STANDING ORDER FOR GOALDEN LOTTERY
MY PERSONAL PREVIEW FOR 2005/06
You have to remember when reading this that after 33 years of watching The Sandgrounders I am naturally pessimistic!
However the joy we all felt last season has got into my bones and I am really looking forward to the season ahead.
I think it is going to be very hard. The Conference has moved on at a pace since we were last there. Very few part-time teams exist now and we will be in a minority. Will we survive? I think we will. I was worried how much better Hereford were than us in the FA Cup match but when you saw some of the Conference games on Sky there were certainly some teams outside the top 6 who didn’t look that much better than us. Time will tell but my prediction is to finish in 15th place which first season back will do me. I just hope our supporters are realistic. Having been a relatively big fish in the Unibond and Conference North we are now a relative minnow. I am sure it won’t take too many bad results before the boo-boys turn on Liam and the lads. Even when we were top of the league last season there were some ready to have a go as soon as the odd result didn’t go our way. If Liam keeps us up that will be success in my view and give us a chance to build for the future.
It would be nice to have a decent FA Trophy run and perhaps another FA Cup Giant Killing act against say, Peterborough!
Who will win it? I’m going for Stevenage with Hereford, Aldershot, Kidderminster and Exeter to finish in the play off places.
Relegation for Forest Green and Canvey Island
What am I looking forward to the most? The trip to Accrington Stanley, a new ground and a place I have always wanted to go to, I know that is sad but I have always wanted to go but never got round to it. There are nine potential new grounds in total for me, whether I do all the long distance trips will depend on finances and the availability of lifts.
What am I looking forward to the least? The extra travelling! I have long been a critic of the amount of travelling involved in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. The thought of a near 600 mile round trip to Exeter is not high on my wish list. The sooner they bring back regionalised football in League 2 and below will only be good for the game. I’d much rather go to every game home and away and more local games give more fans the opportunity to do so. How many are going to go to Gravesend, Dagenham, Aldershot, Canvey Island, Grays, Crawley, Woking and Exeter? And in reverse how many are they going to bring to Southport? Just a personal niggle!
The pre-season games have been good, quality has been added with the signings of Dominic Krief, Matty McGinn and Robbie Booth and I am sure we are good enough to survive.
I’m sure at times it won’t be pretty but one thing that was clear last season and is abundantly clear this time around is that whatever happens it won’t be for the lack of effort, the team spirit is as good as ever, the lads all seem to want to play for the club and do well for each other. I said at the start of last season that I didn’t think there would be that many 0-0 draws and I somehow get the feeling it will be the same this time around.
The Club needs everyone to get behind them, there has been a lot of progress since Liam arrived in building a better relationship between fans and the club, let’s hope everyone continues to back the team, manager and board 100% of the time.