Pundit makes exciting L1 prediction on Stockport County, Wrexham and Mansfield Town | OneFootball

EFL pundit and former England international Carlton Palmer has predicted that Stockport County and Wrexham will be near the top of League One next season.

Both Stockport and Wrexham confirmed their promotions from League Two last Saturday, whilst Mansfield Town confirmed theirs on Tuesday night, with Stockport winning the league title.

All three sides have been miles clear of the rest of the division and secured their promotions with two games left to play. Only MK Dons’ late surge in the second half of the season gave them any competition in the final months.

This has meant that Dave Challinor’s Stockport bounced back from their play-off final defeat last season, whilst Phil Parksinson’s Wrexham achieved back-to-back promotions after winning the National League the season prior.

This has meant that Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield have all returned to the third tier after 14, 19 and 21 years away respectively.

Carlton Palmer gives his prediction on how the promoted teams will do in League One next season

Speaking exclusively to FLW, he said: “Fantastic again for Stockport and Dave Challinor, what a fantastic job he has done as manager, my former player, centre-back, has done unbelievably at Stockport, got them promoted again. Wrexham, two promotions on the bounce, and a magnificent achievement by Nigel Clough, a former teammate at England of mine, getting Mansfield promoted to League One.

“I think Wrexham, with deep pockets, I think they could go again. I think Wrexham have signed good players, and Stockport have done the same, they have signed players that were better than the league they were playing in, and both of them I expect to be at the top of the league next season.

“Mansfield, we will have to see, I don’t know how they fare financially, and whether they will be able to bring in the players that they have done. But when you have had the momentum of getting promoted, you certainly can follow it on as we have seen in several other leagues this season, Stockport and Wrexham, we have seen Ipswich, we have seen these teams looking at back-to-back promotions, so when you get that momentum going, you can do really well.

“So I do expect to see Stockport and Wrexham at the top end of the table, I think both of those clubs have money to spend, and we will have to see how Mansfield do.”

Stockport and Wrexham will fancy themselves next season

Both Stockport and Wrexham will be ambitious next season, having some of the biggest budgets in the division.

Both clubs have shown a willingness to spend in League Two, so you can expect that to carry on in League One.

The momentum that all three clubs have, especially Wrexham after achieving back-to-back promotions, could well propel them towards the top of League One next season.

There is no clear favourite to win the division next season at the moment, with two teams still to be confirmed to come down from the Championship.

But Stockport manager Challinor has already stated that the club’s aim will be to achieve promotion to the Championship at the first time of asking, so you can expect Wrexham to have similar expectations.

Mansfield do not spend as much as the other two though, so naturally people’s expectations of them at the moment are low. But either way, it will be interesting to see how well all three of them do in League One next season.