Football Season Guide

Guiseley have finally made it to the top level of non-league football for a first time in their entire history at the end of last season and will be fully motivated to make the most of their opportunity and establish themselves in the coming year. The small Yorkshire club have suffered years of disappointment and frustration as they never managed to go all the way until the last time despite reaching the play-offs in the Conference North in five successive years. They did so again at the end of last season and must have feared another narrow miss prior to the semi-final against AFC Fylde. But Mark Bower’s side were able to easily beat them over two legs and paid a visit to Chorley in the play-off final for a place in the Conference Premier. Things looked bleak after 45 minutes as the home side were two goals up and seemingly cruising. But Guiseley set up a rather improbable comeback in the second half and secured a dramatic 3:2 win to finally end their long agony and book the coveted promotion slot. an year after losing to Altrincham in a play-off final to a last-minute extra-time goal. They were due a slice of luck so many hardship stories and it was a moment to cherish for a young manager like Bower. Now a stern challenge awaits a team that is not going to set the world alight with sheer talent or exciting play. Instead, Guiseley are more about team effort, grinding hard and working as much as they can to make the most of what they have got. They start the season as major favourites for relegation and there will be desire and determination within the squad to defy the odds and show that they have much more going about them. Adam Lockwood was snapped up to provide experience and know-how in defence and is the one summer signing expected to have more lasting impact in starting 11. On the other hand, Andy Holdsowrth and Danny Ellis are both rather significant departures and the manager will have his work cut out in trying to replace them. Still, keeping tied up the likes of Gavin Rothery, Steven Drench and Oli Johnson represents something of a coup. Overall, Guiseley are likely to tread water at the bottom end of the table but they will be certainly not short of effort and will look to give the big boys in the division a tough day in the office more often than not.