One could hardly separate this season from the retirement of club icon Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who left with 264 goals from 361 competitive appearances with the club; while it might not exactly be unassailable, given that his contemporary Tian Yonghang is only twelve behind, it is fair to assert that it will be a long, long time before anyone else approaches the feats that these two one-club men have achieved here.

The sad reality was that both were well into the wrong side of their thirties, however, and the faults that had so plagued their recent seasons only worsened. Grilled's once-terrifying attack had, if not withered completely, certainly declined, and Gennady Dvorak's impressive 18-goal haul was about the only bright spot in an indifferent campaign.

Four defeats in their opening five league games painted a depressing picture of just how low the Birds had fallen, and had Batok Earthquakes not likewise fallen off, there would likely have been no saving them. A huge mid-season victory over Arcturules kept The Pot boiling over, fortunately, and the team would scrabble together seven points in their last three matches, to stay on in the division.

Grilled did not excel in the cup competitions either, but they probably could not claim to have been unlucky, surviving two nail-biting penalty contests in the early rounds. They would be eliminated by Yew Tea in the Round of 32, before hopes for a third Ruby Challenger Cup were swiftly crushed by Zeneve Tactika.

As for the Farmer Bunnies, they did meet their pre-season goals of a top-four finish, settling into a comfortable third place in III.11. A long Singapore Consolation Cup run ended in the semifinals at the hands of eventual runners-up Heaven Skys, to the lasting disappointment of the fans, who were hoping for a maiden national-level trophy.

Otherwise, it was a time of quiet consolidation for the Buns, who got over the buzz from Lau Chang Wan and Wong Ting Yew's national youth team adventures. The seeds planted by Elias van Dal and nurtured by current head coach Sikong Darong began to bear fruit, as they conceded less than a goal a game in the league.