The doom and gloom surrounding relegation to the basement division, Town's first sojourn in the depths since 1987, was somewhat lifted by the arrival of Dennis Wise to the manager's hotseat ahead of the season's curtain-raiser at Hartlepool.

Wise had taken Millwall to an FA Cup final in 2004 on a minimal budget and had it not been for the cup run itself, would probably have taken them to the Championship play-offs as well and he arrived confident of seeing Town make an immediate return to League One.

With little Dennis came right-hand man and former Chelsea team-mate Gus Poyet and between them, they set about improving Town's fitness levels. A punishing schedule saw Town look fitter than they had for years and the proof of Wise's pudding was in Town's electric start - a victory in the Copa Ibiza was followed by an incredible start to the campaign - Town winning the first six games before going down to Wrexham.

The highlight was a remarkable win away at Hartlepool United on the opening day - the Monkey Hangers fellow promotion favourites. New signing Peter Brezovan made a string of saves despite not speaking any English before a remarkable second penalty save late on made sure of the points.

Town returned to winning ways following defeat to Wrexham at the MK Dons but four games without a win preceded the news that little Dennis was off to Leeds to assume the poisoned chalice at Elland Road.

His final game came as the side returned to winning ways, a 2-1 win against Shrewsbury the ideal send off before a mouth-watering clash against league-leaders Lincoln City.

Captain Ady Williams assumed control of the ship but couldn't prevent the Imps from stealing a 1-0 victory at The County Ground courtesy of Jamie Forrester. Williams and Barry Hunter, his temporary assistant were unable to turn the tide as Hereford ran out 2-1 winners the week after - but salvation arrived in the form of a manager with a proven track record.

Paul Sturrock and his coaching staff waltzed into SN1 and breathed a huge breath of fresh air into the club. Effective football on the pitch was combined with subtle changes off it (to the gym and changing rooms etc) - but it was keeping Town up the top that made him an instant favourite.

An FA Cup win followed by a slender win at lowly Torquay got him off to the perfect start and Town remained in the hunt until March.

The key game came at Lincoln City. Having already seen off the Dons in Milton Keynes Town travelled to Sincil Bank in front of the Sky cameras - and a 3-2 win gave the side the impetus needed to keep them ahead in the top three. As the end of the season approached MK Dons went toe-to-toe with Town every step of the way. Town, as per usual made their passage into the top three as difficult as possible by twice drawing 0-0 (against Rochdale and Hereford) and losing away at Bristol Rovers. Three games without a win for Martin Allen's side saw them needing Town to slip up on the last day against Walsall, themselves promoted - but Town made sure of promotion with a 1-1 draw; Jerel Ifil, of all people, putting the Reds ahead before Dean Keates equalised with a scorcher. Both sides celebrated, Walsall as champions, but for Sturrock it was a case of 'job done'.