Will Cook repeat his Chesterfield trick?
From National League winners to League Two title favourites, big things are expected of Chesterfield on their EFL return.
The Spireites ended a six-season stay in non-League after turning to manager Paul Cook in 2022 – seven years after he left the club – to lead them back.
Paul Cook has won two promotions with Chesterfield, 10 years apart
Cook, the ex-Portsmouth and Wigan boss, took Chesterfield to a play-off final in his first full season before racing away with the title by 12 points last term.
The 57-year-old was already viewed as a Chesterfield legend after steering the club to the League Two title during his first spell – now he is tasked with repeating the trick he delivered in 2014.
Chesterfield have a strike-force tailor-made for promotion. Will Grigg, the ex-Wigan and Sunderland forward, will have a new strike partner in 34-year-old Paddy Madden, who scored 17 league goals as Stockport County went up as champions last season.
Sought-after winger Armando Dobra is one to watch after committing his future to the club in January, while the arrival of centre-back Chey Dunkley adds promotion-winning know-how. Chesterfield look well-placed for another title push.
Morecambe aim to defy the odds
Relegation favourites Morecambe are aiming to spring a few surprises this season and started when they announced FIFTEEN summer signings.
The Shrimpers were the talk of the transfer window in July when revealing their new-look squad in one go after an EFL embargo, due to HMRC-related issues, was lifted.
The club has been up for sale since 2022 and talks with a prospective new owner are at an advanced stage – and there is a familiar feel in the dugout too.
Derek Adams was reappointed in June for a third spell having left in November 2023 to take charge of Ross County, also for a third time.
He led Morecambe to an unexpected promotion in 2019 via the play-offs but survival is the objective this season.
Notts County begin life without goal machine Langstaff
Macaulay Langstaff left Notts County this summer to join Millwall
The ‘non-League Haaland’ Macaulay Langstaff proved he could deliver in League Two last season – but how will Notts County cope without him?
Langstaff joined County in 2022 for £50,000 and left this summer in a £700,000 move to Championship side Millwall after a goal-crazy spell in which he scored 71 in 97 appearances.
His 29 strikes last season accounted for a third of County’s goals as they netted a staggering 89 times, but it was at the other end of the pitch where the issues lay.
Stuart Maynard had a difficult start in charge of Notts County
County were the entertainers of League Two as they conceded 86 goals and have aimed to address that this summer with the addition of six new defenders and a goalkeeper.
Manager Stuart Maynard, plucked from National League side Wealdstone after Luke Williams left for Swansea in January, won just two of his first 15 games in charge and needs a fast start this time to build confidence.
The EFL’s longest-serving manager
Simon Weaver is the longest-serving manager in the top five tiers of English football – and has been in charge of Harrogate Town for almost twice as long as the next-best Pep Guardiola.
The 46-year-old racked up 15 years this summer at the North Yorkshire-based side having got the job after seeing an advert in The Non-League Paper in 2009.
Weaver landed the role as player-manager aged 31 and had a budget of £1,600. Finances were so tight that Harrogate considered dropping down two levels from Conference North before Weaver’s father Irving purchased the club and became chair in 2011.
The duo have taken the club to two promotions since turning professional in 2017 – and built an infrastructure that has grown an average attendance of 2,700, culminating with a 13th-placed finish last season, their highest ever.
While the father-son relationship may allow Weaver Jr some leeway with results, it is a testament to his consistency – heading into a fifth League Two campaign – that he has outlasted the country’s best.
Cup experts County begin new era
Huw Jenkins is taking Newport County in a new direction
Twelve seasons and counting – Newport County are League Two stalwarts and FA Cup experts but this year promises to be different under new owner Huw Jenkins.
Jenkins took over in January and is aiming to make the club more sustainable in a similar fashion to how he led Swansea from the fourth tier to the Premier League.
The ex-Swansea chief has endeavoured to take County in a “different direction” on the pitch too, leading to the departure of manager Graham Coughlan this summer.
Portuguese head coach Nelson Jardim, who has worked at Swansea, Leicester and Birmingham, was appointed in July to implement a new possession-based style with a younger squad of players. Only one of their 11 summer signings – striker Courtney Baker-Richardson – is over the age of 24.
Newport have reached at least the FA Cup third round in five of the last seven seasons, earning lucrative ties against Manchester United, Brighton, Manchester City, Leicester and Tottenham but it is now success in the league they crave, having only finished in the top 10 twice during that time.
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