Football Season Guide

Cheltenham Town

In


Joe Day (Goalkeeper, Newport County); Owen Evans (Goalkeeper, Walsall); Arkell Jude-Boyd (Defender, Queens Park Rangers); Levi Laing (Defender, West Ham United, Season long-loan); Lewis Payne (Defender, Southampton, Season-long loan); Ryan Haynes (Defender, Northampton Town); Brandon Liggett (Midfielder, Youth); Freddy Wilcox (Midfielder, Youth); Harrison Sohna (Midfielder, Sunderland); Harry Pell (Midfielder, AFC Wimbledon); Joel Colwill (Midfielder, Cardiff City, Season-long loan); Luke Young (Midfielder, Wrexham); Scot Bennett (Midfielder, Newport County); Liam Dulson (Attacker, Bedford Town); Ethon Archer (Attacker, Torquay United); Ryan Bowman (Attacker, Shrewsbury Town); Sopuruchukwu Obiero (Attacker, Youth)

Out


Jamie Pardington (Goalkeeper, Lincoln City); Luke Southwood (r) (Goalkeeper, Bolton Wanderers); Adulai Sambu (Defender, Bath City); Andy Smith (sp) (Defender, Hull City, Loan ended); Ben Williams (sp) (Defender, released); Curtis Davies (r) (Defender, released); Jack Shepherd (sp) (Defender, Barnsley, Loan ended); Lewis Freestone (r) (Defender, Stevenage); Liam Smith (Defender, released); Sean Long (r) (Defender, Forest Green Rovers); Will Ferry (sp) (Defender, Dundee United); Dan Adshead (Midfielder, released); Elliot Bonds (r) (Midfielder, Fleetwood Town); Greg Sloggett (Midfielder, Hartlepool United); James Olayinka (Midfielder, released); Josh Harrop (Midfielder, released); Liam Sercombe (r) (Midfielder, Forest Green Rovers); Aidan Keena (sp) (Attacker, St Patrick’s Athletic); George Lloyd (r) (Attacker, Shrewsbury Town); Joe Nuttall (sp) (Attacker, Oldham Athletic, Loan ended); Robert Street (r) (Attacker, Lincoln City)

It has been a summer of change for Cheltenham Town following relegation from League One last season. The Robins were unable to recover from the dreadful start they made under Wade Elliott and despite the best efforts of successor Darrell Clarke, they fell short in their attempts to avoid the drop. They would probably have been safe had Clarke been in charge from the start. Clarke was then tempted by a better off and has taken over at League One Barnsley. Michael Flynn has been appointed as his successor despite a desperately poor spell in charge of neighbours Swindon Town. It follows a change in management structure with Gary Johnson above Flynn in the Director of Football role. As is often the case following relegation, the Robins have had to cash in on their better players with centre-back Lewis Freestone, midfielder Elliot Bonds and strikers Aidan Keena and Rob Street all leaving for fees. Several other regular starters have also left on frees including goalkeeper Luke Southwood, centre-back Sean Long, midfielder Liam Sercombe and striker George Lloyd. Flynn has had to rebuild the squad almost from scratch and it is the usual collection of journeymen pros, talented young loanees and potential non-league gems. It’s clearly going to take time for them all to gel. The return of goalkeeper Owen Evans feels like a backwards step, whilst bad luck has also struck with midfield playmaker Luke Young, signed from Wrexham, set to miss the start of the season through injury. Further additions are both likely and needed for a season that already promises to be a real challenge.

Target


Survival - the club needs to find some stability following huge changes over the summer. Whether Flynn is the man to provide it remains to be seen.