I am not looking at any of the European ties being played today and qualification games will be Champions League only (as usual), but those will become increasingly interesting as a league stage spot, which is the holy grail for many, nears.

 

That frees up today and I am going to bring forward and run the first of my preseason English football notes. These are going to come in (probably) nine parts and there will also be two for the Bundesliga and one for Ligue 1 and the remainder will run alongside the daily notes starting Monday August 3rd. I think that all were pretty much on the money last year, hopefully these will be too and they should repay reading multiple times. 

 

The League 1 notes below are a taster if you like, but I am quite pleased with them and, as always, they should include plenty of information that you are unlikely to read elsewhere.

 

 

 

First, a look back.....

 

2025/26				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Lincoln City	46	31	10	5	89	41	+48	103	WWWX	23	18	4	1	53	20	23	13	6	4	36	21
	2		Cardiff City	46	27	10	9	90	50	+40	91	LWWW	23	17	2	4	50	23	23	10	8	5	40	27
	3		Stockport County	46	22	11	13	71	58	+13	77	WLWL	23	13	4	6	38	26	23	9	7	7	33	32
	4		Bradford City	46	22	11	13	58	51	+7	77	WXXX	23	15	5	3	32	17	23	7	6	10	26	34
	5		Bolton Wanderers	46	19	18	9	70	52	+18	75	LXXW	23	13	8	2	46	24	23	6	10	7	24	28
	6		Stevenage	46	21	12	13	49	46	+3	75	WXWX	23	14	7	2	27	13	23	7	5	11	22	33
	7		Luton Town	46	21	11	14	68	56	+12	74	WWWX	23	13	6	4	37	24	23	8	5	10	31	32
	8		Plymouth Argyle	46	22	7	17	75	63	+12	73	WWXW	23	10	4	9	33	33	23	12	3	8	42	30
	9		Huddersfield Town	46	18	13	15	74	64	+10	67	WLXX	23	11	9	3	42	27	23	7	4	12	32	37
	10		Mansfield Town	46	16	17	13	62	50	+12	65	WOWW	23	9	8	6	38	27	23	7	9	7	24	23
	11		Wycombe Wanderers	46	17	12	17	69	58	+11	63	WLLX	23	13	3	7	45	23	23	4	9	10	24	35
	12		Reading	46	16	15	15	64	60	+4	63	LXLL	23	10	7	6	33	28	23	6	8	9	31	32
	13		Blackpool	46	17	9	20	54	65	-11	60	WWWW	23	12	5	6	35	29	23	5	4	14	19	36
	14		Doncaster Rovers	46	17	9	20	50	69	-19	60	WXLW	23	9	6	8	27	32	23	8	3	12	23	37
	15		Barnsley	46	15	14	17	68	73	-5	59	LWLL	23	9	6	8	39	37	23	6	8	9	29	36
	16		Wigan Athletic	46	14	14	18	49	58	-9	56	LLOW	23	11	4	8	24	17	23	3	10	10	25	41
	17		Burton Albion	46	13	15	18	50	60	-10	54	XXXW	23	9	5	9	27	28	23	4	10	9	23	32
	18		Peterborough United	46	15	8	23	64	68	-4	53	LOLX	23	8	6	9	39	30	23	7	2	14	25	38
	19		AFC Wimbledon	46	15	8	23	51	72	-21	53	LWLL	23	8	4	11	25	31	23	7	4	12	26	41
	20		Leyton Orient	46	14	10	22	59	71	-12	52	XLLO	23	8	7	8	32	30	23	6	3	14	27	41
	21		Exeter City	46	12	13	21	52	61	-9	49	LXXX	23	8	7	8	30	29	23	4	6	13	22	32
	22		Port Vale	46	10	12	24	36	61	-25	42	LWLL	23	4	9	10	17	25	23	6	3	14	19	36
	23		Rotherham United	46	10	11	25	41	71	-30	41	LXLW	23	6	9	8	24	32	23	4	2	17	17	39
	24		Northampton Town	46	9	8	29	39	74	-35	35	LLLL	23	6	4	13	23	31	23	3	4	16	16	43

 

Luton Town are two years removed from the EPL and still have parachute payments this year, but took a long time to re-establish themselves last season after back to back relegations. They did collect 39 points over the second half of the season which is decent enough and came out 3rd for xP for the full season, albeit with only 9 points between 3rd and 9th place. Town were in the 5th tier in 2014 and had a meteoric rise to the top flight in a decade and maybe after this rollercoaster ride...........

 

 

Good luck!