Everyone wants to talk about Dagenham because of what went on in the Steve Evans and Garry Hill eras, but some of us have memories which stretch back even further.
Back in the 1980s, when the Conference was known as the Alliance Premier League, there was no automatic promotion into the Football League. Equally, there were many seasons when teams escaped relegation from the APL due to the fact that teams in the feeder leagues did not want the travelling for a national league or did not meet the ground grading criteria. Season-by-season, the list of clubs barely changed, and there tended to be "leagues within the league" in terms of the "haves" and the "have nots."
In the "haves" were the likes of Yeovil Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Nuneaton Borough and Altrincham. All enjoyed some success on the pitch, seemed to have a good fan base and in the infrastructure in place to go higher. All these teams needed was a change in the rules to allow non-league teams automatic promotion into the Football League.
Dagenham were very much in the "have not" camp - alongside the likes of Fisher Athleric and Trowbridge Town. They escaped relegation very marginally on a number of occasions and struggled to get attendances above 300. With the likes of West Ham and Leyton Orient in close proximity, they were punching above their weight to even stay at Alliance Premier League level.
How on earth do you get from that position to where they are now?