It's Round and It's White
Described by many as the next Crawley Town, Fleetwood Town are known to have one of the largest transfer budgets in League Two – and by some margin too. QPR bad boy Joey Barton has been training with the club throughout the summer and rumours are hinting towards a six month loan deal for the midfielder.
It’s Round and It’s White caught up with Fleetwood fan Sean Slater (@salmon1620) to get the lowdown on the Football League’s latest newcomers.
How did last season measure up, compared to your expectations?
Unbelievable, in all honesty. We signed some good players at the start of the season in Andy Mangan, Richard Brodie and Rob Atkinson, who probably would have been a contender for Player of Season before his bad injury. Going off the season before, when we finished in the play-offs, and then keeping the majority of the squad with made some top level Conference signings on top I knew we would go close – but to actually win it was unreal.
What do you think of your club’s summer transfer activity, are there more arrivals/exits on the horizon?
Transfer activity at the club was jaw dropping in all honesty, to get players of the caliber of Jon Parkin, Damien Johnson, Youl Mawene and Barry Nicholson, all players with either Premiership or international experience is unbelievable. As for more arrivals for people who know anything about our chairman, he is always on the lookout for better players and if he can make it happen he will so don’t rule anything out. We were within a whisker of getting Joey Barton, so that tells you everything.
What would be a dream new season for you?
Good question this as you could go and speak to 10 different Fleetwood fans and get a variety of answers. I think we need a top 7 finish, a decent run to the third round or beyond in the FA CUP would be nice, and even a trip to Wembley in the JP Trophy would be nice. Not much, but your bread and butter of the league comes first, so the aim is promotion or a shot at it.
What would be your worst nightmare?
Us getting relegated and Southport getting promoted, but then you have more chance of Lady Godiva riding Red Rum to victory in the national.
Who will be your most important player/s this season?
Another good question but I will stab at Steve Mcnulty, Damien Johnson if we can get or keep him fit and all of our strikers who will be under pressure to replace the goals of Jamie Vardy.
Any players you would happily see the back of?
I’ve not been overly impressed with Dean Howell and Lee Fowler’s work rate and attitude needs to improve as it is garbage, but besides that happy with the core of the team.
Do you have the best manager for the job?
He has done everything that has been asked of him by the Chairman so that is all he can do I suppose, regardless of his success there is a section of support who wouldn’t be bothered id he left tomorrow let’s say. I think he really needs to improve his man-management, but credit were it’s due for two promotions in just under 4 seasons.
Opposition players that you respect?
Hard to comment on for the coming season but you expect Daniel Nardiello and Kari Arnason of Rotherham to have big season’s for them, Jack Lester of Chesterfield will always score goals, Andrew Davies is a cracking signing for Bradford as is Tom Cruise for Torquay potentially.
Opposition players that you despise?
Another one that is hard to comment, I bet Richard Brodie will get a few mantions amongst many fans but I love the guy and think he wasn’t given a fair crack of the whip. One player who I do despise from our time in Non League is Alan Moogan.
Best away fans/ground in your league?
Going off last season I thought stockport fans were good inside ground not so good outside, Grimsby fans were decent as well, the best ground was Darlington’s just a shame it became a white elephant, as they say.
Which teams do you really want to beat this season?
Honest answer all of them, but if we could get doubles over Accrington Stanley and Morecambe that would be special and I feel any team that beats Rotherham to the title will be Champions.
Finally, where do you honestly think you will finish?
As I said previously, I will be disappointed if we finish below 7th but I think somewhere between 3rd and 5th will be where we finish.
Fleetwood fans, do you agree or disagree with Sean’s comments? Why not sign up and have your say in the comments section below?
