AFC Telford United preview: Season opener sees Kevin Wilkin pitted against familiar foe

After 15 weeks away competitive football is returning to the SEAH Stadium this weekend as Telford play host to Brackley Town on the opening day of the 2026/27 season.

It is a fixture with no shortage of narratives, not least because of the connections between Bucks boss Kevin Wilkin and The Saints, who he managed for more than 200 games across his seven years in charge between 2015 and 2022 alongside long-time assistant Mark Noon. Elsewhere, summer signing Zak Lilly swapped Northamptonshire for Shropshire in the summer and will be facing up against a number of familiar faces tomorrow.

The visitors are back in step two after just one season in the National League and find themselves in a transition period of sorts, in no small part brought about by former boss Gav Cowan’s exit to Shrewsbury in January. With the potential for them to still be licking the wounds of last season, Wilkin spoke highly of the club while reiterating that the fondness will be set aside come 3pm tomorrow.

“It’s an interesting opening day fixture for sure,” Wilkin laughed when asked about being the centre of a number of narratives this weekend. “There’s no denying that there are all sorts of narratives that you could talk about. I have a great affection for the club and had some great times there, but my heart is at Telford now and I desperately want to win this game.

“It will be lovely to see people that I built up a friendship with and experienced some great times with, and naturally when you share those moments with people you build close connections with them. Brackley were really good to me and hopefully we were good to Brackley at the time as well.

“They’re a really well run club with great people who want to do the right thing, and other than against us I wish them nothing but success this season.”

Wilkin has faced off against his former side in the Telford dugout already, a 2-1 victory at St James Park in 2023 that the Bucks boss admitted he remembers ‘very, very well.’

And while accepting the fact that some of the attention will be on him tomorrow afternoon, the Bucks boss insisted that his side are raring to go in front of their home crowd and are desperate to get off to the best possible start.

“Outside of all of the other things both teams are in a bit of a transitional period with quite a lot of turnover of players in the summer,” he explained. “Look, every manager and every player will tell you that the sooner you get yourselves up and running in a league season the better, and Saturday gives us our first opportunity to do exactly that.

“We want to get points on the board and Brackley will be no different. We’re excited about the start of the season and Brackley will be no different. Hopefully we can have another successful and competitive season”