Football Season Guide

Derry City are coming from a season in which they surpassed all expectations, as they finish third, while most predicted them to either finish in midtable obscurity or end up battling against the drop. Dundalk's Europan heroics have made it impossible for Kenny Shiels to have a realistic chance of winning the Manager of the Year award, but the experienced boss, who took over at the end of the 2015 season, would have won the award in most other seasons, as the work he had done with the side has been nothing short of impressive. However, Derry did not have the financial muscle to deal with the interest that their standout performers have inevitable attracted and they have therefore lost several regular players, with Conor McCormack and Niclas Vemmelund in particular being two players that they would have liked to keep. The list of arrivals includes only three new outfield players, as their squad is definitely smaller than it was last time around and is also lacking in Premier League quality. Most will expect them to fail to match their last year's heroics and, while this may be true, they are first and foremost side built on excellent defensive organization and should not be written off just yet.