Joe McConnell
Will Cook repeat his Chesterfield trick?
From National League winners to League Two title favourites, big things are expected from Chesterfield on their return to the EFL.
The Spireites ended a six-season stay in non-League after turning to manager Paul Cook in 2022 – seven years after leaving the club – to take over again.
Paul Cook won two promotions with Chesterfield, 10 years apart
Cook, the former Portsmouth and Wigan manager, took Chesterfield to the play-off final in his first full season before clinching the title by 12 points last season.
The 57-year-old was already considered a Chesterfield legend after leading the club to the League Two title in his first spell – and now he is tasked with repeating that success in 2014.
Chesterfield have a strike team tailor-made for promotion. Former Wigan and Sunderland striker Will Grigg will have a new strike partner in 34-year-old Paddy Madden, who scored 17 league goals as Stockport County rose to champions last season.
Aspiring 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 have begun announcing FIFTEEN summer signings.
The Shrimpers were in the spotlight during the July transfer window when they unveiled their new squad in a one-off deal following the lifting of the EFL ban due to issues with HMRC.
The club has been up for sale since 2022 and talks with a potential new owner are at an advanced stage. Even on the bench there is a familiar atmosphere.
Derek Adams was reappointed in June for a third term, having left in November 2023 to take charge of Ross County, also for the third time.
He led Morecambe to an unexpected promotion via the play-offs in 2019, but this season the focus is on survival.
Notts County begin life without goal machine Langstaff
Macaulay Langstaff left Notts County this summer to join Millwall
Non-League Haaland Macaulay Langstaff showed he can thrive in League Two last season, but how will Notts County fare without him?
Langstaff joined County in 2022 for £50,000 and left this summer for £700,000, moving to Championship side Millwall after a spell in which he scored 71 goals in 97 appearances.
His 29 goals last season accounted for a third of County’s 89 goals, but it was at the other end of the pitch that the problems arose.
Stuart Maynard has had a difficult start in charge of Notts County
County have been the best performers in League Two, conceding 86 goals, and are looking to remedy that decline this summer with the addition of six new defenders and a goalkeeper.
Manager Stuart Maynard, brought in from National League side Wealdstone after Luke Williams left for Swansea in January, has won just two of his first 15 games in charge and needs to get going straight away this time to gain confidence.
The EFL’s longest-serving manager
Simon Weaver is the longest-serving manager in English football’s top five leagues, having been in charge of Harrogate Town for almost double the time of second-placed Pep Guardiola.
The 46-year-old served 15 years at the North Yorkshire outfit this summer, having landed the job after seeing an advert in The Non-League Paper in 2009.
Weaver was appointed player-coach at the age of 31 and had a budget of £1,600. Finances were so poor that Harrogate considered dropping two levels from the Conference North before Weaver’s father Irving bought the club and became chairman in 2011.
The duo have led the club to two promotions since turning professional in 2017 and built an infrastructure that has led to average attendances of 2,700, culminating in a 13th-place finish last season, their best ever finish.
While the father-son relationship may allow Weaver Jr some leeway when it comes to results, it is a testament to his consistency, given he is now in his fifth season in League Two, that he has outpaced the country’s best.
County Cup Experts Begin New Era
Huw Jenkins is taking Newport County in a new direction
Twelve seasons and the countdown continues: Newport County are League Two mainstays and FA Cup veterans, but this year promises to be different under new owner Huw Jenkins.
Jenkins took charge in January and aims to make the club more sustainable, similar to how he guided Swansea from the fourth tier to the Premier League.
The former Swansea boss sought to take County in a “different direction” on the pitch too, which led to the departure of manager Graham Coughlan this summer.
Portuguese 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. Only one of their 11 summer signings, striker Courtney Baker-Richardson, is over 24.
Newport have reached at least the third round of the FA Cup 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 Championship they aspire to, having finished in the top 10 just twice in that period.
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