Predicting the teams to get promoted and relegated from League One in 2019/20 – Talk the Footb
- Sam Greasley-Machin
- Jul 25, 2019
- 3 min read
Sunderland AFC badge, credit; Geograph
Although there is still a few more weeks of the transfer window left before the season starts we at Talk the Football League have had a go at predicting how the third division of English football could conclude come May 2020. Establishing those that may depart the league for greener pastures and those set for a decline into League Two. Obviously this is based on current squads only and much could still change between now and deadline day, but here are our predictions.
Sunderland
1) Jack Ross’s Sunderland narrowly missed out on an instant return to the Championship last season after falling at the last hurdle in play-off final defeat to Lee Bowyer’s Charlton. The North-East side are once again one of the favourites to make a return to the higher division with one of the best squads in the league playing under a promising, young manager. Since last years outing at Wembley the Blackcats have maintained the core of their squad while adding the likes of Conor McLaughlin, Lee Burge and Jordan Willis on free transfers and a couple of loan signings which sees them have the most valuable squads in the league. No doubt Marc McNulty will add some firepower up-top to propel them towards the Championship, despite recent struggles at Reading.
Ipswich Town
2) Looking to achieve where Sunderland failed is Ipswich with an instant return to the second division of English football. The Suffolk side have managed to keep Paul Lambert at the helm and added some lower league quality to their side, most notably James Norwood who scored 32 goals for Tranmere in the previous campaign. The Tractor boys squad may have really struggled in the 2018/19 Championship, but their side offers a wealth of League One experience and is simply too good on paper to remain in the division beyond a year.
Portsmouth
Play-offs) Pompey were one of the sides knocking on the door of the league above last year and while they had an excellent first half of the campaign Kenny Jacket’s side dropped in form for the second half and eventually finished in the play-offs. This summer they have only lost one of their top players in Matt Clarke, who left for Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion. The rest of their squad remains fairly similar with the likes of Jamal Lowe, Jack Whatmough and Brett Pitman remaining on the South Coast. Pompey sure do have the quality to secure a top place finish in League One and their aim will no doubt be to return to Championship, however their most likely way of doing so is via the play-offs with Ipswich and Sunderland offering far superior budgets and as a result better quality squads.
EFL ,logo, credit: Wiki
Accrington Stanley 22) It’s well publicised that Accrington Stanley have one of the smallest Football League budgets and as a result cannot afford the investment to compete with the majority of clubs around them in the division. Despite managing to finish 14th last season, following their promotion from League Two, without adequate funding it could easily be seen that Stanley may suffer from ‘second season syndrome’ and see a return to the lowest football league division in England. Bury 23) At the end of last season it was very unknown whether Bury would exist come the 2019/20 season following the troubles at the club. That still remains to be seen with recent EFL threats following warnings of further point deductions on the recently promoted side. There first game of the season has been called off by the EFL as huge doubt remains over their future.
Bolton Wanderers
24) As with Bury, Bolton are very much a club in danger and face the prospect of extinction in what are very worrying times. Currently Bolton haven’t faced a points deduction, but the prospects looms large over a club that was very much seasoned in top-flight football not so long ago. As summer got underway Bolton only had seven players, which after not being paid, left them with one willing to battle it out.
The current times at Bury and Bolton are massively concerning for all English football fans, with the EFL failing to help out the struggling sides and could perhaps be seen as kicking them while they’re down. Plenty can be blamed for why either side is in this predicament, but it can’t go unnoticed that the EFL should have done more to help these clubs and prevent these situations in the first place.
There will no doubt be a lot of disagreement with these predictions so leave your thoughts below and don’t forget to follow TalktheFootballleague on Twitter to hear all the latest Football League news and discussions @TalktheFL.
By Sam Greasley-Machin
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