David Easson takes a look at the upcoming League One season and picks out the teams most likely to win promotion.
It’s a packed field of sides who will be battling for a promotion, including those hoping to bounce back after relegation from the Championship. Other fancied sides believe they have what it takes to deserve English second tier football.
With the way the last few years have gone you’d be amazed if either Wigan or Bolton or maybe both don’t finally make the step back to the second tier, but also with the last few years in mind you can see how either could stay resolutely in League One.
Bolton should go up. Wigan did so well last year despite everything they had to deal with and they should be in the mix as well. What they both have to deal with is - and this is really odd to say - a hugely positive Birmingham City. The Blues are so short for promotion with their American backing that it would seem that only they could stop themselves from bouncing right back, and let’s face it, that really could happen if the lessons of last season have not been learned. They have spent big and spent well and there’s huge pressure on former Celtic coach Chris Davies to step out of the shadow of Brendan Rodgers and take Blues back up. They really have no excuse not to.
So who will join them? Well, of the other sides coming down I have vastly differing opinions. Huddersfield deserved to go after years of circling the plug hole in the championship and I just don’t see the structure or confidence throughout the club to bounce back. This may well be a very tricky season for the Terriers.
Conversely at Rotherham a poor season ended with a bombshell return of Steve Evans, who left Stevenage when they still had a mathematical chance of going up. They say never go back but this feels different. They’re made for each other. It’s a love affair like no other and while his football may not deliver automatic promotion, the Millers will go close and certainly be in the playoff mix.
Of the sides hoping to leapfrog the sides coming down, Bolton’s Ian Evatt is can see as being under the most pressure after blowing the playoff final against Oxford. They have a solid enough spine and did play some excellent stuff last season but I can see the jitters causing early season worry and then, who knows? Wigan I’m more confident about. A good youth system, great use of loans and a canny manager in Shaun Maloney can see them make the top 6 easily. Can they hit top 2? I think they can. And at 7/1 it’s a big, big price.
Then there’s the two unknowns, the enigmas of the division: Wrexham and Charlton.
Would mid-table be okay for Wrexham? If I was a Hollywood scriptwriter I would write that because it sounds like a terrible movie but consolidation sounds just fine for a club that been on a manic rollercoaster. Indeed, for a bit of peril why not consider them for skirting more with disaster than celebration, but we’re in unknown territory here - Phil Parkinson has got out of this division before so you wouldn’t out it past him.
Finally, Nathan Jones. Is Charlton the side for him? It kind of feels like it is. Losing Alfie May to Birmingham is a big loss and they may not have the goals to trouble the top places but when he gets a side on a roll (usually if that side is called Luton Town), Jones can make waves. This feels like one to watch as the season goes on, but top 6 at around 13/8 is backable.
David's 2024/25 League One Season Tips
Birmingham and Wigan are my picks for automatic promotion at wildly different prices of 4/6 and 7/1.
Rotherham are a decent bet for top 6 at evens as are Charlton at 13/8, and if you don’t want I go all in on the Wigan promotion at 7s, take them for top 6 at 11/4.
Please gamble responsibly and good luck with your selections!