IT’S unusual for Witton boss Carl Macauley to make predictions.

Yet this week he has.

Albion’s manager is not one to be swept away by that annual wave of optimism that washes over every club before a new season starts.

He’s too wily for that.

So when he tips his team to finish in the top eight – notice how he stops short of adding pressure unnecessarily by referring to play-offs – then we should take notice.

Considering so few of his squad have played in the Northern Premier League’s top-flight previously – captain Anthony Gardner and front man Rob Hopley are in a notable minority there – it feels like a bold claim.

That doesn’t make it unrealistic though.

Indeed the last time Albion were promoted to non-league football’s third tier, back in 2012, they went on to finish fourth the following season.

Only a stirring performance from FC United of Manchester prevented them from contesting another play-offs final, when a return to the Football Conference would have been the prize on offer.

There are some striking similarities.

Five years ago, manager Brian Pritchard lost leading scorer Alex Titchiner to Fleetwood.

This time around Macauley will have to make do without Bradley Bauress following his switch to Barrow.

Both managers largely kept the rest of their squad intact.

It isn’t betraying a secret to say that Albion were prepared for full-back Matty Devine to go too, and even had a replacement lined up.

Sometimes it isn’t who you sign, but rather who stays.

And most of them, perhaps even the manager himself, have something to prove this season.

Macauley has always dismissed suggestions he had to restore his reputation following his departure from Marine two years ago with them deep in relegation trouble.

Even if that was true, he’s done so anyway during a record-breaking campaign that ended in promotion back in April.

To hear him talk earlier this week about lessons he learned from his experience with the Crosby club was illuminating.

“What I’ve been through before will be a big help to me now,” he said.

“At Marine, we stuck to our principles and didn’t compromise even though results weren’t going our way.

“We didn’t have a Plan B, and if we’re honest we didn’t have the players to try one.”

That explains his recruitment of a defender like Nick Ryan; tall, dominant in the air and a likely-protector for goalkeeper Calvin Hare from set pieces.

Micah Evans is not a straight swap for Bauress – there aren’t many like him at this level – but he has the speed and power to pose a different threat entirely.

Prince Haywood is likely to play more often in the centre of the pitch, from where he can impose himself on games alongside Paul Williams.

We’ll see a different Witton; more pragmatic, perhaps less adventurous, but still a fiercely-competitive one.

It’s been striking to contrast the sentiment of some supporters, happy to just to be back in the Premier Division and content for the club to stabilise there, with that of the Albion playing staff.

With only one relegation place, they can let the handbrake off.

And with most of the chatter around the promoted teams on the subject of how Shaw Lane will fare, it’s possible they can do so – certainly at first – without attracting too much attention either.

“We could be a surprise package,” wrote chairman Mark Harris in his programme notes before a first home friendly against Chester last month.

And he should recognise one, after all.