Mansfield Town

Last Season at a glance

17th in League Two

It was quite a respectable finish for the Stags last season, finishing in 17th position. They never really looked in any danger of doing anything worse than that, though a late drop in form would have worried the more pessimistic of supporters as they went on a run of six defeats in seven games with teams below picking up points. However, four points from the last two matches ensured that there was nothing to worry about.

Dearden is quite a shrewd operator at this level, and is certainly one of the most experienced managers at Football League level within the division. He's in his second spell in charge at Mansfield now, having had time away at Notts County and Blackpool, and it's not been an easy ride so far.

It's probably too early in his second spell to decide whether the old cliché about never going back has proved true. He's been in the hot seat since Xmas. But he's found himself in worse positions as Stags manager and coped. When he took over in 1999, with a transfer embargo in place and relegation looking a distinct possibility, he led them to a highly respectable 17th place.

Will probably get an easier time off the supporters due to their anger being aimed towards the boardroom.

Tough call this one.

In Mansfield's favour, we think that the stability of Billy Dearden will prove to be a godsend for them. There is quality within the Stags squad, and maybe Dearden can be the man to get the most from it. Fair enough, he didn't manage it last season, but with a full pre-season behind him rather than picking up the pieces midway through the season, it might be slightly easier to turn things round.

The contract renewal of Baptiste is a huge boost for the Stags. It was widely expected that he'd have been off to seek his fame and fortune elsewhere, which must have proved a huge distraction for both Baptiste and the club.

This isn't going to be an easy season for the Stags, and anyone thinking otherwise is merely kidding themselves. It's going to be a long hard slog to fifty points, with anything else beyond that being a bonus.[

Whilst there's no doubt that things may well change before the season starts, things don't appear promising. Looking at their list of Summer signings, you're either a family member or some Championship Manager obsessive if you've heard of any of them.

Successful seasons are not built on players not good enough for Notts County or defenders who will be 37 on their next birthday. After all, Martyn McIntosh is older than the combined total of whole defence.

And its not even like they could say they've gone for quantity rather than quality. They've only signed three players, with a squad looking so threadbare that they'd be hard pushed to form a five a side team.

And then there's the boardroom thing. Last season finished in pretty shoddy circumstances for the Stags. They've never been too keen on their Chairman Keith Haslam, but things seemed to hit a whole new level towards the end of last season, when their official club photographer is ejected from the ground because of his laptop's screensaver, and their stewards turned into the Hitler Youth when dealing with a last day of the season pitch invasion.

The natives are certainly restless at Field Mill, and it would appear that the scales are starting to tip against Haslam. But criticism against Haslam is nothing news, and he's never been particularly bothered about it before. If the protests step up a gear, they could easily overshadow the season as form drops.

There's no doubting the quality that someone like Matty Hamshaw possesses. He's a match winner, and can produce those moments of magic that can turn a game single handedly. We've been on the receiving end of it ourselves, and he's seen as a player with bags of ability.

Last year was a bit of disappointment for the former Stockport player. There were issues that we're not going to go into on here, but not showing his true potential was very much understandable.

But Hamshaw has a career of not really achieving what he should do. This division has been littered with players of this type over the years, and whilst the stuff they do will be lapped up by supporters, you find yourself repeatedly going on about potential. The Stockport fans seemed to love him, but he was released by County and if a player has that much about him, then why bother releasing him?

If Hamshaw performs, Mansfield will be fine next season. If he goes missing, then so might Mansfield.

The Mansfield squad certainly concerns us.

Clearly there are moments of quality in it. An on form Matty Hamshaw is often unplayable as we mentioned above. Baptiste is bizarrely still at Mansfield for the time being. And if Boulding can show the sort of form he did before he went off doing his Tim Henman bit, then they'll be alright.

But there's a flip side to all of them. We find ourselves talking about the potential of two of those players, and with the best will in the world, you should never be talking about the potential of players of their ages. And at this level, its very rare for players to suddenly discover the sort of form they have showed earlier in their careers, especially whilst remaining with their clubs.

The Baptiste thing is an odd one. He was widely expected to leave in the Summer, only to sign a new deal to remain with the Stags. Lack of ambition by him or just no one interested? Get the feeling that the new contract won't necessarily keep him at Field Mill for the duration of that contract, and either way, will he be as motivate as in previous years if he's still at a club because he can't be bothered or because no one else wants him?

But aside from these, no one could claim that the Mansfield squad last season was good enough, and it certainly hasn't been strengthened over the Summer. At least twelve months ago, they had the ability of Richard Barker to point to.

But Barker got twice as many goals as anyone else did, despite leaving the club on New Year's Day. That leaves a massive hole up front, and fair enough Danny Reet might be big enough to fill a hole the size of the Grand Canyon, he's not going to come close to scoring the goals that Barker did.

Three new signings is very much short of what is required. They weren't especially good last year, and as a squad, they are definitely worse off than they were twelve months ago which can only mean dropping down the table.

Only problem for Mansfield is that whilst 17th seems pretty respectable, they were only a couple of wins above Boston (before Boston's 10 point administration penalty). And without those goals from Barker early on, they could have found themselves down last time round.

But we do think that Dearden has it within himself to keep Mansfield away from the drop. It'll probably be a last day of the season job, where they play out a convenient 1-1 draw with Bury to ensure survival. But Dearden's a decent boss at this level, and knows the club well enough to sort things out. He may well have to do so with both hands tied behind his back, but he'll manage it. Just.