BIG Read: It's taken 21 years to bounce back but Mansfield Town return to League One stronger than when they left it

It marks the culmination of a heart-breaking season of disappointment and tears, a season of too many defeats, a season wondering what might have been and a summer of asking ‘where did it all go wrong.?

Sometimes it can be just one of those things - it’s sport afterall and someone has to go down. Some bad luck on the field and decisions going against you at key moments, or just not quite being good enough when it mattered, can serve up some soul-destroying consequences. But it can also be a sign that something is badly wrong off the field with perhaps poor management in the boardroom or a lack of investment in the playing budget serving up its just desserts.

But one thing a relegation should always do is act as a wake up call for those in charge to take stock and put the building blocks in place to come back stronger than before.

When Stags left the field after their last League One game - a 2-1 win over Northampton Town on May 3, 2003 - no one could possibly have imagined it would take 21 years to bounce back

Although, they were close to an immediate return with Stags beaten in the play-off final the following season, the slide had only just begun with Mansfield paying the price for the woeful mismanagement of former owner Keith Haslam as the warnings went unheeded.

The likes of Liam Lawrence, Alex Baptiste, Bobby Hassell and Wayne Corden - all who featured against Huddersfield in Cardiff, were shipped out, only to be replaced by inferior players as Stags lurched ever nearer to disaster.

And the rest, as they say is history, as down-and-out Stags exited the EFL with a whimper at the end of the 2007/08 season.

The return to glory can of course be pinpointed to September 2010 when John Radford dipped his hand in his pocket and bought Stags for the nominal fee of £1. The new era was heralded with an encouraging 4-0 win over Eastbourne Borough - but it was witnessed by JUST 2,312 fans and a sure sign of how far Mansfield had sadly fallen.

The Radfords have worked tirelessly for the last 14 years to put the structure in place to get the club back on its feet and give our town a club to be proud of.

They have done that and they have done it in style. John and Carolyn are heroes to every one of us for what they have done, and rightly so. You only have to be there on a matchday to feel the buzz around the place with sold out crowds week in week filling the hospitality areas, the Sandy Pate bar and, most importantly, the seats in the stadium. And it won't be long before we have even more seats and even more fans in the ground week in week out.

Amongst the sea of Forest shirts more and more people can now be seen wearing Stags gear around town and what a great sight that is. The fans are proud once again, Stags are no longer a football team in the town watched by a few fans,, they are once again an integral part of our community.

On the field, it is promising to be a fascinating and enthralling League One season ahead for Stags.

But, naturally, it is going to be a tough season for Nigel Clough’s newcomers in a league packed with big clubs with big budgets and high quality squads.

It is a league which features eight former Premier League clubs, all looking to arrest their decline and climb the football ladder once again.

Stags have been climbing the football ladder in their own way, slowly but surely, and glamour away days at the likes of Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Charlton Athletic is a great reward for the tireless endeavours of all involved

They go into the campaign in an expectant mood. Stags have so far looked good in pre-season with the promotion-winning squad kept together. It is already a squad that features proven players at League One level in the likes of Aden Flint, Lee Gregory, Lucas Akins, Christy Pym and Deji Oshilaja.

Stags certainly appear to have a squad capable of avoiding the disaster season experienced by promoted Carlisle United last season and it should be a fairly smooth step up.

Lincoln City’s trajectory offers Stags a perfect encouragement of what can be achieved. The Imps, like Stags, were down and out at one point and wallowed in the National League (as is now) for six long seasons.

Lincoln rose again, winning League Two at the second attempt before narrowly missing out on a League One play-off place last season in their fifth season in the league.

Burton Albion are probably the greatest example of all for what can be achieved with quality management on and off-the field, masterminded in large part of course by our very own Nigel Clough.

The Brewers were playing part-time football in the Northern Premier League at the start of the century before staggeringly making it to the Championship for two seasons between 2016 and 2018. This year will mark their seventh season at League One level - and all on crowds of less than 5,000 each game. It just shows what you can do

But that’s getting carried away. The first job of course is to consolidate and then who knows where the journey will take us. To get another promotion may take ten more years, it may never happen. One thing for sure though is that the Radfords and Stags will never stop striving for improvement.

They are back where they belong and they are back stronger than ever.