Football Season Guide

Tranmere Rovers are back in the Football League after a three-year absence following their play-off final win over Boreham Wood at Wembley. Rovers were relegated from League Two in 2015 which marked a disastrous start to the ownership by former F.A. chief executive Mark Palios. They finished as runners-up in the National League in both 2017 and 2018. They made amends for defeat in the 2017 play-off final to Forest Green Rovers by beating Boreham Wood 2-1 back in May thanks to midfielder James Norwood’s late winner. The Birkenhead club will be delighted to have returned to the league and will be hoping to make an impact under manager Micky Mellon. Rovers are certainly a big enough club but he has admitted he still needs to strength his squad for the season ahead and has been dealt a huge blow with the loss of leading goalscorer and player of the season Andy Cook, who has signed for Walsall for an undisclosed fee. Mellon will be pleased to have received a fee from Leyton Orient from striker James Alabi and has invested it in the signings of strikers Cole Stockton and Paul Mullin from Carlisle United and Swindon Town respectively as he looks to replace the 28 goals lost to Cook’s departure. Midfielder Oliver Norburn has been attracting interest from the likes of Shrewsbury Town and Mellon faces a fight to keep hold of his services. He does otherwise have the spine of the side which won promotion from the National League in goalkeeper Scott Davies, defenders Adam Buxton, Liam Ridehalgh, Ritchie Sutton, Steve McNulty, midfielder James Norwood and Connor Jennings. Mellon has brought in defenders Manny Monthe, Jake Caprice, Mark Ellis and Zoumana Bakayogo whilst the capture of midfielder Ollie Banks from Oldham Athletic is something of a coup. Rovers appear to have both continuity and momentum to take into the new season.