The new football season in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League is just a week away and sees two enlarged divisions for Season 2023-24 as the league continues to attract new sides.

The Premier Division sees two additional teams for Season 2023-24 as the division expands to 18 teams and is shaping up to be the most competitive in many a season with no perceived weaker teams this coming season. Last season’s runners-up Devizes Town have been promoted to the Uhlsport Hellenic League but have been replaced by Amesbury Town who have dropped down from the Wessex League but will be keen to bounce back at the first attempt. Also dropping down from a higher level are Shrivenham who last season were in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League. A loss of volunteers and players, and issues with their floodlights which currently cannot be used, sees Shrivenham looking to re-group at a lower level after a difficult period. Promoted from last season’s Division One are a strong Larkhall Athletic Development side, who not only won Division One last season, but also lifted the Fountain Trophies Senior Cup beating Devizes Town in an exciting final. Another newly promoted side are Kingsdown who pushed Larkhall all the way in a title race dominated by the two sides. Joining Larkhall and Kingsdown in moving up from Division One are Ludgershall Sports who return to the topflight after just one season’s absence.

The expanded Division One sees no less than ten new clubs join the League. Two sides, Marlborough Town and Stratton Juniors, were relegated from the Premier Division at the end of last season, with the three remaining sides from last season's Division One making up the balance of the 15 teams. Both Marlborough Town and Stratton Juniors will be looking to do what Ludgershall Sports did at the end of Season 2022-23 and win promotion back to the Premier Division at the first attempt. Kintbury Rangers Dev, who pulled out part way through last season, are one of the ten new clubs elected into the League, the others being Bishops Cannings, Bratton, Cricklade Town, Faringdon Town, Kingsdown Dev, Lambourn Sports, Park United, Shrivenham Dev and Wroughton Dev.

So, with the first games just under a week away, what can we expect in the Premier Division?

League champions Trowbridge Town once again look to have assembled a strong side, manager Ryan Baggs bringing in a number of players with experience at a higher-level to add to what was already a strong side. Trowbridge were clear favourites last season and did not disappoint their large following as they secured the title after a battle involving Devizes Town which saw the two sides lead the way right from the start. Despite not beating Devizes in the two games last season Trowbridge finished six points clear of them winning 26 of their remaining 28 games. New signings for the coming season include former Westbury United player Dan Kovacs , Leigh Rogers who has experience at Step 5 level with Corsham Town and Dominic Kilbane, an experienced player at this level where he previously captained Corsham Town Reserves. Trowbridge have retained the services of James Rustell who scored 17 goals in just 14 appearances at the back end of last season and the forthcoming campaign also sees the return of George Bendle who had scored 11 goals before joining the mass exodus of players to Bradford Town which could easily have derailed Trowbridge’s title aspirations. Manager Baggs will be hoping for a less traumatic season in 2023-24 and with a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes in gearing Trowbridge up for returning to Step 6 of the National League System he will be aiming for another successful season on the pitch that will enable promotion to be achieved at the end of the coming campaign. Frustratingly for Baggs and his players their opening fixture against Amesbury Town this coming Saturday has been postponed with Amesbury unable to raise a side and with Amesbury starting their life back in the Wiltshire Senior League with a postponement charge. Trowbridge Town will now start their campaign in midweek with a trip to Larkhall Athletic Development which will see the two champions from last season do battle in what for both will be now be their opening games of the new campaign.

Pewsey Vale had another good season in Season 2022-23 having finished runners-up in Season 2021-22 they again secured a top three place last season, albeit they were some distance behind the top two. Manager Darren Tapper stepped down in the summer and has been replaced by former Cricklade Town and Melksham Town Reserves manager Craig Kent. Kent had a difficult time last season at Melksham where the remit was around bringing on youngsters from the Melksham U18 side and his side were rooted to the bottom of the table at the time he departed. At Pewsey he inherits a side that has a good mix of experience in the shape of James Guthrie, Liam Edmondson and Ryan Banks, and some highly talented young players such as Rory England and Jude Cawley and Pewsey are once again expected to be challenging at the top end of the table.

Frome Collegians last season had their best season since joining the league but may find it hard to repeat that fourth place finish this coming season due to some key departures, most notably leading scorer from last season Jack Newman who has moved to Step 5 side Shepton Mallet. Newman scored 28 goals last season and will be a tough act to follow. Frome have also seen a couple of regular players retire and how they get on in Season 2023-24 could well be determined by what sort of start they can make. They start the season with a visit from the team who finished just below them in the table last season, Blunsdon.

Blunsdon ended the 2022-23 Season just one point behind Frome Collegians in what was their first ever season at this level. They broke the trend of teams who come up from the Swindon & District League and then struggle and over the summer have added some additional experience to their management team with Troy Prentice, long time joint manager at Malmesbury Victoria Development, joining Ian Rosewell in the dugout at Sutton Park. Blunsdon have retained last season’s squad including the influential Eliot Wheatley and possibly the best goalkeeper in the division, Harrison Ellis and should be competing at the top end of the table again this coming season. Blunsdon are one of three sides unable to use their own pitch on a Saturday in August and start with three of their four opening fixtures away from home.

