The 2010-11 season will be my second season writing for the paper after successfully covering Yeovil Town,
Torquay United and Plymouth Argyle in the 2009-10 campaign.
This season, I will be running this blog alongside my reporting (which incidentally begins this Saturday with Torquay United against Northampton Town) to give a different point of view on football based in an area not regarded as a traditional 'hot-bed' of the game.
To start with I will be running a lowdown on the prospects of the four South West league sides on the eve of the big kick-off. I will begin by looking at the team that I covered most regularly last season, Yeovil Town.
The Glovers
After guiding the Glovers to a respctable 15th place finish in 2009-10, Yeovil boss Terry Skiverton will be looking to make progress in the forthcoming campaign.
Skiverton has so far assembled a youthful squad, which he has complemented with experience with the signing of former Brighton defender Adam Virgo who Gordon Strachan once paid £1.5million for when he was in charge of Celtic.
Another current Glover who will be looking to make a big impression this term is striker Dean Bowditch who agreed a new deal in the summer to extend his stay at Huish Park. A former Ipswich starlet, Bowditch experienced a bittersweet debut for Yeovil on the opening day of last season. After scoring in the first half against Tranmere Rovers, he was then stretched off in the second half with a dislocated shoulder.
However, he made a goalscoring return after finding the back of the net against Soouthend United in October. He finished the campaign with ten goals in 30 appearances and will be looking to continue scoring in the same vein during this coming season.
Last season also saw several loan signings make a name for themselves at Huish Park, including Spurs trio Steven Caulker, Ryan Mason and Jon Obika. These players alongwith other temporary signings such as Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, Swansea midfielder Shaun MacDonald and the returning Gavin Williams all served the Glovers well during the campaign.
It is also worth mentioning that since their return to their parent club, Caulker was one of the best performers for England in the UEFA Under-19 Championships this summer. Mason and Obika have both featured for Spurs in their pre-season friendlies this season.
Current loanees John Sullivan, Rob Kiernan, Cameron Stewart and Luke Freeman who arrived from Millwall, Watford, Manchester United and Arsenal respectively and will be looking to follow their example.
Other new arrivals at Yeovil include Andy Williams who joined from Bristol Rovers, Luke Ayling signed from Arsenal after a brief loan spell towards the end of last season, defender Paul Huntingdon moved from Stockport and midfielder Ed Upson was recruited following his release from Ipswich.
All in all, the Glovers once again look capable of holding their own in League One and proving the bookies, who have once again have tipped them for relegation, wrong and causing a few surprises along the way.
