The 2024/25 League Two season recently came to an end with Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale, Bradford City and AFC Wimbledon winning promotion to the third tier after one of the closest title races of all time.
At the other end of the table, Carlisle became the second team in two years to suffer successive relegations from League One to the National League. They will be joined in the fifth tier by Morecambe, who were a League One club themselves just two years ago.
The campaign saw the emergence of a number of exciting new players like Gabriel Breeze, Michael Cheek, Alassana Jatta and George Abbott.
But, as these players emerged, a number of others failed to match preseason expectations. This article will look at 10 of these players, where things went wrong for them this season and how they can bounce back next season.
1. Isaac Ogundere – AFC Wimbledon
The young defender, who came through AFC Wimbledon’s academy, should have been primed to have an excellent season this year, but he has slightly underperformed.
Ogundere started 24 times for the team that kept the joint-most clean sheets, conceded the least goals and conceded the second-lowest xG in the fourth tier this season, but his individual defensive numbers were poor.
The 22-year-old won just 55% of his duels and only 46.8% of his aerial duels this campaign, better than just 19.1% and 5.7% of League Two centre-backs respectively.
This perhaps could have been excused given that the Dons’ number 33 is a natural right-back who was playing predominantly on the right-hand side of a back three, meaning that his attacking numbers should have been better than most. However, this was also not the case as he registered zero goals or assists, created just six chances all season and had a pass accuracy better than just 22.7% of his peers.
Overall, it was a tough individual season for a young player, though this does not take away from Ogundere’s underlying talent which could mean he succeeds in League One next season.
2. Vadaine Oliver – Bradford City
The veteran striker makes this list on somewhat of a technicality as he ended the season on loan with Shrewsbury in League One.
Despite hitting double figures for league goals just three times in his professional career, the 33-year-old has managed to carve out an impressive EFL career.
He was somewhat of a marquee signing for the Bantams in the summer of 2022 as he had scored 33 goals across his two-year stint at Gillingham.
However, Oliver has consistently underperformed for the duration of his three-year stay in West Yorkshire, scoring just seven times in 64 appearances at the University of Bradford Stadium.
An injury to talisman Andy Cook at the start of January could have kicked Oliver’s career at Bradford into life, but he ended the League Two season with no goals, and just four shots, from 12 brief appearances.
Hopefully, a fresh start next campaign can mean that he re-finds the form he showed at Gillingham.
3. Kabongo Tshimanga – Swindon Town
Tshimanga actually had a pretty decent season on loan at Swindon Town, but those simply looking at his basic statistics will majorly misunderstand what type of player he has evolved into.
At face value, 11 league goals in 39 appearances may signify that a striker who was prolific in the National League for many years had finally found his feet in the English Football League.
Whilst this is the case to a certain extent, there is one important caveat. Six of those goals came from the penalty spot.
The Tshimanga that Swindon fans saw last season was not the prolific hitman that National League fans remember. In fact, he averaged just 0.24 non-penalty xG per 90, better than just 40.5% of League Two strikers.
The 27-year-old was employed in a slightly deeper position behind Harry Smith, who acted as the main focal point, and his main strength was his creativity. On average, he created 1.42 chances per 90 which was better than 89.2% of his peers.
Tshimanga enjoyed his best season in the EFL to date as his goalscoring returns were reasonable and he was as creative as he has ever been. But, the player that was around from 2019-2022 is not fully back, yet.
4. Danilo Orsi – MK Dons
Danilo Orsi enjoyed a strange 24/25 season.
He started the year with lots of momentum, having just scored 25 goals to fire Crawley Town to promotion, earning himself a move to Burton Albion in the process. The 29-year-old scored seven times for the Brewers in the first half of the campaign and actually finished the season as their second-highest goalscorer in League One.
This was before he, slightly inexplicably, decided to drop back into the fourth tier with MK Dons and reunite with Scott Lindsey, who had got the best out of him at Crawley.
Orsi’s move to Milton Keynes was somewhat of a disaster. He scored just three times in 18 appearances for the Dons as Lindsey was sacked just a month after the striker joined the club.
He found himself outside of the starting XI regularly in the last month of the season and he is now in somewhat of an awkward position this summer as Burton managed to claw themselves out of the relegation zone whilst he was gone.
The Englishman has proven that he can score prolifically in the right environment on multiple occasions in the past, so picking the right club in the summer will be vital for his career.
5. Paddy Madden – Chesterfield
Madden is a striker who has been consistently prolific for a number of years, but he struggled in his first season in Derbyshire with a combination of injuries and old age limiting the Irishman to just 968 league minutes.
The 35-year-old joined Chesterfield off the back of winning promotion from the fourth tier with Stockport County, scoring 22 goals in the process. This meant that there was an expectation for the frontman to fire Chesterfield to back-to-back promotions.
