Port Vale and Chesterfield among teams Gillingham must set their sights on: View | OneFootball

Gillingham are gunning for promotion this season, and FLW highlights some of the sides they'll have to outbattle to win their way out of League Two.

Pre-season has begun, as the countdown to the 2024/25 League Two season gets underway, and now fans are starting to pay attention to which teams they think will be their main competition ahead of the coming campaign.

Gillingham’s stated aim is promotion to League One, so the three automatic promotion places are the clear target for Mark Bonner and his side, with the consolation prize of the play-offs – and the chance of earning promotion at Wembley – still there if they fall narrowly short.

While the Gills will be going hell for leather in a bid to get out of English football’s fourth tier, a host of other clubs will be kicking off their respective campaigns with exactly the same ambitions. But which clubs will offer the biggest competition as Gillingham look to battle their way out of League Two this season? There is a whole host of clubs who are heading into the season with legitimate hopes and aspirations of a promotion season, whether it's via the automatics or via the dramatic, gut-wrenching play-offs.

Chesterfield are clear contenders for the League Two title

One of the teams expected to contend strongly in 2024/25 is Chesterfield, who earned promotion back into the EFL on a wave of goals last season.

The Spireites hit 106 goals and ended the season with a +41 goal difference to win the league by a whopping 22 points from Barnet, and they’ll be looking to carry that momentum into the 2024/25 campaign back in the EFL.

The club has signed a pair of goal-hungry strikers from opposite ends of the footballing spectrum. Kane Drummond will look to establish himself as a Football League striker after signing for the club from seventh-tier Macclesfield, while veteran hitman Paddy Madden’s signing was seen by the rest of the division as a real statement of intent, with the 34-year-old arriving after helping Stockport to the League Two title last season.

The big question marks will be over their defence and how they adapt to dealing with higher-calibre opposition, but with the likes of Madden offering a legitimate threat up top, they’ll be a tough test for anyone this season, and could be right in the mix when we reach the business end of the season.

Chesterfield may be one of the more fancied sides this season, but their arrival in League Two from the National League won't necessarily be a repeat of Wrexham's return to the EFL. The Spireites will be playing on a similar playing field to their rivals, and won't have the same amount of financial clout to operate with a Paul Mullin-calibre player in their ranks. However, they are a winning team, and if they can hit the ground running in August, it wouldn't be surprising to see them setting the pace in the early months of the season.

Port Vale already look like strong contenders

While many people think Chesterfield could be serious contenders to secure back-to-back promotions, one of the teams that I think could make a real run at the League Two title this year is a side that was relegated from the division above last season.

Port Vale finished second-from-bottom of League One last season, and they have wasted no time in addressing their shortcomings, with a busy summer of transfer activity seeing them add some real quality to their squad as they look to immediately bounce back into the third tier at the first attempt.

They’ve been incredibly busy in the summer window already, and have secured some notable signings in the form of former Fleetwood and Charlton striker Jayden Stockley, former AFC Wimbledon winger Ronan Curtis and midfielder Ryan Croasdale, who was part of the Stockport County team that won League Two last season. They’ve also brought in former Manchester United and Wigan goalkeeper Ben Amos.

The Valiants are clearly going all-in on promotion this season and, with the respected and experienced Darren Moore at the helm, they’re likely to be many fans’ pick as the team to beat in League Two this season.

To add a little more intrigue into the mix, a glance at the Gills’ fixture list shows that their final game of the League Two season is at Vale Park. Given the high expectations at both clubs, that game could potentially be pivotal for both teams. Could it even be a final-day promotion decider?

Who else will break from the pack to challenge in League Two

While Chesterfield and Port Vale look like surefire contenders in League Two this season, there's a gaggle of clubs who will be jostling for position, with a number of clubs hoping to become contenders, rather than pretenders, in 2024/25.

MK Dons haven't been shy in their transfer activity this summer, with an aggressive start to the summer window showing their intention to bounce back from their playoff disappointment last season.

Evergreen defender and club captain Dean Lewington is still at the club, having been there since its inception in 2004, and the 40-year-old will hope that he can lead his new-look side into League One in his 21st season with the club.

He'll be helped by a raft of new signings, with the club's summer recruitment seemingly focused on bolstering their midfield options, with four midfielders added to the squad already this summer.

They’ll need to refresh their attacking options, having seen the departure of striker Max Dean to Belgian side Gent this summer, but they’ve partly addressed that already with the signing of Salford City’s Callum Hendry.

They might not quite have the firepower to go up as champions, but they should be in the mix for the playoffs, and given a fair wind, could challenge for a top three spot.

