Football Season Guide

Graham Coughlan will be expecting to bring promotion to Mansfield Town after a disappointing campaign last time out. Coughlan rather surprisingly jumped ship at upwardly-mobile Bristol Rovers in December last year, citing the Pirates limited financial resources. He replaced John Dempster, who failed to win around the fans following a poor start and was unable to turn things around. That Coughlan could be enticed to leave a League 1 club for one a division below shows how the depth of owner John Radford’s pockets is and he can never be accused of not backing his managers. They should be insulated from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and have been strong in the transfer market again this summer. Coughlan has returned to Rovers for midfielder Ollie Clarke but the stand-out capture is that of playmaker George Maris from Cambridge United, who will be looking to rediscover his form from 2018-19. Marek Stech will be first-choice between the sticks whilst Jamie Reid and Jordan Bowery add some firepower in attack. There are some noteworthy departures with Alex MacDonald and CJ Hamilton joining Gillingham and Blackpool respectively. Hamilton’s move might have been seen as a blow but Coughlan never seemed convinced and was in and out of the side last season.