This column was supposed to be much darker.

I was going to lament the 2-0 loss at home to start 2015-16, and the 1-0 loss at Cardiff City in the cup.

Dread was starting to creep in.

But then I read that Newport County took a huge step this week towards handing ownership of the club over to their supporters, and I felt much better about things.

AFC Wimbledon has always been a club that made its own definition of success.

For this club, success has been mostly about getting back into the Football League and returning to SW19, all while balancing the books and ensuring the fans retain a controlling interest.

That’s a definition of success that transcends any single game, or any single season.

And in a broader sense, AFC Wimbledon stands for something greater than itself.

AFC Wimbledon: Robinson settles in to new life under old buddy

At a time when the English football is awash in money, when ticket prices for top flight fixtures are prohibitively expensive for an increasing number of fans, when the supporters are over-policed even as the deeply ingrained problems of institutional racism and sexism are ignored, the Dons stand for a nobler vision of what the game could be.

Fan ownership is not a magical cure for all ills, but it does have the potential to radically remake the power dynamics in the English game for the better.

AFC Wimbledon is perhaps the most high profile example of fan ownership that is successful and sustainable.

That means we end up serving as an example for fans of other clubs— like Newport County.

So before I get too down about a result, I try to remember what success for the Dons actually looks like.