Contents Welcome 3-4 Opening Words Welcome to another groundshare may have season and another little initial impact on 5-30 Club-By-Club season preview! the football team, if it Previews lasts longer than one It feels a long time since season, it is likely to 31-63 The Squad last season ended on a cause more damage. note of positivity with 64-65 Possible the increasing My personal excitement Formations likelihood that the club for the new season is was set to extend its likely to be down to the 66-67 Mark Robins stay at the Ricoh Arena choice of groundshare and was getting ready being convenient for 69 League One to put together a side to myself and thus being Predictions challenge for able to attend games. promotion. For others who simply 70-72 How Will We may be unable to get to It all served to make it Do? Birmingham on a especially sickening regular basis, the when it was finally feeling will be different. confirmed that the club would be ground- It is a situation that sharing once again, this shouldn’t have time with Birmingham happened once, for it to City. have happened twice is beyond farcical while Just how the club can doing little to serve the move forward in a agendas of all involved. situation where there is That will only no realistic avenue back crystallise once the to Coventry for a long season kicks off and the time to come is difficult novelty of the situation to foresee, somehow, a wears off. level of excitement has been generated for the For now, it is time to new season due to Mark focus on the actual Robins’ swift and playing of football and decisive work in the looking ahead to transfer market. another season of Coventry City and The summer League One action. recruitment has highlighted that the The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 1 The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 2 Opening Words This summer, Coventry City knows what is doing and about this season and the fans have had to hold two has been active in looking to longer-term future, only he images of the club in their improve in the transfer and owner, Joy Seppala, heads at the same time. market over the summer. know. However, we can surmise that what he has The first is the Coventry The first image is hard to heard he is encouraged by City that doesn’t appear to get excited about, the enough not to trade in the have much of a future. With second one is something credit he has earned at this a return to the Ricoh Arena everyone – regardless of club for a better move all but impossible while the whether they support the elsewhere. legal wranglings rattle groundshare situation or around the European not – wants to get behind. It Just how long that can last courts, interest in the club will only be when the remains to be seen but it is likely to dwindle away the reality of the team playing feels like with Mark Robins longer we remain outside of away from home in a big in charge, we have someone Coventry – no-one may stadium rattling around competent enough to keep notice after a while if we with a few thousand fans things ticking over and were to shuffle out of sinks in, that those two project the image of a existence. images will make sense as functioning club in a part of the same club. situation where we would The second is the Coventry otherwise look to be in City that has rallied from The owners are very lucky crisis. relegation to League Two, at the moment that Mark won its first promotion in Robins in charge as In a sense, the situation has over half a century, has a manager. Just what taken the pressure off Mark manager who looks like he assurances he has received Robins to build on what was The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 3 largely a productive end to feel when it should be last season – despite anything but. winning just two of our This illusion of normalcy final eight games. However, may last the whole season, the sense that the longer it may be shattered within the groundshare with the opening weeks of the Birmingham City lasts, the campaign, it is pleasantly harder it will make for the surprising that it has even club to compete financially gotten to this close before in this division possibly the new season for things makes it especially not to feel too different. important that if we are to achieve anything, it has to Before we get any further be this season. into the season preview, just a note that all statistics Before sinking my teeth too used in this guide as deeply into the preview of accurate as possible up to the other League One clubs, the 28th July 2019 and any this doesn’t look to be a ages referred to are as of season where we should be the start of the league overly afraid of too many, if season – 3rd August 2019. any, of our fellow clubs in this division. If anyone is aware of my track record of making Whether or not the side predictions, what is about Mark Robins has put to follow will look hilarious together this summer is any come May. better than the one that finished 8th last season, it is Enjoy! likely that there will be places towards the upper end of the division up for grabs. Starting well and finding some consistency will be important, which is why the level of overhaul to the squad over the summer should make anyone a little nervous about our hopes of challenging for the top six this season. Nonetheless, being concerned about our hopes of challenging or not for the top six is a credit to just how normal Mark Robins has made this pre-season The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 4 Club-By-Club Previews The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 5 League One 2019/20 Bury Rochdale Accrington Stanley 2nd in League Two 16th in League One 14th in League One Fleetwood Town Sunderland 11th in League One 5th in League One Blackpool Doncaster Rovers 10th in League One 6th in League One Bolton Wanderers Rotherham United 23rd in the Championship 22nd in the Championship Tranmere Rovers Lincoln City 6th in League Two 1st in League Two Burton Albion Peterborough United th 9th in League One 7 in League One Shrewsbury Town Milton Keynes Dons rd 18th in League One 3 in League Two Coventry City 8th in League One Ipswich Town Oxford United 24th in the Championship 12th in League One Bristol Rovers Southend United 15th in League One 19th in League One Wycombe Wanderers Gillingham 17th in League One AFC Wimbledon 13th in League One 20th in League One Portsmouth 4th in League One The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 6 Accrington Stanley Manager – John Coleman record in developing and improving players other clubs Has turned Accrington Stanley have discarded, there is an from League Two relegation Squad assumption that Stanley may contenders into a mid-table have unearthed a gem or two – League One outfit, allying some Pos Player former Leamington striker Colby attractive football with enough of GK Dimitar Evtimov Bishop and ex-Bolton and Spurs an edge to get important results. GK Toby Savin youngster Joe Pritchard looked to RB Callum Johnson Key Player – Sean McConville be among the more intriguing additions. LB Joe Maguire Of Accrington’s core of Zaine Francis- experienced first-teamers, There will be a burden this season LB Angol McConville stepped up the most once again on the core of Accrington Stanley’s squad to pull CB Ben Barclay convincingly to League One football, scoring 14 and assisting the team together and aid the CB Harvey Rodgers eight from the wing. With younger new signings in their CB Mark Hughes excellent delivery allied with good transition to League One football. CB Ross Sykes movement, he’ll remain a key Wide-men Jordan Clark and Sean CM Joe Pritchard threat for Accrington this season. McConville will be vital players in attack given Billy Kee’s absence Lamine Kaba CM Overview from the start of pre-season Sherif A difficult second half to last training, while defensive CM Sam Finley season appears to have been the midfielder Seamus Conneely and Seamus centre-back Mark Hughes will be CM signal to John Coleman to freshen Conneely the squad up in an attempt to key voices at the back. W Erico Sousa lessen the burden on the core of While Accrington’s squad looks W Jordan Clark players that carried the club from among the weaker at this level, Okera the lower-end of League Two into they have a manager who tends to W Simmonds the third-tier. get the best out of limited W Sean McConville As ever with Accrington Stanley, resources. They should avoid a struggle and perhaps could push Wilson they have had to shop for W on a little higher. Carvalho inexperienced players or those off the radar of more moneyed ST Andrew Scott League One clubs. Most of their ST Billy Kee new signings haven’t played in ST Colby Bishop League One, many of them Verdict: Offrande haven’t even played in the ST Zanzala Football League. Comfortable Nonetheless, with a manager in John Coleman with a proven track Mid-Table Bold denotes new signings Squad Size Average Age Apps 18/19 Goals 18/19 22 24.4 471 65 =11th in L1 21st in L1 20th in L1 8th in L1 The Sideways Sammy 2019-20 Season Preview 7 AFC Wimbledon Manager – Wally Downes the second half of last season, this is a squad that has been Pulled off one of the more weakened over the summer after remarkable ‘great escapes’ last the losses of key loan players such Squad season in guiding a doomed AFC as Aaron Ramsdale in goal and Wimbledon side to safety.