11 August 2018
As we enter our second season in the Conference Premier, my back room staff looks exactly like it did last year.
Our players are developing well, from our youth team on up. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The board surprised me with a very generous increase to our wage budget. We have a little over £11,000 to spend per week, which allowed us to keep the players we wanted and bring in a couple of new faces, too.
Here's the squad we are taking into action as the season kicks off today:
Goalkeepers
We have an affiliation with Gillingham, a League Two club. When I saw
Leighton McGuire on the list of players they would encourage to join us on loan, I decided to make him an offer. He'll join us on a season-long loan.
Leighton is a superb shot stopper with the mental makeup I like to see in a goalie.
Chris Beesley has never been seriously challenged for his position, and now I have two 'keepers whom I'd trust between the posts for a must-win match. For now, Chris and Leighton will split the starting role.
Adam Rowland will be the number one for our Under 21s.
Defenders
Tomasz Wisniewski and
Lloyd Unsworth, who played so well together in the final months of last season, will form our center back pairing from the start. Matt Osman signed with Dover Athletic, and to take his place, we brought in
Michael Thompson on a year-long loan from our friends at Gillingham. Michael's ability to play anywhere in the back line, and his outstanding pace, make him a valuable part of our plans.
Jordan Watson, whom we signed on a free after his contract with Grimsby Town expired, will be our new starting left back. Jordan has lots of pace and tackles relentlessly, and his willingness to give it all for his team fits the Wantage Town ethic perfectly.
Malte Seidel returns for a third season as our starter at right back. He's solid and reliable, and he presents a real threat on set pieces.
Matty York provides us with depth, and I'm thinking about bringing in another defender, possibly a younger one.
Midfielders
In
Tom Wilkinson and
Aiden Harris, we have an outstanding pair of wide men. Both of them take a very professional approach to their careers, which is a big reason why they keep getting better. It's hard to believe Tom is only 19, and Aiden is hardly a greybeard at 23.
Ryan Bellamy is cut from the same cloth. He hasn't had as dramatic an impact on our team as Wilkinson or Harris--at least not yet--but I am looking to him to assert himself even more this year.
I'm also hoping
Dominic Hutchinson returns to the form that made him the Supporters' Player of the Year in 2015/16. We need him to provide steel in our midfield, and his prowess on corners and free kicks is usually worth a few points a season.
We have promising teenagers like
Kevin Lewis,
Pakie Kerley, and last spring's youth sensation,
Sean Boshel, backing up Bellamy and Hutchinson. I would love to have similar cover for the wingers. We haven't produced a prodigy at those positions since I've been at Wantage, so I might have to put our scouting staff to work finding one.
Forwards
Mick Hart will again lead the line for us, and another 25-goal season should be a reasonable expectation. Unless a bigger club comes along and turns his head--he's a Wantage boy who grew up supporting the club, so that's not as likely as one might think--he should be a big part of our plans for a long time...as long as we can afford to pay his wages. He's our joint top earner, on £750/week.
Paul Douglas is perfectly content to play provider for his flashy young teammate. Paul is 30 now, and his attributes are starting to drop a bit. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be able to do a job for us but, then again, our staff hasn't thought he was up to the task for two years now. Then, Paul went out and broke the league record for assists. I've learned to never count him out.
Josias Bedwell got tired of waiting for playing time, so he signed for Ebbsfleet United. They also gave him 850 reasons to join their club, which they enclose in his wage packet each week. His departure leave
John Nash and young
Pearce Lynn as our backup strikers, with youngster
Ash Newall growing his game in the Under 21s.
The odds-makers think a lot more highly of us this year, based on our strong performance in 2017/18. Burton Albion and Dagenham & Redbridge are tipped to bounce back up, after being relegated from League Two last spring.