AFC Totton
AFC TOTTON PREVIEW 2015/16
By Sean McGlead
The 2015/16 season is almost here and I sense a mood of genuine excitement around the club after a couple of disappointing seasons. The new found optimism is born out of host of new signings and an excellent Pre Season in which those new signings have shone, giving a feel of freshness around the Testwood Stadium.
The new management team of Steve Hollick, Lee Burch, Jamie Cotton and Dave Rowland spent much of the summer working really hard on rebuilding the squad, which had been lacking in quality, experience and know-how. When you look at the new signings of Kieran Greene (Goalkeeper), Neil Williams (Midfield), Rhys Ferguson (left back), Marc Diaper (left back), Luke Dempsey (Centre half), Tony Rolls (Centre half), James Roden ( Centre half/midfield), Chris Manning (Midfield), Nick Watts (Winger), Mark Lilley (Striker), Dylan Knight (striker loaned back to Fawley), Dave Allen (Midfield) and Mike Gosney (Winger) there is a look of genuine quality there, add those new additions to those players retained from last season Steve Mowthorpe, Liam Hibberd, Nathaniel Sherborne, Craig Feeney, Dan Beckles, Taylor Edwards and Drew Bridge the side looks to have a bit more solidity to it with much needed depth. For the first time in a couple of years we will have a bench with players on it that can make a difference if they are needed.
The management team, like the new signings have also been a breath of fresh air around the club, they have implemented a planned and structured training schedule with an emphasis on playing attractive attacking football, whilst at the same time being an organised and hardworking unit. The fitness of the players looks good and I suspect we will reap the benefits of this as the season goes on. The players look as if they have really enjoyed taking part in the training. I have already noticed from watching the training sessions that there seems to be a really good team spirit developing amongst the group and this obviously bodes well and speaks volumes about how well the management team have done in bringing in the right sort of characters.
Of course a well-known cliché in football is that you can take nothing for granted, but there are very good reasons to be optimistic at The Testwood Stadium. In all honesty a top 10 finish is definitely within the Stags capabilities, but I have a feeling that we may even be capable of better than that.
Despite the disappointments of the last couple of seasons the Stags attendances have held up pretty well. However, a few faces from around the terraces did stop coming, which is inevitable. What we need now is those supporters to come back and have a look at the new look side, hopefully they will be impressed and entertained and they will keep coming back and hopefully we can attract new supporters as well. If this happens then there is a good chance that Steve Hollicks will be able to strengthen the squad further, should he feel it is needed at some point.
We need all of the fans to get behind Hollicks new look side and make the new players feel really welcome. The Testwood Stadium is a great place to be on match days and the hope is it will be extra enjoyable this coming season.
Come on you Stags!!!
