Craig Priest writes…
Another day at the one call stadium and the 13th new face to arrive – but it’s not the arrival of Amari Sterling-James I find myself reflecting on this evening, it’s Steve Evans’ comments that Danny Rose can get 20+ goals next term. The front man arrived for an undisclosed fee last summer as Adam Murray put together his squad however it’s perhaps fair to say that under the now Boston boss- Rose didn’t bloom. Rose netted on his debut away at Newport in the seasons curtain raiser but then was sent off three appearances later against Yeovil Town – failing to score for Murray on his return to the side, making a further 11 appearances before the Steve Evans revolution arrived. Under Evans, Rose scored three in Evans first four games – scoring a total of nine in 27 appearances under the former Crawley boss, that’s around 33% (ish!) success in front of goal – so what’s that, one in 3 or 4? Speaking earlier today, Evans said “I believe if Danny Rose plays 40 odd games like other strikers that have left here have played, I think Danny Rose will be up near that [20 goals] mark. I think Danny Rose got ten goals from open play in about 16/17/18 starts compared to others that got 13/14 goals taking lots of penalties, so I believe in Danny Rose completely.” I’m a firm believer that footballers should never be judged on their record on paper, managers and coaches make players – I don’t want to reference Matt Green too much but look at the way in which Paul Cox got him firing – look at how McGuire matured under Murray. There are lots of examples I could use here but my point is, Rose became a different type of player under Evans – he looked sharper, his movement went from a striker looking to feed on scraps, to a player looking to create and finish – two things lacked, a battle against fitness and service. Both issues will have been addressed over the close season and if Rose gets his head down, Fitness coach Lee Taylor will get him up to the standard to show those bursts of energy to get into pockets and create finishing opportunities from the first whistle to the last – compared to the 50, maybe 60 minutes he had in the tank last season. Service is just about the way we play football and I think the players we’ve brought in will raise the bar for players like Rose to thrive in front of goal. Another plus point is the fact that NOBODY is guaranteed a start therefor no-one carries the mantle of being the out and out goal scorer – Lee Angol averaged one in two on loan at Lincoln, a team who played quick box to box football and won promotion, Jimmy Spencer on paper isn’t a proven goal scorer yet played 25 games last year for a team who played quick box to box football and won promotion – there’s a pattern. Many today are slightly underwhelmed by the acquisition of Sterling-James, but he’s another player with pace from a quick team who finished a respectable mid-table when many predicted the drop. Yes when you look at our front line, some will question where the goals are going to come from, but genuinely I think not having that “Green” (reputation) figure plays in our favour – we as a team don’t go “right let’s get it into him” and opponents don’t go “stick three on him” in turn. We have options, we have ability, we have pace and we have players all capable of finding the net. Evans says he wants two more, a striker and a central player – the important thing now as the players return to work, is they gel and do so quickly. The anticipation is building up nicely – the new home shirt is out and the grass is growing – what a wonderful feeling it is!
Click HERE to download a fixture list for 2017-18
----- Are you going to Malta? We’d love to share your experiences – drop us an email to mtfcmatters@gmail.com – we’re looking for people to send videos, pictures and blog throughout the trip. ----- Fancy being part of a new podcast? We’re also on the lookout for supporters to be a part of a new podcast, sharing their views on games and everything Stags related throughout the new season – email mtfcmatters@gmail.com for more info!
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The grass is growing nicely at the One Call Stadium | PIC @Maplin_MSF [Twitter] https://twitter.com/Maplin_MSF
Craig Priest writes…
A few weeks ago when new faces were flying into the One Call Stadium, it was only glances at Wikipedia which ramped our excitement up. Phrases such as “promotion winner” or “established league one player” intensified our lust for football – but it all felt a little immaterial. However now the fixtures are out and further pre-season friendlies have been announced – it feels a lot more real. Now plans can be made, maps can be plotted, prospects of weekends away are being eyed-up, all with one thing in mind – following the promotion dream, I honestly have never been so excited for a season. Bookmakers have us favourites for promotion, even after our terrify surge to the play-offs under Paul Cox we weren’t made favourites for promotion – we then went on to win the league, something very few of us expected. Even that’s different this time around, OUR expectations. In previous years, conversations about how we might fare in the coming season have always flirted around the edges of “Yeah we might sneak into the play-offs” or “the play-offs would be nice, but I’d settle for top 10 with a decent cup run” – but this close season it’s been “I think we can win the league” or “we’ll definitely get promotion” – and that’s a brilliant feeling to have. Not for a second do I believe Steve Evans is here for the long hall of more than few seasons, I don’t think he’ll mastermind Mansfield Town going from an average league two side to serious championship competitors chasing the premier league dream. It’d be nice, but it’s far from realistic – personally I think it’s why he’s been so successful, because things aren’t allowed to go stale. BUT [Before you sharpen your pitch-forks] – What he will do (and has already done) is raise expectations and give us something to cherish for a couple of years. He WILL take us up into League One and give us new experiences, he WILL give us exciting football to watch, he WILL make supporters look at those midweek games and think “I wonder if I can pull a sickey at work” rather than “Ah I’ll listen on the radio” and just that shift in power is phenomenal. Supports are buying into the dream from the off, rather than picking up when things start to look