League One Season Preview 2020/21
Welcome to the Argyle Life League One Season Preview!
League One begins on Saturday 7 August at 3PM. With the countdown now measured in hours, we’ve reviewed all 24 teams in depth and made our prediction for what the final league table will look like.
Please note, all previews were written on or before August 3rd and transfers may have occured since the time of writing.
From the entire team at Argyle Life, we hope you enjoy this season preview and wish every fan out there the best of luck for the season ahead – enjoy!
Accrington Stanley
Manager: John Coleman
Key Player: Dion Charles
Key transfer: Harry Pell
Target: Top-half
Predicting relegation for Accrington is par for the course, so it’s only natural that the first time this website doesn’t put them down as attempting to avoid relegation they’ll inevitably be relegated. Either way, I like the look of this Accrington team.
| Read the full review |
Bolton Wanderers
Manager: Ian Evatt
Key Player: Eoin Doyle
Key transfer: Josh Sheehan
Target: Top-half
Having won promotion last season, that was obviously the start of Bolton’s aim to return to the top. However, after a whirlwind few years I feel that Bolton should aim for consolidation first and see what comes after that.
| Read the full review |
Burton Albion
Manager: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Key player: Lucas Akins
Key departure: Ryan Edwards
Target: Avoid relegation
It’s not yet clear which Burton we will see next season: the side that won two of their first 22 games up to the beginning of January, or the one that won 13 of the next 24 in the second half of the season.
| Read the full review |
Cambridge United
Manager: Mark Bonner
Key player: Wes Hoolahan
Key departure: Paul Mullin
Target: Avoid relegation
I didn’t really want to put this a target for anyone but the truth is after losing their key man in Mullin, they have at the time of writing failed to add any signings of note in that area, or any area on the pitch for that matter.
| Read the full review |
Charlton Athletic
Manager: Nigel Adkins
Key player: Akin Famewo
Key departure: Chuks Aneke
Target: Play-offs
Charlton finished one position outside of the play-offs last season. With a full season of stable ownership and Adkins at the helm, they should be aiming to do a little better this campaign.
| Read the full review |
Cheltenham Town
Manager: Michael Duff
Key player: Ben Tozer
Key signing: Owen Evans
Target: Avoid relegation
“Cheltenham have just been promoted so we’ll make their goal to avoid relegation” is pretty tired logic. However, most Cheltenham fans would still gladly accept a 20th-place finish this season.
| Read the full review |
Crewe Alexandra
Manager: David Artell
Key Player: Charlie Kirk
Key departure: Harry Pickering
Target: Top-half
There are a number of big clubs who you suspect will be fighting it out at the top of League One, and whilst Crewe have made year-on-year progress under Artell, this could be the toughest step to take.
| Read the full review |
Doncaster Rovers
Manager: Richie Wellens
Key Player: Fejiri Okenabirhie
Key signing: Ro-Shaun Williams
Target: Top-half
Doncaster’s season is one of the harder ones to predict. In theory, Wellens looks a shrewd appointment, particularly given his successes at Swindon when they weren’t a mess off the field.
| Read the full review |
Fleetwood Town
Manager: Simon Grayson
Key player: Callum Camps
Key departure: Wes Burns
Target: Top half
Fleetwood escaped their Joey Barton era relatively unscathed (well, at least compared to Bristol Rovers), and are off to a relatively solid start under Grayson.
| Read the full review |
Gillingham
Manager: Steve Evans
Key player: Vadaine Oliver
Key transfer: Max Ehmer
Target: Top half
Gillingham aren’t going to be strong enough to make a run at the play-offs, just as they weren’t last season, but they can still aim to finish in the top half.
| Read the full review |
Ipswich Town
Manager: Paul Cook
Key player: Scott Fraser
Key departure: Luke Chambers
Target: Promotion
It can’t be anything else really can it? Ipswich have gutted their squad that underperformed for so many years and have signed a breathtaking array of quality.
| Read the full review |
Lincoln City
Manager: Michael Appleton
Key player: Conor McGrandles
Key departure: Jorge Grant
Target: Play-offs
Were it not for last season, I’d be putting Lincoln down as targetting the top half of the league, as I did last season, but you can’t overlook the impact Appleton had.
| Read the full review |
Milton Keynes
Manager: unknown
Key player: Max Watters
Key departure: Scott Fraser
Target: Avoid relegation
Whilst the losses of Scott Fraser, Cameron Jerome and Mathew Sorinola are significant, there’s a feeling that MK Dons will go one better this season, provided that Russell Martin sticks around. [Editor’s note: eek.]
