North Swindon step down a division after struggling to compete with the premier teams last season but with a number of old faces returning, they are hoping they can bounce straight back and compete for the top spot.

Manager Dan Ferguson talks us through his plans and key players for the coming season…

 

Q: North Swindon WMC had a tough time in the Premier Division last season and as a result will be competing in Division One this season. What lessons from last season can you learn from?.

Lesson learned from playing in the top league was simply that we needed to work together a lot better.

Every game last season was very hard, and as soon as a goal went in all the heads dropped and very hard to re lift them. It wasn’t helped that we went in to 90% of our games with the attitude we’re going to lose so that wasn’t the best and has to change if we are going to compete this season.

 

Q: Do you think your experience in the Premier Division will give you an advantage in Div One?.

I don’t think we will have much experience as I’ve looked into the other teams in our league this season and the standard is high. The standard of football on the Swindon leagues are getting higher and higher every season.

One of the things we took away from last season was losing, winning or drawing, as long as you enjoy the football that all that matters…that is why we play the game after all.

 

Q: Pre-season is well underway for most clubs. How has pre-season gone for yourselves?.

Currently we’ve had 2 friendlies and been on the losing side both times.

With that said, neither of the games I’ve had the a full squad to select from due to work and family commitments over the summer holiday period. In our last pre-season friendly, I was only able to field 10 players and we went on to lose 4-2 to New Town All Stars.

We a full selection of players and subs available, I’ll be hoping that result will be turned around when we meet in the league in a few weeks time.

 

Q: With the team stepping down a division, have you had any issues retaining players from last seasons squad or recruiting new players?.

It’s actually been surprising at has had the opposite effect. When we were promoted last season, I lost a number of players as they didn’t want to play a higher standard. Now that we are back playing in the first division, we’ve got a number of those players back so should be far more competitive this season.

 

Q: Which signings do you think will have a big impact on your side this coming season?.

There are two real stand out players for me. Kray Dunn is an absolute beast in midfield. He is powerful player with excellent control and his ability to pick out a pass is second to none.

I’ll also be looking towards Jason Hudson to be a key player for me this season. If we can get his confidence back up and he believes in his ability, he will be a top rate forward for us. His quality is there for all to see as he won the golden boot award a few season back.

 

Q: Who do you think will be pushing for top spot come the end of the season?

It’s hard to say before a ball is kicked. I hope to see us up there fighting it out for top spot. If Village Inn have managed to maintain the same squad as last season then they should be challenging at the top end of the table.

Ruby removals are having a good pre-season so if they can take that momentum in to the seasonthey should be up there too along with Haydon wick.

You heard it here first…those 4 to finish in the top 4.