It's that time of the year again - the kids haven't broken up from school yet, Wimbledon is still on the TV and you haven't been on your summer hols yet. BUT THE FOOTBALL IS BACK !

The first team squad are already in pre-season training, you've bought your membership and season ticket, the friendlies are in your diary. All your hopes and dreams for the next few months are still in place - no injuries, no cup upsets, no opposition keeper having a worldy.

Let's look at what's to come over season 26/27 - new grounds to visit, familiar faces, old foes in the cups. It's all here. So, with thanks to Richard M for the research, here's part 1 of our pre-season preview :

Firstly, congratulations..........
You may not have noticed that one ex Blue is already a World Cup winner. Take a bow, Aaron O'Connor, who played 71 games for us in our Conference days. Aaron was part of the England Seniors World Cup winning squad in Thailand and scored England's third goal in a 4-0 win over France in the final. Congrats Aaron !

Team allocations for the 26/27 season

Division 1 North lines up like this:
We lose Maldon and Tiptree as last season's Champions, together with Stanway Rovers who won the play offs. They are both promoted to the Isthmian Premier (Step 3).

We also say farewell to Waltham Abbey, who have been moved back across to Southern League Central. They'll certainly miss playing The Blues with that long winning run against us in League.

Also leaving us are the four relegated sides; Brantham Athletic, Downham Town and Mildenhall Town, who all return to the Eastern Counties League Premier Division and Heybridge Swifts, so long a fixture in the Isthmian League, who drop down to the Essex Senior League.

Replacing these teams, we have three sides relegated from Step 3 and the four promoted teams. Starting with those dropping back to Isthmian North.

Canvey Island return after four seasons in the Isthmian Premier. They are managed by Garry Kimble who took over from Peter Taylor during last season. Garry has certainly been busy getting his squad together signing, to date, 12 players, many returning to the club. The Gulls will expect to be among the front runners this coming season.

Also returning are Hashtag United who appear to be having a reset after three seasons at Step 3. They announced in March that they wanted to take voluntary relegation to Step 4 for next season and then found a way of making that irrelevant by finishing in the bottom 4 anyway. They have moved from ground sharing with Aveley to a new home at Redbridge FC.

The third team dropping into Isthmian North are AFC Sudbury, in their case, after 3 years in the Southern League Premier Central. Our last game against Sudbury was the play off semi final in April 2023. They will be hoping for a much more positive campaign this time round.

Turning to the clubs who gained promotion to Isthmian North and first up, Little Oakley who finished as worthy Champions of the competitive Essex Senior League, with an impressive 82 points from their 38 games. Their defence was, by a margin, the best in the ESL keeping clean sheets in half of their games. The Acorns, play in blue and black stripes and I believe this coming season will be our first ever meetings with them (unless someone tells me differently !)

Next, the winners of the Essex Senior League playoffs, Buckhurst Hill. They finished the season in 4th place, just 5 points shy of Little Oakley, before beating Great Wakering Rovers away, on penalties, in their playoff semi final and then edging Barking 1-0 in the final in front of over 1,000 spectators at their Roding Lane ground. We have met The Stags in the past for a couple of pre-season friendlies, but this season will see our first league fixtures. They also play in blue and black stripes.

From the Eastern Counties League, we are joined by Mulbarton Wanderers, based a few miles south of Norwich. They absolutely smashed it last season, winning their title by 21 points (they were victorious in 28 of 34 games played and scored nearly 100 times). They then won their League Cup and the Norfolk Senior Cup. What went wrong in the FA Vase, lads? They even have a young player secured on a long term contract. A decent start and they could easily be the dark horses this season. By the way, they play in blue and black stripes.....

Finally, we also welcome Fakenham Town from Norfolk, who finished in 5th in the Eastern Counties League before winning away at Haverhill Rovers and then Soham Town Rangers in the playoffs. Nicknamed The Ghosts, (let's hope we don't meet them on Halloween), they do not play in blue and black, their kit is gold and black. Our game at Fakenham will be our longest away trip in the league this season which could be a tough one if it's scheduled for a Tuesday night in December. Mind you it's worse for Fakenham, who face several long trips to play the South Essex sides in their debut season at Step 4. (I'm also looking forward to the Fakenham v Newmarket Jockey Club derby !!)

Managerial Changes

As always, there have been changes at a number of clubs, starting with Walthamstow, who have made an eye-catching appointment, bringing in ex Watford and Stoke City striker, Gifton Noel Williams. Many of us expected The Stow to be in the mix for the playoff places last season and they finished really well, but a slow start to the season proved costly.

Next and after many successful seasons in charge, Jay Devereux has moved to Director of Football at Hashtag United and has been replaced by Sammy Knott, who had success when assisting Brad Wellman at Canvey Island.

Concord have brought back a former player to manage their first team, in the form of Ricky Modeste, The Grenadian international, succeeds Sammy Collins. Ricky played against us many times, most recently, for Concord last season in their 3-1 win on the Island.

AFC Sudbury had a difficult season in Southern League Central and for the new season, have appointed Phil Weavers, who was Mildenhall Town's manager last year.

There was also a change of manager at Bowers and Pitsea and then there wasn't! Joe Flower stepped down, but then had a change of heart and will remain in charge for the new season.

Away from our division, you may have seen that Darren Manning has been appointed manager of Essex Senior League side, Romford. Darren has started to build his squad by bringing in Aron Gordon, plus Prince Sikiru and Elton Gjonbala , both once of this parish.

The very best of luck to Darren, Aron and the team next season; it would be great to see them fire Romford back to Step 4.

Player Changes

At this stage of pre-season, things are often still fluid with trials being held, new signings made and retained lists released (check out Bilston Town's video announcing their retained list for 26/27, it is absolutely brilliant!. See https://x.com/BilstonTownFC/status/2071992710475485406

A few highlights from Isthmian 1 North so far;

* Starting with Tilbury whose new signings include Jon Nzengo, Ben Allen and Michael Okafor.
* Canvey have signed no fewer than 12 players, many of whom return to the club, including Evans Kouassi, Jamie Salmon and Jack Cawley. They have also brought in the likes of keeper David Hughes, winger Ernest Okoh and striker Ross Wall.
* Takeley have acquired the services of forwards Charlie Heatley, George Sykes plus Connor Witherspoon.
* Gorleston went so close to the play offs last season and have added Aaron Bullent and Kyle Haylock from local rivals, Lowestoft Town. Travis Cole also joins them after a break from playing.
* Witham have brought in George Smith and Gabe Campbell and have retained Super Sam Bantick.
* Felixstowe and Walton will be hoping to get the job done this season and have signed up Lester Ward who was so impressive for Tilbury last season while on loan from Chelmsford City. Callum Harrison has returned after a spell at Brightlingsea Regent.
* Hashtag have signed several players including Harrison Day, Nathan Korateng, Jaden Crowhurst and keeper, Joe Whitney.
* Concord have announced the signings of Kai Torres and ex Blue Toheeb Elegushi.
* Cambridge City have been busy and included in their squad for the new season are Charles Brown Bampoe, Ben Nolan, Charlie Royle and Travis Dodsworth
* Brightlingsea have added Mekhi McKenzie and the returning Charlie Collis to their squad.
* AFC Sudbury are rebuilding and have brought in Dan Cousens, Callum Anderson, Tom Maycock and George Chenery.

That's all for now - but come back later in the week and we'll have a look our very own Grays Athletic and sum up all the news and reviews, ready for the new season.

Oh yes, and..............COME ON ENGLAND !!!!!