FAREWELL then to the season of all seasons for Welsh football, 2012/13 now etched indelibly in the annuls as the greatest ever campaign for club football this side of the Severn Bridge.

Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Wrexham all won something, all achieved a notable success in a year that will largely be remembered in the wider scheme of things for retirements and raging debates about a lack of quality.

To match this season would be quite a feat and to surpass it seems almost impossible, especially as all four Welsh clubs have much work to do to ensure a successful 2013/14.

As ever, it’ll come round much quicker than you think, though I am already longing for an Olympics, European Championships or Ryder Cup to tide us over, as we had last summer. The Ashes seems a long way off.

Each club faces unique challenges, Swansea as Europa League entrants, Cardiff as Premier League debutant, Newport County having returned to the Football League and Wrexham contending with a Conference that is getting harder and harder to succeed in.

It seems only appropriate to begin with the Exiles, who possibly have the easiest task, assuming most supporters would see consolidation as a satisfactory outcome in League Two.

Manager Justin Edinburgh has done a superb job in retaining the core of his squad and the happy outcome in the Aaron O’Connor saga is the icing on the cake.

The Exiles can be very specific in targeting squad improvements.

Defensive and goalkeeping cover, an attacking midfielder capable of reaching double figures on the goal front and a towering striker with strength and intelligence will do nicely. I have little doubt Edinburgh will be able to do all of that.

Swansea face two different challenges, the increased intensity of their schedule as they incorporate the Europa League into their calendar as well as overcoming what was a proper slump after winning the Capital One Cup.

As much as the talent of the Swans is clear to see, winning just twice since March is a cause for worry. Teams who end campaigns badly tend to start the next season in the same manner.

Swansea are also no longer a dark horse when it comes to unlikely transfers. We live in a post-Michu society and now if the Swans want a player, others will instantly be attracted.

Iago Aspas might very well be a player capable of doing a Michu, but if everyone knows Swansea want him, will a richer club decide to take a punt instead? It’s a risk they’ll run all summer.

Michael Laudrup insists the Swans need at least half-a-dozen players and that seems moderate with at least six to ten more games for a squad that showed it didn’t have the legs for the long haul.

But if the manager stays and they hold on to Michu, Ashley Williams and in particular the freakishly talented Ben Davies, a top-ten finish, as opposed to a Newcastle-style slump, is definitely achievable.

I’m more fearful for Cardiff City, debutants in the Premier League and clearly a less stable club off the field than their bitter rivals.

It appears the artists formerly known as the Bluebirds are prepared to spend big, but they simply must go for tried and trusted because there are question marks over many of the Cardiff players when it comes to Premier League pedigree.

Relegation would be a massive blow, especially in terms of debt consolidation, and one also has concerns as to whether the board will stand by boss Malky Mackay if City start poorly.

If Newport and Swansea need half-a-dozen fresh faces, I’d argue Cardiff need more like 10, quality throughout.

Without question though, the toughest test of all is for the FA Trophy finalists Wrexham, who face a hideously hard time to even achieve a Conference play-off place next term (as they have done for three successive seasons).

Luton Town are certain to be vastly improved under the wily John Still , Cambridge United appear to be having a real go and one would expect both Grimsby and especially Kidderminster to be there or thereabouts again.

I’d also expect a good campaign from Hereford under the shrewd management of Martin Foyle and Peter Beadle while Macclesfield should improve too.

But that’s to ignore the elephant in the room, Forest Green Rovers, the village club spending money like it’s the last days on earth.

I’d call manager Dave Hockaday a wheeler dealer, except Del Boy types at least know you buy AND you sell.

Hockaday is stockpiling players at an alarming rate. Perhaps he’s trying to form an army to invade another village to capture more fans.

The FGR website lists over 30 first team players and that doesn’t include Danny Wright, Andy Mangan and Anthony Barry, all signed to three-year deals in the past week (Barry despite missing 18 months through injury).

Big contracts from a club whose average attendance last season was merely 1,187 and a massive wage bill despite minimal turnover.

That’s the opposite of what the Financial Fair Play rules are designed to prevent.

Perhaps they can start a B team called Forest Green Rangers and split their fans having 590 watching each side.

Forest Green should stroll the Conference like Fleetwood and Crawley before them and I fear from the Dragons, who lost Wright and failed to re-sign Mangan despite being a bigger and more successful club than Forest Green.

We wouldn’t expect Swansea or Cardiff to compete with Chelsea and Manchester City, but it’s a situation being replicated in division five where FGR are allowed to accrue 10 first team strikers!

It’s a unique challenge for a well-run club like Wrexham to overcome, but it promises to be a very testing campaign for all the Welsh sides as expectation levels rise and rise.

That’s the problem with success. It makes you crave more and more.