Football Season Review

Tranmere can consider their 2010/11 campaign only a complete success after an 18th placed finish. Former physio Les Parry earned himself a first full season at the helm following last term’s miracle escape and Rovers avoided a tense run-in and were safe with several games to spare, although a final day defeat denied them a mid-table finish in an extremely tight bottom half. Parry’s achievement is all the more remarkable considering the amount of injuries he had to contend with this year. At times he was down to almost the bare 11 and he never had the luxury of anything approaching a full-strength squad. He has managed to instill an excellent team spirit at the club following John Barnes’ short, but very damaging, tenure and the club’s future looks fairly bright with some talented youngsters coming through alongside some experienced pros. Indeed Tranmere’s average age is amongst the youngest in the Football League, but it will be the emergence of forward Dale Jennings that the season will be most remembered for. Whether he stays at the club for next season remains to be seen, but if he does go then it won’t be on the cheap as the board turned down a substantial offer early in the season. Tranmere were in and around the relegation places for much of the first half of the campaign before a good run lifted them away from trouble temporarily. At one point it was looking like Rovers would face another relegation battle after a poor run of seven winless games left them hovering above the drop zone, but Parry pulled his troops together and picked up enough wins over the remaining games to avoid a repeat of last year’s final-day escape. Summer signing Enoch Showunmi finished top scorer with 11 goals and that was enough to win him the player of the season award, although it may well have gone to Jennings if he hadn’t been blighted by a groin injury over the final few months of the campaign.

Player of the Season: Enoch Showunmi