Football Season Guide

League 2

England

League 2

2021/2022

Tranmere Rovers

In

Joe Maguire (Defender, Accrington Stanley); Josh Cogley (Defender, Birmingham City); Nathaniel Knight-Percival (Defender, Morecambe); Tom Davies (Defender, Bristol Rovers); Callum McManaman (Midfielder, Melbourne Victory); Chris Merrie (Midfielder, Wigan Athletic); Liam Feeney (Midfielder, Blackpool); Ryan Watson (Midfielder, Northampton Town); Sam Foley (Midfielder, Motherwell); Elliott Nevitt (Attacker, Warrington Rylands); Emmanuel Dieseruvwe (Attacker, Salford City); Paul Glatzel (Attacker, Liverpool, Season-long loan)

Out

Ellis Jones (Goalkeeper, Runcorn Town); Emmanuel Monthe (r) (Defender, Walsall); George Ray (sp) (Defender, Exeter City); Mark Ellis (Defender, Barrow); Lee O’Connor (sp) (Defender, Celtic, Loan ended); Liam Ridehalgh (r) (Defender, Bradford City); Sid Nelson (Defender, Northampton Town); Ali Crawford (Midfielder, Bolton Wanderers, Loan ended); Corey Blackett-Taylor (Midfielder, released); Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick (sp) (Midfielder, Gillingham); Nya Kirby (Midfielder, Crystal Palace, Loan ended); Otis Khan (sp) (Midfielder, released); Paul Lewis (r) (Midfielder, Northampton Town); Danny Walker-Rice (Attacker, Bala Town); David Nugent (sp) (Attacker, Preston North End, Loan ended); George Nugent (Attacker, Witton Albion); James Vaughan (k) (Attacker, retired); Kaiyne Woolery (r) (Attacker, Motherwell)

Micky Mellon’s return to Tranmere Rovers after a year’s sojourn in Dundee came as something of a surprise to most people in football. Back-to-back promotions had seen Mellon take Rovers from the National League to League One but he then left in the aftermath of relegation back to League Two using the PPG method in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. What followed was a rollercoaster season with three different managers that ended in an ignominious play-off semi-final defeat to Morecambe. Caretaker boss Ian Dawes was extremely critical of his players after the second leg and, barely a week later, Mark and Nicola Palios had brought Mellon back to the club. Striker and leading goalscorer James Vaughan subsequently announced his retirement following knee surgery whilst defenders Liam Ridehalgh and Manny Monthe, midfielders Danny Lloyd-McGoldrick and Paul Lewis and striker Kaiyne Woolery have all moved on for pastures new. Mellon will be pleased to have held on to centre-back and leader Peter Clarke and creative midfielder Liam Feeney. Goalkeeper Scott Davies will miss the first half of the season with an Achilles injury and could bring Celtic goalkeeper Ross Doohan on loan until January. He has made a number of impressive additions which could make all the difference in their push for promotion. Right-back Josh Cogley, midfielders Ryan Watson and Sam Foley and Liverpool loan striker Paul Glatzel have arrived but the standout capture is winger Callum McManaman, following a spell in Australia.

Target

Automatic promotion. There is a lot of hope and expectation following Mellon’s return to Birkenhead and his squad already looks strong.