Football Season Guide

It was season of endless struggle for Cercle last term but, thanks to 2 positive results in the final 3 rounds before the premature end of the campaign, dramatic survival was secured. Changed 3 managers and lots of players came and left during the unsettled campaign. The first thing in the off season was to appoint experienced Paul Clement in charge. He will be working with pretty much blank canvas after as many as 8 regulars and many other supporting players left the club. With Cercle being feeder club for French team Monaco and several other French sides they have army of loanees in their ranks every campaign, this trend is to continue. So far the only newcomers are 2 defenders, but very soon at least 8-10 youngsters from Monaco and possibly a dozen others from other French sides are expected to be loaned in and again entirely new squad will have to be built. As things stand Cercle are ill prepared for the first weeks of the season and they are likely to struggle a lot at least in August and September. Wingers Dino Hotic and Alimani Gory are the only 2 potent forward players right now, so a lot will depend in the early rounds on how many goals they can score. Cercle look like they need at least another month before the season begins right now and, even if many loanees arrive soon as expected, it will take some time before they settle and before the manager finds his best line-up.