Why is it so important to achieve promotion from League Two this season?

The 2011-12 season has undoubtedly been one of the most enthralling promotion battles in it's history; and it isn't over yet. On Sunday 27^th May, Wembley will play host to the League Two play-off final between Cheltenham and Crewe Alexandra. The two sides will do battle for the final promotion spot to League One, with the defeated team remaining in League Two for another season; in what may well prove to be an even tougher division to gain promotion from.

This season has seen an unthinkable number of twists; Swindon's sudden rise to the title, Shrewsbury's unbeatable home record, Southend's reign at the top pushed to play-off misery and Crawley's last day automatic promotion. So why will next season be any tougher than this season? In my opinion, I believe that most people felt it was between seven sides that could push for the ultimate prize of promotion. However, next season, I think there will be even more competition for those four promotion spots.

Wycombe Wanderers have not stayed in the same division since the 2007-08 season, where they lost in the League Two play-off semi-finals to Cheltenham. In that time, they have had two promotions and two relegations, which will now see them participate in League Two next season. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to anybody come May 2013, if we see the Wanderers achieving another promotion to League One.

Chesterfield achieved promotion to League One as the champions of League Two in 2011, but failed to successfully adapt to the higher division, finding themselves immediately relegated back to the bottom tier. This side is sure to remember that success and they will be hungry to instantly rekindle that form and mount a serious promotion challenge.

Fleetwood Town have this season won promotion to the Football League for the first time and will be looking to do what Crawley Town achieved this season, with back-to-back promotions. Fleetwood have been somewhat compared to Crawley, due to them receiving heavy financial backing and many feel they will be able to build an extremely strong squad next season. The Lancashire based club recently sold star striker Jamie Vardy to Championship side Leicester City, for a reported fee of £1million and are likely to reinvest all of that into new signings.

Rotherham United will be another heavily financially backed side in the division; which became apparent to everybody after the shock appointment of Steve Evans towards the end of the current season. The Millers weren't far off promotion this season and news coming out of the club suggests that they are prepared to spend whatever it takes for promotion. Rotherham have already signed Kayode Odejayi from Colchester United and ex-Man Utd striker Daniel Nardiello.

Torquay United have failed in the play-offs of League Two for the second consecutive season, after losing to Cheltenham Town in this season's semi-finals. The Gulls had an impressive four players in this season's PFA Team of the Year (Olejnik, Nicholson, O'Kane & Mansell) and lost out on automatic promotion after going five league games without a win in their last five games. If they can hold onto their current squad and strengthen in areas, I see no reason as to why they will not be third time lucky.

Southend United were heavily backed for promotion after breaking a club record and going unbeaten for twelve league games, taking them to the top of the league. However, this was greeted by a poor run of form after the turn of the new year and they dropped into the play-offs, where they were eventually beaten by Crewe Alexandra. Manager, Paul Sturrock will be looking to strengthen over the summer and build for another promotion push.

All of the above teams will be looking to achieve automatic promotion next season, and personally, I can see all of them pushing each other to the very end of the season. This weekend, Cheltenham Town and Crewe Alexandra will both want to secure their position in a higher division. However, the side that fails will surely be a force next season. Crewe recently announced that 18-year-old top-scorer, Nick Powell, will be leaving the club for a fee of £4million to join Manchester United, which will surely enable the club to strengthen other areas of their young and talented squad. And that isn't it! Rochdale and Exeter City, who have been relegated from League One, will be looking to bounce straight back and Gillingham (the pre-season outside favourites) and Oxford United only narrowly missed out on the play-off spots this season.

It is certainly going to be an interesting summer of transfers, and with so many players out of contract, all of what I have discussed could be totally different come the start of the 2012-13 season, on the 18^th August.

Twitter: @Rich__Norton

Important weeks coming up in the League Two promotion battle

So far this season, League Two has been nothing short of competitive.  We have witnessed the unexpected spell of Morecambe topping the table, the inevitable surge of Crawley Town into first, only to be replaced by Southend United on more than one occasion.  The league is still wide open, and with a number of sides believing that they can achieve promotion; The next few weeks are going to be vital, if promotion is the aim.

The top three currently stand as Southend United, Crawley Town and Cheltenham Town – all level on 52 points after 26 games. They are closely followed by Swindon Town (49 points) in 4th and Shrewsbury Town (48 points) in 5th place.  Any of these teams have the opportunity to go on and win the League Two title this season, which is going to make for enthralling viewing and seeing how the campaign will eventually unfold, with the inevitable twists and turns. 

Southend United and Crawley Town have already been on impressive unbeaten runs this season, but the current team with the best form is Di Canio’s Swindon Town, who have taken an impressive 19 points from a possible 24.  Many fans have been left with a sour feeling after Paolo decided to state that his team will win the title!  Another side that has been in a rich vein of form is Torquay United who have also taken 19 points from a possible 24 and find themselves 5 points off the top in 6th position.  All this whilst Shrewsbury have managed to keep an almost perfect home record, racking up 10 wins and 3 draws from their 13 games.

Having only just passed the halfway point of the season, how can the next few weeks be so crucial? With Crawley and Swindon still in FA Cup action, Cheltenham have the chance to go top of the league and Shrewsbury can move within a point of Crawley and Southend.  In addition to this, in the space of four weeks, we have all of these fixtures to look forward to:

- Southend v Swindon
- Crawley v Cheltenham
- Torquay v Shrewsbury
- Cheltenham v Torquay
- Swindon v Crawley
- Swindon v Shrewsbury
- Shrewsbury v Crawley

What a feast of fixtures! Paolo Di Canio really has the chance to prove that his Swindon team can win the league, by playing Southend (1st), Crawley (2nd) and Shrewsbury (5th) all in the space of just three weeks.  We also mustn’t forget that Gillingham and Oxford United will be looking to notch a few results together and challenge for the automatics, as they currently hover at the foot of the playoffs.

All in all, what a month February looks to be for League Two. By the end of this spell of games, we may well be able to cast an opinion as to who looks most likely to achieve promotion.  A winning streak during this month is going to be crucial, as the only definite outcome, is that the top teams are going to be  dropping points!

Twitter: @Rich__Norton