Incoming head coach Niculae Stanca guided the Birds back into the top half of the table, aided by a maturing team, as they garnered just three fewer points than the previous two seasons combined, while scoring six more goals than any other team; they shipped quite a few too, however, which kept them from an even better finish.

There were no purchases of note with one of the club's main aims being to stabilize their financial situation, and the season again began on the wrong foot with successive defeats, before a much-needed win against newcomers Temasek Lions FC got the Birds off to an excellent run of five wins and a draw, although the Cup adventure was cut off midway through at the hands of a free-scoring Golden Kakis side.

Their cause was not helped by injuries, with Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and Zhu Changchun both out for the early games. This did have the silver lining of allowing Chow Ying Lee to step up and prove that he was capable of leading the team; he guided Grilled through a potentially difficult period with a string of Man-of-the-Match performances, and perhaps more incredibly kept his level up throughout the season, barring a short slump in the middle.

The remainder of the team did their bit too, though without longtime Montenegro wingback Vukota Crkvenjakov, who had grown disillusioned with his lack of appearances, and wrangled a transfer to mosueinashuebox. Stanca did manage to keep the others relatively content, and captain Qassem Madaini was unselfish in not applying pressure to be played when he had a drop in form.

All this added up to a very solid campaign, with 19 year-old reserve forward Tang Hengcai's ten goals from nine appearances a very nice surprise bonus. The team would lose only twice more, once narrowly to a clearly superior Arrogancae team who will make their long-awaited return to the top flight, and once to heimu XI on the final day with the placings sorted.

Grilled's focus on youth has also began to bear fruit, with former ArseVikings forward Li Boon Boon fetching an appreciable S$1.25 million, and a number of decent trainees from the Chicken Wings finding themselves reputable new sides while bolstering Stanca's jealously-guarded transfer warchest at the same time.