While those on the pitch have their sights set on FA Cup glory and avoiding relegation, the club's chief executive has stadium plans to think about.

Later this month, Erik Samuelson and the AFC Wimbledon cohort expect Merton’s Council’s planning committee to discuss its application to amend the existing permission for the new stadium in Plough Lane.

The proposed changes the club is seeking include not going ahead with the proposed crèche and café, extending the hours it is allowed to open for football and "various minor tweaks to the design." Now Mr Samuelson has spoken out about the reasons behind the change.

"At present, if we had a midweek replay that could go to extra time and penalties, we’d need to kick off before the usual time of 7.45pm," he wrote in his programme notes for the FA Cup tie against West Ham.

"And, to be clear, if for any reason our Section 73 application were to fail, we would still have the original permission 'in the bank'."

But even if permission is granted at the meeting, it isn't certain the plans will go ahead.

At any time in the six weeks after approval, anyone could challenge the committee’s decision by requesting a judicial review (JR).

A JR can be granted only if there is something fundamentally wrong with the process that has been followed in arriving at a planning decision.

But if a JR is requested, then a judge must formally decide whether or not there is a case to be answered.

But Mr Samuelson said he was confident that wouldn't be an issue.

"If, however, an application is made, we would face a further delay of uncertain length (but hopefully no more than a couple of months) until a judge decides that there is no case to answer.

"We are confident that a decision would go that way, and that no JR would be held.

"But if a judge decided there was a case to be answered, we would then need to decide whether to fight the case or withdraw the application and submit a revised one.

"I believe that our application will succeed, and that if any challenge were to arise it would be dismissed by a judge."