Unfortunately, Madden largely failed to deliver. He scored five times in 27 league appearances, nine of which came from the start, and he ended the season with fewer goals than Aribim Pepple and Dilan Markanday, who were both only at the club for half of the season.
Madden is an excellent finisher, but he struggled to get involved in Chesterfield’s play in and around the box. He averaged a measly 2.88 touches in the opposition box per 90, a stat bettered by 88.3% of League Two strikers.
Although he is under contract at the SMH Group Stadium next season, it remains to be seen if he will be heavily involved with the first team. Perhaps his vast experience will prove more useful off the pitch.
6. Carl Jenkinson – Bromley
Arguably the most well-known player in the fourth tier last season, Jenkinson’s return to England was very underwhelming.
The former Arsenal man returned to the EFL after a three-year stint in Australia in which he was relatively fit and played quite often.
Sadly, these two qualities were not repeated at Bromley.
The former England international made just 13 appearances for the Ravens as he was mired by injuries. In fact, from the day he signed in September to early February, Jenkinson made just five appearances for the London-based club.
He had a strong run in the side from early February to early March, but yet another injury ended his season early.
Jenkinson has undoubtedly shown his potential at Bromley, they have lost just one league game and kept six clean sheets when he has played, and this has led to him getting a new contract for next season.
If a full preseason helps him to stay fit, the 33-year-old could be the best right-back in the division next year.
7. Charlie Lakin – Walsall
Charlie Lakin had such an exciting spell at Sutton United at the end of last season and, although he started 30 games for the team that finished in fourth place, he has not quite lived up to expectations this campaign.
The former Birmingham City man joined Sutton on loan in January 2023, scoring eight times and providing five assists as he tried his best to single-handedly drag his side out of the relegation zone.
The 26-year-old has had a solid season at Walsall this year, though his performances in the centre of the pitch have been nowhere near as dynamic as they were last season.
His underlying attacking numbers remain relatively good compared to other midfielders in the division, but his creative output has greatly diminished. Last campaign, he created 0.23 expected assists (xA) and 2.22 chances per 90, but these numbers have dropped to a mere 0.04 xA and 1.04 chances per 90 this campaign.
The 24/25 season has been a bit of a whirlwind for Walsall and perhaps having a summer to reset and return to familiar surroundings will allow Lakin to be at his very best next season.
8. Ethan Wheatley – Walsall
Ethan Wheatley has enjoyed an incredibly distinguished career in youth football and he made history by becoming the 250th academy player to play for Manchester United in the 2023/24 season, but his spell at Walsall has been very flat.
The young striker has represented England at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels and he scored 18 goals in 16 appearances for Man United’s under-18 side during the 23/24 campaign.
After seven goals in nine appearances for the Red Devils’ under-21 side in the Premier League 2, as well as four appearances for the first team over the past two seasons, he moved to the Saddlers on loan in January.
Mat Sadler was not happy with what he saw from the 19-year-old in training, meaning that the player who was potentially signed to replace the dynamic Nathan Lowe was limited to two starts, 168 minutes and zero goals.
Wheatley is undeniably extremely talented and the last six months will have been a very harsh learning experience for both him and United, who need to find the right club to send him to next year.
9. Lewis Warrington – Salford City
In the 2022/23 season, Lewis Warrington made his senior debut for Everton and played 44 times for Fleetwood Town in League One, earning himself a move to the Championship for the following campaign.
In the second half of this season, he has just endured an unspectacular loan spell at Salford City in League Two.
The 22-year-old played 16 times for the Ammies from January onwards, but most of these appearances came from the bench.
There have been some good aspects to his play, he completed all of his eight dribbles and won 6.93 duels per 90, but he won just 52.4% of his tackles and 68.1% of midfielders made more recoveries per 90 than him.
These stats are particularly poor given that he is not producing many goals or assists or creating many chances.
Warrington is another player on this list who has undoubted potential but needs to find the right environment in which he can harness it.
10. Anthony Scully – Colchester United
The luckless Scully exploded into men’s football with Lincoln City in the 20/21 and 21/22 seasons, scoring 32 goals and providing 15 assists in just 94 appearances from the right wing as a youngster.
A good start to the following campaign saw the West Ham academy graduate earn a move to Wigan Athletic, who were in the Championship at the time.
Unfortunately, injuries have stalled any progress that the former Republic of Ireland under-21 international was making and he found himself in League Two with Colchester United this season.
Scully became a forgotten man at the JobServe Community Stadium.
After nine fairly brief appearances in the first few months of the season, the winger had yet another problem with his ankle which has been plaguing him for multiple years.
This led to a slightly embarrassing situation as there was a point in January where fans of both Colchester and Portsmouth, his parent club, did not actually know which club he was technically with as they were not sure if Colchester had sent Scully back to the south coast due to his injuries.
Eventually, Portsmouth manager John Mousinho confirmed that Scully was still with the U’s and his season ended with just 18 appearances and two goals in all competitions.
One can only hope that he manages to stay fit next season.
