With Glenn Roeder still putting his squad together when the campaign got underway, a shaky start was the result, and followed on from a disappointing end to the previous season.
Nigel insists there can be no excuses this time around, and says:
"Last season it was shocking - you can't have starts like we have had in the last two seasons and keep getting away with it, so we will be looking for a good beginning to the campaign.
"It puts a lot of pressure on early doors and the fans then start to worry, but this time we will hopefully get a better start."
Nigel believes there are grounds for optimism for the new campaign, and says:
"At the moment our aim is to finish higher than seventh but it is going to be very difficult again because the league is very competitive.
"Some of the teams coming up are spending a lot of money, but we have a good squad here and if we can add a couple of good players again there is no reason why we can't have another good season.
"It is going to be hard but if we put in the right application and work load - and stick together as a team - we know what we can do.
"We have also got a lot of young players coming through as well, and we need to keep those together - we can only really improve from last season."
Nigel, in his last season as a professional, has played a part in both preseason friendlies thus far without any side effects, and says:
"It is still very early in the season and people have to realise we are not preparing for these games as you would do for a Premiership game; we trained hard on the day of the Southend match and it is all about fitness work.
"I am always glad to be back; it is great to play football but it is early doors yet."
* Craig Forrest says that reports claiming that a testimonial between West Ham and Ipswich has been lined up are totally premature.
"Nothing has beeen finalised," he says, "and I have not even spoken to Ipswich - so I don't know where these stories come from."
A statement will be issued in due course.