Football Season Guide

Southend are back in League One following a five-year absence and have secured promotion in the most dramatic of fashions, as they needed to beat Wycombe on penalties in order to book their ticket for third-tier football. The Shrimpers achieved promotion mostly thanks to their hard work, as their previous campaign was littered with games in which they managed to get results thanks to sheer discipline and effort - they are rather stable defensively, but are normally not too impressive going forward. Their manager Phil Brown, who is looking to resurrect his career following his poor spell at Preston three years ago, is unlikely to give up on his well-known footballing principles in League One, but he seems to have identified a need for increased firepower, having decided to sign Leyton Orient striker Dave Mooney and former Colchester man Anthony Wordsworth, who are both good enough players to star for most League One midtable clubs. Some well-known League One names such as Barry Corr, Lee Barnard and Conor Clifford have left during the summer, but it is understood that Brown has had control over the departures, and that he felt that the players in question were surplus to requirements. Southend's squad represents a mixture of experienced League One players and players who will be looking to make a name for themselves in the third tier, which is a combination that often results in relegation for newly promoted sides. However, Brown is an expert in making his sides hard to beat, and will be expected to use his tactical nous to turn things around if the Shrimpers get off to a shaky start.