| Read the full review |
Morecambe
Manager: Stephen Robinson
Key Player: Toumani Diagouraga
Key departure: Carlos Mendes Gomes
Target: Avoid relegation
Frankly, avoiding bottom spot is probably a fair and realistic target in itself for a team who have been stripped of the man who is their best ever manager and the man who’s arguably their best ever player in one bittersweet summer.
| Read the full review |
Oxford United
Manager: Karl Robinson
Key player: Matty Taylor
Key departure: Robert Atkinson
Target: Play-offs
After two play-off campaigns in a row, Oxford have kept the core of the squad that got two consecutive play-off seasons in place. That said, their squad is not substantially better and the league they’re competing in certainly looks stronger than ever before.
| Read the full review |
Plymouth Argyle
Manager: Ryan Lowe
Key player: Conor Grant
Key transfer: Dan Scarr
Target: Top-half
Argyle’s target for this season is the same I set them for last, there were times last season when they did look like they could fulfill that target and Lowe also hinted a few times publically that top half might be the target.
| Read the full review |
Portsmouth
Manager: Danny Cowley
Key Player: Ronan Curtis
Key departure: Craig MacGillivray
Target: Promotion
Nothing less than promotion would do for Portsmouth. The last four seasons under Kenny Jackett were considered a failure – losing in the playoffs twice and not even making them in the other two seasons.
| Read the full review |
Rotherham United
Manager: Paul Warne
Key player: Michael Smith
Key departure: Matt Crooks
Target: Play-offs
Rotherham are the ultimate yoyo side and perhaps it may be logical to assume they’ll sail to promotion once again. However, there are reasons to suggest they might find this season a lot harder.
| Read the full review |
Sheffield Wednesday
Manager: Darren Moore
Key player: Lewis Wing
Key signing: Florian Kamberi
Target: Promotion
Maybe things are turning for Wednesday. Darren Moore was a smart appointment – his track record is excellent and he tries to play football the right way.
| Read the full review |
Shrewsbury Town
Manager: Steve Cotterill
Key player: Sean Whalley
Key transfer: Ryan Bowman
Target: Top-half
The Shrewsbury squad is probably thin at best heading into the new season, particularly in midfield with David Davis, Josh Vela and Ollie Norburn the obvious trio, but lacking any serious options.
| Read the full review |
Sunderland
Manager: Lee Johnson
Key player: Aiden McGeady
Key departure: Charlie Wyke
Target: Play-offs
Some supporters will probably see any season spent at this level as a failure, but realistically, it will be tough to expect them to challenge for the top two this season, given the depth of the squad overhaul.
| Read the full review |
Wigan Athletic
Manager: Leam Richardson
Key player: Jack Whatmough
Key transfer: Charlie Wyke
Target: Play-offs
Wigan’s quality will never be in question ahead of the new campaign, but rather whether Leam Richardson can mastermind getting all of his players to gel early doors in the season.
| Read the full review |
Wimbledon
Manager: Mark Robinson
Key player: Alex Woodyard
Key departure: Joe Pigott
Target: Avoid relegation
Wimbledon are in for a tough season. The loss of Pigott will affect them badly – there are no obvious candidates to step up and replace his goals.
| Read the full review |
Wycombe Wanderers
Manager: Gareth Ainsworth
Key player: Sam Vokes
Key transfer: Sullay Kaikai
Target: Play-offs
Ainsworth will want to attempt to get his side back there as quick as possible and after showing that they have intent to replace key players with two quality players that could equally suit the system, you can see that just might be the case.
| Read the full review |
Predicted table
| 1 | IPSWICH TOWN |
| 2 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY |
| 3 | SUNDERLAND |
| 4 | PORTSMOUTH |
| 5 | ROTHERHAM UNITED |
| 6 | OXFORD UNITED |
| 7 | WIGAN ATHLETIC |
| 8 | CHARLTON ATHLETIC |
| 9 | WYCOMBE WANDERERS |
| 10 | LINCOLN CITY |
| 11 | CREWE ALEXANDRA |
| 12 | BOLTON WANDERERS |
| 13 | ACCRINGTON STANLEY |
| 14 | PLYMOUTH ARGYLE |
| 15 | FLEETWOOD TOWN |
| 16 | DONCASTER ROVERS |
| 17 | SHREWSBURY TOWN |
| 18 | GILLINGHAM |
| 19 | CHELTENHAM TOWN |
| 20 | MILTON KEYNES |
| 21 | BURTON ALBION |
| 22 | WIMBLEDON |
| 23 | CAMBRIDGE UNITED |
| 24 | MORECAMBE |