AS the season has drawn to a close, we finish with the column for at least the foreseeable future and can reflect on nearly 14 years of managing the club.

In the early days, the job was fraught with anxiety, uncertainty and financial instability.

I can recall the difficulties financially but the old board did allow me to buy a player, spending £20,000 on Neil Grayson from Northampton.

I thought we got a cracking goalscorer but, as the money worries at the club reflected, it was only months later when I was asked to sell a player to pay a VAT bill.

So Grayson departed for the same money that we paid for him.

And having taken over as chairman, along with Joan Fennessy and Ron Jukes, we were faced with immense problems.

Not only had the club gone into a CVA, but every time we looked like getting any money into the club, the bank manager and the regional manager would roll up demanding a cheque to cut back on the overdraft.

It was a time of uncertainty and of the sort of difficulties that gave us no enjoyment.

Every day seemed to be a crisis.

And, add to that, things were not going that well on the field of play.

But over a period of time, the stability began to come into place.

The quality of the players we were signing was gradually getting better and the format for a more successful period was laid down.

Relegation to the Conference was the absolute lowest point of that period, but we began to get a team that was capable of being in contention at the top of the table and for a return to the Football League.

Then came the disappointment of the play-offs, losing to Aldershot and Stevenage, and the beginning of the good times was the final at the Walkers Stadium – a terrific atmosphere, a great result and a great day.

Some of the correspondence I have received recently, thanking me for what I have done at the club, often alludes to one of the most enjoyable days supporters of this club have had.

Then last year the promotion, really against all the odds, into League 1.

Great scenes at Brentford, a great return for our final-day game against Grimsby and the open-top bus trip around the city to the town hall for a civic reception are all still fresh in our minds.

Along the way there were some good cup ties – Leicester City here as a top-six club in the Premiership when but for the width of a coat of paint, Paul Parry’s long-range shot would have seen more giantkilling glory.

There was a terrific draw against Tottenham here in the FA Cup, although we got a bit of a panning down at White Hart Lane.

Great cup-tie memories.

I have often said that, in football, the highs are never quite as high as the lows are low.

The enjoyment of promotion last season gets nowhere near the despair of relegation after this campaign.

But all that is over and done with now. There is a new man at the helm of the team and I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does and what success we can bring to the club for next season.