Robbie is still in hospital following blood clot problems and a series of operations after being kicked in the stomach while playing in a reserve game at Watford.

Meanwhile 91-year-old Stanley - ousted from the chair in the last round of boardroom reshuffling, but remains in most people's mind the club's real chairman - is recovering from a stroke.

But knowing him it would be foolish not to expect to see him him back in his favourite centre stand seat come the start of the new season, and leading the dressing room singsong at the end of the game. Best wishes to both of them.

On entering the ground for the Villa game it was something of a shock to be verbally assaulted by the normally mild mannered Laurence Lowne, chairman of Wimbledon Independent Supporters Club.

In measured terms he told me how he and his members thought that I had got the Olsen affair totally wrong.

In their view Olsen should have been allowed more time. The old Crazy Gang days were over, and the Norwegian had represented the future.

I repeated my view that Olsen had been to the Dons what Frank Dobson had been to the Labour Party's London mayoral contest. We parted with a smile, begging to differ, but I was later intrigued to read the comment of Justin Fitscher of the independent fanzine Waiting for a New Don. He said: "I'm sure we can put the Olsen nightmare behind us and get back to our old ways next season."

Who will be Dons boss should Terry Burton not get the job? A practical option would be 1988 cup final hero Lawrie Sanchez who has been performing miracles on a limited budget with Wycombe. That looks like a good pedigree for taking on the Dons, although he insists that he is not interested in the job.