FFC Columnist Andrew Davies previews the upcoming season for Bristol City fans and looks ahead to their chances of both reaching and qualifying in this season's play-offs.

Finally the wait is nearly over for football fans across the country as the new football season is just a few days away and after the successful season Bristol City had least season I cannot wait for this one. I know what most fans will be thinking about City this term, whether the second season syndrome will take effect?

Well, I am sure City will prove the doubters wrong again this season and more than hold their own in the tightest league in England. Sure, it will be hard for the lads to repeat the exploits of last season because teams will be wise to us, but we have kept the majority of our squad together, minus Nick Carle, but we have added to the squad with additions of Gavin Williams from Ipswich and Nicky Maynard from Crewe for a record fee of £2.25 million, which just goes to show the ambition of our chairman and manager.

Reaching the play off final last year was a fantastic achievement for the club as a whole and although it was a big disappointment missing out on top flight football, it is now in the past and we still have plenty of time to reach the promise land. It took us eight years to finally reclaim our Championship status and it was worth the wait, the same could be said for reaching the Premiership. Would we really have been ready to compete in that league this season, or would have been a major disappointment? I think the novelty of seeing Premier League coming to Ashton Gate may have worn off if we were losing every week. This season however, we can look forward to the team challenging hopefully once again for promotion and with the new additions I really believe we have a good shot.

Nicky Maynard was certainly one of the first names that came to mind when we needed a new forward with bags of pace and hopefully he will bag the goals that we were missing last season. But he is one of three strikers who could have been playing in a City shirt this season. Emad Meteb’s move collapsed after he played one more game for his parent club and Gary had second thoughts over whether the move was right for the club.

The second move to collapse was Michael Mifsud’s proposed switch from Coventry. After finally agreeing terms after leaving Gary waiting several days, he did not show up to sign the contract so Gary quite rightly pulled the plug on the deal. Mifsud, to me, would not have been as good a signing as Maynard, for a number of reasons mainly because he lacked the commitment and enthusiasm for the club and he is six years older than Nicky. I was disappointed to see Meteb’s move collapse, but whether he could have really settled in Bristol will never be known and if he didn’t, this could have affected his performances. In the end Gary has signed a player with massive potential and great enthusiasm, and a player who can score a hat trick on his debut, so he can’t be bad can he?

The surprise departure saw Nick Carle depart for Crystal Palace, but what impact this has on the team remains to be seen. I don’t think we ever saw too much of Carle to miss him too much. Yes, he was a good player but he did not find the net in 20 appearances, so is he a big loss? To replace him Gary has signed Gavin Williams who he managed at Yeovil, so he must have a good reason in bringing a player who has been dogged by injuries over the last two seasons. Watching him play against Antwerp showed he is not afraid to run past defender, which is something we were missing last season.

I am optimistic about our chances for the new season, we have a record 13,000 supporters backing the boys and we still have the best manager in the football league.

The 2008/2009 season is set to be an exciting one lets enjoy the ride.