SIX APPEAL – why Swindon, Grimsby, QPR, Wimbledon, Stevenage and Coventry are the hottest teams in the EFL
The Football League is sexy. You know it. We know it. NTT20 writers reveal who they love to watch, sometimes for surprising reasons...
1. QPR
Huw Davies
Born from early-’90s memories of watching a team in what I thought were horizontal stripes, but were exotically described in my football facts books as ‘hoops’ (oooh), I’ve a soft spot for QPR when Harry Redknapp isn’t managing them. I like to see their fans happy, or at least less miserable, which they’ve had plenty of cause to be. In 2025/26, though, everybody seems to be having a good time so far.
Heads should have gone down when QPR lost 7-1 at Coventry, even though it was just one of those games where everything went in, as Cov’s 7 goals from 1.27 xG would imply (the teams actually had one big chance apiece). Julien Stéphan’s side had taken one point from his first three games and the players looked low on confidence, quality, minerals and possibly blood sugar. This is where the QPR of old would fold.
Instead, they’ve gone WWWDDW, and the play is joyous at times. Richard Kone looks fit, firing and fancy-free again, putting away chances with aplomb and linking up smoothly with the tiny magicians behind him. The recovery from that Covtastrophe began with his smart/casual dummy for Paul Smyth to score against Charlton. Kone, Koki Saito, Kady Dembele, Rumarn Burrell, Harvey Vale – it’s just fun, and that’s with Ilias Chair taking a back seat. Even the misses look good:
The R’s also look a bit more streetwise (bookmark this for later). They got past an oddly defensive Stoke, Vale stroking home a first-time curler with Bowles-like nonchalance. Amadou Mbengue’s five bookings in seven 90s suggest the kind of amateur bastardry that could make him a Championship cult hero. Paul Smyth, no bigger than your thumb, pushed Bristol City’s Ross McCrorie in the back to make room for a match-winning header. Cunning.
I don’t expect QPR to remain in the top six. But performances can bring fans enough joy to make any play-off hopes a Nice Thing To Have, not a lifebelt to cling to.
2. Swindon Town
Ali Maxwell
Don’t tell George: the way Swindon play football makes me feel things. Ian Holloway is one of football’s most infectious characters, and the life he has injected into this team has been astounding. I’ve caught the bug.
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