How do we look for the coming season?

With pre-season in full swing it's a good time to look at our squad heading into the 2013/14 season. Are the players we've signed better than the ones we let go? Have we strengthened in the areas where we were weakest last season? Are we in better shape than we were in May? All questions I'll attempt to answer.

The obvious weakness in our squad once last season had finished was up front. James Vaughan and Jermaine Beckford, both superb towards the end of the campaign, returned to their parent clubs while Lee Novak and Alan Lee were allowed to leave the club at the end of their respective contracts. Daniel Carr and James Spencer were the only two recognised strikers on our books, and recognised is being generous to both players.

Mark Robins has certainly addressed this issue with the signings of James Vaughan, Martin Paterson and Town old boy Jon Stead. Vaughan is certainly the most popular of those three players but all three come with decent reputations and in my opinion strengthen our squad. Vaughan was our Player of the year last season and his signing was a huge coup, while Paterson and Stead are better than the outgoing Novak and Lee.

Below are quick reviews of all three new strikers from fans who have seen them at close quarters very recently. Thanks to the people who helped out with this, and be sure to give them all a follow on Twitter!

James Vaughan - Signed from Norwich City (undisclosed)

@Terrier1987cas The only doubt surrounding Vaughan is his fitness - his style of play means he's susceptible to injury so at times we have to wrap him up in cotton wool, and occasional niggles are almost inevitable. Put that concern aside however and you have nothing but positives. Vaughan finished last season as top goalscorer with 14 goals and also won the Player of the season award, but I believe we've yet to see the best of him. He certainly has more goals in him and I don't see any reason why he can't hit 20+ this season if he remains fit, but he also offers work-rate and intelligence that we've lacked previously. Everyone knew this was the signing that needed to happen, and thankfully it has.

Last 3 seasons:
2010/11 Crystal Palace (Championship): 30 appearances, 9 goals
2011/12 Norwich City (Premier League): 5 appearances, 0 goals
2012/13 Huddersfield (Championship): 33 appearances, 14 goals

Jonathan Stead - Signed from Bristol City (free transfer)

@TheExiledRobin "There was an element of concern when Stead signed, someone who's career appeared to be on a downward trajectory and of whom the main memories were long barren runs in the Premier League. Thankfully, he leaves us three years later as one of the most popular players to have pulled on the red shirt in recent memory. If you want a 25 goal a season striker Stead isn't your man, his good work is in the build up to the goal, working the pitch to its limits and stretching defences. Very few players leave a club without at least a minority saying good riddance - however in this case, across hundreds of tweets and forum posts, there was not a single dissenting voice."

Last 3 seasons:
2010/11 Bristol City (Championship): 32 appearances, 10 goals
2011/12 Bristol City (Championship): 25 appearances, 6 goals
2012/13 Bristol City (Championship): 30 appearances, 5 goals

Martin Paterson - Signed from Burnley (free transfer)

@Wilson97Josh "Paterson was known at Burnley for his work-rate and determination, but he is far more than that. He has a talent for finding space to run into and isn't afraid to exploit it. His best season for us was 2008/09 when he contributed 12 goals to our promotion to the Premier League, with a few of them being great long range strikes.
@ClaretMarty "I've never seen Paterson give anything less than 100%. Ironically, after playing like a terrier for years he's finally become one! He was forced to play out wide in our Premier League season but never complained and continued to be a crowd favourite. He's a player who belongs up front, hopefully he'll get that chance at Huddersfield."

Last 3 seasons:
2010/11 Burnley (Championship): 14 appearances, 3 goals
2011/12 Burnley (Championship): 15 appearances, 3 goals
2012/13 Burnley (Championship): 39 appearances, 8 goals

There is certainly still a debate to be had as to whether we have replaced Beckford, who was definitely the out and out goalscorer of the team whose goals made a huge difference to our survival bid. Despite spending much of his loan spell with us injured he had clear quality in front of goal and when fit and firing was a huge player for us. Of the three strikers we've signed only Vaughan has scored more than 10 goals in the past three seasons, and even then only once.

