I reckon I'm with the majority in looking forward to the new season in hope rather than expectation. On the face of it there hasn't been much change to the squad - unless you count our much-heralded new formation- and probably the appointment of Trollope over Slade has been a boost. But the reality hits home on Saturday when we'll be competing against 23 other sides in a division that seems to be getting increasingly difficult for clubs working on a budget to make any impact.
Last season I saw many clubs who played a quicker, sharper, more incisive game than ours, yet finished below us in the table. I strongly believe that if any of these 10 or so clubs pick up a couple of decent signings and City show now real advancement, then we could find ourselves in the bottom half of the division. Essentially, these clubs, whilst not as effective as City last season, had greater potential. City's lumbering style was out of sync. with the rest of the league.
If the club is waiting to offload Macheda, Le Fondre etc. before bringing in new players, I fear we could be off to a bad start. Much better surely, to have a strong squad from the off, in the knowledge that these players would be on their way within a month or two. Maybe in Trollope we have a real gem, maybe he'll be found wanting if we have a shaky start. What we do need is a season that is an antidote to the 'flat' two seasons that we bound to follow 14 years on the roller coaster since 2001..
