NTT20's League Two Preview: Fan Sentiment
As the new League Two season looms, fans have shared their hopes, fears and predictions with NTT20.COM in the first of our EFL Previews.
Welcome to the first half of our League Two Preview: Fan Sentiment, which is part one of our LEAGUE TWO DAY coverage. This section is all about how supporters are feeling heading into the new season – their hopes, fears and expectations, all cast in a dash of colour.
We surveyed more than 500 EFL fans, asking them a series of questions about their clubs, from confidence in avoiding relegation to whether they think their manager will survive the season. It’s worth noting this isn’t a scientific poll, and the data is only representative of the fans who took part. Some clubs had far more responders than others, so take the numbers in context.
The second part of our League Two Day – a club-by-club cheat sheet – drops in a few short hours. First, though, scroll on down for what the fans are thinking.
League Two Preview: Fan Sentiment
We say it every year, but summer is the time for optimism among club fans. If not now, when? Promotion for 68% of clubs would mean 16 or 17 teams going up into League One, though, so a few people are going to be disappointed. Shame – that sounds fun.
Unless we do end up seeing two of Harrogate, Tranmere and Oldham dropping into the National League, someone’s in for an unhappy surprise. It’ll be fiiiiiiine…
It can’t be often that a team’s fanbase has total confidence for the campaign that follows a 19th-placed finish, but that’s £££ for you. Conversely, Crewe’s fans seem grounded to the point of pessimism – or, having seen their team lose in the 2024 play-off final, are they just guarding their souls against more pain?
We asked fans whether they expect their team to finish higher or lower in the table compared to 2024/25. We break it down club-by-club below.
Like looking at a traffic light, it’s to be expected here that we’d see a lot of green at the bottom and red at the top. For the worst sides, things surely can’t get any worse (cue Mick McCarthy meme), and for the likes of Walsall and Notts County, fans naturally fear that gravity bites hard. Not for Chesterfield and Salford, though. ‘Look out, League Two: we were just warming up last season’.
That 70/30 split may look naïve (you never think it’ll happen to you), but in fact, ‘only’ 7 of League Two’s 24 clubs changed their manager last season – it just seemed more chaotic than it was because Carlisle, MK Dons and Gillingham all changed theirs twice. This means that 70.8% of League Two managers were still in charge at the end of last season… and 70% of supporters think theirs will still be in charge at the end of this one. Touché.
Good news, everyone! Nobody’s getting relegated, nor even finishing in the bottom six. This reminds us of the trope, seen everywhere from the Bible to Terry Pratchett to Family Guy, in which Death takes a holiday and nobody dies. Oddly, it rarely ends well.
It’s psychologically fascinating how ‘cautious optimism’ is the mindset for the majority of fans. So many supporters, not just in League Two but across the EFL, believe their club will finish safely in mid-table but could push for the play-offs with a good wind. Yet few will bullishly predict promotion. And so we have this situation, where a third of the league must squeeze into three spots outside the top seven but inside the top 10.
Enough about your team – what about all of the others? Who do you fancy to win the league?
The answer was pretty conclusive: more people picked MK than didn’t. Their status as favourites with the fans (as opposed to fan favourites) reflects the bookies’ odds and general wider sentiment, as do Chesterfield’s contention credentials. A bit more surprising, perhaps, is that the fourth-most popular pick were Swindon. And thank you, too, to the person who voted for Crewe apparently with a straight face.
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.