Here we go again

Well in the words of Whitesnake – here we go again for another roll of the dice in the ongoing game that seems to be called “Lets get outta this league”.

This is the third attempt now to get back to the Vanarama conference national premier lodge (or whatever they are calling it this season) and lets be honest – in the last two attempts we haven`t even been close.

But out with the old and in with the new, new management, new management staff, new players, new kits (I`ll mention this later), and most importantly new ground owners.

I probably say this every year but this is the strongest I have seen the squad and the club in many many years.

Let`s just rewind slightly for anyone that may have been either in exile or just simply not paying attention since last season ended with a 2-1 win against Harrogate?

Neil Young was announced as our new manager and brought in a new background / management staff (see prev piece “meet the team” for any further information) and the first thing they did was pretty much bin off every single player apart from keeper Danny Hurst.

Harsh?

Well one thing NY (Neil Young) did say that rang true was that we finished 30 points from promotion so a handful of players weren`t going to do the job.

Apart from Kristian Dennis who I personally would have kept – I agreed with releasing every single player that has gone up to now.

As the old goes out the new comes in and the players came in almost like busses over the summer – you wait for one then you see two or three at the same time.

Now the calibre of players who came in were surprising to say the least (see other prev piece “new players galore” for profiles) and some players dropped down from conference premier and even championship level to sign for County.

We signed O`Hanlon from Carlisle, Ledsham from Barrow, Robinson from Shrewsbury, Baggie from Bristol Rovers, Montrose from York, Odejayi from Tranmere?the list goes on.

NY must have the gift of the gab to say the least.

Now with every new season in football it seems to bring in a few new kits and this season is no different.

Home wise we have gone for blue with a white pin stripe going across it, away wise we have gone for a light aqua / turquoise style (don`t dare say City) and 3rd kit / alternative away we have gone for pink to be auctioned off for charity at the end of the season.

Now cast your mind back to 2002/03 when Sale Sharks came in and bought the club and the ground from Brendan Elwood, I hated seeing the pitch torn up and was glad when they went and got their own ground.

But we still didn`t own the ground and it felt insecure like we could have been kicked out at any time.

Now this has changed.

Thanks now to Stockport Council who have bought Edgeley Park and are renting back to us, this is brilliant news and another step in right direction.

Let`s get back to matters on the pitch now and the new players, we have played 8 pre season games now with the new revamped county line up.

We have won 3, draw 3 and lost 2 scoring 11 and conceding 7 so far.

Pre season doesn`t really mean much apart from trying different formations and tactics but in the games I saw we played strongly and I`m looking forward to the season to start.

The stand out players for me so far are Baggie, O`Hanlon and Ledsham (how good was his goal against united!!!!).

So with that in mind Saturday will be the start of a season to remember – hopefully for the right reasons this time. Boston are the first then on to FCUM (if you can get a ticket that is), see you then!!

If you enjoyed reading this article please check out my new piece in the match day program, it`s going to be an “A to Z” of Stockport County written by myself.

First piece / letter “A” to start against Boston this Saturday.


Steve Davies