OPINION: Shaymen heading into another season hoping to defy the odds

The wind of change that sweeps through The Shay every summer has brought its usual upheaval and uncertainty, on and off the pitch.

There's another new manager in the dugout and another new look to the squad.

But there's still no resolution to the saga of the stadium's future, and there's still unrest among supporters at how the club is run.

Stepping into this weird, ever-changing stasis, like an elevator that never stops, is John McGrath, who guided Buxton to their highest-ever finish in the National League North last season.

His inheritance of losing arguably his two best players in Will Harris and Jay Turner-Cooke – and now Josh Hmami as well - was a rotten one, reminiscent of Chris Millington succeeding Pete Wild but losing top-scorer Billy Waters and midfield engine room Kieran Green in the summer of 2022.

Millington at least had a first-hand experience of the squad he was taking over, and recovered from a horrendous start to win the FA Trophy at Wembley.

Harris and Turner-Cooke's don't grow on trees, and certainly aren't available in the markets Town's budget allows.

McGrath has alluded to the difficulty in replacing them.

For the fans, seeing the club's best players head off into the summer sunset is part of the yearly routine as much as the pre-season friendly with Curzon Ashton and the premature FA Cup exit.

As the clock ticks to 25 years since The Shaymen were last in the Football League, a fair chunk of the fanbase would say it could be a lot longer still until they're back again.

Town's consistently frugal budget and scant resources have a bigger weight to punch above every season in order to compete at the top end of the fith tier.

Talented prospects are unearthed and moved on every season, like a conveyor belt that never stops, but the club itself never seems to get polished up and prepared for bigger things.

Every last drip of effort and spirit and toil is wrung from the Shaymen's sponge, season after season, but the process always resets again.

As well as the losses of Harris, Turner-Cooke and Hmami, there's a new manager, assistant manager, goalkeeping coach and physio at the club, while the long-serving club secretary Tony Allan has also moved on.

Millington's and Pete Wild's two play-off finishes in three years were both built on retaining as much consistency as possible at the club, in the way it operated, the way it played, the way it recruited.

Adam Lakeland gave it a very good go, and his eighth-placed finish was no mean feat.

His departure, one level lower to Morecambe, was a body blow to Town.

Lakeland did impressive work at Halifax in just ten months, and is exactly the progressive, bright young manager Halifax crave.

McGrath seems to be of the same mould, and is a mutually-beneficial appointment; Town get another progressive, bright young manager, and McGrath gets a crack at the National League.

There's a sense that expectations among supporters have been dimmed by Lakeland, Harris, Turner-Cooke and Hmami all leaving, and the manner in which they left.

After back-to-back top seven placings, some would argue that eighth is the thin end of the wedge for future seasons, and that even being within touching distance of the play-offs may start to feel like an achievement in itself.

McGrath would scoff at such a mindset as pessimistic. He has been pragmatic enough to admit there will be troughs as well as peaks this season, but optimistic enough to talk about the ultimate aim being automatic promotion.

Realistic? Many would say not.

Some of his signings have impressed in pre-season more than others; Zak Gilsenan looks a talent, Mackenzie Maltby looks solid at the back, Connor Douglas and Arian Allen fit in with McGrath's desire for pace and directness on the flanks.

The dust from the annual wind of change needs to settle first before considered judgements can be formed.

But The Shaymen are heading into another season hoping collective commitment and endeavour can propel them into the National League pacesetters, against the odds once again.