Football Season Guide

Forest Green launch their latest attempt to break the glass ceiling and make it to the Football League at long last. The most financially-backed side in the division have been going steadily closer in recent years and reached the play-off final last season. But an inspired Grimsby side were too good for them and deservedly claimed the second promotion. That, strangely enough, was the first game in charge of the new manager Mark Cooper. The former Peterborough and Swindon boss was given the reigns right at the end of last season as Adrian Pinnock’s spell was ended due to a dreadful run of form going into the play-offs. The real tenure for Cooper of course begins this season and he has been busy at work bolstering an already very strong squad. Kurtis Guthrie, Jon Parkin and James Jennings are some of the notable departures but the squad looks quite impressive nevertheless. Matt Tubbs was lured from Portsmouth and has the quality to bring lots of goals in attack and make the fans forget cult hero Parkin rather quickly. Another attacking signing is that of Rhys Murphy and he also may become a very useful player in this league. Liam Noble will bring quality and experience into midfield and has the makings of a very good signing as well. There are some interesting additions from abroad too and overall the squad has both variety and depth, along with no little goalscoring potential. At the back, Aarran Racine and Charlie Clough remain the undoubted centre-back pairing while Sam Russell is back on goal after a year at Gateshead. He will replace the departed Steven Arnold as the regular keeper and may well be an upgrade on him. It is hard to find too many weak spots in the squad and if Coopers settles in nicely and get the team up and running, it may be hard to stop Rovers this time.