Last year, League 1 football made for some interesting viewing at times.
Bristol City stormed to the title, while MK Dons only just managed to clinch second place on the final day of the season, at the expense of Preston North End.
In the play-offs, PNE stormed to victory, ending a hoodoo that had plagued the club for years. All three teams will now go into the 2015/16 campaign as Championship teams.
Hopefully next season will be just as good as the last and in this article, I’ll be taking a look at who I think could be following in the steps of the previously mentioned teams and be celebrating their rise to the Championship come May next year. Here are my five picks…
1) Sheffield United
The Blades are the favourites for promotion (and also to win the league) next year and I have to agree with the bookies – they should definitely be up there at the top end of the table again next season.
They’ve been in the Premier League and they’ve been in the Championship and after four years in the third tier of English football, I do believe that now is their time to finally gain promotion back up to the Championship.
They’ve got a new manager in Nigel Adkins, who has a lot of experience in getting teams out of League 1. He has guided both Scunthorpe and Southampton to the Championship before and he also has experience of managing in the Premier League, which can only have a positive effect on the Blades team.
The only bit of business that United have done so far is to pick up Martyn Woolford on a free transfer after his release from Millwall. He hasn’t got a bad goalscoring record for a winger and he has previously worked under boss Adkins at Scunthorpe, so he should be able to get the best out of him.
As for current players, they have Matt Done, who is a force to be reckoned with in League 1. He was superb for Rochdale before his move to Sheffield and he has carried that form over to his new team. However, he is currently on the sidelines with an injury but he’ll soon be back in the side and ready to start banging in the goals. They also have Chris Basham, who has proven to be a rock at the back for the Blades.
Jamie Murphy is another who is a decent player for the club, although with all the current interest in him, he may not be at the club next year.
All in all, I think this could be the year that Sheffield United finally escape League 1 and return to the Championship.
Odds to win the League: 5/1 To be promoted: 7/4