Reading the above views of Bristol City and Burnley fans it seems clear than neither Stead or Paterson have been used as out and out strikers in recent years. Stead is very much a man who likes to be involved in the build up to goals while Paterson has been played out wide despite his favoured position being up front. I definitely think Paterson will take a more central role for Town while I also think there are more goals to come from Vaughan who can definitely add to his 14 goals last term.

Another position most people agreed we needed to strengthen was on the wings. Danny Ward and Sean Scannell were the only two out and out wingers in the squad at the end of last season. With only two wingers we would be very weak if either picked up an injury or suspension, and we'd probably have to sacrifice Adam Clayton to play out wide despite his best position being in the centre of midfield. This is something else Robins has addressed and he's brought in a player he's very familiar with.

Adam Hammill - Signed from Wolves (undisclosed)

@ChrisRyder_ "I would definitely have had him back here. He played his best football at Barnsley under Robins, I expect big things from him this season if he knuckles down."
@BarnsleyBoy96 "He will find his way again under Robins if he gets a decent run in the team. He's a fantastic wing player and is at his best when he can run at the defence."
@Ryan_Wingrove "Very good at long range shooting and very tricky on the ball. He's a good all-round winger who will get plenty of balls into the box as well as contributing goals himself.

Last 3 seasons:
2010/11 Wolves (Premier League): 10 appearances, 0 goals
2011/12 Wolves (Premier League): 9 appearances, 0 goals
2012/13 Huddersfield (Championship): 16 appearances, 2 goals

First off, I'll say that Hammil's loan spell with Town last season was unremarkable at best. However, I'll also say that I wouldn't read anything into that as I expect the Hammill we see this coming season to be a very different player. Robins knows Adam well and will get the best out of him, proven by the winger's superb form for Barnsley when Robins was in charge and evidenced by the views of Barnsley fans above. At times last season we cried out for a match winner, and I think Hammill will be just that if he's reinvigorated under Robins.

Those additions leave us with a current first team squad of:

GK - Smithies, Bennett
DF - Hunt, Woods, Dixon, Clarke, Lynch, Gerrard, Wallace
MF - Ward, Scannell, Hammill, Clayton, Southern, Norwood, Gobern
ST - Vaughan, Stead, Paterson

I know we have young players like Carr, Holmes and Sinnott who some fans want to see given a run in the first team, but I've stuck to established first team players who are all but guaranteed to feature prominently. There's no doubt that those young players will serve a purpose at some point this season, but I see that purpose being filling the bench when we're short of players. The last thing we should be looking to do is rely on these youngsters in any kind of major way, as they're simply not ready.

Looking at that squad it's clear that we're still quite light in terms of numbers, so I expect possibly another signing and at least two loanees arriving before the end of August. I'd like to see a young striker brought in on loan to offer competition for places, while a centre back and attack-minded midfielder would also be high up my priorities list. We've so far only strengthened up front so I'd be surprised if Robins decided he was 100% happy with the defence and midfield that finished last season.

The major question them remains: are we in better shape now than we were at the end of last season? I'd say yes, although I think we all still have doubts, especially over a defence which leaves plenty to be desired. I've never been a fan of Peter Clarke, while Lynch and Gerrard both have plenty to prove after stop/start first seasons with Town. A top class centre back would be top of my shopping list now, someone in the ilk of Sean Morrison (highly unlikely I know) as well as a midfielder with a bit more creativity moving forward than our current crop.

Although the signings we've made have improved the squad, I think the biggest plus heading into this season is that we will have had a full pre-season under Mark Robins. He was one of three managers I wanted when Grayson got sacked and he turned us around magnificently under difficult circumstances last season. I'm very intrigued to see where he can take us and expect to see a very different team travel to Nottingham on the opening day of the season to the one that got battered in his first game as Town manager.