It’s intriguing to note that of the four sides relegated from League One last season, two are struggling and two are thriving as the new season reaches a critical point.
Port Vale and Chesterfield have already parted company with their managers, and both had sat in the relegation zone of League Two prior to last weekend’s action.
Meanwhile, although they don’t have unblemished records, both Swindon and Coventry have worked their way into playoff spots and are illustrating signs that an immediate return to the third tier may well be within their grasp.
It’s strange to think that the four sides have had such contrasting fortunes in the first ten games of the new campaign, having come from the same place. Similarly, while National League playoff winners Forest Green Rovers are having a torrid time in their first ever league campaign, fellow promoted side Lincoln City are enjoying their return to the Football League.
So what has happened over the summer, and in the opening two months of the season, that has produced such contrasting results from the clutch of clubs that came into League Two together, either from above or below?
For relegated quartet Chesterfield, Port Vale, Swindon and Coventry, is it simply a case of familiarity breeding contempt? While the Spireites and Valiants have indeed now acted, they had chosen in the summer to stand by the managers who had presided over relegation. In fairness, both Gary Caldwell and Michael Brown had come in mid-season in an attempt to stave off the drop, but they both ultimately failed.
Meanwhile, Swindon removed Luke Williams and brought in David Flitcroft this summer. And although Mark Robins ended last season at Coventry, in contrast to Caldwell and Brown he came in much later and with relegation a certainty.
With relegation, supporters would likely expect change. That it didn’t happen in the dugout – the most important position – meant that a bad start would cause huge unrest at the Proact Stadium and Vale Park. When the hangover of relegation continued with stuttering starts, the writing was immediately on the wall for Caldwell and Brown, neither of whom had showed much in the way of being able to keep their respective sides up.
❌ Justin Edinburgh
❌ FdB
❌ Harry Redknapp
❌ Gary Caldwell
❌ Michael Brown
❌ Adrian Pennock
❌ John Sheridan
In contrast, Robins and Flitcroft were given licence to change the personnel, the tactics and the whole atmospheres of their clubs. Fresh starts at both immediately gave the new managers time. Fans became expectant again as the new season brought with it optimism that things may well be different.
For Lincoln and Forest Green, this isn’t quite the case. Given their historic campaigns, the only way they’d have changed management would have been if Danny Cowley or Mark Cooper were poached by other clubs. The Imps’ Cowley in particular, thanks to their glorious FA Cup run, made himself highly sought after.
What is rather surprising, though, is just how tough Cooper’s Rovers have found it to adapt to their new level. While there are mitigating factors in that they are the smallest club ever to have featured in the 92, and it’s their first season at such an esteemed level, what they don’t lack is investment.
They have been able to spend over the years, while in Cooper and a spine of the likes of captain Liam Noble, centre-half Mark Roberts and star striker Christian Doidge Football League experience isn’t lacking.
It’s often been the case that promoted clubs ride the crest of the wave and go on to challenge again. Whether that’s the feel-good factor, the winning mentality or simply that the standard in divisions isn’t as great as you’d expect, it’s certainly been the case in recent seasons with the likes of Bristol Rovers and Exeter City doing the promotion double.
There’s plenty of time for it all to change, of course. But managers and pundits alike often say it’s around 10 games when the league starts to take some shape. Indeed, after 10 games last term Plymouth, Doncaster and Portsmouth were all already in the top four. All three were promoted automatically.
Vale and Chesterfield have essentially given their rivals a 10-game head start, as they await the appointments of new managers which arguable should have come in this summer.
It’s worrying times for the duo, and Rovers, in what is such an unforgiving league.
