Lower league summer – League Two

Fratton Park, home ground ofPortsmouth

The Re-Birth of Portsmouth

Several of the key players who battled on while Pompey were almost literally falling apart last season have signed on for the new season, with Johannes Ertl, Ricardo Rocha, Patrick Agyemang and David Connolly all staying at Fratton Park for another year.

They’ve been supplemented with Simon Ferry and Joe Devera from Swindon, League Two title winners two years ago, and Tom Craddock, scorer of 17 and 12 goals in two of his three seasons for Oxford, while missing most of 2011-12 through injury.

Though, the squad seems to be lacking depth (it’s hard to be certain how many young players at the club can rise to the challenge of filling in the gaps), they have the basis of a squad that’s both experienced and youthful with knowledge of the division and experience at higher levels.

Away from the playing side, there’s the possibility that the capacity of Fratton Park could be reduced because of health and safety concerns over the standard of the Milton End. Coverage from The News refers to ‘parts of the stadium that have aged over the years’, suggesting the problems relate to lack of maintenance by the previous owners.

It’s going to be a steep learning curve for Pompey Supporters’ Trust this season. Tony Brown has this week been appointed as Portsmouth’s new Finance Director, as part of a transition from fans who have expertise in the vague general area to experienced but trustworthy football industry professionals, as they work to integrate idealism and practicality.

The Spireites and Cod Army Recruit

Alongside Portsmouth, League Two’s other big spenders are Fleetwood, who’ve made a number of big name signings. Big names for League Two, anyway.

They’ve brought in Southend’s goalscoring centre half Ryan Cresswell, York’s inconsistent but thrilling Matty Blair and former Manchester City fullback Stephen Jordan.

Fleetwood have also signed Mark Roberts, Jeff Hughes and Stephen Schumacher, all of whom were playing regular League One football last year, and putting in the kind of performances that could have seen them step up a level rather than drop down.

The majority of Fleetwood’s signings are ‘chequebook’ signings – the type who are obvious, if you’ve got the resources to make them possible. But while The Cod Army can be criticised for lack of creative thought, the signings are of a very high quality.

At Chesterfield, Paul Cook looks set to put his vision of a passing game into place 10 months after his arrival. The Spireites have made some impressive additions – Swindon’s Gary Roberts, Scunthorpe’s Jimmy Ryan and Hartlepool’s utility man Ritchie Humphreys were first-teamers a division higher last season, while Sam Morsy won promotion from League Two with Port Vale.

Everything I’ve seen from Chesterfield fans seems to suggest they’re optimistic about the new season, and while they haven’t made any stand-out mind-blowing signings in the mould of Fleetwood, they’ve quietly put together an impressive squad.

A new approach at Bury

Last week, Bury signed Rwandan international Jessy Reindorf, who’d previously played in France, Italy and Belgium. It’s the kind of signing you wouldn’t expect in the lower leagues, but seems to be part of an overall focus on spotting bargains from across the continent.

Talking about the approach in June, Kevin Blackwell said: “Players from across Europe who are playing outside the top leagues are not being paid. We need to tap into this.”

Although the signing and release of Jeanvion Yulu-Matondo after one day attracted ridicule earlier in the year, signing a 27-year-old former Belgian U21 international with no previous experience in England shows a level of connections and persuasion that most lower league managers don’t have.

It’s an understandable approach and innovative in its way. All lower league teams, aside from the handful who’ve either fallen below their natural level or have a sugar daddy, need to shop for bargains. Still, the idea of pushing British players who in an earlier generation would have been professionals in the top or second tier ever further down the ladder makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Human Hulk: Adebayo Akinfenwa

The Most Interesting League Two Transfers

After failing in the League Two playoff final, there was a rush to the Northampton Town exit doors. Clarke Carlisle retired, star striker and human wrecking ball Adebayo Akinfenwa was released, while loan keeper Lee Nicholls won’t be returning from Wigan.

They have added former Sunderland and Birmingham midfielder Darren Carter, fresh from an impressive season at Cheltenham, Gary Deegan, who made 23 appearances for Hibs in the Scottish Premier League last year, and Matt Duke, who was first choice keeper for Bradford. While the Cobblers haven’t directly replaced Akinfenwa over the summer, Clive Platt, a similar style of player who collaborates with Boothroyd as consistently as Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, was already at the club.

Richard Cresswell has returned to York, his first club, under the management of Nigel Worthington. Like Aidy Boothroyd, Worthington has led a side to the top flight within the last decade but unlike the former Watford boss, doesn’t seem to have done too much wrong since.

After a few more years at Norwich, he became the manager of Northern Ireland and caretaker manager at Leicester, his only other managerial jobs. It’s quite a big show of faith that he’s dropped so far down the ladder, apparently rejecting Coventry shortly before taking over at Bootham Crescent. It should help inspire a similar sense of belief in the club’s potential amongst the players.

Although Cheltenham have lost both Darren Carter and Marlon Pack from their midfield as well as Kaid Mohamed from the forward line, they’ve added the experienced goalscorer Jamie Cureton as well as Ashley Vincent, who scored eight goals from midfield for Port Vale last year, and Matt Richards who scored seven from midfield for Shrewsbury a division higher last season.

Because of the turnover, it’s hard to get a solid sense on Cheltenham’s prospects.

Two years ago, although they were tipped as one of the favourites for relegation, Cheltenham reached the playoff final and they reached the semi-final last season. In that period, Cheltenham fans seem to have developed a trust in Mark Yeates’ ability to spot the bargains that’s similar to the ‘Arsene Knows’ philosophy in North London, so Robin’s fans at least will be confident of Cheltenham making another playoff push.

Accrington, in James Beattie’s first full season as manager, have signed Danny Webber to partner Franny Jeffers up front – if nothing else, Beattie’s connections should help Stanley. But the loss of Beattie as a player could also hurt the club, and it’s unclear how good a manager Tony Pulis’ former sparring buddy will be. The task of keeping Accrington – one of the division’s smaller teams – in the league will be a challenge, and it’s difficult to form an opinion on how well equipped Beattie will be for the job.

Dave Kitson signed for Oxford in the summer and Sheffield United’s decision to let their second top scorer leave looks a strange one. The experienced forward scored 12 goals in League One last year, and, when not getting wound up about how calling someone ginger is the same is racism, he’s still a menace. His experience should not only be a benefit in itself but should also help James Constable, a beast of a forward who has tended to score in spurts over recent years.

League Two is probably the tightest and most difficult to predict of the professional divisions, and while there almost certainly won’t be seven teams in risk of relegation with one game left, there’s bound to be a few teams at either end of the table than most people won’t expect.

Grecians in Brazil

On the field, it’s not been a great summer for Exeter City, who’ve lost star striker Jamie Cureton to Cheltenham and replaced him with Sam Parkin from St. Mirren. Manager Paul Tisdale, now the second longest serving manager in the country behind Arsene Wenger, has been linked with Swindon.

There has been some positive, if slightly bizarre news for the Grecians. Next year, they’ll play a summer friendly in Brazil against Fluminense, just a week after the World Cup ends.

A century ago Exeter City, mid-table in the Southern League, were chosen by the FA as a “ truly representative side” to tour Brazil. Just as bizarrely, they won two from three games, losing the third to a side which some reports claim is the first ever match of the Brazilian national side, with players drawn from different regions of the country.

Given that the match will be so soon after the World Cup, Brazil’s 2012 champions are unlikely to put out a full strength side. But it should still be an interesting match. And it’s nice to know there’s still room for history and a little whimsy in the game.