I must admit that I am glad this season is over. Little did we know back on July 13 at the Radcliffe Borough pre-season game what lay in store for the Stanley faithful.

There have been lots of high points such as beating Bradford, Morecambe, Torquay and the great draw with Shrewsbury to delay their promotion party.

Despite being the far better team in the first half we could not find the back of the net on Saturday and Crawley scored to finish in third place and gain promotion to League One.

I hope their pitch invasion and celebrations at the final whistle will act as an incentive to the Stanley players who were watching on from the dressing room.

Ilyas Khan stepped down at the AGM and we cannot thank him and his family enough for saving our club and although I am sure he will never be too far away behind the scenes he leaves us in a much better position than when he arrived.

As for a look back over the season well we had to rebuild after the closed season exodus and the new look squad performed very well indeed taking us into the play-off places, for albeit a brief while.

Then came the day that many Stanley fans had dreaded John Coleman and Jimmy Bell left the club for Rochdale.

I personally had known them longer than I had known my wife and that if felt like I had lost two brothers.

Time however is a healer and a few months on I am more than happy with the new management set up of Paul Cook and Leam Richardson.

The team has performed well under their guidance and I have no doubt that Cook will be bringing many new faces into the squad.

If I have to pick some highlights then let’s start with the 3-2 win over Aldershot. Charlie Barnett’s late winner sent me into raptures of delight that I usually reserve for a win over a Steve Evans side.

The 4-3 win over Gillingham was also a superb day with Richardson in temporary charge as he made the management game look easy.

For me this season has been about taking stock and looking to the future. I no longer want a new home for the Reds, just some redevelopment of the Crown.