2012/13: 24th
in League Two – “a complete mess”
Aldershot
Town
With relegation came administration and that removed any
hope of retaining players for next season. However, the players who were out of
contract in the summer would have left the club anyway. It came as a surprise
to many of us that the majority of players who were in contract for next season
would be made ‘redundant’ by the administrators, leaving us with around six
players left on our books. Peter Vincenti (Rochdale), Danny Hylton (Rotherham)
and Troy Brown (Cheltenham) are three who will be missed. Danny Rose (Oxford)
and Sonny Bradley (Portsmouth) were both loanees but nonetheless, will also be
missed. All of these players, when fit were ever present. As it stands we are
still in administration, so we cannot sign anyone but one player we have kept hold
of is midfielder Craig Stanley – who we missed last season through injury.
Andy Scott has been given a mammoth task this summer – to
build a squad from scratch from little money with the objective to simply
survive the drop this season. This will be no easy task. Many managers would
have packed their bags and left by now but Scott has stuck by us in this
difficult situation and is deserved credit no matter what happens. In my
opinion, he is the right man for the job.
The Recreation Ground – atmosphere and character.
Fixtures
At last we can enjoy a proper local derby… Aldershot vs.
Woking! I am also looking forward to visiting Barnet’s new ground.
Predictions
To get promoted: Forest Green Rovers and Grimsby
To get relegated: Salisbury City, Southport, Welling
United and Tamworth.
Aldershot’s finish: 18th
2012/13: 13th
in Conference
Alfreton
Town
2012/13: 23rd
in League Two – “Finally we’re relegated”
Barnet
Our star player Ricky Holmes has unfortunately left for
Portsmouth, but with his talent it’s no surprise he’s left us. Luckily we’ve
kept our spine of Stack, Stephens, Davids and Hyde. Along with the signing of
Welling defender Acheampong and Elliot Johnson breaking through from the
academy last season I think we’re going to have a really strong defence.
Hopefully Jake Hyde, who has been transfer listed, will stay, because he’s more
than capable of bagging us 20+ goals this season. But we do still next half a
dozen more players to bulk up the squad in all areas.
I know it’s been spouted a hundred times but if Edgar
Davids had been our manager from the start of the season we would have been
just off the League Two play-off places. After a string of managers who we’ve
been quite frankly terrible under, having Davids in charge is a welcome change.
Even Barnet fans haven’t been to our ground yet! We left
Underhill at the end of the season after a decade of nonsense with the council
and moved to our newly built 5000-ish seater stadium by our training ground. I
believe the seats came from the basketball arena from the Olympics. It’s really
nice but won’t have the same charm as Underhill. Hopefully we can make it a
fortress for the new season.
Fixtures
Luton Town at home on Boxing Day and away on New Year’s
are the highlights given the rivalry between the clubs. Also looking forward to
Gateshead to see Liam Hatch again who was with us when we won the Conference in
2005 and whom the fans still adore.
Predictions
To get promoted: Forest Green Rovers (Champions) and
Kidderminster (Play-offs)
To get relegated: Salisbury, Southport, Hyde and
Gateshead
Barnet’s finish: 5th
Adam
@adamshellard
2012/13: 9th
in Conference
Braintree
Town
2012/13: 14th
in Conference – “Not good enough”
Cambridge
United
The signing of Adam Cunnington will be fantastic to go
alongside Tom Elliott up top. Every club is searching for a goal scorer and
hopefully he'll help us to be up near the higher places in the league come the end
of the season. Greg Taylor and Ryan Donaldson are two players I've admired for
a long time too. I'm disappointed with the departure of Tom Shaw to Alfreton
and also disappointed with our manager’s decision to release our player of the
season Rossi Jarvis.
I'm not convinced at all by our manager. Last season I
spent most of it cringing at his dreadful press conferences, pitiful repetitive
poor excuses and persistently playing players out of position. But hopefully
with his own squad this season, things may be different.
