Football Season Guide

Wimbledon flirted with relegation in the majority of the previous campaign, with their early results being so poor that they opted to part ways with long-serving manager Neal Ardley. They brought in another man with ties to the club in Wally Downes, who eventually managed to guide them to safety and will now be hoping to kick on and establish the Dons as a solid League One club. The list of players to have departed is hardly surprising, given that most of them, such as James Hanson, Tom Soares and Andy Barcham, are players who lost their regular starting places under Downes, while former skipper Deji Oshilaja departs after spending nearly the entire previous season on the sidelines due to recurring injury issues. The Dons have therefore lost no regular players over the summer but, given their financial limitations, it is hardly a surprise that they have brought in only a handful of players. Luke O'Neill and Michael Folivi are both players with League One experience, while Nesta Guinness-Walker, Adam Roscrow and Nathan Trott all represent stabs in the dark at this level. The Dons' main weakness last season was a lack of goals and they have not really brought in a player that looks capable of helping them with that. However, they have a decent set of strikers on the books and might improve in that regard if their forward line finds its form. While well-organized and with a pleasant atmosphere surrounding them, the Dons have simply not strengthened enough to be able to not fear relegation.