Stockport suffered a disastrous relegation at the end of a traumatic and turbulent campaign and will have to get used to the fact that they will be playing in the Blue Square North next season with the likes of North Ferriby, Brackey and Colwyn Bay having faced the current Premier League side Norwich and Leeds in league games only four seasons ago. This is the Hatters' third relegation in the last four seasons and endangers their whole existence and it poses a big question mark where Stockport are going from there. For a long time it looked like the Cheshire club is just too big to go down and somehow will sort themselves out and save themselves from the drop. In fact, there was little danger of relegation in the first few months of the season when Jim Gannon was running a relatively stable ship and the team was putting some very good performances on the pitch. A very good run of form in September and early October even raised the hopes of a play-off push as the likes of Sean Newton, Matty Mainwairing, Danny Hattersley and Paul Turnbull put a number of solid display. However, a 4:1 loss at Forest Green in November hit the confidence of the team and they went on a rather long run without getting many points. It put them pretty close to the drop zone and increased the pressure around the team. A good start of 2013 with an away win at Hyde failed to lift the mood too much and eventually a 3:1 loss at the hands of Mansfield cost the job of Gannon. It looked a slightly harsh decision as he has done very well to steer the club to safety in a similar situation the year before but even more puzzling was the decision to replace him with Swiss coach Darije Kalezic who had no experience whatsoever in English football. He initially got off to a good start with a few wins in his opening games, insisting on a more coherent and passing pattern of game. The players did not really buy into it though and a couple of bad results once again damaged the confidence in the side badly. A raft of new signings on loan along with breaking up the squad built by Gannon at such a vital stage of the season hardly helped either. Thus, Kalezic was sacked at the end of March after just seven weeks in charge after a run of one win in eight games. The directors went for experienced Ian Bogie as a replacement and he had the task to keep the team above the drop zone. He got off to a good start by beating Newport County and also got a win at Alfreton but good results of the teams around them meant that Stockport were very much in the mire going to the last few games of the season. They had a must-win game against Dartford a week before the end but failed miserably in front of a packed Edgeley Park, losing 1:0 on the day. They salvaged a late draw against direct rivals Gateshead in the next game but failed to beat Kidderminster as a deflating 4:0 loss confirmed their demise on a day that was also marred by crowd trouble from the Stockport faithful. It was just a tale of self-destruction and mismanagement at every level as Stockport should have never been in that positions but just failed to stop their alarming slide and paid the dear price at the end.
