Football Season Guide

Southport will be bracing themselves for a tough and demanding campaign in which they may well find themselves among the bottom teams. The Sandgrounders have impressed hugely during the 2011-12 season when they managed to get within touching distance of the play-offs but the progress of the team has stalled ever since and they had a rather disappointing and underwhelming campaign last year. They still beat the drop and this counts as job done for a team of their calibre but they played with inspiration for too long. Thus, hugely popular promotion-winning manager Liam Watson decided that he has reached his glass ceiling at Southport and actually dropped a division to take over at recently relegated AFC Telford. This is undoubtedly a body blow for the whole Merseyside club and it is very much open to debate whether his successor, Alan Wright, can cut it in his first ever first-team managerial appointment. The cultured former Aston Villa right-back was assistant at Blackpool for the past two seasons but taking over from Watson will be a major challenge and he may find it too difficult at the start. Moreover, the squad was stripped of some of its key players in the summer as Shaun Whalley and Andy Parry both joined Luton while Simon Grand, Chris Lever, Alan Moogan and Sean Clancy all re-united with Watson at his new club. Wright brought in Jamie Milligan to add guile and experience in midfield and he is indeed a very good signing, having been a major factor in keeping Hyde up last season. Apart from that, his summer business has been uninspired as Danny Hurst is a keeper above his peak already and conceding too many goals while Paul Rutherford and Scott Brown are not players that will really lift the quality of the squad as they are far too unconvincing. All in all, there are enough reasons for the fans to be feeling nervy ahead of the new season and they may well have to endure a tough and challenging season over the next nine months with relegation a probable outcome.