Tom Hill’s outright tips for League One include Rotherham to secure a promotion place and Blackpool to reach the play-offs.
Birmingham City will be the star attraction in League One in 2024/25, but they’ll not be treating anyone lightly on their first taste of the third tier in 30 years.
The Blues have the rich pedigree, big reputation and a short title price of 15/8, but Bolton, Rotherham and the rest will be gunning for Chris Davies’ favourites.
League One gets going on August 9 and should provide some real box-office entertainment, especially now that Wrexham with their Hollywood owners have joined the party.
Birmingham are the team to catch, and we have picked out our three best bets for the upcoming campaign.
Best bets
Rotherham to be promoted
3/1
Blackpool top-six finish
5/2
Stevenage to be relegated
5/2
Evans’ Millers to extend yo-yo trend
Birmingham have been spending seven-figure sums on new players, which gives them a sizeable edge over most of their title rivals.
But at a short price and remembering that other fallen giants have struggled to bounce back in recent years after tumbling out of the Championship, they can be swerved.
A better alternative at a far bigger price has to be yo-yo club Rotherham, who are 9/1 in outright betting but preferred at 3/1 to win promotion.
The Millers were terrible, dropping out of the Championship last season with a meagre 27 points, though four of them came in the last three games, the only games where Steve Evans was in charge.
The Scot, who has won promotion before with Rotherham and will bring some fire and passion back to the New York Stadium, quickly oversaw a decent transfer window where the star turn has to be Jonson Clarke-Harris, a striker with a prolific history at this level.
Defender Sean Raggett and midfielder Liam Kelly are other excellent purchases for a side that have been relegated from the Championship three times before since 2017 – and gone straight back up every time.
Seasiders can be in touch once more
Blackpool, relegated a season before Birmingham and Rotherham, finished eighth in League One last season, just three points outside of the play-off places.
Neil Critchley’s Tangerines won four of their last five matches and only need a tweak or two to take the extra step under their highly-regarded coach.
Jordan Rhodes will again head the goalscoring expectations – the 34-year-old scored 15 last season – and new striker Ashley Fletcher, the former Manchester United player who has flattered wherever he has been, has looked the part in pre-season.
Blackpool were a Championship side less than 18 months ago and should be thinking of promotion once again. At the very least, they look a fair play at 9/4 for a top-six finish.
Revell’s record suggests Boro may struggle
The only way looks to be down for relegation 5/2 shots Stevenage, who surprised pretty much everyone with their push for the play-offs last season.
Charismatic boss Evans had a big hand in Stevenage’s impressive run which had them fifth in the table in early February.
However, they won only two of their last 12 to eventually trail home in ninth and now, of course, Evans has gone to be replaced by Alex Revell.
Revell had just a 26 per cent win ratio during a previous stint in charge of The Boro, and that doesn’t augur well.
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