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I am currently Manager at Ryman Premier League club Harrow Borough.

I started thinking about the varying expectation levels for all football clubs at the start of yet another new season and decided to look at it from a different angle... The majority of non league managers, assistant managers and coaches willingly or unwillingly have been playing their part in a football version of the popular TV shows The X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent.

For the six week period of pre season training they turn into Simon Cowells!!!! We are the panel of judges that end up releasing a lot more players than we actually sign but every year, like the TV shows, there has to be winners and losers.

During this period a cross section of players attend trials or training sessions. Some players are recommended, others send emails, letters or phone the clubs direct and in some cases just invite themselves to training sessions.

Most clubs will have settled on their playing squads and will be taking that start of the season team photo for their website or match day programmes. I’ve always felt you will have a decent year if you manage to keep the majority of players in that photo until the end of the season.

At Harrow Borough, in order to survive we have to do our fair share of unearthing new and unheard of players. The shrewd managers have started to look closer at this process and with the right balance of patience and training hope to discover at least one winner with potential and talent.

Last week in the middle of the Ashes series England cricket captain Andrew Strauss claimed the current Australian team lacked the aura of past Aussie teams. Someone who definitely had that aura was the late Sir Bobby Robson who lost his fight with Cancer. Across the football world players, managers, coaches, officials and supporters were shocked and saddened by his death.

Through the media we heard of countless tributes. Back in the late nineties, while I was at Birmingham City as part of Barry Fry’s management team, I attended a League Managers dinner where Sir Bobby Robson was the guest speaker.

Many of the top managers, coaches and football dignitaries were present including the likes of George Graham, Glenn Hoddle and Ron Atkinson. Sir Bobby Robson’s aura was there for everyone to see as he spoke about some of his experiences in football and it was clear that he had total respect from everyone in the room.

David Howell, Harrow Borough Manager