By AD
August 14 2009

So in June we’d lost #deep breath# Marshall, Mifsud, Simmonds, Dann, Simpson, Beuzelin and Thornton. That’s quite a few bodies down from an already small squad, but as we were only just entering July there was still time to get players in.

Ranson has acquired a bit of a reputation as to letting transfer negotiations drag on (Eastwood, Gudmundsson, Driver) but as Coleman had identified his transfer targets over a month earlier and all parties had been informed hopefully something would start materialising soon to whet the appetite….

But another week went by…and another…and another… and still no news on any incoming transfers.

Until the last week of July when the club announced that Sammy Clingan, a Northern Irish international, would be joining from Norwich. Widely regarded by Canaries fans as their best player last year, Clingan should be a worthwhile replacement for Beuzelin with a bit of Doyle’s industry mixed in for good measure meaning we’d effectively got two players in one, as well as a dead-ball specialist to boot according to reports.

Normally this news would have been greeted with delight and optimism by the Sky Blue Army, but it wasn’t. Probably because the signing was announced as a footnote in a press release revealing the sale of Danny Fox, another of the ‘Big Four’, to Celtic.

Rumours that the fee was a low as £1.5m (although these were denied by Coleman) had the Sky Blue faithful up in arms, as a season that promised so much seemed to be slipping potentially into a relegation-threatened nightmare.

The pre-season friendlies went relatively well in terms of results and saw all the strikers find the net, although most of the opposition wasn’t of a particularly high standard and the team put in a poor performance against Dunfermline. These friendlies weren’t without cost though, as a thin squad was stretched even further with potential long-term injuries to Curtis Wynter (hamstring), James McPake (dislocated shoulder) and David Bell (knee).

Two academy prospects, Shaun Jeffers and Jordan Clarke, had to be called up to the first team just to make up a squad, but performed admirably on the bigger stage and Clarke was handed a two-year contract before he’d even finished his scholarship.

The fans were still unappeased though, as it became apparent that Aron Gunnarson and Kieren Westwood hadn’t even begun negotiations on their new contracts. The farce regarding Jay Tabb’s contract situation last season is still very fresh in many people’s memories, and hoped the club wouldn’t make the same mistake again, but so far it doesn’t look like they’ve learnt from it and led many to fear Aron and Westy would also be sold and doom the club to almost certain relegation….

Pre-season results: Wrexham (a) D1-1 Grandison; Nuneaton Town (a) W1-0 Morrison; Hinkley Utd (a) W2-0  Best, Eastwood; Northampton Town (a) W2-1 Best, Jeffers; Huddersfield Town (a) D0-0; Dunfermline (a) L 0 -1.