2010-11 League Two, Top of the Table
2010-11 Football League Two final table (Soccerway.com).
League Two Play-Offs.
1st Legs,
Saturday, 14 May – Torquay United v. Shrewsbury Town.
Sunday, 15 May – Stevenage v. Accrington Stanley.
2nd Legs,
Friday, 20 May – Shrewsbury Town v. Torquay United.
Friday, 20 May – Accrington Stanley v. Stevenage.
League Two Play-off Final, Saturday, 28 May at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester – Stevenage 1-0 Torquay, attendance: 11,484.
From BBC.co.uk, ‘Stevenage 1 – 0 Torquay‘.
Stevenage win promotion to League One. [That makes it back-to-back promotions for Stevenage...a club that had never been in the Football League before 2010.]
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Chesterfield FC won the 2010-11 League Two title. The Spireites rode the wave of an inaugural season in their new 10,338-seat b2net Stadium in Chesterfield, north Derbyshire, and were energized by the 3,123 per game increase in crowds. Chesterfield ended up averaging 6,834 per game, which was third best in the 2010-11 League Two season (Bradford City and just-promoted Oxford United drew first and second highest in the league this season {2010-11 League Two average attendance (ESPN Soccernet.com)}. In John Sheridan‘s third season as manager, Chesterfield returns to the third tier for the first time in 4 years. The Spireites last spell in the 3rd Level lasted 6 seasons (2001-02 to 2006-07), and only saw Chesterfield reach a high of 16th place [in 2005-06]. The third tier is where Chesterfield has spent the bulk of their seasons {Chesterfield League history, here (Chesterfield-Mad site)}. Chesterfield has spent 51 seasons in the third division, but have never managed to win promotion to the 2nd Level.
The other two automatically-promoted clubs this season in League Two were Greater Manchester’s Bury FC; and, qualifying on the last day of the season, 3rd Level/4th Level yo-yo club Wycombe Wanders, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Wycombe manager Gary Waddock, who took over in October 2009, has returned the Chairboys back to the third tier. Wycombe has a larger fan base than Bury, and were pulling in 5,544 per game in 2009-10, when they had just won promotion to League One (they went straight back down that season). Wycombe have spent 11 seasons previously in the third tier. The Wanderers drew 9th highest in League Two this season, pulling in 4,495 per game. At their 10,000-capacity Adams Park, Wycombe Wanderers have a ground share with the Rugby Union club London Wasps (Wycombe Wanderers own the ground).
Bury are pretty strongly overshadowed by the red and the light blue halves of Manchester, and they must fight for fans with Rochdale AFC, who are fron the adjacent town to Bury, and will renew their deby matches when Bury join ‘Dale in League One next season. Bury have considerable first division history (having spent 22 seasons there) and also own two FA Cup titles (won in 1900 and 1903). But the Shakers have not been in the top flight since 1929. Their last, two-season spell in the second division ended in 1999. Bury survived the abrupt departure of manager Alan Knill to Scunthorpe earlier this spring, and kept their league form under Knill’s replacement, caretaker manager Richard Barker, who had been Bury’s youth team coach. Bury drew 3,313 per game (13th highest in the league), which was an 13.5 percent increase from 2009-10. Bury play at Gigg Lane, which the club owns. They ground-share with supporter-owned 7th Level club FC United of Manchester.
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Photo credits for the map page -
Chesterfield…Exterior photo and first interior photo of b2net Stadium from 100groundclub.blogspot.com, here. West Stand of b2net Stadium photo by Kate Hall (aka ginger kate) at Flickr.com, here. Aerial photo of b2net Stadium from Chesterfield.co.uk, here.
Bury… Gigg Lane photo (furthest on the left) from PitchCare.com, here. Photo of Gigg Lane under the roof of the Main Stand from AwayGrounds.com, here. Aerial photo of Gigg Lane from BuryFCyouth.co.uk, here.
Wycombe… Interior photo of Adams Park from VisitBuckinghamshire.org, here. Exterior photo of Adams Park from Geograph.co.uk, here. Aerial image of Adams Park from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Shrewsbury Town…Exterior photo of the New Meadow [aka Greenhous Meadow] from TheGroundhog.wordpress.com, here. Interior photo of New Meadow by ChrisBrookesPhotography.co.uk at Flicker.com here. Aerial photo of the New Meadow by James Humphreys [aka Colds7ream], at en.wikipedia.org, here; Colds7ream’s wikipedia user page, user:Colds7ream.
Accrington Stanley…Photo of the Crown Ground [aka Fraser Eagle Stadium] with sign by Robert Wade, from Geograph.org.uk, here. Photo taken from the terrace from forums.electronicarts.co.uk, here. Aerial image of the Crown Ground from Bing.cpm.maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Stevenage…Main Stand of Broadhall Way by Campdavemorecambe at Flickr.com, here. Photo of terrace by Ray Stanton at Panoramio.com, here. Aerial image from Bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye satellite view, here.
Torquay United…Exterior photo of Plainmoor from EMPICS Sport, via DailyMail.co.uk. Photo of Plainmoor with terrace in foreground from ImageShack.us, here. Aerial photo of Plainmoor from Stadiums.Football.co.uk, here.
Thanks to HistoricalFootballKits.co.uk, for the kit illustrationa, ‘Npower League Two 2010-11‘.
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘Football League Two‘.
Thanks to ESPN Soccernet for attendances.
