Joe Sheerin (right) leads out AFC Wimbledon at Sutton (PhilCole/Allsport)

If you're talking about AFC Wimbledon - the breakaway outfit formed in the wake of the FA commission's shameful decision to allow Wimbledon FC to move to Milton Keynes - the answer is about six weeks.

Wimbledon FC fans, utterly disenchanted by the three-man group's go-ahead for their club's franchising, decided they wanted to continue watching a Wimbledon team that would be an integral part of its home community. The only way to achieve that was to start again from scratch.

Fans' group the Dons Trust took their bold decision at the end of May. A short while later, AFC Wimbledon is here and thriving - a manager, a squad of players, a major sponsorship deal and a groundshare (at nearby Kingstonian) for the new Combined Counties League season are all in place.

It's a miraculous, magical achievement by all concerned, and it's already apparent that AFC are now regarded as the real Wimbledon. The First Division version - chaired by Charles Koppel and with its eyes on a town in Buckinghamshire - is in the past now. A new Wimbledon story is under way.

More than 4,600 people turned up at Sutton United's Gander Green Lane on an emotional Wednesday night to cheer on the AFC Dons and revel in Wimbledon's rebirth.

The game may have ended in defeat, but that didn't matter on this occasion - the night was all about fans deciding they would not tolerate having their club ripped away from them and responding in the most spectacular fashion.

AFC Wimbledon was set up by the supporters, is owned by the supporters, and will carry the torch for football in the borough of Merton and those who have enjoyed watching it throughout the years. It is fan power at its finest in an age when money and the undignified pursuit of it has become almost everything in football.

No wonder AFC chairman Kris Stewart - a driving force behind Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association's brilliant campaigning against Milton Keynes last season - looked so delighted as he faced a packed press conference before the game got under way.

He said: 'This is an historic occasion - the first game for a club that will continue the traditions of football in London SW19.

'For me as a fan, it means I have a team to watch again and a manager to shout at again. It is a tribute to the skills and enthusiasm of the supporters, and I am very proud to be part of it.

'Tonight is all about Wimbledon, and therefore it has nothing to do with Charles Koppel.'

AFC manager Terry Eames shares those sentiments. Affable and highly ambitious, Eames played for Wimbledon FC in the late 1970s and early 1980s, back in the days of Plough Lane and the start of the club's rise to glory.

	A club is born at Gander Green Lane (PhilCole/Allsport)

One of his first steps as boss was to hold an open trials day at Wimbledon Common Extensions, a huge area of pitches on the very fringes of Wimbledon.

Eames thought between 60 and 80 players would turn up. In the end, almost 250 - including one-time Chelsea man Joe Sheerin - attended. The level of interest, as with all aspects of the club, was phenomenal, and the manager has now selected a squad with which to begin the new league campaign.

Deriding Koppel and Wimbledon FC's Norwegian owners, Eames insisted: 'They aren't the history of this club - they are history. This new club has taken over the mantle of Wimbledon FC, and we have seized people's imagination because we are the history and lifeblood of Wimbledon.

'It is a very emotional moment for the fans and for me. To be asked to do this job is an honour, but even if I was not manager I would be wholeheartedly supporting the team.'

The path to Wednesday night's inaugural game hasn't been without its obstacles. Rejection by the Ryman League was the most severe of them - but the driving forces behind AFC Wimbledon kept the faith and were rewarded when the Combined Counties League welcomed them on board.

That faith has also been amply demonstrated by Merton-based Sports Interactive, the company behind computer game Championship Manager, who have signed a three-year, six-figure sponsorship deal with AFC.

It's been in ample evidence from the fans as well, with more than 500 (and counting) buying season tickets - and the fact that kick-off at Sutton had to be delayed for half an hour to allow the thousands through the turnstiles can only augur well for the future.

No wonder Wimbledon FC rearranged a friendly scheduled for the same night at nearby Carshalton. That ground would surely have been eerily, embarrassingly empty while, down the road, supporters reclaiming their club struggled to find space.

Sheerin almost scored AFC's first-ever goal when his smart shot after a flowing move was brilliantly tipped away, and a striker rejoicing in the name of Trigger saw his header from a long throw disallowed for pushing.

	Chairman Kris Stewart (left) and manager Terry Eames meet the press (PhilCole/Allsport)

After the break, against a much-changed AFC, Sutton - inspired by two-goal Kevin Carter - scored four without reply but, as both sides admitted, who really cared about that? It was what the night meant that counted, and Sutton's magnificent hospitality and friendship provided further proof of that.

A final word from Eames, whose emotions at the end, like those of pretty much everyone in attendance, were running pretty high.

He said: 'I'm delighted by the response of the people who turned up, and by that of the players. We've only had trials and haven't trained at all, so I was surprised they played so well. I'm very confident that in time we'll do well. We will get it right and I will get it right. I believe in my players.'

And chairman Stewart summed it all up succinctly when he concluded: 'People have come down and had a good time which is wonderful, it really is. Everyone is just delighted to be playing football again. It was a big boost, and I still can't believe it.'

There aren't all that many nights in football when you can honestly say it was a pleasure and privilege to have been present, but this was one of them.