Well, a more than satisfactory season has come to and end, and what a season it was!! From the opening day we expected a good season and that's exactly what we got. Unfortunatley, the expectation of the Yorke-Cole partnership was maybe a little too much, and a dissapointing season by their standards meant that what was a very good season could have been a brilliant season.
The form of Damien Duff in particular has created so much in the return of points, that should he be here at the start of next season for our Uefa cup charge, then we can expect some exiting times and an improvement on our current European record. Duff was one of two plaers who manged to get in the FA team of the season.
Huge mention to the big man between the sticks too, Brad Friedel hit the list as the keeper who made most saves in the Premiership and of course got the accolade in the team of the season, fighting off stiff competition from Chelsea's Carlo Cudicini and outside the top division former Rovers Keepers John Filan (Wigan) and Alan Fettis (York, Hull) got keepers of the season for Divisions Two and Three respectivley.
Our fantastic victories against Arsenal (A double!!), Newcastle, Manchester United and Chelsea prove how we can compete at the top level. Also, we reached the semi final of the Worthington Cup which we won the previous season and Man U eventually knocked us out.
Let us raise a toast to next season, and hope desperatley that we can both, maintain last season's league form (and improve our record against the struggling teams) and do
well in European competition.
Dedicated to Gemma Leigh 1984-2003