With 3 years gone since Town's relegation from
Division 2, some Town fans were beginning to wonder if
Eoin Hand was going to get them promoted.
Phil Starbuck was brought in from
Nottingham Forest and he helped bring in the goals along with
Iffy Onuora and
Iwan Roberts. Town made a fairly good start to the season, with only one loss in their first 9 games. Form was intermittent with losses and wins more often than not. They were still hunting for an automatic promotion or a play-off place. After
Christmas, Town's form gradually got worse, with a run of only 2 wins in 12, which saw Eoin Hand given the sack on 6 March. His assistant
Ian Ross replaced him immediately and after a win against
Shrewsbury Town, Town lost 3 games in a row, but they then won 7 out of their last 8 games, which gave them 3rd place in the table, so they had a two-legged play-off match against
Peterborough United. In the first leg at
London Road, Town got a very respectable 2–2 draw, which seemed to suggest that Town's chances of progressing to the final to play
Stockport County. Town took an early lead at
Leeds Road thanks to a goal from Phil Starbuck, but Peterborough got 2 late goals to send them through to the final at
Wembley, where they beat Stockport and got promotion to the newly created
Division 1. So, because of the formation of the new
Premier League, Town actually did play in Division 2 the next season. ==Squad at the end of the season==