Football Season Guide

Southport struggled throughout the last season and only managed to escape the drop with a couple of games to spare. John Coleman did arrive in mid-season to eventually steer the team to safety but he decided to leave over the close season and there is once again a new manager in place for the new campaign. Martin Foyle was chosen as the new man in charge and he will be very motivated to rebuild his reputation after a rough last season with Hereford, that saw him sacked a month before the end of the season. Foyle had to work in nearly impossible conditions at Hereford and did not carry all the blame for their struggles. He seems to be a good fit for a better running club like Southport and his knack of finding good players from the lower levels of the non-league may prove a big advantage when working on a limited budget. Foyle lost some of the big players in the team from last season, namely Danny Hurst, Scott Brown and Aristote Nsiala, but also brought in decent replacements. A couple of the players he worked with at Hereford, Dominic Collins and Daniel Lloyd-Weston, will boost the back line while Scott Kay is a good midfielder who knows the club having played there before. Luke Foster is another decent capture in defence and Southport have the look of a functional and solid side that will be always trying their best and will not be easy to beat. Yet, the worry is that they do lack proper threat in attack with only Danny Hattersley and Richard Brodie there while the lack of pace on the wings will be an issue as well. Therefore, Southport are likely to find it hard to score too many goals but their defensive astuteness should still keep them clear of the bottom four.