2019–20 EFL League Two
The 2019–20 EFL League Two (referred to as the Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of Football League Two under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format. On 13 March 2020, the EFL, alongside the FA announced the suspension of all domestic football until 3 April due to the rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic.[1] On 3 April 2020, this suspension was extended indefinitely.[2]
Season | 2019–20 |
---|---|
Champions | Swindon Town |
Promoted | Swindon Town Crewe Alexandra Plymouth Argyle Northampton Town |
Relegated | Macclesfield Town |
Top goalscorer | Eoin Doyle (25 goals) |
Biggest home win | Mansfield Town 6–1 Oldham Athletic (12 October 2019) |
Biggest away win | Crawley Town 0–4 Swindon Town (26 October 2019) Mansfield Town 0–4 Cambridge United (17 September 2019) Cambridge United 0–4 Stevenage (18 January 2020) |
Longest unbeaten run | 15 matches Colchester United |
Longest winless run | 10 matches Stevenage |
Highest attendance | 17,668 Bradford City 1–1 Grimsby Town (8 February 2020) |
← 2018–19 2020–21 → |
On 15 May 2020, the clubs voted to end the season with immediate effect with the final table being determined on a points-per-game basis. No decision was made as to promotion and relegation. The play-offs would be played as normal. The decision meant Swindon Town would be crowned champions and would be joined by Crewe Alexandra and Plymouth Argyle in League One the following season.[3]
Team changes
The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season.
To League Two
Promoted from National League
Relegated from League One
From League Two
Promoted to League One
Relegated to National League
Stadiums
Personnel and sponsoring
- The shirts of Macclesfield Town and Newport County do not display Paddy Power's logo as part of the bookmakers "Save Our Shirt" campaign.
Managerial changes
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Walsall | Martin O'Connor[7] | End of caretaker spell | 4 May 2019 | Pre-season | Darrell Clarke[8] | 10 May 2019 |
Scunthorpe United | Andy Dawson[9] | Paul Hurst[10] | 13 May 2019 | |||
Plymouth Argyle | Kevin Nancekivell[9] | Ryan Lowe[11] | 5 June 2019 | |||
Oldham Athletic | Pete Wild[12] | Resigned | Laurent Banide[13] | 11 June 2019 | ||
Mansfield Town | David Flitcroft[14] | Sacked | 14 May 2019 | John Dempster[14] | 14 May 2019 | |
Leyton Orient | Justin Edinburgh[15] | Deceased | 8 June 2019 | Carl Fletcher[16] | 16 October 2019 | |
Macclesfield Town | Sol Campbell[17] | Mutual consent | 15 August 2019 | 8th | Daryl McMahon[18] | 19 August 2019 |
Stevenage | Dino Maamria[19] | Sacked | 9 September 2019 | 23rd | Graham Westley[20] | 15 December 2019 |
Oldham Athletic | Laurent Banide[21] | 19 September 2019 | 21st | Dino Maamria[22] | 19 September 2019 | |
Morecambe | Jim Bentley[23] | Signed by AFC Fylde | 28 October 2019 | 24th | Derek Adams[24] | 7 November 2019 |
Carlisle United | Steven Pressley[25] | Sacked | 13 November 2019 | 19th | Chris Beech[26] | 26 November 2019 |
Leyton Orient | Carl Fletcher[27] | 14 November 2019 | 16th | Ross Embleton[28] | 7 January 2020 | |
Grimsby Town | Michael Jolley[29] | Mutual consent | 15 November 2019 | 18th | Ian Holloway[30] | 31 December 2019 |
Crawley Town | Gabriele Cioffi[31] | Sacked | 2 December 2019 | 17th | John Yems[32] | 5 December 2019 |
Mansfield Town | John Dempster[33] | 14 December 2019 | 18th | Graham Coughlan[34] | 17 December 2019 | |
Macclesfield Town | Daryl McMahon[35] | Resigned | 2 January 2020 | 22nd | Mark Kennedy[36] | 16 January 2020 |
Cambridge United | Colin Calderwood[37] | Sacked | 29 January 2020 | 16th | Mark Bonner[38] | 9 March 2020 |
Scunthorpe United | Paul Hurst[39] | 29 January 2020 | 19th | Russ Wilcox[40] | 12 February 2020 | |
Bradford City | Gary Bowyer[41] | 3 February 2020 | 8th | Stuart McCall[42] | 4 February 2020 | |
Stevenage | Graham Westley[43] | 16 February 2020 | 24th | Alex Revell[44] | 16 February 2020 |
League table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Swindon Town (C, P) | 36 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 62 | 39 | +23 | 69 | 1.92 | Promotion to EFL League One |
2 | Crewe Alexandra (P) | 37 | 20 | 9 | 8 | 67 | 43 | +24 | 69 | 1.86 | |
3 | Plymouth Argyle (P) | 37 | 20 | 8 | 9 | 61 | 39 | +22 | 68 | 1.84 | |
4 | Cheltenham Town | 36 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 52 | 27 | +25 | 64 | 1.78 | Qualification for League Two play-offs[lower-alpha 1] |
