What’s new in League 2 this season?

TEDDY SHERINGHAM takes on his first managerial role at Stevenage and there will be plenty of interested neutrals checking how the former Manchester United and England striker gets on at the club who reached the play-offs last season. Elsewhere, Notts County and Leyton Orient bring a distinctly European feel to the bottom tier. Notts County’s Dutch manager Ricardo Moniz has signed several players from the continent and Orient are owned by Italian Francesco Becchetti.

WHO’S GOING UP?

PORTSMOUTH are again the bookies’ favourites and make their strongest case yet in their third consecutive season in League Two. New manager Paul Cook won the division with Chesterfield in 2014 and has recruited well. So too have Luton, most notably with the signing of striker Craig Mackail-Smith. Of the quartet relegated from League One, Notts County and Leyton Orient look in the best shape and of those who missed out last season Exeter and Plymouth seem best equipped to mount a challenge.

. . . AND DOWN?

PROMOTED Barnet and Bristol Rovers will have eyes on safety first in a division that has more strength in depth than ever before. Carlisle and Mansfield narrowly escaped last year and look set to be in the scrap again while Dagenham & Redbridge and Accrington are among the favourites to go down due to their limited resources.

DID YOU KNOW?

NOW in his 10th year at Exeter, Paul Tisdale is the second longest-serving manager in the country after Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Sheringham is one of three England internationals managing in the fourth tier, the Stevenage boss joining Newport’s Terry Butcher and Carlisle’s Keith Curle.

GRUDGE MATCH

THE clash between Northampton and Oxford. Separated by 40 miles, the clubs were already rivals before manager Chris Wilder made the shock decision to leave Oxford for Northampton in January 2014. Oxford plummeted to miss out on the playoffs while Wilder kept Northampton up on the last day — with a 3-1 win over Oxford.