By Ron Fosker

For the first time for many years, this season has proved to be a disappointment for Braintree Town.

After rising from 14th to seventh to first in the Conference South and then 12th to ninth to sixth in the premier division, they have now slipped back eight places to 14th.

But before we go further down that road, it must be said that disappointment is a relative term.

Had they finished 14th in their first season at the highest level of non-league football it would have been considered more than satisfactory. At any other stage in their history, it would have been a pipe dream.

Some fans have been spoilt by success.

The neat progression from 12 to nine to six meant a third-place finish, they suggested.

The more realistic pointed to average gates around 600 and no big-money backer.

Staying in the premier division should still be considered a major success, they argued.

And they are right.

For a town with a population of 40,000, no real hinterland and Football League teams within easy reach, Braintree’s gates are never likely to be huge.

Little money coming through the turnstiles means little money to spend on players or reward those that are here.

That will always be the case and that is the reason 14th place in the Conference Premier should be seen as another success.

Nonetheless, it is unarguably a worse performance than the previous three years and ended with the departure of manager Alan Devonshire.

Little has come to light over the circumstances of his decision not to accept the new contract offered to him but it may be that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could.

We now wait to see if Danny Cowley can take it any further, or if Devonshire’s departure proves to be a pivotal moment.

The major concern is the reaction of the players, nearly all of whom were Devonshire signings.

How many will join Alan Massey and Ryan Peters and opt to head for the door?

And just as important, indeed potentially more important, is whether the new management team can attract players of a similar calibre to replace them.

A major plus of having Devonshire at the helm was his name.

Former England internationals are not found regularly managing non-league clubs and the chance to play for one must have been a draw for a number of his signings.

Devonshire can leave with his head held high simply for keeping Iron in the top flight for four years.

But he will be disappointed that his final season saw them finish in their lowest position of those four years.

However, neither of the two main reasons for the fall can be laid at his door. Probably the main reason was the appalling run of injuries that hit the team.

There were times when as many as six regulars were missing, a figure that clubs with larger budgets could cope with but Devonshire effectively had a squad of 17, plus a reserve goalkeeper, loan players and academy juniors.

Matt Paine played in the first game and missed the next 16 while Sean Marks, Jordan Cox, Kenny Davis, Dan Sparkes, Remy Clerima, James Mulley and Peters all had spells on the treatment table.

Many of the injuries were long-lasting and in nearly all cases, the players concerned had to turn out when not fully recovered.

The extent of the injury problem can be seen in Mitch Brundle’s career.

Signed as cover at full-back and midfield, he started in 44 league and cup matches, including the first 22.

The second reason for the drop in standards was that Devonshire lost his main striker, Dan Holman, and his most trusty defender, Dean Wells, both to Football League clubs.

Holman’s career has stuttered since but Wells has prospered at Stevenage and helped his team into the League Two play-offs.

Both were sorely missed.

Massey took over the senior defender’s role with assurance and dignity and was justifiably named the supporters’ player of the season and Remy Clerima came in in Wells’ place. Brundle, signed essentially as a full-back, covered stoically in the middle in Clerima’s absence and Paine was as reliable as ever when he was pulled back into defence.

But Wells’ rock-solidness was never replaced.

Up front, Devonshire pinned his hopes on Cox developing into a mature striker or Charlie Strutton recovering sufficiently from his broken leg to produce the kind of performances that so impressed during his loan spell last season.

The signing of Strutton was a gamble that failed to pay off. His earlier loan spell of six goals in seven games in the autumn of 2013 offered promise of more to come.

But the lengthy lay-off after his broken leg meant that he was not available until the end of October and then the combination of time out of the game and the psychological effect of trusting a once-broken limb led to some less than convincing performances until he was sent out on loan towards the end of the season.

Bernard Mensah, in his second loan spell, also did not look the same player who had impressed last season and the re-signing of Dan Walker after a less than impressive short spell in January and February of 2013 was another questionable move.

He showed a neat turn of speed, but little control or penetration.

He too ended the season on loan.

The major signing has been Simeon Akinola, frequently mentioned by opposing spectators as Iron’s most dangerous forward.

His neat ball control and unpredictability made him a handful for most defences and it is no secret that he has been watched by League scouts on a number of occasions. Keeping him would be a major plus.

Whatever players leave or stay, the new manager’s most pressing need will be the same as 12 months ago, a partner or eventual replacement for Marks, who turns 30 in November, and most pressingly a reliable settled pair at the back.

He will also face the conundrum of which foursome makes the optimum midfield (assuming 4-4-2 remains), a decision which largely solved itself this season as it was rare for Davis, Paine, Chez Isaac, Mulley and Sparkes to be fit at the same time.

Overall it was a season of fits and starts.

After ten matches, Iron were in seventh place with six wins.

After 20 matches, they were 16th, having failed to win any of their next ten.

That spell also included a less than convincing win at the second attempt against Weymouth, two divisions below them, and a 6-0 home humiliation by Chesterfield in the first round of the FA Cup.

It carried on with smaller jumps up and down, notably towards the end when a series of good performances if not good results culminated in the 5-1 thrashing of Torquay, perhaps the season’s highlight. It was a match that featured a superb hat-trick by Sparkes, whose late flowering has been another of the season’s reasons to be cheerful.

But that was followed immediately by the humiliating 2-0 home defeat by Telford, then well adrift at the bottom.

At least it finished on an upnote with the 4-2 win over Altrincham that took them up two places in the table.

It was a good note to finish on.