Read the Championship preview here and the League 1 one here
The League 2 season gets underway this weekend. Here are a few things to look out for...
Portsmouth
FA Cup winners in 2008, and a Premier League side as recently as 2010, it’s been an alarming slide for Pompey and they’ll begin this season way down in the 4th tier of English football. However, after years of questionable ownership, the Fratton Park club came out of administration at the end of last season when they were bought by a fan-backed supporters trust. As a result, morale on the terraces is high and more than 10,000 season tickets have been sold for the coming campaign, numbers not seen since those top-flight days of 2010.
Guy Whittingham has added a number of new faces during the summer break and the veteran duo up-front, David Connolly and Patrick Agyemang should get goals at this level. The bookies have made them favourites for promotion and while it might not be as straightforward as that after the trauma of the last few years, this season should at least be more fun than they’ve been used to on the south coast of late.
Plymouth
While their demise hasn’t been quite as dramatic or well publicised as Portsmouth’s, Plymouth have had a tough time of it in recent years as well. The Pilgrims seem to have been in a permanent relegation battle for the past 5 seasons or so, and in falling from the Championship to League 2, there’s been a fair bit of heartache in that period.
The manager John Sheridan joined in January and his appointment saw an upturn in form, which just about prevented a slide in to non-league football. If that momentum can be carried over in to the new season, then a mid-table finish or even an outside shot at the play-offs could be within sight.
James Beattie
The ex-Southampton, Everton and England striker made the first steps of his managerial career when he took over at Accrington earlier this summer. While he’s not quite as box office as Paolo Di Canio was in his Swindon days, he’s still the biggest name at this level, and there’ll be a fair amount of interest in how he fares.
It won’t be easy though. Stanley struggled to 18th place in this division last season and have one of the smaller budgets in the league. There’ll be no chequebook to save the day, so he’ll be hoping experienced heads like new signings Nick Hunt and Danny Webber will do him proud.
Fleetwood
Last year was Fleetwood’s first in league football, but the amount of money they spent getting there meant that the eventual 13th place finish was viewed as a disappointment. New signings Antoni Sarcevic and Mark Roberts should give them a boost, and a promotion push will be expected from Graham Alexander, their manager.
The New Boys
Mansfield won the Conference last season to end their 5-year absence from league football. Newport have had a while longer to wait, with their play-off win sending them back to this level for the first time in 25 years.
The Conference is a tough league to get out of and we’ve seen plenty of teams in the past then go on to escape League 2 straight after. Both of these sides will surely to be happy to consolidate in the coming year, but that doesn’t mean the prospect of another promotion won’t have been considered.
PREDICTIONS:
Promoted - Portsmouth, Chesterfield, Burton, Northampton
Relegated - Dagenham, Newport
Any fans of a League 2 side on here? Who or what have I missed?