Kintbury Rangers ended last season in sixth spot and will be one of a number of teams under new management for the coming season with Danny Langford taking over in the hotseat at Kintbury. It will be interesting to see if Langford intends to be a player-manager as with his pace he is a handful for any defence and has plenty of Hellenic League experience with Newbury, Binfield and Royal Wootton Bassett Town. Langford is no stranger to club management having had a successful 18-month stint as Newbury boss, leading the club to a promotion to the Thames Valley Premier League Premier Division. Kintbury will be another side with quality in the goalkeeping department with Charlie McCready coming in to challenge regular keeper Kyle Clough for the number one jersey. One top draw signing for Kintbury is Brad Pagliaroli, who last season was playing for Binfield in the Isthmian League, although it may be that he will be plying his trade at a higher level once again and he has just signed for Kintbury as cover.  Players that are back at the Recreation Ground are Tom Mahoney, Harry Way and Alistair Thorp who were all part of the Kintbury side who were runners-up in the Corsham Print Wiltshire Senior League back in Season 2018-19. Kintbury, like Trowbridge Town and Amesbury Town, are understood to be keen to return to Step 6 of the National League System and with three clubs having such ambitions it should result in another exciting title race.

Another side who will be under new management this season are Wroughton with Ben Jarrett having stepped down at the end of last season as their season petered out after making the WIltshire Senior Cup final. Wroughton have made an astute inhouse appointment with club captain Chris Flanagan taking his first steps into management at the Weir Field.  Key players from last season, keeper Edward Salsbury, centre-back Luigi Hernandez and forward Sam Long are all back but at the time of writing last season’s top scorer in the Premier Division, Jonathan Peachey-Score has not been signed. Wroughton are one of a number of teams to suffer from multiple postponements of pre-season games, including matches scheduled to take place in some of the prestigious pre-season cup competitions and will be keen to get their season underway at the Ray Mac this coming Saturday in a repeat of last season’s opener between Salisbury and Wroughton. Last season the two sides served up an eight-goal thriller to kick the season off and it should be another good game to commence the new campaign. Wroughton are one of the three teams in the Premier Division unable to play home games on a Saturday in August due to cricket, their pitch not being available on a Saturday until the 9^th of September, and again start the season with six of their opening seven games away from home.

Whilst several sides will be under new management, Calne Town Reserves, who finished last season in the top half of the table with their young hard-working side, have Tom Boakes once again in charge. With his young side having another year’s experience under their belt they will be looking to step up and challenge for a top five finish this coming season. Calne have a tough looking opening game away to Pewsey Vale where last season they fell to a 4-1 defeat but it should be a much closer affair when the sides meet in a week’s time.

Malmesbury Victoria Development finished last season in style with just one defeat in their final eight games as they played catch-up with their fixtures following the mid-season flooding of the Flying Monk Ground. That run at the end of the season saw them able to call up a few players from the first team and it helped them climb away from the relegation position to end the season in ninth spot. They are one of the sides under new management with the long-standing management duo of Troy Prentice and Dave Shepherd moving on, Prentice having made that move to Blunsdon and Shepherd stepping down after many seasons in the dugout. The new man in charge is Rob Needham who makes the short journey from near neighbours Minety where last season he oversaw a successful season that saw Minety finish as runners-up in the top division of the Stroud & District League. After last season’s difficulties with the pitch the club has requested as many home games as possible in the early part of the season and they are set to play four of their opening five games at the Flying Monk but open the season with an away trip to newly promoted Ludgershall Sports.

Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development will be hoping to have a much better start to the coming season than was the case last season when they started the defence of the title they had won in Season 2021-22 with five straight defeats and no win in their opening seven games. A change of manager saw Mark Simpkins take over and he guided what was a very young and inexperienced side to final tenth place position. With a number of promising youngsters progressing from their successful Under 18 Floodlit side they are expected to have a much better season in 2023-24 and open their campaign with a home game against Shrewton United. Goalkeeper Adam House returns to the club after a few seasons’ absence and the season could also see the club’s record appearance maker for the first team, Stephen Yeardley, make a return along with Nick Mason, part of the side that won the league in Season 2021-22, to add experience alongside the youngsters.

Salisbury FC Development were another side to have a tough start to last season, struggling with players they were forced to call off a number of games which resulted in them picking up some points deductions. If it had not been for those deductions, it would have been Salisbury who finished in tenth spot. With some exiting youngsters coming through their Under 18 set up Salisbury are expected to be a much stronger proposition this season and could well be competing at the top end of the table this season. They open with that home fixture against Wroughton before meeting near neighbours Shrewton United in midweek, two games that manager Mark Winter will be eying up as winnable games.

Few would have predicted at the end of February that Melksham Town Reserves would find themselves anywhere other than bottom of the table having spent virtually all season at the foot of the table. However, there was a major transformation under new manager Justin Flowers which saw Melksham win six of their final eight games, including a victory over title chasing Devizes Town which had a major impact on the destination of the league title last season. Flowers will be hoping that his side carry on from where they left off last season and are challenging at the right end of the table this coming season. Melksham open with a home game against Kintbury Rangers.

