Our League One rivals
A year ago I selected a hasty pre-season top 10 (I got 6 right) but I’m going to pay a little more respect to Division 3, sorry League One this time around and during the course of the season intend to immerse myself a bit more in our league rivals. We are currently the 12th longest serving members after all….
Lee Clark signed a new contract in the summer and will Saturday begin his 4th season with Huddersfield and it is they who begin the season in the unenviable position of being the bookies favourites and like many teams in League One there has been quite a revolving door at the Galpharm.
Just last week they followed our example and picked off one Bournemouth’s best players in Anton Robinson. The wide midfield man played over 50 games last season for the Cherries. Ex-Birmingham midfielder Damien Matthews has signed for another year and Clark also moved for wide man Danny Ward, who I rate, and who ended last season on loan at the Galpharm scoring 4 times in 10 games. Midfielders Tommy Miller and Oscar Gobern have also joined and Clark has held onto 22-goal striker Jordan Rhodes.
Huddersfield were forced into selling two of their best players though with Anthony Pilkington to Norwich and Lee Peltier to Leicester.
The relegated triumvirate of Sheffield United, Preston North End and Scunny are all fancied, however I see faults with each one of them. The Blades have financial issues as do Preston. Danny Wilson’s managerial career has been very mixed and after three Bramall Lane appointments last season I wonder out loud if Wilson will make the whole season?
The Irishman has refreshed the squad though and made a decent signing in Chris Porter. Jamie Ward, Darius Henderson and Mark Yeats have all gone though and striker Ched Evans is up on a rape charge.
Preston have Phil Brown in the hot chair, who blew through the club like a perma-tanned gust of air in January and he has overseen a lot of player exits this summer including Paul Hayes, Sean St Ledger and yesterday fine winger Keith Treacy, which angered fans coming so late into pre-season.
I think out of the three Preston might fall with the biggest bump but the squad still has a lot of quality however with Ian Hume, Ian Ashbee, Darel Russell and Neil Mellor still there, although rumours are circulating about Mellor leaving too.
Scunthorpe United should be the least affected financially out of the three but averaged just over 5,000 last season in the Championship. Josh Wright has left and so has Andy Hughes of course. David Mirfin and Joe Murphy have jumped ship to stay in tier two with Watford and Cov respectively.
Only Andy Barcham, a free from the Gills and Accrington midfielder Jimmy Ryan, who was well regarded in League Two, have come in. A brave attempt to buy Adam Le Fondre was met with hilarity by Rotherham but I do think Alan Knill is a good manager at this level.
In many quarters Sheffield Wednesday are expected to be a big threat this season. I don’t rate Megson but like Chris Powell he has a lot of stock with the club’s supporters. Megson’s Dad, Don, also played at Hillsborough. I don’t believe Chris Powell’s Dad played for us unless him and Colin are related!
It took Milan Mandaric a while to open his cheque book this summer, much to the frustration of Wednesdayites but Semedo joined surprisingly and will partner David Prutton in the middle of the park, although the Millwall-hater may be played at the back. Centre-half Danny Batth joined on loan from Wolves but I think Powell has done a lot better work in the transfer market and the Yorkshiremen look a bit lacking in depth although long-ball-merchant Megson has tabled a bid for Le Fondre.
Franchise have an excellent young manager in Karl Robinson and I suspect his name will be touted around the Championship once the sacking season starts. Robinson has been busy in the market and made a couple of cute signings in Yeovil’s Dean Bowditch, young Colombian striker Angelo Balanta on loan from QPR again plus ex-Liverpool youngster (Robinson worked at Anfield) Darren Potter. Much to my annoyance MK are actually a pretty well run club and continue to produce good young players and select sought after managers.
Russell Slade has been around the block and he and Barry Hearn have probably put together the best Leyton Orient squad for many a decade. Dean Cox, Jamie Jones and Jimmy Smith all stayed. Ex-Addick Dave Mooney and perennial goalscorer Jamie Cureton both signed as did Millwall midfielder Marc Laird. The O’s had a phenomenal season last year, can they build on that and make a promotion challenge?
Uwe Rosler’s a bit of an unknown quantity, particularly at this level but Brentford have had a good pre-season and I was impressed with the signing of last year’s League Two top scorer Clayton Donaldson from Crewe. Jonathan Douglas, signed from Swindon, is a good League One midfielder as well. Richard Lee is considered one of the division’s best goalies and Charlie McDonald returns from a long lay-off.
Our first opponents Bournemouth punched above their weight last season and have received many heavy blows during the summer losing Danny Hollands, Rhoys Wiggins, Jason Pearce and Anton Robinson and have not replaced like for like. All this after losing manager Eddie Howe to Burnley in January. Harry Arter remains as do Danny Ings and Marc Pugh.
Of the promoted sides the bookies give Chesterfield the best chance but they lost top scorer Craig Davies to Barnsley and they couldn’t stump up the cash for last season’s loan star Deane Smalley, who went from Oldham to Oxford.
The Spirerites look a bit short to me but they did win last season’s League Two at a canter.
