Football Season Guide

Hyde defied the expectations last season by seeing off the threat of relegation and now the aim for Scott McNiven is to build on the side he had from last year and develop them further. Hyde are once again going to be amongst the strugglers as they have very few resources and budget, even compared to the newly-promoted sides from this season, but showed invention and some bright attacking football last season, getting some hugely impressive results along their way to safety. The squad was kept pretty much intact since last season but still important players like Phil Jevons and Chris Sedgwick have departed. Talented winger, Scott Hoban, who made a real name for himself in just a dozen games at the end of the season, was also fast racked to Rochdale. McNiven focused on signing young players from local clubs like Connor Hughes and Adam Thurson who are hungry to impress and show their quality. The main issue is the squad size but Hyde can obviously not afford to get more players on contract at the moment and will rely on loanees from bigger clubs around the region to find the odd gem that will make the difference. McNiven has shown considerable capacity to take risks and make unconventional decisions from the bench last year in what was his first season as a first-team manager and he will be the main asset for the Tigers over the campaign. Thus, they should have enough to beat the drop this season after making big progress last season but it will still be a testing season and at best Hyde can be somewhere in mid-table.