TASTE OF THE TERRACE: It was great to be back on lush turf after proud World Cup campaign

Crawley Town fan Geoff Thornton gives his views in his new column. SUS-150216-162912002

The 2017/18 season ended with victory for France in the World Cup final.

Ironically this was nine days after the new season started with the first of the Champions League qualifiers.

Reds supporters will doubtless have been very pleased with England’s improved performance and the way in which local lad, manager Gareth Southgate, cemented his reputation as one of the best motivators in the game.

Some will find the prospect of the new season daunting, given Crawley’s string of defeats in friendly matches when we failed to score.

Those results may not be disastrous as Harry Kewell had already said he wanted to test his squad against Premier League and Championship clubs and they have mostly acquitted themselves well, giving the manager the input he needed to plan the new campaign.

There would have been little to gain from fixtures against inferior opposition.

Everton were berated for their 22-0 win in Austria as it taught them nothing.