That was the season that was

We are promised that the owners will undertake an end of season review to establish ‘what went wrong’. A similar review was undertaken at the end of last season.  That’s two seasons where things have been off kilter. This is my own review of the season.

Performance

It may have been forgotten but we started quite well, picked up early points and looked like a comfortable mid-table proposition.  Injuries occurred across the squad, my view is that out biggest loss was Connor Jennings, but it’s easier to say who wasn’t absent.

For me Charlie Whittaker and Nat Smith were the standouts in a squad of limited ability.  The rest were either disappointing (Ironside) or frustrating (Brought) or just mysterious (Kennah). Additions were made to the squad but few has a massive impact. Some, like Plant or Dickov, seemed like the sort of players you sign when playing one of those football management games.  Kane Woolery and Ryan Watson, both free agents, had some impact. Yet this has been a squad that has been bereft of talent. It’s hard to understand who the squad was built around or what the overall tactics were. Hoof ball but not much else.

My favourite game was our win away at Bristol Rovers. A 4-1 victory, an unexpected joy.

Management

Andy Crosby started the season as our manager, Pete Wild took over on 10th March. Crosby’s overall win rate was 31.5% putting him ahead of the likes of Ron Yeats, Les Parry and Ian Dawes. Pete Wild’s win rate was 12.5% over the 8 games he was in charge. The season has been punctuated by injuries to key players. Both managers lost players to injury at crucial times. It is rumoured that new owners have their own manager lined up. It’s also not clear if Wild would take the post if offered it. 

In general neither manager delivered attractive, free flowing football. Having said this Wild was brought in to protect our League status. This was achieved on the final day of the season. 

Supporters

Fans have remained loyal to the club with our average attendance being 6740. This puts us in 7th place in League 2. By comparison Salford City have an average home gate of 2987, putting them in 20th place.

At different stages in the season social media indicated that protests would take place against the current ownership situation. Non materialised. Many fans appear frustrated by the on-going ownership saga, I suspect most are probably unaware. 

Conclusion

It was a miserable and mostly joyless season. Rumour has it that season ticket sales are massively reduced for next season, it remains to be seen if this is the case. For me it’s hard to remember a season quite so bad, but then I think about 2024/5 and realise it ran this one close.

We finish the season with the ownership not having been resolved and with no decision, yet having been taken on our manager for next season.  We preserved our League status, despite a catastrophic loss of form in the second half of,the season. 2025/6 needs to be so much better, far too many fans doubt that it will be.