Shrewton United are another side who flirted with relegation last season but wins against three Development sides in April secured another season in the Premier Division,the wins against Royal Wootton Bassett Town, Salisbury and Odd Down (Bath) ensuring safety for Shrewton. They open the current season away at Royal Wootton Bassett Town Development looking to repeat that win on their last visit to the Gerard Buxton Sports Ground. A midseason crisis last season had seen their management team from their Reserve side take over the first team and Sam Mortimer and his coaching staff who oversaw the climb to safety will once again be in the dugout for the new campaign. Shrewton are the third side impacted by cricket and open the season with four of their first five games away from home.

It took a narrow 1-0 win over Wroughton in their final game of last season for Odd Down (Bath) Development to secure their continued presence in the Premier Division. It was an extremely difficult season for the Bath based side with the sad passing of manager Mark Brown. The new manager who has the job of lifting the side out of the darkness of last season is Prince Sharka and if they can get off to a good start, they will be hopeful of a top half finish this coming season. They open their season with a trip into Swindon to take on newly promoted Kingsdown.

Regarding the promoted sides, it is Larkhall Athletic Development and Ludgershall Sports who join Kingsdown in the Premier Division this coming season. Champions Larkhall Athletic Development, who also lifted the Fountain Trophies Cup last season, will be expected to carry on where they left off last season and having also knocked out Premier Division champions Trowbridge Town on their way to that cup triumph, will fancy their chances of being in the mix for the Premier Division title this season. A lot will depend on how many of their exciting and successful squad from last season get first team opportunities in the Larkhall Southern League side. At the time of writing leading scorer and captain from last season Charlie Saunders has yet to re-sign and it will be interesting to see if this influential player is back at the Plain Ham this season. Larkhall are without a game on the opening day of the season due to their club tournament but open their season in midweek in a dual of last season’s two champions when Trowbridge Town visit the Plain Ham in a repeat of last season’s Fountain Trophies Cup semi-final. That night it was Larkhall who came out on top, and can they repeat that triumph and inflict an opening game defeat on the champions?

Kingsdown, who have dropped the Lions bit from their name this season,  had to settle for runners-up in Division One last season, and manager Adrian Wilkinson will once again be expecting his side to be competing at the top end of the table this coming season, even though they are now at a higher level. He has made an astute signing in Antonio Gerrish who in recent season’s has played for both Shrivenham and Royal Wootton Bassett Town in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League and has retained most of last season’s successful squad. Kingsdown open their season at Southbrook Rec, once again staging Premier Division football in Swindon, with that visit from Odd Down (Bath) Development.

The third of the promoted sides are Ludgershall Sports who return to the Premier Division after just one season away after they pipped Devizes Town Reserves to that third place in Division One last season. They have retained most of last season’s squad including last season’s top scorer Luke Holden who netted an impressive 31 times last season. Ludgershall welcome Malmesbury Victoria Development in their opening game and will be hoping to get off to a winning start on their return to the topflight.

The final two sides making up the constitution of the Premier Division in Season 2023-24 have both dropped down from the National League System (NLS), Amesbury Town having been relegated from Division One of the Wessex League and Shrivenham having dropped down from the Hellenic League Premier Division, a drop of two levels in the NLS. Amesbury Town are under new management with Robbie Skeates joining Amesbury's first team coach from last season Dan Sullivan as joint managers this season. Skeates joins from Andover New Street Swifts and bringing the bulk of that side across with him, including top scorer Robbie Owen who netted 22 times last season. Andover New Street Swifts finished in third place in the Hampshire County League Premier Division last season, winning 20 of their 32 games, and Amesbury are expected to be up their challenging for an automatic return to Step 6, although they have not got off to the best of starts by calling off their opening game against Trowbridge Town which will result in a discipline charge.

Shrivenham drop down from Step 5 after a loss of volunteers and players, coupled issues with their floodlights which currently cannot be used, as they look to re-group at a lower level after a difficult period. They are expected to field a very young side, many of whom would have been part of their Under 18 side who did well in our Under 18 Floodlit Division a couple of seasons ago. Glenn Horsell takes over in the dugout for Shrivenham this coming season. Shrivenham have a delayed start to the season with their scheduled game against Larkhall being put back to 19^th September so their season will get underway in midweek after the opening round of games when they travel to Malmesbury Victoria Development.

With a number of teams having ambition to return to Step 6 of the National League System, and no obvious easy games, a fascinating title race is in prospect for Season 2023-24. It should also be interesting at the other end of the table as up to four teams could be relegated come the end of the season in what, as noted earlier, looks to be a very comptetitive division this season. Let the action commence.

Your Sport Swindon are in the process of speaking to a number of  Premier Division managers ahead of the new season and look out for their comprehensive preview later in the week.

Last Season's Results & League Table

6 August 2023