So, here we go for another no doubt rollercoaster season following Oldham and thanks for once again joining me to read my musings from afar.

Particularly as I’m missing the first game of the season due to a poorly planned holiday, I ventured down from the north east to Boundary Park for the final pre-season friendly against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday and was pleased with the performance and ultimately the result.

Pre-season overall had been a bit of a mixed bag with some poor results and performances against lower opposition but with two good performances against League One teams and clean sheets to match.

With the better displays coming from what will undoubtedly be the mainstays of the first team in the coming season, and with friendlies being mainly about fitness and developing a spirit and tactical patterns amongst the squad, I felt that it had been a positive month overall.

It is clear though, as has been regularly pointed out by the gaffer, Micky Mellon, that we lack a little bit of depth in the squad, especially with James Norwood and Joe Garner currently injured.

Against the Shrews we were nice and solid, with new signing Manny Monthe very much looking the part on the left of a back three and we had no little endeavour going forward too with newly appointed skipper Tom Conlon running the show in the middle alongside Dan Gardner and the excellent Oli Hammond.

It was good to see clear organisation and tactical awareness throughout from the lads and this will of course only stand us in good stead going forward.

As I regularly mentioned last season, squad mentality has been an issue for a while, especially in the terrible run which finished what should have been a play-off campaign.

This is something that has clearly been worked on with personnel changes but also with the ethos which has seemed to have been ultra-professional since the return to training.

There have been no predictions of winning the league or getting promotion from anyone at the club this time round, only that finishing as highly as possible is the aim and that is a good place for us to be in.

There is no hype around this current squad and with the league being wide open with a number of teams able to challenge at the top, with a few tweaks and a couple more new additions, let’s hope we can be up there.

Last season seems a long, long time ago now and I think it’s important we now look forward, and not back, as we attempt to buck the trend of the last 30-odd years and get some success at Oldham Athletic. Have a great 2024-25 everyone!