FC Isle of Man to kick-off new season against Wythenshawe Town

Ravens on home soil for opener of 2023/24 NWCFL Premier Division campaign

FC Isle of Man will get their 2023/24 NWCFL Premier Division season underway this weekend when they welcome Wythenshawe Town to The Bowl tomorrow night (29 July).

The Ravens hosted their upcoming opponents on the last day of last season, with the Manx side taking an impressive 3-1 victory over a side who were one of the top promotion contenders during the previous campaign.

This weekend will mark the start of a busier domestic schedule for FC Isle of Man with the division increasing in size to 24 teams.

Paul Jones - who became FC Isle of Man's permanent boss this summer after holding the role on an interim basis for most of last season - says they can take nothing for granted on Saturday if they hope to get their season off to the best possible start:

After a trying season last time out, FC Isle of Man were able to finish the 2022/23 campaign with a flourish winning all five of their remaining matches - including against this weekend's opposition - to finish 13th in the NWCFL Premier Division.

Meanwhile, Wythenshawe Town were consistently one of the season's top-performing sides, remaining in contention for a promotion play-off position right until the final day before defeat to the Manx side scuppered their hopes of moving up.

Furthermore, the Manchester-based outfit had a ruthless record in attack during the last campaign and were the league's top scorers, netting over 100 goals in the league.

Along with their last-day win over their upcoming opponents at The Bowl last season, FC Isle of Man also managed to eek out a 2-2 draw against Wythenshawe Town in the reverse fixture earlier in the season at Ericstan Park in October 2022.

FC Isle of Man vs Wythenshawe Town takes place at The Bowl this Saturday, 29 July, kicking-off at 6pm

Manx Radio will be providing full live match commentary on our DAB and AM1368 channels.

FC Isle of Man Team News

After a busy pre-season schedule over the last two weeks, Paul Jones' first league squad for 2023/24 sees a mixture of already-established figures along with some new faces for the upcoming campaign.

There are four players who are in contention to make their competitive debuts for the club - Sam Gelling, Adam Killey, Dean Pinnington and Joe Walters - all of whom have featured in some form during the pre-season programme.

One of the regular names making a welcome return after a positive pre-season is Luke Murray who was forced to miss a large part of the previous campaign.

Ste Whitley - who played a part in every game last season - is also named alongside other established figures including Sean Doyle, Michael Williams, Alex Maitland, Jacob Crook and club captain, Frank Jones.

FC Isle of Man squad vs Wythenshawe Town

Ryan Burns, Jacob Crook, Jamie Corlett, Sean Doyle, Sam Gelling, Frank Jones, Adam Killey, Dean Leece, Alex Maitland, Luke Murray, Dean Pinnington, Eoighan Sherrard, Joe Walters, Kyle Watson, Michael Williams, Ste Whitley