2015 was certainly an eventful year for Rugby Town, with three managers in charge over the two footballing seasons which saw them just miss out on the play-offs last time round and then become embroiled in a relegation battle in the current campaign, as well as an exciting FA Cup adventure thrown in for good measure.

Dave Stringer’s departure in May ended his five seasons at Town, but he can look back at his time at Butlin Road with pride having twice taken Valley to second place in the table before losing in a play-off final and semi respectively.

Rugby started 2015 in cracking form with eight wins in nine league outings and come the beginning of March looked well placed to challenge for promotion again.

However Stringer’s last campaign ended disappointingly and failure to beat three struggling teams North Greenford, Hayes and Daventry in away fixtures towards the end of it ultimately saw Town finish sixth – signalling a natural conclusion to the ex-Valley player’s time in the hot seat.

Stringer’s replacement was Gary Mills – who had previously played for a host of non-league clubs.

The Valley job was Mills’ first full managerial role, though he had previously been assistant to Kevin Wilkin at Conference club Wrexham for nine months.

With Town now transferred over to the Northern Premier League structure for the first time in their history after a 32 year stint in the Southern League, there were encouraging signs in the summer that Mills was building a squad capable of challenging near the top of their new division.

Five valuable members of the previous season’s squad immediately committed to start the new campaign at Butlin Road, all-time senior record goalscorer David Kolodynski agreed to return from Kettering and then the influential Seb Lake-Gaskin signed a new one-year contract.

Mills’ assistant Craig Adams cherry-picked a few players from his old club Bedford and the others that Mills lined-up to join looked to have the pedigree which would be needed – including another central figure in Kettering’s successful promotion campaign defender Jason Lee.

However come the start of the 2015/16 season, the recruitment strategy had unravelled significantly, with many of the originally intended line-up, including Lee and the enigmatic Lake-Gaskin nowhere to be seen.

Valley’s baptism in the NPL South Division was a tough one, and having registered just one win in their opening seven league games, Mills (and then Adams) jumped ship, signalling the arrival of Dale Belford - a well-known figure in non-league circles.

Belford had had a short spell at the club in the late eighties, and he appointed another ex-Town player Steve Farmer as his right hand man, rekindling the relationship they had at Belford’s previous managerial role at Tamworth in the Conference.

After nearly four months in charge, they seem to have completed their first objective of steadying the ship by taking the team out of and then away from the bottom two relegation zone, and will now be looking to lift them further up the table before the completion of the league campaign at the end of April.

Player turnover in the first half of the campaign has understandably been high in the circumstances, as Belford continues to tinker with his squad in search of the optimum match-day line-up.

49 players have pulled on a Town shirt already this season, including an incredible nine goalkeepers – although Belford is hoping that the latest incumbent Sam Andrew is the long-term solution.

In the midst of the managerial upheaval this season, Rugby still managed to come within a whisker of reaching the final qualifying round of the FA Cup for the first time in 24 years.

It was an eventful journey in the nation's favourite sporting knockout competition though, with Mills’ plans ahead of the Preliminary Round tie with Coventry Sphinx thrown up in the air following the late (and allegedly calculated) refusal of keeper Scott Dutton to play, meaning an emergency call-up for 16 year old youth team keeper Ashley Bodycote instead.

Mills’ resignation came the day before the next round of the competition, but Valley still managed to turn over higher level opposition Ilkeston under Adams' guidance.

Lincoln United were then beaten in Belford’s first home game in charge to set up a trip to Brackley (two leagues higher than Town) in the Third Qualifying Round.

Having seen the home side miss a penalty, Valley then scored themselves and looked to have booked a place in the next stage, until a cruel 97th minute equaliser gave the National League North side another chance at Butlin Road.

Unfortunately Brackley strolled to a replay victory, meaning Rugby missed out on a distinctly winnable tie in the next round against same level opposition and with it a subsequent chance of appearing on the big stage of the First Round Proper.