Words by Nova Marcos
With pre-season coming to an end, we can eagerly look forward to a whole new exciting season of League Two football, with plenty of new teams to see, and plenty of teams ready to try their luck yet again. Hopefully, this will be another season to remember. A lot of people who haven’t cared about the lower leagues will be setting their attention on Salford, a newly promoted team with a lot of money.
Salford are in the spotlight due to the recent funding and subsequent success of the club. Former Manchester United players such as Gary Neville and Paul Scholes own shares in the club and have invested heavily, leading to promotion to promotion, rocketing them into EFL football. This has been subject to much debate in the community as a lot of people don’t agree with how much money gets pumped into the club saying “it ruins the game” and then other people don’t seem to care. I'm eager to see how Salford copes in the open environment of League Two, and they will be the first team's results I check after my own.
Mid-table teams will once again be fluctuating between promotion hopes and relegation scares. Teams such as Crewe Alexandra, Swindon Town, and Oldham Athletic will be hoping to push into the playoff spots, whereas teams such as Grimsby Town, Port Vale, and Crawley Town will be hoping to stay up yet again.
League Two tends to be the most open of all the leagues, this being shown with the shock relegation of Notts County, the heavy favourites to win the league, in the last season. Bradford are the favourites to win and bounce back to League One after the bottom of the table finish they suffered last season. Macclesfield are favourites to be relegated after the sudden survival they managed to get last season. These odds aren’t everything though, as anything can happen. Bradford could be relegated again, and Macclesfield could win the league, as is the joy of EFL League Two.
My table prediction:
1st: Exeter City
2nd: Bradford City
3rd: Mansfield Town
4th: Swindon Town
5th: Forest Green Rovers
6th: Newport County
7th: Crewe Alexandra
8th: Plymouth Argyle
9th: Colchester United
10th: Cheltenham Town
11th: Scunthorpe United
12th: Stevanage
13th: Grimsby Town
14th: Northampton Town
15th: Salford City
16th: Crawley Town
17th: Leyton Orient
18th: Port Vale
19th: Walsall
20th: Carlisle United
21st: Cambridge United
22nd: Macclesfield Town
23rd: Oldham Athletic
24th: Morecambe
Do you agree with these predictions? Send in your EFL League Two table predictions on Twitter (@FUTBOLISTAmag) or on Instagram (@futbolistamag).