Stephen Baxter expecting teams to 'fight like crazy' in quest for Premiership title as Crusaders boss credits league wide improvements

The Inver Reds sealed the club's first ever top flight last season - a feat which Baxter said was fully deserved by Tiernan Lynch's men.

However, as the build-up continues ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, Baxter gave his assessment on how things may play out this time around and cites squad depth as the main difference between success and falling short.

"Last year's prediction was exactly how I thought it would be, which was six incredibly competitive teams,” he said.

"It's a lengthy campaign and it comes down to how you can cope with it.

"Teams can be up there and then lose key players and then they can't sustain it.

"That's why you get teams winning a cup because you only need to win five games of football.

"They always say the best team wins the league and Larne were the best team last season.

"The next big part of that is can Larne do it again? Will Linfield get stronger? Will Glentoran and Cliftonville get a new manager bounce?

"Coleraine have added to their squad and got stronger. We have added and probably got a little bit stronger in squad depth.

"So you're going to have another competitive competition with those six and then the other six will be in there looking to be a part of it also and will be in there fighting like crazy, taking points of others and creating a fantastic league."

Despite not seeing any changes to the top six placings, Baxter was full of praise for improvements across the league as a whole and remarked that fans of all clubs should be 'very proud' of increasing standards both on and off the pitch.

"I think our league has improved tenfold in the last three years," he continued.

"Pitches are improving, coaches are improving, players are improving and crowd numbers are up.

"We just have so much going on in our league that we should be very proud of.

"I've been doing this for a long time and I have seen these improvements. It's just brilliant what we're doing and how we're doing it.”