There have been some changes at Moss Lane too since last season. They were relegated from the Blue Square Premier League and will now play in the Blue Square North under new manager Lee Sinnott who has brought in Neil Tolson as his assistant.
They are currently trying to put a squad together and have, to date, made four signings. The first three new players to arrive were all defenders, Adam Flynn from Southport and Hyde pair Mark Lees and Chris Lynch. Lynch, a right back, should not be confused with the player of the same name who left Burnley at the end of last season.
The fourth signing was that of 19-year-old midfielder Brian Summerskill who has made the move from Northwich Victoria.
Sinnott has currently got thirteen players signed up but will include three, as yet unnamed, trialists in his squad tomorrow. The thirteen registered players are:
Goalkeeper
Stuart Cobern
Defenders
Adam Flynn, Mark Lees, Chris Lynch
Midfielders
Ryan Brown, Nicky Clee, Anthony Danylyk, Shaun Desmore, Robbie Lawton, Simon Richman, Brian Summerskill
Forwards
Damian Reeves, Michael Twiss
Things can change quickly and more players could be added to their squad between now and tomorrow afternoon.
The Burnley players are back in pre-season training and manager Eddie Howe has been delighted with the response from his players since they reported back a week ago.
We too have a couple of trialists and it is possible they could be included and only one of our squad has been ruled out and that's striker Charlie Austin. Howe has been quick to point out there is no problem but he just wants to give him a bit more time following having surgery on his shoulder.
It's likely he'll utilise a lot of his squad and we can expect to see a lot of substitutions.
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| The programme from the 1981/82 cup tie |
Although the reserves played at Moss Lane in 2009/10 against Manchester United, this is our first meeting with Altrincham since we were paired in the FA Cup in the 1981/82 season.
That was a third round tie at Turf Moor on a night when we found our best form . Billy Hamilton hit a hat trick, Steve Taylor bagged a brace and Trevor Steven also scored in front of a 10,174 crowd.
We lined up that night: Alan Stevenson, Brian Laws, Vince Overson, Paul Dixon, Martin Dobson, Andy Wharton, Trevor Steven, Tommy Cassidy, Kevin Young, Billy Hamilton, Steve Taylor.
We'd recovered from a shocking start in the league that season but in mid-January, when this tie was played, we were still 18th in the table. Even so, we went into the game on a run of 15 league and cup games without a defeat and were the form team in the division.
So impressed with us was Altrincham manager Tony Sanders that after the game he predicted we'd go on to win promotion. We scoffed, but he was right and we ended the season as champions.
Games against Altrincham are rare and I thought any links between the two clubs might be hard to find, but one Alty fan Barry Pikesley has managed to put a team together of players who have played first team football for both clubs.
That line up is: Colin McDonald, Tony Chilton, Darren Heesom, Paul France, Mark McGregor, Steve Morgan, Jamie Hoyland, Ally Pickering, Wayne Entwistle, Nigel Gleghorn, Andy Kilner.