NTT20's League Two Preview: The Cheat Sheet
A club-by-club guide: get to know the fourth-tier squads and see what League Two fans have to say about their teams
Welcome to NTT20’s League Two Preview
This Cheat Sheet is your go-to guide for the season ahead. It follows part one of our League Two preview published earlier today.
Whether or not you’re a diehard supporter of a club in the fourth tier, this rough guide provides a look at the competition from the people who know their clubs best.
Each club profile is built around four key elements:
Squad Depth Charts:
These are not a representation of every club’s formation, but a way of visualising which teams look well-rounded, or where holes may exist.
We’ve allocated players to roles based on historical precedent, although some positions — especially LCB/RCB or LCM/RCM — refer to foot-preference.
Average Predicted Finish – Compiled from our pre-season survey, in which supporters of each club predicted their final league position.
Watch Out For – A spotlight on a young breakout candidate or underrated talent.
View From the Fans – Hopes, fears and realism, direct from supporters.
League Two is never short of stories — fallen giants trying to claw their way back, ambitious upstarts with momentum, and clubs quietly building from within. This preview sets the scene for a campaign that will, inevitably, turn many a prediction on its head. Let’s dive in.
Spotted a mistake in our depth charts? Is your team playing a different system to the one we have down? Do you disagree with your fan rep? We want to hear about it. Let us — and other readers — know in the comments.
League Two Preview: The Cheat Sheet
Average predicted finish: 15th
Watch out for: Tyler Walton (26) — Winger
View from Tony Robinson:
Survival is the first goal. Stanley’s philosophy is to bring in players from non-league and give them a chance to prove themselves, including prospects like Ward, Matthews, Sass, Sinclair and Walton.
Average predicted finish: 7th
Watch out for: Zak Brunt (23) – Attacking Midfielder
View from KiwiBee:
A lot of good work has been done at the club in the last few years, and we’re well set up to push on. I think a play-off place is well within our grasp, and with some decent recruitment, we could even push the top three.
Average predicted finish: 7th
Watch out for: Isaac Fletcher (23) — Central Midfielder
View from Daniel Cooper:
We have a manager who knows how he wants his side to play. We’ve had a busy transfer window, signing players to suit his style, and he has buy-in from the vast majority of the fan base.
Average predicted finish: 4th
Watch out for: Kofi Shaw (18) — Central Midfielder
View from Tom Hurd:
A strong squad coming down, but it needs some experience added, which has started with the signing of Southam-Hales as Rovers’ oldest player. We also need to breed some confidence into the young players after such a poor end to the season — and there should be no one better at that than Clarke.
Average predicted finish: 14th
Watch out for: Soul Kader (21) — Striker
View from Ben:
Unless we get enough quality players in on loan like last season, we are unlikely to have enough in us to make the play-offs — even in an arguably weaker league.
Average predicted finish: 10th
Watch out for: Mamadou Jobe (22) – Centre-Back
View from John Breeze:
A brilliantly-run community club aiming to match its off-field achievements on the pitch. Drab, effective football is expected under Harris, so overall a mildly positive but less-than-inspiring rebuild season is in store.
Average predicted finish: 6th
Watch out for: Tom King (18) – Striker
View from Theo:
If we can keep Archer and Thomas, and make a few solid signings with the new ownership of Mike Garlick, we might do all right and push on higher up this season. This also depends on injuries, too, which impacted us badly last season. If it goes the other way, in terms of players being sold and injuries stacking up again, it could be a relegation scrap.
Average predicted finish: 3rd
Watch out for: Gunner Elliott (17) — Striker
View from T Hall:
Exciting, wonderful attacking signings. Still mildly concerned about defence, but midfield signings may cover for that.
Average predicted finish: 6th
Watch out for: Kyreece Lisbie (21) — Winger
View from Ben B:
Really excited for this season. The team progressed enormously under Danny Cowley and even though we missed out on the play-offs, none of the fans were expecting it last season, so it was a bonus fun end-of-season to be around there. Signed a few exciting young players (Williams, Perry, Lisbie last season) and a lot depends on how well they kick on – plus, whether the mudbath of a pitch has finally been fixed. A pitch-sharing agreement with Ipswich U21s and Women (thanks, Ed Sheeran money) might mean the Cowleys can play the football they want to, not the football they have to.
Average predicted finish: 8th
Watch out for: Ben Radcliffe (21) – Centre-Back
View from Louie E:
I think we’ll be absolutely fine, and a play-off or even promotion push isn’t out of the question. The recruitment has been smart if not mind-blowing à la MK Dons, and we’ve kept the bulk of a squad that finished very strongly in League One. I'm not overly inspired by our forward options (Danilo Orsi, where art thou?), and Scott Lindsey teams tend to be too leaky at the back for me to consider us serious top-three contenders. We’ll be a solid top-half team but fall short of fans’ expectations.
Average predicted finish: 18th
Watch out for: Fin Roberts (19) — Winger/Striker
View from JD Crewe:
Fragile, injury-prone squad, carrying a really poor second half of the season forward. Tabiner’s serious knee injury in pre-season is a big blow.
