Football Season Guide

Dover managed to get a ticket to the Conference Premier after edging their locals rivals from Ebbsfleet in a play-off in the Conference South and will aim to make the most of their chance and establish themselves in the higher league from now on. The team from Kent were not considered to be among the candidates for promotion at the start of the previous season but showed considerable consistency and efficiency to get the results needed and eventually got the better of a more fancied and resourceful Ebbsfleet side. It was a sweet success for Chris Kinnear who has managed to lift the team to a division they have not been since 2002. They will be one of the favourites to go down and indeed their squad seems to lack the sort of quality that will be enough to keep them up. Of course, they may well confound the critics but Kinnear will need to show a lot of his managerial nous and ability to get the best out of his players in order to keep them afloat. Nathan Elder and Tom Murphy are a good striking pair but neither is too prolific at this level and a new striker may well be needed over the course of the season despite the arrival of Jake Reid over the summer. Craig Stone is a solid and reliable midfielder while Mitch Walker has developed into a fine goalkeeper but there is not a lot else to get excited about in the squad. Their summer signings have not been too impressive as well and the midfield seems to lack a bit of flair and creativity. Moreover, Terell Forbes has left which leaves a big hole in defence as the highly-experienced defender decided to leave the club and he has not been properly replaced yet. Therefore, there are more question marks around Dover for the moment rather than certainties and they look like one of the sides that may struggle in the upcoming season, as promotion seems to have come an year too early for them.