We’re now just two short weeks away from the season and teams are putting together their squads for the League One campaign ahead. Today we focus on Oldham Athletic, Port Vale and Southend United.
Oldham AthleticNickname: The Latics
Ground: Boundary Park
Capacity: 13,559
Manager: John Sheridan
KEY PLAYERS: Ex-England international Michael Ricketts has signed for the club from Preston North End and if he can rediscover the goal scoring touch that made him famous at Bolton Wanderers he could be a real threat in League One. Former Cobblers target Craig Davies has joined from Verona while experienced stopper Mark Crossley provides a calm head between the sticks.
TRANSFERS IN: Michael Ricketts (Preston) FREE, Mark Crossley (Fulham) FREE, John Thompson (Forest) FREE, Craig Davies (Verona) Nominal, Jean-Paul Kalala (Yeovil) FREE, Mark Allot (Chesterfield) FREE
TRANSFERS OUT: Terry Smith (Southport) FREE, Gareth Owen (Stockport) FREE, Craig Rocastle (Port Vale) FREE, Paul Edwards (Port Vale) FREE, Will Haining (St Mirren) FREE, Chris Porter (Motherwell) FREE, Ritchie Wellens (Doncaster) FREE
SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Mark Crossley, Les Pogliacomi,
DEFENDERS: Neil Eardley, John Thompson, Stefan Stam, Kelvin Lomax, Chris Taylor, Neal Trotman, Marcus Holness
MIDFIELD: Jean-Paul Kalala, Mark Allott, Gary McDonald, Sean Gregan, Michael Pearson, Neil Wood, Andy Liddell, Ashley Kelly
FORWARDS: Craig Davies, Michael Ricketts, Matthew Wolfenden, Deane Smalley, Lewis Alessandra
LAST SEASON: Oldham got off to a dreadful start to the season as they lost five of their opening seven games. But an excellent month of September including wins over Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe United hauled them back into the top half of the table.
Five wins in a row as Christmas approached helped the Latics to a solid top six place and their impressive 3-0 win over the Cobblers in December followed by three more big victories meant that they were in a good position to challenge for the top two as 2007 began.
A short blip in February, however, as the club lost four in a row meant that they were eventually fighting for a playoff place. This place was confirmed with a final day win over Chesterfield that meant that they would face in-form Blackpool in the playoffs. After defeat in the home leg at Boundary Park, there was no way back and the Tangerines went on to win 5-2 on aggregate.
Port ValeNickname: The Valiants
Ground: Vale Park
Capacity: 22,356
Manager: Martin Foyle
KEY PLAYERS: George Pilkington has been a mainstay in Vale’s defence ever since his arrival in 2003 from Exeter City. The Valiants’ forward line is looking strong with former Cobblers man Marc Richards joining from Barnsley. He joins the likes of Leon Constantine and Luke Rodgers in the attack.
TRANSFERS IN: Marc Richards (Barnsley) FREE, Shane Tudor (Orient) FREE, Craig Rocastle (Oldham) FREE, Paul Edwards (Oldham) FREE,
TRANSFERS OUT: Michael Husbands (Macclesfield) FREE, Rhys Weston (Walsall) FREE, Danny Sonner (Walsall) FREE, Malvin Kamara (Huddersfield) FREE
SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Joe Anyon, Mark Goodlad, Paul Musselwhite
DEFENDERS: Mark McGregor, Colin Miles, Justin Miller, George Pilkington, Luke Prosser, Jason Talbot, Richard Walker, Michael Walsh
MIDFIELD: Joe Cardle, Paul Edwards, Paul Harsley, Robin Hulbert, Craig Rocastle, Shane Tudor, Dan Whitaker
FORWARDS: Leon Constantine, Marc Richards, Luke Rodgers, Akpo Sodje
LAST SEASON: Vale were the early pace setters in League One last time around as they won their opening five games. But a poor month of September ended any hopes of them running away as promotion hopefuls and soon they were down to a mid-table position.
Vale were hammered by Conference side Hereford in the FA Cup Second Round before their league form picked up again over Christmas with four wins on the bounce. It was against the higher placed sides where they were slipping up though and defeats to Forest and Bristol City kept them out of reach of the top two.
Results in the new year were up and down and the highlight of the rest of the season would be a 5-1 win at Rotherham United. Port Vale finished the season in 12th place and will be hoping for a more consistent run of things this time around.
Southend UnitedNickname: The Shrimpers
Ground: Roots Hall
Capacity: 12,306
Manager: Steve Tilson
KEY PLAYERS: Following the expected departure of Fredy Eastwood, The Shrimpers will be turning to new signing Charlie Macdonald for the goals this time around. Macdonald joins from Ebbsfleet after he gained a growing reputation in non-league football. Darryl Flahavan is a top quality goalkeeper while defender Peter Clarke was once a target for the Cobblers. Adam Barrett can be dangerous from set pieces when coming up from the back.
TRANSFERS IN: Zoltan Litak (Lombard-Papa) FREE, Charlie Macdonald (Ebbsfleet) FREE, Tommy Black (Crystal Palace) FREE, Nick Bailey (Barnet) FREE
TRANSFERS OUT: Efe Sodje (Gillingham) FREE, Fredy Eastwood (Wolves) £1.5 million
SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Darryl Flahavan, Steven Collis, Joe Welch
DEFENDERS: Simon Francis, Lewis Hunt, Adam Barrett, Peter Clarke, Che Wilson. Zoltan Liptak, Steven Hammell,
MIDFIELD: Mark Gower, Kevin Maher, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Alan McCormack, Tommy Black, Gary Hooper, Franck Moussa, Nick Bailey
FORWARDS: Ritchie Foran, Charlie Macdonald, Lee Bradbury, Billy Paynter, Matt Harrold, Charles Ademano
LAST SEASON: Southend finished third from bottom in The Championships last season but after looking dead and buried at one point put up a real fight only to be denied late in the campaign.
It was always going to be a struggle for Steve Tilson’s men with a low budget but holding onto Fredy Eastwood always gave them a goal scoring threat. Home form early on was good with wins over Stoke City and Sunderland but form dipped and goals were flowing in the wrong end as the Shrimpers lost three games in a row in September and October, shipping nine goals in the process.
Further defeats to Ipswich, Leeds, Hull and Wolves kept them in the running for relgation but there was some relief as they caused a Carling Cup shock by defeating Manchester United in Round Four. They eventually went out in Round Five to Spurs.
Back to the league and Southend staged a brief revival over the new year as Birmingham and QPR were put to the sword early in 2007. But despite getting off the foot of the table, it just wasn’t enough to stage a great escape and defeats to Barnsley, Plymouth and Luton condemned them to League One.
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