Previous basket cases Notts County will be looking for a big improvement after escaping relegation on the last day of the season. Martin Allen has been busy with standout signings being Alan Sheehan and Ishmel Demantagnac. Whisper it, but Lee Hughes is still wearing the no. 9 shirt.
Expectations have been lowered at Colchester after two consecutive top 10 finishes and only midfield signing Karl Duguid has hit any kind of note on the summer transfer window jungle drums. Dave Mooney, Lee Beevers and Tom Eastman have all departed.
Rochdale like Bournemouth have had trouble fighting of the vultures this summer with managerial duo Keith Hill and David Flitcroft departing for Barnsley. Scott Wiseman and Matt Done followed around the Peak District.
Dale made an interesting choice picking a new manager though with Manchester City youth team coach Steve Eyre appointed alongside Frankie Bunn, Paul Scholes favourite player of course, as assistant.
Eyre has signed Liverpool’s Stephen Darby and young Blackburn keeper Jake Kean on loan. Preston’s Neal Trotman joined too but it remains to be seen if Eyre is the next José Mourinho or Les Reed.
Exeter City’s fans, who are also the club’s owners have been one a one-way journey of success for 5 straight years under Paul Tisdale, but they may have to brace themselves this season. Matt Taylor, Paul Jones, goal machine Jamie Cureton and most importantly playmaker Ryan Harley have all decided it was a good time to move on but Lennie Pidgeley, Guillum Bauzza and Nicholas Bignall (loan) have all moved to Devon.
I always look for the Carlisle United v Charlton Athletic fixture, and this season it is temptingly close to the end of the campaign. The Cumbrians are one of those sides that you look at the squad list and comfortably don’t have a dickie-bird who anyone is, but as we have found out that doesn’t mean a jot and Greg Abbott will put together another decent side.
37-year old Graham Kavanagh is still there and John-Paul McGovern has joined from Swindon as has 20-year old prospect Liam Noble from Sunderland. Sadly (only for me) Bermudian Nahki Wells was released.
It’s nice to see Bury back out of the 4th Division, this despite Alan Knill walking out on them with a handful of games left, but Richie Barker masterfully led them the Shakers to promotion.
Bury have lost key loanees Tom Lees (back to Leeds United) and Nicky Ajose (back to Man United then sold to Peterborough United). Added to that the departure of Kyle Bennett (to Doncaster Rovers), leaves gaps in certain areas. In are the duo of Mark Hughes (from Queensland Fury) and Mark Cullen (on loan from Hull City) up front.
Oldham looked have secured their future at Boundary Park but with crowds of not much over 4,000 there seems an air of despondency over the Latics, this despite what I thought was a good first season under rookie Paul Dickov. Cedric Evina and Dale Stephens have come to SE7 and Wayne Feeney had his contract terminated and is moving to Plymouth.
Charm merchant Dickov has made permanent defender Jean-Yves Mvito’s move from Sunderland and signed midfielder Matt Lund on loan from Stoke. 36-year old Andy Todd wears the no.4 shirt.
Wycombe Wanderers bounced back at the first attempt and look stronger for it, but the club is riddled with a debt said to be £6m. A new stadium for Wanderers and tenants, the equally loaded, Wasps has also hit a roadblock.
On the pitch manager Garry Waddock has signed six players including once Charlton target John Halls and Ben Harding from Aldershot.
Les Parry carries the bookmaker’s tag of the first League One manager to get the sack (Chris Powell is 3rd at 8/1). Tranmere have had quite a clear out and lost young prodigy Dale Jennings to Bayern Munich and fellow youngster, full back Aaron Cresswell to Ipswich. Parry has picked up the experienced Martin Devaney from Barnsley.
Hartlepool made a clever appointment I think in Mick Wadsworth who guided the Monkey Hangers to an untroubled last season. They did lack a goalscorer badly however and Wadsworth has tried to rectify that by making Joe Poole permanent, signing Colin , who was prolific in Scotland, and Nobby Solano, yes the one and the same.
The final promoted team is Stevenage. They dropped the Borough in 2010. Graham Westley plays a very direct style and establishing themselves at this nose-bleed level will be the name of the game. Keeper Alan Julian has been added to a squad that includes ex-Addicks’ youngster Stacy Long.
Yeovil are one of two ‘relegation certs’ according to the so called experts, which is a little bit strange bearing in mind the Glovers’ efforts last season and the fact they will start Saturday with an almost completely different team, a bit like someone else we know!
Kiwi Rory Fallon has joined as have ex-West Ham youngsters Bondz N’Gala and Anthony Edgar plus a couple of youthful loanees Jed Steer (from Norwich) and Max Ehmer (from QPR) and around 5 others
The other relegation ‘favourites’ are Walsall and likewise the Saddlers to me look anything other than relegation fodder under Dean Smith, who performed a minor miracle in keeping Walsall in League One last season.
Smith has instilled some discipline and also been busy in the market. Eleven players have arrived including the Leyton Orient duo Ryan Jarvis and Adam Chambers and left back Mat Sadler from Watford, who I always thought was quite decent. Julian Gray’s gone as has Matt Richards.
So there you have it, our rivals. Let the proceedings begin.
