4th – Mansfield Town

I hope, with every fibre of my being, that it all goes mammeries vertical at Field Mill. There’s something utterly distasteful about them, the way they conduct their business and the way they conduct themselves. The pre-season friendly brawl against Sheffield Wednesday was as much of an example as anything, the horror tackle on Fernando Forestieri led to more unsavoury incidents, but there was no need for it in the first place.

There’s a hint of jealousy that they beat us to Tyler Walker, but also pride that we wouldn’t stretch to the rumoured £5k a week his agent demanded for his signature. Aside from that, has their summer business been all that good? Neil Bishop is a decent player but is aging now and might not have 90 minutes a week in him, whilst the remnants of Steve Evans squad still hang around, players such as Paul Anderson on big deals but without any impact.

It isn’t just Mansfield that upset me, but the FFP regulations so important in the Championship are too lax at this level. One Call can pump as much unsustainable money into the Stags as they like and get away with it under the shirt sponsorship deal. It’s as bad as Ecotricity down in Gloucestershire and personally, it rankles me. A club’s wealth should be sustainable by crowds and genuine income, not over-inflated sponsorship deals and individual chairman’s egos.

They do have Tyler Walker though, as well as Lee Angol who is worth fifteen goals given the right service. They’ll be around the top seven, sadly.

5th – Cambridge United

I tipped Cambridge last year and they let me down, but I’m not going to learn my lesson, I think they’ve got what it takes to be just as good this time around.

There is a caveat; goals. They must find goals amongst their current strikers but even if Ibhere, Azeez, Corr get eight each they’ll be in the hunt. There’s also David Amoo to consider, his first season in League Two wasn’t great, but then the side looked laboured and unhappy under Shaun Derry.

What they do have is quality in midfield areas, George Maris is one we know well from his loan spell. He’s getting better all the time and alongside former Carlisle man Reggie Lambe and the excellent Harrison Dunk, Maris could thrive.

There’s the Joe Dunne factor too. With Danny, Nathan Jones and Michael Jolley taking all the ‘up and coming’ plaudits, little has been said about Dunne. He came in at a tough time last season and did well, I fully expect their resurgence to continue this time around.

6th – Newport County

The Newport County we saw last season will either develop into genuine contenders, or will prove me wrong by dipping back into the bottom half. I’m putting my faith in them to be up there from the start, with the sometimes excellent Keanu Marsh-Brown proving a point to Mark Cooper and Fraser Franks proving a point to anyone who listened to me go on about his quality last season.

There’s a lot of if’s and but’s here and losing the likes of Ben Tozer will not help their cause, but I can’t help but feel Michael Flynn is putting a aside together capable of going one better than last season, if everything clicks. Jamille Matt should score more goals at this level, with KMB and Padraig Amond I can see them really taking off.

Otherwise I’ve just given them the kiss of death. One of the two.

7th – Colchester United

I liked Colchester last season, not a lot after they beat us 1-0, but enough to think there’s a chance they could be in with a play off shout.

They were a solid outfit and could have scuppered our play-off party had it not been for that last minute goal in April and I think they’ll be in the hunt this year. They’ve got one or two players I think elevate them above the also-rans in the division.

Mikael Mandron didn’t score an awful lot, but he’s a proper lump of a lad, as is Frank Nouble they’ve nicked from Newport. Ironically they don’t go long, but if they did I think they’d be more effective. There will be plenty of centre halves nursing bruises after coming up against those two.

Once they’ve battered you, the rather sublime Sammie Szmodics can get on the ball and truly hurt teams. He was one player who caught my eye last season, he’s got such composure but also looked capable of creating chances from nothing.

Luke Norris and Harry Pell add a certain guile to their growing threat in attack which I think is enough to give them an outside shout of a play off spot.

Play off winners

It is always hard to pick a winner from an end of season tournament that will be competed by decidedly different squads to the ones we have now, but I’m tipping Colchester to snatch the final promotion spot. Something tells me Mansfield won’t have Flitcroft in charge by the time the season ends and that disruption could derail their efforts, just as it did this season.