The Abbey is your typical old school lower league ground
– not one of those boring four squares, all-seater and no atmosphere grounds.
It's got a lot of character. I love it.
Fixtures
Luton is always an exciting one for our supporters,
although a few idiotic ones seem to class it as a derby because they signed a
few of our players four years ago! From a personal point of view, living in
north Wales I will be looking forward to the Wrexham and Chester games to renew
rivalries with friends.
Predictions
To get promoted: Forest Green Rovers (Champions) and
Wrexham (Play-offs)
To get relegated: Salisbury, Southport, Hyde and Lincoln
Cambridge’s finish: between 7th and 10th
Ben
@BenValentine91
2012/13: 1st
in Conference North – “Exciting,
Entertaining, Champions.”
Chester
Our biggest loss will be Antoni Sarcevic. He was voted
our player of the season, and recently scored on his England C debut. The
complete midfielder, but our loss is Fleetwood's gain. Was also disappointed in
seeing the likes of Matty McGinn, Wes Baynes and Tony Gray (who all recently
joined AFC Telford United) and Dominic Collins (to Hereford) leave, as I feel
that they would have been more than comfortable in the Conference Premier; due
to work commitments, they couldn't stay. But, as good as players they were,
there have been players coming in with a very good pedigree. Jamie Reed is one
that stands out, joining his hometown team, and had a good spell at York, when
they won promotion to the Football League via the play-offs and won the FA
Trophy. Reed was an integral part of that side, and having him at Chester is a
huge plus for us. Jason Jarrett ran the show for Halifax against us in our
league encounters last season, and Gareth Seddon scored against us in an FA Cup
tie last season. Danny Harrison was playing League One football with Tranmere
last season too, and brings a wealth of experience. Kevin McIntyre, who played
for Chester City during our Conference Winning campaign of 2003/04 is back, and
Lee Pugh is a young lad, signed from Clitheroe, but sounds a very exciting,
pacey full back.
Without a doubt, Neil Young is the right man for the job.
His record at Chester speaks for itself. He was brought in as manager when the
club reformed in May 2010, and without a single player on the books. In three
seasons, he has managed to guide us to three championship titles, and back
where Chester City were when it went pop. He gets the team playing good
football, but it's his ability to mould teams together, plus with an astute
knowledge of the non league transfer market, he wheels and deals, and always
gets the right results. I don't know how he's done it. It's nothing short of
remarkable. He's dismantled three squads but has always rebuilt them with
quality, and look where it's got us. The same is happening this season, and I'm
sure it will all lead to another positive campaign at the Exacta Stadium. Put
simply, Neil Young is an absolute genius, and he will guide us to the Football
League one day, no doubt about it.
Whilst it doesn't have the "wow" factor, the
Exacta is functional and tidy. It's a small ground, but since the club was
taken over by the fans, tiny improvements have been made to make the place a
bit more colourful. Away fans will be seated in the corner of the Centurion
Community Stand (west stand) - for larger away followings the Swansway Peugeot
End (south stand) will be opened, again though, this is seated. The Exacta
doesn't produce a very good atmosphere, due to the low roofs on the stands. Refreshments
are not the best either, I have to be honest. You'll always get a warm welcome
though!
Fixtures
Looking most forward to Wrexham – we have our derby back,
and after years of them goading us after our decline, we are back on a level
playing field. Also looking forward to the games against the likes of Luton,
Grimsby, Lincoln and Hereford. Reminders of our encounters during our Football
League days. First up is Barnet, and that is one I'm also very much looking
forward to: ex Football League team, a brand spanking new ground to visit, and
there is the Edgar Davids factor too!
Predictions
To get promoted: Luton (Champions) and Barnet (Play-offs)
To get relegated: Aldershot, Southport, Welling and
Gateshead
Chester’s finish: a respectable 14th
James
@Cestrian_Jim
