Today I'm going back just three years to 2019 and the League 2 Play-Off final between Newport County and Tranmere Rovers in a match played before 25,217 spectators. The programme cover is another that I approve of: it has a simple design, a picture of the prize at stake and demonstrates graphic design at its finest.
Interestingly the EFL brand logo is shown in the bottom right hand corner of that programme cover. From the beginning of the 2016/17 season, The Football League decided to refer to itself as the English Football League or EFL for short. At the time, Shaun Harvey, the CEO of the EFL said in a piece of remarkable marketing gobbledygook "The new EFL name rightly emphasizes the central role our clubs play at the heart of English professional football. In an increasingly challenging global sports market, it is absolutely essential that sports properties can project a modern identity that not only resonates with their regular audience but is also easily recognizable to a broader audience of potential fans, viewers, and commercial partners. We believe the EFL name and brand will give our competitions an identity that is new and distinct, while at the same time retaining our unique heritage. As such, it will be something that all fans can identify with – whether they be young or old, at home or abroad". Isn't that a great use of a load of words that convey more or less nothing? In my view, the phrase "the Football League" was unique in not mentioning the country it related to because it was the first Football League in the world. Now that has been swept away for the sake of modernity and marketing and that's such a shame. I suppose that sometime soon we should expect "The Football Association" to rebrand itself as " The English Football Association"? By the way, if you've got nothing better to do you might like to count those dots or circles on that EFL logo. There are 72 in total representing the 72 member clubs comprising the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2.
The 46 games per club in the EFL's League 2 of 2018/19 saw Champions Lincoln City, Bury and Franchise FC (MK Dons) automatically promoted with Mansfield Town, Forest Green Rovers, Tranmere Rovers and Newport County finishing in the Play-Off places in that order. It meant that Mansfield met Newport County and Forest Green met Tranmere Rovers in the Play-Off semi-Finals and, perhaps surprisingly, it was the two clubs finishing in sixth and seventh positions at the end of the regular season who won through to League 2's Wembley Play-Off final. Newport beat Mansfield on penalties in their Semi-Final after a 1-1 draw on aggregate whilst Tranmere vanquished Forest Green 2-1 also on aggregate. The previous season, Tranmere Rovers were promoted into League 2 from the Non-League National League so they now had the chance to achieve back-to-back promotions.
On a warm day at Wembley the game was low on chances and, at the end of 90 minutes, the sides remained locked at 0-0. One of the best chances fell to Rovers striker James Norwood who had finished the regular season as League 2's top goal scorer with 29 goals, but his blistering shot on target was well-parried by the Newport goalkeeper. Newport also managed to hit the post a couple of times but the ball simply would not go in and further County penalty appeals were waved away by the referee in a situation where, I think, some VAR assistance would have advised him to consult the screens. In the referee's defence I can only say that the Newport player who went down in the area was clearly looking for a penalty and, in the end, was probably a victim of his own exaggerated dive which made the foul look like it might have actually been play acting. Next, in the final minute of the 90, we saw Newport's Mark O'Brien sent off for a second yellow card when he pulled down Norwood in a clear professional foul to give Rovers a man advantage in the 30 minutes of extra time. That man advantage probably made the difference in the end although only just. After 119 minutes of the scheduled 120 minutes of play we were readying ourselves for a penalty shoot out when up popped Tranmere's Connor Jennings to nod home a cross that left the County keeper floundering. There was virtually no time remaining and Tranmere had secured their second promotion in two seasons.
CRB Match No. 2314
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