Average predicted finish: 10th
Watch out for: Pele Smith (16) – striker
View from Martin Crane:
I think we have a strong team, with a core of 14 or so players, but really lack strength in depth and that means injuries could derail us. That said, there is still time to bring players in, and I would expect loans if nothing else. Defensively, we are sound, but I worry where the goals are coming from. James Norwood is a key signing but he’s 34, so that could go either way.
Average predicted finish: 6th
Watch out for: Sam Gale (20) – Centre Back
View from Gills’ fan:
Our defence should be as strong as before. If we can add some goals, then we can challenge for promotion. A full pre-season for Dack should help.
Average predicted finish: 7th
Watch out for: Cameron Gardner (19) – Striker
View from Jack Hullet:
We fell just short of the play-offs last year, but a few quality additions this summer makes me believe we can go one better.
Average predicted finish: 12th
Watch out for: Tom Cursons (23) — Striker
View from Humpy Nacho:
A strong start to the transfer window and tying down our best players for next season means, hopefully, that we’re going into the season in a much stronger position than we did last year. If we can retain Ellis Taylor and stay relatively injury-free, I’d back us to reach our best-ever league finish—currently 13th. Off the pitch, the club is going from strength to strength, with a new training facility in discussion and the commercial arm of the club starting to settle into EFL status.
Average predicted finish: 1st
Watch out for: Charlie Waller (20) – Centre-Back
View from Ryan Jeavons:
We’ve signed one of the most overpowered front lines seen in League Two, and we've got a manager who has a strong track record in terms of promotion from a higher division. What could possibly go wrong? (Everything, based on our history. We were here last season!)
Average predicted finish: 16th
Watch out for: Moses Alexander-Walker (17) — Forward/Winger
View from Dan Grace:
The new management team and some early signings, which look good on paper, provide a bit more optimism going into this season than last. However, there are still concerns about who’ll score the goals and who’ll win the ball in midfield, in a squad that looks pretty young. Big year for the majority owner, Huw Jenkins, in our second full season under him, and there could be some strong views towards him – either positive or negative – depending on how it goes. Avoiding a relegation battle and beating last year’s points tally [49] would represent a good season.
Average predicted finish: 9th
Watch out for: Tom Iorpenda (20) — Central Midfielder on loan from Huddersfield
View from Sean:
It all depends on how we start, most likely. The fans are out for blood at every opportunity, bizarrely and (at Notts, at least) that can lead to an unnecessarily toxic atmosphere. Start well, though, and we’ve got at least a comparable squad to last season when we were 3rd in the xG table – assuming a decent goalkeeper comes in, and I would assume budget left over to get a quality No.10.
Average predicted finish: 14th
Watch out for: Oli Hammond (22) and Kai Payne (20) — Central Midfielders
View from Aaron L:
Moving back out of non-league may be a big hurdle for us, but I have hope that the team can maintain a stay within the EFL. Excited for league football again!
Average predicted finish: 7th
Watch out for: Kyrell Malcolm (18) — Winger/Striker
View from Dave Farrar:
We have lots of potential but are short on experience. A lot will depend on loanees. In Mnoga, N’Mai, Ashley and Grant, there’s some talent there.
Average predicted finish: 6th
Watch out for: Isaac England (16) — Central Midfielder
View from Salop Shaun:
A good start could be the catalyst for a good season. We’ve addressed a few issues in the squad and strengthened well at the back. I think we’ll see more academy players get minutes, too.
Average predicted finish: 5th
Watch out for: Botan Ameen (18) — Striker/Winger
View from Ali Doak:
A lot more positive than the past few years. We’ve built on the strong finish to 24/25, keeping hold of key players (Wright, Smith, Kilkenny, Ripley) – which is something we haven’t been able to do for what feels like forever – and adding genuine quality. If Oldaker can work with Kilkenny, they could be one of the league’s best central midfield pairings. I think we’ll be an ‘all gas, no brakes’ outfit and could leave ourselves open at the back, similar to last year, but I do fancy us to outscore opponents more often than not.
Average predicted finish: 15th
Watch out for: Sol Solomon (24) — Striker
View from Matthew Glazier:
Andy Crosby’s excellent caretaker stint last season provides optimism that we can continue on an upward trajectory. There have been some encouraging defensive recruits, although the issue of new ownership remains uncertain. There are plenty of senior players to provide authority and leadership, while the signing of Charlie Whitaker should provide us with much-needed creativity in the centre. Cautiously optimistic.
Average predicted finish: 10th
Watch out for: Evan Weir (23) and Ronan Maher (20) — Centre-Back and Attacking Midfielder.
View from Matt Vale:
Who are we? Are we the ‘best’ side not to get promoted last season, or the bottom-four side we saw in the second half of the campaign? We’re probably somewhere in between; the question, then, is whether that’s enough for Walsall fans who are still smarting from that collapse.
A Final Thank You…
Huge thanks to everyone who filled in the survey – your input and knowledge shaped all of our 25/26 preview content. And big love to the NTT20 Squad for your constant support.
Thanks for doing the depth charts! At this time of year you hear a lot about who's in and who's left but it's hard to see what teams are going into the new season with - so they're so handy!!