GRAYS Athletic get their 2023/24 league season underway on Saturday, 12 August – and it's a season the fans are really looking forward to. 

Firstly, a new manager, in the returning Mark Stimson. 

'Stimmo' is no stranger to the Blues faithful, having led them to two FA Trophy wins and within sight of league football almost twenty years ago now. Home games will also be in different surroundings, with a new groundshare at Tilbury FC. Stimson has also reshaped the men's senior squad with a number of exciting new players arriving, including Ozzie Adeniji, Jordan Peart, Charlie Stimson and Wilfred Peel-Evans. There are also, as ever, a host of teams of all ages, both male and female, drawn from a wide cross-section of the local community, all playing in Grays Blue – each one as important as the next.

And for the first time ever, the club is represented in all four main FA competitions. The men's 1st XI have a home FA cup tie against either Redbridge or New Salamis and an away trip in the FA Trophy to Hertford Town. The club's younger players host Enfield Borough in the FA Youth Cup. And completing the set, the Women's 1st XI make their debut in the Women's FA Cup with a home draw against near neighbours Chelmsford City Women. So, four chances of a cup run, something that always gets the supporters excited.

Predictions are hard to make at this stage of the season, but there is a real sense of anticipation at every turn.