Football Season Guide

Brechin City are coming off a disastrous season in which they failed to win a single league game and lost 32 of their 36 Championship fixtures. Despite that embarrassment – the worst season in Scottish football history – they have kept faith with manager Darren Dods, who only managed to win promotion a season earlier through the play-offs. He has significant questions to answer over his abilities, too. City struggled last term with a rather disparate group of players and it should be seen as little surprise that there has been a dramatic overhaul in the club’s playing staff. In truth, there are probably few players they would have wanted to keep hold of, though they have lost some of their better players on paper, including Chris O’Neil, Liam Watt, Willie Dyer and Sean Crighton. Given the season of underperformance that they have been through, these are not huge blows, though. They have moved to sign a couple of familiar, experienced, players to supplement their side in the form of Dougie Hill and Dene Shields. While the former has been playing at a good level, that is not the case for the latter. Sean Burns should be a solid addition at left-back but otherwise they have gambled with some unknown quantities. Guiliano Morena has joined up from Italian football and will feature in the midfield, while centre-back Jordan Tapping arrives from non-league East Stirling. The existing squad is not without talent, with Callum Tapping a potentially strong performer in the midfield and veteran attacker Andy Jackson still good for goals. Indeed, with Paul McLean still marshalling the team from the defence, there is no lack of experience in what is quite a strong spine. The City's toughest assignment may be getting confidence back after their travails of last term, and while they are not a title-calibre squad, they are not so weak either.