Blimey. It really doesn’t feel that long since we hilariously shafted Accrington’s promotion hopes. The calendar will tell you that it’s only been a couple of months. Maybe Euro 2016 has taken some of the edge off the usual summer wait. Who knows – but it’s about to change because the Stevenage 2016-7 roadshow is about to kick into gear. Calling at all those usual provincial boltholes, our first port of call is this weekend as we pay a visit to the folks in Stalebuns. And that’s when preparations start taking shape.
Stevenage 2016-7: The Big Kick Off
You don’t need us to tell you the friendlies that mark the start of the great Stevenage 2016-7 adventure. It’s the usual mixture of League teams and non-league neighbours. Our pre-season away days barely take us out of the county at the moment, while we’ll entertain Watford, MK and Brighton indoors. You don’t need us to tell you that, and yet still we pretty much did. And then we’re on the threshold of the league programme – Crewe at the Lamex. A side we have yet to lose to. It’s not a bad opener all told, is it?
Stevenage 2016-7 marks a milestone too. It’s 40 years since Stevenage Athletic aborted their 1976-7 Southern League campaign before a ball was kicked. That means it’s 40 years since Stevenage Borough came into being and, to celebrate, we’ve now revived the kit design from 20 years ago. It all comes together, you see? Who knows – it might even come together for good yourself this term if you get on board some free betting online. We’ll leave that one with you ‘cos we’ve often gone wrong with our punts.
Off the pitch, BoroGuide are joining the Stevenage 2016-7 party by closing in on some of the gaps in our historical knowledge. If you take the competitive games we have listed as totalling just under 2,000, we’re now up and over 90% in terms of having team line-ups in place. It means we have a much better idea of Boro’s top appearance makers. And we also hope to piece together what there was before Boro’ too. We’ve only had 40 years to catch up on with Boro’. There’s a fair bit more with Athletic and Town!
Anywho, there we go. Stevenage 2016-7 – another chapter in this club’s history is about to unfold. And we think we’re due an “up” – if you consider that 2013-4 was a “down”, 2014-5 was an “up” and 2015-6 was a “down”. Unless you enjoy relegations and poor defending, in which case flip that on its head. It’s up to you and tha’. We can’t decide your thoughts all the time! But how will this all pan out over the next 10 months? Well, it’s not as if you’re going to have to wait much longer to find all that out – is it?
