View from the opposition - Shrewsbury

It was dreadful. Expectation was high given our appearance in the play-off final the previous season, along with moving in the new stadium and being in a very strong financial position after years of strong financial management.

However despite a strong start to the campaign we soon tailed off and with manager Gary Peters insisting on playing direct football on officially the best pitch in the division, the knives were soon out. In the end it was a delight to just to secure our league position for another season and help send local rivals Wrexham down.

Has your club's Summer activities lived up to expectations?

It has surpassed all expectations. We were left with a squad at the end of last season with hardly any room for manoeuvre as the vast majority of players were still in contract (unlike, for example, Bradford who were able to release over a dozen players in one go).

However through losing a few of the weaker players, and benefitting from significantly increased attendances last season resulting in a considerably higher budget, Simpson has made four top quality signings in Walker (Bristol Rovers), Holt (Forest), Sherriff (Tranmere) and Jackson (Blackpool).

There is some doubt over the depth of the squad in terms of quality but fans have gone from expecting mid table boredom to at the very minimum a playoff challenge.

7th and just about into the playoffs. We've signed some real quality however the second half of last season will still be fresh in the minds of fans and players and it will therefore it may be difficult for us to get back into the winning habit.

In addition, if one of our key four signings (two centre halves and two strikers) gets injured early doors, I'm not convinced we have the strength in depth to sustain a challenge for the top three.

There's a trend of losing play-off finalists struggling in the next season. However I don't see that with Rochdale, based on the ability of manager Hill who is not only regarded as a good young manager but seems like a really likeable guy too.

I'm not sure 'Dale have strengthened enough to challenge for the top 3 but I'd expect them to be knocking on the door of the playoffs again.