The club invited Akihiro NISHIMURA (the former GM of Cerezo Osaka) as manager, and KUROBE and MATSUI remained in the team, so that most people forecasted that the team would certainly be promoted to J1.
西村昭宏（前セレッソ大阪GM）を監督に迎え、黒部・松井も残留し昇格は間違いなしというのが大方の予想だった。