Season Preview 2010

Optimism – has to be the buzz word for this season’s preview.

Gillingham should never have found themselves back in League Two, but they have, and now the task falls to Andy Hessenthaler to drag the club back to League One and beyond, preferably at the first attempt.

If Hessenthaler was brought in to galvanise support following the divisive Stimson reign then that part of the mission is complete. But the affection in which he is held will only last for a limited period if results are not forthcoming from the outset.

The loss of Simeon Jackson has been compensated with the signings of Cody McDonald and the giant Adebayo Akinfenwa. 20-goal Jackson is going to be a tough act to follow, but Akinfenwa scored 17 last term at Northampton and with regular football it is to be hoped that McDonald can find the scoring touch that led to Norwich taking him from non-league Dartford.

Some interesting signings have been made with Stanley Aborah, one time of Ajax, on a month-to-month contract to prove his worth and Danny Spiller returns to the club with a contract to Christmas that he would hope to be extended.

This is never an easy Division to judge other clubs strengths as the vast majority of signings are not household names, but without saying Gillingham have done fantastic business, nobody else appears to have done either. The nucleus of the squad that really should have been good enough last term remain and hopefully have a point to prove.

Away form is key and let’s face it anything is going to be an improvement on last season. An early win will get the monkey off our back and if the home form remains strong it is not going to take a wonderful away record to be among the front runners.

My guess for fellow contenders are last year’s beaten play-off finalists Rotherham, Peter Taylor’s Bradford and probably Wycombe, relegated alongside Gillingham last season despite a strong finish.

But my optimistic forecast is that for the first time in 36 years supporting the club, I will have a Divisional Championship to celebrate.

Tonbridge manager Tommy Warrilow appears to have made some very astute signings and optimism at Longmead, never easy to contain, is very high. Players like Frannie Collin, from Dover, would not at first glance be thought of as on the radar of Tonbridge, but he has arrived with Lee Browning and Danny Walder from the Crabble.

The budget at Tonbridge has been a major worry and Warrilow has been insistent that he has kept within his figures despite several other high profile signings. Non-league championships do tend to go to where the money is spent and a rough guess would be that Tonbridge are not the biggest spenders. It is about time Sutton departed the Ryman Premier, Lowestoft have massive support so they should be well funded and I’m guessing that the likes of Kingstonian and Carshalton are not going to be far off the pack.

But once again it is time to be optimistic and I would be disappointed at less than a play-off place.

England begin a new qualifying campaign following the World Cup debacle. It is going to be interesting to see how Fabio Capello reshapes the squad that failed the nation in South Africa and to see the reaction of Joe Public towards those failures. Capello needs a good start against Switzerland in Basle, that will not be easy and Bulgaria at Wembley. He needs six points from those games merely to retain the level of support he has.

League Two offers a two of the four grounds needed to complete the 92 club, Hereford United and Burton Albion and there are also new stadiums for Chesterfield and Morecambe.