Wimbledon to keep their heads above water, both on the pitch and off it, financially.
A forecast 2-1 win to the Dons, but with little braggadocio.