They could find themselves battling with the likes of Carlisle United and Doncaster Rovers, with both clubs making some solid summer additions to help lay the groundwork for potential promotion pushes.

Carlisle may have finished bottom of the League One table last season, but they’re already making strides to ensure they’re well-placed to bounce straight back up this term.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a side that shipped 81 goals last season, much of Carlisle’s transfer activity so far this summer has focused on their defence, with former Carlisle man Aaron Hayden returning to the club after three years at Wrexham. He’s joined by former Brighton, Crawley and Dudalk defender Archie Davies, Charlton’s Terell Thomas and Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s Cameron Harper.

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson is in his second stint at his hometown club and, having staged a “Great Escape” to avoid relegation from League 1 in 2022/23, he was unable to prevent the team from slipping through the trapdoor last season. He would love nothing more than to put things right and send his club back into English football’s third tier, and he's been looking to make his side a more physical proposition for opponents this season.

Doncaster, meanwhile, have welcomed back a club legend as they look to recapture some of the magic of a few years ago.

Rovers' signing of Billy Sharp is sure to be one of the ongoing narratives in League Two this season, with the veteran hitman signing a one-year deal in a bid to take Donny back into League One and in the process earn the sixth promotion of his playing career.

Sharp will provide a smart, savvy penalty-box presence for Rovers this season, while their other summer signings have signalled an intent to fare even better than last season, when a remarkable late-season run saw them surge into the League Two playoffs.

Former Carlisle United winger Jordan Gibson, ex-Solihull Moors midfielder Joe Sbarra and teenage winger Ephraim Yeboah should add energy and creativity to the squad, while former Grimsby man Harry Clifton will likely be asked to fill the shoes of departing Harrison Biggins.

But despite the addition of new faces to freshen up their squad, perhaps the best piece of business was signing Donny forward Luke Molyneux to a new three-year deal. His late-season form in front of goal was one of the key factors in Rovers’ charge into the playoffs, and he, and Doncaster, will be looking to continue that momentum into this season.

Another side that could be expected to contend for a playoff spot is Bradford City, but concerns have already been raised with the club not strengthening as expected during the early part of the summer window.

City owner Stefan Rupp’s recent comments saying that Bradford is “too big to just be one of the teams in League Two” may rub some people the wrong way, but football is a meritocracy and, just like the other 23 sides in League Two, they're in this division for a reason.

If Bradford don't want to be "too big for League Two" again next season, they'll need to recruit strongly over the remaining weeks of the summer window in order to keep pace with some of the other sides who have added quality ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

Gillingham have the firepower to be a promotion contender in 2024/25

While the aforementioned clubs will all head into the coming campaign with hopes of promotion in May, Gillingham look far better equipped to make a real run at promotion themselves.

The hiring of first-time boss Stephen Clemence last season often produced reactive, back-foot football and that, along with a misfiring forward line and a general lack of pace and creativity in the side, meant a solid start to the season ended in mid-table mediocrity.

The club has made some bold off-season changes to try to address those issues. Owner Brad Galinson and new CEO Joe Comper opted to let Clemence go (he's since joined Barrow) and brought in former Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner, whose upbeat, positive personality and stated desire to play front-foot football and "outscore" teams have already won over the Gills' support.

Bonner's hiring was swiftly followed by a quartet of excellent additions. Striker Elliott Nevitt will add grunt, and goals, to a forward line that desperately needed a refresh, while wingers Jack Nolan and Aaron Rowe will be expected to provide service, as well as a fair few goals themselves, from wide areas. The midfield was also bolstered with the addition of AFC Wimbledon's Armani Little, who is expected to play a pivotal role in the middle of the park for Bonner's Gills this season.

More signings are expected, with the club's "Phase 2" of recruitment set to bring in key loan signings to add more quality to the playing squad.

It all means that there's a feeling of optimism at Priestfield Stadium heading into the new season. There will be plenty of twists and turns along the way, and some of the aforementioned clubs will come to the fore, while others fall away. But hopes are high that Gillingham now have the right man at the helm, and the right sort of players in the squad, to give the club a real shot at promotion in 2024/25. If they can finish ahead of Chesterfield and Port Vale, there's a very good chance the Gills will finish the season in one of the three automatic promotion places.

While last season had Wrexham as the clear favourites to win the league, this season in League Two looks absolutely wide open. And with a host of clubs eyeing the chance to break from the pack and earn promotion, this year in League Two could deliver a thrilling scrap between a number of teams before the final promotion spots are eventually decided.