League Two Winner Odds: Stockport lead the way in the betting

It's almost here people! This Friday evening sees the start of the EFL and Saturday a full raft of fixtures in League Two. Here at BettingOdds.com, as part of our summer ante-post article series, we have taken a look at the League Two winner market, including a look at the favourites, previous winners and a couple of shouts that have taken our eye. Just a reminder that most bookmakers are paying 3 places on the each-way market. 

Previous winners:

As we can see above, the previous ten winners of League Two have all been in the division the season prior. It doesn't make good reading for the clubs have have just been relegated from League One or for the promoted teams from the National League, Grimsby Town and the league favourites Stockport County. 

2022/23 Favourites

Stockport County - 6/1

How good is it to see County back in the Football League after a 11 year absence? After a fall from grace that saw them fall from the heights of 8th in the Championship to the depths of the National League North in just 12 years, County secured promotion back to League Two last year, after winning the National League. With local businessman Mark Stott having wiped their long-standing debts and injecting new funds into the side, optimism is at an all-time high and the bookmakers have installed them as favourites for back-to-back titles. Dave Challinor has signed Centre back Joe Lewis from Torquay as well as picking up a selection of loans and free transfers to bolster the squad. I'm not sure I'd be rushing to take the 6/1 on offer though.

Bradford City - 7/1

Surely this is the season when Bradford finally drag themselves out of the cesspit that is League Two? After a torrid period that saw them relegated from the Premier League and then slowly slip through the Football League, with a couple of periods of administration along the way, City enter the 2022/23 season full of hope, with new boss Mark Hughes at the helm. Hughes had an encouraging start to his Valley Parade career, picking up five wins and three draws out of his first 13 games in charge, after taking over from Derek Adams.

City are undoubtedly the biggest club in the fourth tier and with a proper manager in charge like Hughes and some nice looking free transfers and loans on board, perhaps City can live up to pre-season expectations for once?

Salford City - 9/1

Another club that always has pre-season hype and expectations is of course, Salford City. The club, which is famously owned and run by the Class of '92, has achieved massive success in recent years with a philosophy of hire and fire. Simply put, if results aren't immediately acceptable, the manager bites the bullet. Since their takeover in 2014, Neville & Co have sacked four managers despite four promotions and an EFL trophy win in that period. Now, new boss Neil Wood has to try to navigate their way out of the fourth tier or his head too will be on the chopping block.  The Ammies have brought in a few new players from home and abroad and will be expecting big things this season. 

Mansfield Town - 10/1

Our last team at the head of the betting is Mansfield Town. After the severe disappointment of losing the play-off final last season, the Stags enter this season with renewed enthusiasm and rightly so. After a shocking start to the season last time around, Nigel Clough's men took an impressive 66 points from their final 32 matches in 2021/2022. Hiram Boateng has arrived on a free from MK Dons which should bring energy to the midfield and Clough has used his contacts to bring in two loans from new Premier League boys, Nottingham Forest. If they start well this time, Town could be hard to stop. 

Who to back?

As mentioned earlier, the League Two winner usually comes from the pack of teams who were in that very division the previous seasons. The relegated teams look like they might struggle and I like the look of two teams that made the play-offs last time to build upon their previous successes and have a real push at the title. 

The first of these is the aforementioned Mansfield Town who look an attractive proposition at 10/1, providing they can get over their Wembley heartache quickly. 

Secondly, I like the look of Northampton Town at 12/1, who were extremely unfortunate to miss out on automatic promotion last term, after a final day miracle saw Bristol Rovers promoted after winning 7-0. Having gained 80 points last season, surely they will be looking to go one better and gain automatic promotion.