Joining us soon?

It seems we are not going down, and not going up. As season tickets get renewed it's time to look at who will be with us in League 2 next season, albeit nothing is decided just yet.

It looks like Carlisle, Fleetwood and Port Vale will be making the drop from League 1, three away days  that are all doable, albeit Carlisle can take 3 hours up the M6. Fleetwood and Vale Park take about the same time as each other to reach. The final berth looks like being between Cheltenham and Shrewsbury, I suspect it will be Cheltenham. All of those teams are clubs we have played before, all seem to be a similar size to us. So it looks like there is no immediate big budget team dropping into our division. 

Entering from the other end, it looks like it will be Chesterfield, but beyond that it's a lottery given the complexity of the National League play-off system. Barnet, Oldham and Aldershot are all ex-League clubs. Bromley, Solihull Moors and Gateshead have not, at least in recent times, been League teams. None of those clubs will be bringing a massive wedge of cash with them, and none have particularly large support. However, Chesterfield seem like a club who could go places. It's the ground I will most look forward to visiting. If it's Oldham you can only hope that the fixture computer is kind and gives us an away game in August before the freeze sets in. 

In all probability we are likely to see Mansfield, Stockport and Wrexham or Crewe go up automatically, I'd put my money on Crewe to pip Wrexham at the post. Despite the fact that I loathe them, I reckon The Franchise could be the team that emerges victorious from the bun fight. Most likely that would be at Crewe's expense.

That would mean that our Division next season would be relatively open. There would be no club with hugely greater resources than any other and, by my reckoning it would leave us with localish games against Crewe, Barrow, Morecambe, Accrington, Salford, Port Vale and Fleetwood (and possibly Shrewsbury). That probably also means that there will be quite a few games where the away support will add to the atmosphere at Prenton Park and, given the potential openness of competition, promotion and relegation will be wide open.

It remains to be seen if the club can capitalise on the opportunity that's there. We will need a better squad and a summer clear out. We will also need investment. However, the 2024-25 season looks like offering us our best chance of promotion in a long while.