Here we go again!

That summer was over in the blink of an eye and we stand on the precipice of another nine months of a season that could mean absolutely anything.

More midtable obscurity? A play-off push?

Outsiders for an automatic promotion challenge?

All of those scenarios could theoretically be possible, it’s going to be a relatively new team taking to the field on Saturday against Northampton.

But with another four weeks of the transfer window still to go it could be a totally different side that starts September than starts August.

Thus it’s probably a season that any supporter would struggle to guess where we’ll end up.

How do we rate pre-season? Well incomings wise we managed to get the forward line sorted relatively quickly with the arrivals of Paul Mullins, Christian Saydee and Dara Costelloe.

Costelloe in particular looks a real find and can be seen as quite the coup from Burnley.

Equally Saydee comes from Portsmouth with glowing reports, whilst everyone knows Paul Mullins quality.

If he can replicate some of his Wrexham form pre-injury we could definitely have an exciting strike force when you factor in Assamoah and Chris Sze.

Midfield wise Frasier Murray arrives but looks to be featuring as one of Lowe’s wing backs whilst Callum Wright again arrives with glowing references from Plymouth.

Defence is probably where we’re lacking but the surprise return of a Stephen Sessegnon who looked to be on his way out of the club at the start of the summer could well alleviate some of those issues.

All managers will want to do their business early and have the squad together for the bulk of the summer but in many cases it simply isn’t possible.

We saw that more than most last summer when Latics laboured through a summer that brought very little success in the transfer market.

Results wise wins over Chorley, Accrington and Tranmere were sandwiched with draws against Curzon Ashton in Spain and against Liverpool’s Under-21s.

League One this year will be more of an even keel with the big hitters of Birmingham and Wrexham heading up to the Championship but there’s still some big spenders in the third division, even without those two.

Huddersfield seemed to have laid out more than most this year with a number of eye catching signings none more so than Alfie May.

A forward we tried to sign before he eventually went to spearhead Birmingham’s promotion push last year.

Our friends over the hill have brought in a number of players but also lost a few as well meaning it will be a very different Bolton we face in September.

What are the expectations from the Latics faithful this season?

Probably far higher than what the club has in mind. But if we see progress under Ryan Lowe, and an target to aim for be that this season or next I think most will be happy.

Bring on Saturday for the next stop on the rollercoaster.

Sean Livesey

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