interesting. Season ticket sales are already better than last season, I’m sure when the new home shirt is finally put on sale, they’ll go very quickly and when we welcome Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest to the One Call Stadium, they’ll be a larger interest than usual. In my head, I question if it’s just me. I missed pretty much the entirety of last season through work producing the coverage for 103.2 – I only got to see the Doncaster cup game, Portsmouth at home and Crawley away, so I do question if it’s just the bug biting me again. If you then couple that with the prospect of being able to drive to games (I’ve been learning to drive for six months or so now) – perhaps it is just me wanting to do new things, but then I remind myself of other people’s comments. We’re signing players that we wouldn’t usually stand a chance of signing, we’re actually spending money on them too – anyone that thinks Barry Fry was giving Hayden White & Lee Angol a lift out of the goodness of his heart needs their heads looking at! Evans say’s we’re one player away from being complete, I don’t think it’ll be too long before we see that particular deal done and personally I think that’s imperative to our intended success – the majority of these players have played little league two football and being players who are used to being regular starters, will have bigger egos to manage, they’ll need time to gel and click. No doubt I’ll write more on that as the week’s progress, I don’t want to dampen spirits right now. This feeling of excitement I feel goes beyond any personal thirst for football and I think it also goes beyond that football blues feeling too – this is something unique, something nervy but exciting. I really wish I was heading out on a plane to Malta, but as these past few weeks have proved, gingers and sun don’t mix! Joking aside, if you’re heading out there, go and enjoy the experience and give them a shout from those of us back home – we’ll count the day’s until the turnstiles open, the smell of Bovril wafts through the air along with the fresh print of the program. We’ll count the days until the feel of the new home strip brushes against our skin, until the sight of the freshly laid (and much improved) pitch comes into view. We’ll count the days until football is back.
Click HERE to download a fixture list for 2017-18
----- Are you going to Malta? We’d love to share your experiences – drop us an email to mtfcmatters@gmail.com – we’re looking for people to send videos, pictures and blog throughout the trip. ----- Fancy being part of a new podcast? We’re also on the lookout for supporters to be a part of a new podcast, sharing their views on games and everything Stags related throughout the new season – email mtfcmatters@gmail.com for more info! 
 Written by Mark Plumb As we all know last season’s down fall was not having a goal scorer that could have made the difference to our season. Although still 22, the signing of Lee Angol shows true intent by the club moving forward, by beating competition off of other clubs higher in the football league pyramid. He could prove to be a real gem of a signing by Steve Evans, who has shown that he can attract top players and will help fulfil his potential, who said one day will be "championship player one day". Lee first attracted attention from clubs when he scored an impressive 25 goals in 32 appearances for Boreham Wood, on loan from Luton Town. To add to that he was rewarded with the clubs player of the season, young player of the season and his goals sent Boreham Wood to the National League for the first time in their history. Although it was non-league level, he got a big move to Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee. In his first season at Peterborough he bagged himself 12 goals, showing signs of potential to be a good young talent. The season after he suffered a serious injury that ruled him out the start of the season, disrupting his progression until March when he joined Lincoln on loan for the rest of the season, scoring 6 goals in 13 appearances for the Imps. While at Lincoln his goals were vital for them returning to the football league, for the first time in six seasons. When Peterborough transfer listed him Lincoln fans were left disappointed that he didn't sign for them opting to join us and surprising many football league clubs, who were keen for his signature.
With the likes of Macdonald, Anderson and Atkinson in midfield supplying him to name a few, not to mention Rose who finished last season on high. The system Evans has the team playing, will hopefully fulfil his potential at Mansfield Town.
Roll on next season UP THE STAGS !!  Written by – Kirsty Swann I think all stags fans will agree with me when I say that this has to be the most exciting pre-season that we have had down the mill in many years, with only a week after the final game of what was a good season for us we had season ticket news, players coming and going and just a general buzz around the place. In recent years we haven’t had this kind of buzz in pre-season with it taking weeks after the season had ended before we found out any news. I think a lot if this is down to the appointment of Steve Evans who is certainly a man who doesn’t like to sit around and let opportunities pass him by, he also brings with him great knowledge and professionalism we haven’t had before in a manager due to his connections. The signings that have been made by Evans have been very good and have definitely got the stags fans excited for the coming season, which is also very evident with the amount of season tickets that we have sold which are in the region of 2,000+ which means we are going to have a cracking atmosphere at the ground next season. Arguably the biggest news to come out the club this past week is that we have arranged a friendly with Sheffield Wednesday in July, even though this is just a pre- season game it’s a massive game for the club in more ways than one, with it bound to be a big financial boost for the club due to Wednesday’s massive away following, but it also brings a massive test for Evans new look squad ,who will face off against a club which have reached the play offs in the championship for the last two seasons. There are also plenty of rumours flying around this week with regards to new signings coming into the club over the next few weeks, I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for the new season to roll around.  |