5 | Exeter City | 37 | 18 | 11 | 8 | 53 | 43 | +10 | 65 | 1.76 | |
6 | Colchester United | 37 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 52 | 37 | +15 | 58 | 1.57 | |
7 | Northampton Town (O, P) | 37 | 17 | 7 | 13 | 54 | 40 | +14 | 58 | 1.57 | |
8 | Port Vale | 37 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 50 | 44 | +6 | 57 | 1.54 | |
9 | Bradford City | 37 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 54 | 1.46 | |
10 | Forest Green Rovers | 36 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 49 | 1.36 | |
11 | Salford City | 37 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 49 | 46 | +3 | 50 | 1.35 | |
12 | Walsall | 36 | 13 | 8 | 15 | 40 | 49 | −9 | 47 | 1.31 | |
13 | Crawley Town | 37 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 51 | 47 | +4 | 48 | 1.30 | |
14 | Newport County | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 32 | 39 | −7 | 46 | 1.28 | |
15 | Grimsby Town | 37 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 45 | 51 | −6 | 47 | 1.27 | |
16 | Cambridge United | 37 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 40 | 48 | −8 | 45 | 1.22 | |
17 | Leyton Orient | 36 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 47 | 55 | −8 | 42 | 1.17 | |
18 | Carlisle United | 37 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 39 | 56 | −17 | 42 | 1.14 | |
19 | Oldham Athletic | 37 | 9 | 14 | 14 | 44 | 57 | −13 | 41 | 1.11 | |
20 | Scunthorpe United | 37 | 10 | 10 | 17 | 44 | 56 | −12 | 40 | 1.08 | |
21 | Mansfield Town | 36 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 48 | 55 | −7 | 38 | 1.06 | |
22 | Morecambe | 37 | 7 | 11 | 19 | 35 | 60 | −25 | 32 | 0.86 | |
23 | Stevenage | 36 | 3 | 13 | 20 | 24 | 50 | −26 | 22 | 0.61 | Reprieved from relegation[lower-alpha 2] |
24 | Macclesfield Town (R) | 37 | 7 | 15 | 15 | 32 | 47 | −15 | 19[lower-alpha 3] | 0.51[lower-alpha 3] | Relegation to the National League |
Rules for classification: 1) Points per game; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending off offences[57]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- Four teams play for one spot and promotion to EFL League One.
- As a result of Bury's expulsion from League One, only one team is relegated to maintain League Two at 24 teams.[45]
- Macclesfield Town deducted four points for failing to both pay their players' wages and to fulfil a fixture, reduced from six points after appeal.[46][47] A further seven-point deduction was given for failing to play December's match against Plymouth Argyle.[48] A further two-point deduction was given for breaches of regulations over non-payment of wages.[49] On 3 July the EFL appealed against the independent disciplinary panel's sanctions on Macclesfield.[50] A further four points were deducted on 11 August 2020, resulting in Macclesfield Town being relegated. Stevenage reprieved[51]
Play-offs
Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||
4 | Cheltenham Town | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||
7 | Northampton Town | 0 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
7 | Northampton Town | 4 | |||||||||
5 | Exeter City | 0 | |||||||||
5 | Exeter City | 0 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
6 | Colchester United | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Results
Season statistics
Top scorers
- As of 7 March 2020[58]
Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Eoin Doyle | Swindon Town | 25 |
2 | Nicky Maynard | Mansfield Town | 14 |
3 | Ryan Bowman | Exeter City | 13 |
Ollie Palmer | Crawley Town | ||
Jerry Yates | Swindon Town | ||
6 | Bez Lubala | Crawley Town | 12 |
Chris Porter | Crewe Alexandra | ||
8 | Theo Robinson | Colchester United | 11 |
Danny Rose | Mansfield Town | ||
James Vaughan | Bradford City | ||
11 | Antoni Sarcevic | Plymouth Argyle | 10 |
Kevin van Veen | Scunthorpe United |
Hat-tricks
Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nicky Maynard | Mansfield Town | Oldham Athletic | 6–1 (H) | 12 October 2019 | [59] |
Eoin Doyle | Swindon Town | Crawley Town | 4–0 (A) | 26 October 2019 | [60] |
Keshi Anderson | Swindon Town | Cambridge United | 4–0 (H) | 26 December 2019 | [61] |
Nicky Maynard | Mansfield Town | Cambridge United | 3–2 (A) | 1 January 2020 | [62] |
Notes
References
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- "EFL statement: Coronavirus update". www.efl.com. English Football League. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
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