Three Crowns United, Bradford Renegades (formerly Three Horseshoe Renegades), and Bromham (Sunday) were all promoted to Division Two, from the third division, North Star A dropped down from division one and with AFC Bell, AFC Melksham, Audley FC, Biddestone White Horse, Christian Malford, Green Bell (formerly The Crown Devizes), Hullavington, Pig & Whistle United and Sutton Benger they make up the 13 teams who will compete for honours.

Once again with so many old rivalries set to be renewed the stage is for another thrilling promotion race which again could go to the wire as last seasons did before FC Bradford stole second spot behind Pheasant FC.

North Star A will be desperate to avoid a third successive relegation as they have tumbled from the top flight to where there are now in just two seasons. Gary Elliott remains in charge of the Calne based side and he must be very envious of the success of the Star’s B team who topped the division four standings last term with what was a number of Elliott’s former players.

North Star haven’t had the best of pre-seasons and are still waiting for their first friendly win so they could well go into their first game of the season without a win since the opening day of last season when they beat North Bradley 6-5.

The Star could be set for another dreadful season but with a lot of pride at stake they should do better than they did last term but that still might not be good enough to save them from the drop.

AFC Bell who hail from Devizes will be aiming to put the disappointment of last season behind, Bell who had been tipped to claim a third successive promotion finished a way down the standings in sixth place which was a shock to most people.

Craig Townsend is no longer at the helm, the prolific hit man has been replaced as manager by Gary Campbell who has already started his reshaping of the side by tempting playing from both Green Bell and Rowde and these players should re-ignite a Bell side who came up short on too many occasions last season and with the new blood Bell will be one of the favourites for glory this year.

Having missed out on promotion for the last two season Hullavington will be more than happy to have a third stab at getting back to life in division one.

Matt Wilkins remains as manager and he will be feel that his side can be potential champions this time around especially if his brother Ed can continue in the rich vain of form that has seen him net 106 goals in the past two seasons for the villagers. With Jif Wilkins, Ben Wright, Louis Slater and Phil Garland still around there is no reason why Hullavington can’t perform as well and with a little more luck they ought to be in a position next May to challenge for silverware.

Following the departure ofMickey Hawkes as AFC Melksham manager, Garry Prease has the unenviable job of picking up the pieces left by Hawkes tenure as manager. Hawkes guided Melksham to WG Parr Trophy final success but after beating White Hart Combe 2-0 in the final the wheels dramatically fell off the Melksham bandwagon and what looked certain promotion saw them finish in sixth place.

Since the end of the season a number of players have left the team and that includes some of their biggest names likes Gareth Evans, Ashley Groves and Darren Whiting so Melksham could go from promotion challengers to relegation battlers in the space of 12 months which shouldn’t really happen but could if players haven’t come in to replace the ones who have left.

All three teams who gained promotion to the division are more than capable of holding their own in what promises to be a tough division to get out of. From the three teams, Chippenham based Three Crowns United who topped division three last term should do the best but they will bid for back to back championships without inspirational shot stopper Mark Bolton who has been tempted away from Tony Beasley’s side by top flight Biddestone Social.

Bolton will be a hard to replace but as long as they have a half decent keeper and Marcus Young, Kelvin Page and Nick Still banging the goals in and Rob Hurkett holding the defence together they should feature in the battle for silverware at the business end of the season.

Bradford Renegades (formerly Riverside Renegades) have finished as silver medallists for the last two seasons, losing out to the Three Crowns last term and before that finishing second best to Steeple Ashton in division four, but manager Lance Davis will be hoping that it will be third time lucky for his team of young chargers.

Davis has been dealt a huge blow with the exit of Dan, Jake and Sam Jordan to first division FC Bradford and with all three players being essential to Davis’ plans the new look Renegades side could be short of firepower and may well struggle to claim a third successive promotion.

Ady Kember’s Bromham (Sunday) outfit were left bitterly disappointed at the end of the previous campaign having missing out on a top two finish despite losing just one of their last 19 games, but that game was their final one against the Renegades that saw them miss out on the runners up berth by two points.

Bromham will also be looking for a little bit more consistency against the so called lesser sides as draw against Corsham Park Rangers who suffered relegation, Corsham United and Southwick United eventually proved to be very costly.

If manager Kember can iron out a few kinks and Freddie Paget and Jim Sandiford get off to a flyer then they should be in the mix once again.

Another side who could be in the mix at the end of the season is Melksham based Pig & Whistle United which will come as a surprise to many people as United could only finish in ninth spot last term, but with the possible influx of many from AFC Melksham then they should do well.

It is rumoured that the versatile Gareth Evans who can play either in goal or as a striker is set to return to the club where he had great success a few years ago, if the rumours prove to be right and Evans is joined by a few others then United may be the side who will upset the odds.

Audley FC scored 118 goals last season, with Chris Yeo scoring 46 of them but at the other end of the field they leaked 86 goals so if they can improve on their defending they should improve on their top five finish.

Audley have had a great pre-season and having been playing friendlies since the start of July and have yet to be beaten, however the true test will come when they take on the likes of Hullavington and Three Crowns United rather than North Star A and Chippenham Sports & Social Club who Audley brushed away with ease. Audley can and should prove hard to beat but their attitude of if you score five we will score six could come back to haunt them but with so many strikers on their books it could yet work for them rather than against them.

Biddestone White Horse claimed a creditable eighth place in their first season in the division last term and manager Matt Unwin will be hoping that his team can finish a little higher in the coming campaign and if he has managed to retain the services of Scott Fleming, Tamlyn Goodrich, Pete Dennett and Rob Murphy as well as bringing in a few new faces there is no reason why they shouldn’t break into the top six.

After a promising start to the last season White Horse went lame and didn’t manage a win in any of their final eight games which will have been a concern for Unwin, but they should put things right with at least a couple of wins in the opening month of season and if that happens they should have a trouble free campaign

A change of name to the Green Bell from The Crown Devizes should have little effect on the Sands Lane club who should be more than capable of equalling if not bettering their seventh place finish of last season.

Mark Roberts side are rumoured to have lost the services of Kevin Bush and a few other players but if they have managed to keep Mark Adams, Rob Hannah and James Ford then they should win more games than they lose and having finished last season with four wins from five games and a 2-1 victory over promoted FC Bradford they will want to start the new term where they left off but with an opening game against Hullavington they are likely to have to wait a few weeks to chalk up their first win.

Martin Jennings is the new man in charge of Christian Malford and although pre-season hasn’t gone to plan, Jennings should have a half decent team ready for the opening day of the campaign.

Malford have signed father and son combination Richard and Joe Chaffey from Biddestone Arms who called it a day at the end of last season. Along with the Chaffey’s Malford have a few more new players to pick from and although they are taking a while to gel together manager Jennings should have few problems in helping the villagers to a position of safety rather than that of relegation candidates that they usually are.

Sutton Benger make up the 13 teams and it would be fair to say that they will be one of the favourites for the drop. Benger who are one of the longest serving teams in the league have seen more lows than highs over the last few years but they have proved the pundits wrong time after time and they could do so again but they are going to need more than the six victories they managed last season if they are to have a realistic chance of beating the drop.