Football Season Guide

York begin the season with Gary Mills looking to have a successful campaign in his first full season in charge. The former Tamworth inherited a team in turmoil last October and almost lead them to the play-offs but it was not to be as a late collapse meant that they finished sixth. It was still quite a turnaround by Mills who have definitely enhanced his burgeoning reputation in the last ten months. Now the European Cup winner with Aston Villa is aiming for the very top of the league and will not accept anything less than that for the campaign ahead. The Minstermen have spent big in the summer despite the club running a loss and the chiefs are definitely betting on Mills to deliver promotion at the end of the campaign. Almost all of his signings have caught the eye with Patrick McLaughlin and Michael Potts coming in to boost the midfield from Newcastle and Blackburn respectively while Jason Walker was signed up from rivals Luton for a hefty fee to provide the goals. Liam Henderson, Matty Blair and Lanre Oyebanjo will surely add quality to the group as well and the overall assessment of the York squad shows that this is a relatively small squad that is however full of real quality at this level. The only key departure is the one of Jonathan Smith who chose to join Swindon. Therefore, big things can be expected from the Yorkshire outfit and Mills is not hiding behind. He will challenge the big guns like Luton and Fleetwood for the title and given his fierce determination to succeed, one should not bet against the Minstermen making it into the Football League for a first time since 2004.