The news broke across Buckinghamshire that despite making history last season with The Chairboys, Manager and Rock God Gareth Ainsworth had been unceremoniously replaced at the helm of Wycombe Wanderers. His replacement, the complete unknown Hamish McLean.
McLean is a local lad, born around the corner in Ascot and has already endeared himself to the fans after it was announced he is a life long Wycombe Wanderers Fan himself.
The Press however, appeared to be less interested in this development at Adams Park, with only three journalists making the journey to the press conference to announce the appointment. From here on in we shall follow McLean through his debut season and beyond.
My first job was to run through the club with a fine tooth comb to see where we stood after a surprising promotion last season.
Finances are almost not existent with the overall balance of the club sitting at 500k and change and a playing wage budget a measly 62k.
I retained all of the staff from the previous regime (Mainly because I couldn't afford to replacement). One immediate change I made was to move the current Assistant Manager Richard Dobson to the role of Head of Youth Development, a role he will relish.
His replacement was through the door before the ink had dried on his contract, Willie Donachie. Bringing with him a wealth of experience that will be sure to help me through the first year of my fledgling career. Back up was also brought in on the coaching team and all positions filled promptly.
Next up a meeting with the squad, This was a productive one. Clearly unsure of my credentials we agreed that it was going to be long hard season and that we would do well to avoid relegation.
In relation to the squad it was easy for me to highlight our issues. We needed depth and with the finances being so poor I felt like Harry Redknapp hanging out of a Range Rover driver side window, wheeling and dealing my way through the transfer window.
We immediately plunged into the loan market bringing in Defensive Midfielder Harvey white from Spurs and Josh Bowler an exciting winger from Everton as well as a back up left sided full back, Rob Nizet from Norwich.
Sadly we also had to say goodbye to a few faces.
Birmingham came in for David Wheeler with an offer of 250k with the deal eventually reaching 350k with add ons.
I cannot afford to turn down injections of cash like this and it really helped adding much needed cash to the kitty.
Josh Parker left on loan to Mansfield as I felt he was surplus to requirements and promising central defender Giles Phillips went out on loan to Shrewsbury for much needed first team experience.
With a lack of a fully functional youth system yet due to it only just being reinstated, we bought in some promising young players who aren't ready for first team football but can hopefully develop into promising players in the future. I will keep you updated on their progress as we go through the season.
With my transfer activity completed with an idea of the tactics in the back of my mind I settled on a classic 4-1-2-3 formation. The idea being the DM sits deep as extra cover to allow the Full backs, especially Joe Jacobson on the left to bomb forward and fill the gap left by the inside forward once the cut inside.
I want us to be hard to break down but with the pace and dynamism to break on the counter. This tactic is also easily adjusted if the game plan isn't working and with The Beast Akinfenwa raring to go from the bench having players who can get in and around him are a must.
We put this in to practise in Pre season with solid results.
So we prepare to kick the season off in the EFL Cup against League 2 Cheltenham Town and the team i have opted for is as follows.
Strap in, I feel this could be a bumpy ride!
See you for the start of the Season soon.
Cheers
Hamish