Football Season Guide

Gateshead endured a nightmare campaign last season when they were unable to play on their home ground from January onwards and flirted dangerously with relegation due to a huge number of games being called off. At the end, they still had way too much quality to be sucked into the mire and managed to get their heads above the water on the final day of the season. It was still a season so chaotic and stressful that neither the fans, nor the chairman or the manager, will want to ever go through something like that again. The Heed, thus, embarked on a pretty ambitious transfer campaign in the summer in order to get back on the positive trail and become the upwardly mobile side from last year. Anth Smith was kept on as a manager after guiding the team through these difficult times last season and will be keen to really make his mark and instil further the style of play he tried to introduce last season that is based on more patient build-up play and better ball retention. However, the focus in the summer was boosting the firepower - a problem that was not properly last season after the departure of free-scoring Jon Shaw. Richard Brodie was signed from Crawley on a free transfer after a couple of wretched years in which he was the shadow of the player that terrorised defences at this level with York. The hope is that his return to the roots will help him rediscover his motivation and form. Moreover, Adam Boyes from Barrow will be his partner and this is indeed a handy strike pair to have and one that any club in the division will be envious of. How they will work actually is yet to see but Smith will be mostly concerned that he failed to keep talented midfielder Josh Gillies at the club. He was by far the best player last season and the main reason they stayed up but rejected a new deal and joined Carlisle in the summer - something that the Heed battled tooth and nail to prevent. How they cope now is up to debate but Josh Walker was brought in as a replacement and he is indeed a fine talent but has been blighted by injury during his time at Scunthorpe. Gateshead definitely have the capacity and talent to compete among the top ten teams in the table but whether they can actually make it happen is more doubtful and they are more likely to be somewhere in mid-table.