Lincoln - Last season 17th, Bookies 40/1 11th - Reputedly handed a budget of just £400,000 to assemble a full time squad, boss David Holdsworth has been in full Arthur Daley mode to get something close to a respectable team. The sale of striker Sam Smith, one of the few to escape last season with any dignity, was partially motivated in order to sign two more players. The Imps are unlikely to rip up trees this season, but they should have an easier ride than last term's flirt with relegation.
Luton - Last season 5th, Bookies 3/1 1st - Like Dante in Clerks, Luton are not even supposed to be here. They hate the Conference, their fans hate the Conference, but they hate the footballing authorities even more. Now in their fourth year in the fifth tier after three failed play-off campaigns, Paul Buckle is the third man to try and get them out of the division. Strikers Jon Shaw and Scott Rendell have both come in to bolster a forward line that saw ex-Bull Stuart Fleetwood top score with just 16 last term as they scraped into the final play-off spot.
Macclesfield - Last season L2 24th (r), Bookies 28/1 9th - Silkmen fans have joked that new manager Steve King did his summer shopping on Football Manager rather than any actual scouting missions. 'Random' signings of a plethora of fancily-named lower league footballers, several of whom have never graced a stage as high as the Conference, leads many Moss Rose regular to wonder quite what the coming season is going to be. Promising to get the ball forward quickly, King has signed only one striker in the form of Matthew Barnes-Homer. The 26 year old netted semi-regularly for Kidderminster and Luton, but has been nomadic both before and since those two clubs.
Mansfield - Last season 3rd, Bookies 5/1 2nd - The Stags seek a return to the League backed by John Radford's millions. Boss Paul Cox has poached players from most of his promotion rivals - Jamie Tolley and Jake Speight from Wrexham, Luke Jones from Kidderminster, Godfrey Poku and George Pilkington from Luton - in a bid to improve on last season's third place. All indications are that there is still plenty of cash in the Mansfield war chest should early results not be quite on the pace, with the cash at Cox's disposal also capable of taking the likes of Lee Beevers over a rival offer from Walsall.
Newport - Last season 19th, Bookies 50/1 12th - With the press claiming that the club is on the verge of a serious cash injection, the Exiles could find themselves suddenly propelled into the play-off picture. Touted as relegation prospects in early bookies lists, the Rodney Parade club have made a number of shrewd signings including former Luton forwards Danny Crow and Aaron O'Connor and now sit in the middle of expectations for the coming season. However, if the cash injection fails to materialise then the budgeted 1,800 crowds could be the start of another financial disaster for the club which averaged only two thirds of that last season.
Nuneaton - Last season 5th Conf North (p), Bookies 250/1 18th= - Surprise Conf North play-off winners, Nuneaton are not expected to dent the top half of the table at all. A different club, and stadium, to the one the Bulls faced in their last Conference spell, financial disaster has seen the club sink to the depths and rise back up again since a 2008 reformation. A team largely made up of players that have failed to make the grade previously at Conference level, they have spent most of their summer spending money on more of the same with only former Telford forward Kyle Perry having any extensive experience at this level.
Luton - Last season 5th, Bookies 3/1 1st - Like Dante in Clerks, Luton are not even supposed to be here. They hate the Conference, their fans hate the Conference, but they hate the footballing authorities even more. Now in their fourth year in the fifth tier after three failed play-off campaigns, Paul Buckle is the third man to try and get them out of the division. Strikers Jon Shaw and Scott Rendell have both come in to bolster a forward line that saw ex-Bull Stuart Fleetwood top score with just 16 last term as they scraped into the final play-off spot.
Macclesfield - Last season L2 24th (r), Bookies 28/1 9th - Silkmen fans have joked that new manager Steve King did his summer shopping on Football Manager rather than any actual scouting missions. 'Random' signings of a plethora of fancily-named lower league footballers, several of whom have never graced a stage as high as the Conference, leads many Moss Rose regular to wonder quite what the coming season is going to be. Promising to get the ball forward quickly, King has signed only one striker in the form of Matthew Barnes-Homer. The 26 year old netted semi-regularly for Kidderminster and Luton, but has been nomadic both before and since those two clubs.
Mansfield - Last season 3rd, Bookies 5/1 2nd - The Stags seek a return to the League backed by John Radford's millions. Boss Paul Cox has poached players from most of his promotion rivals - Jamie Tolley and Jake Speight from Wrexham, Luke Jones from Kidderminster, Godfrey Poku and George Pilkington from Luton - in a bid to improve on last season's third place. All indications are that there is still plenty of cash in the Mansfield war chest should early results not be quite on the pace, with the cash at Cox's disposal also capable of taking the likes of Lee Beevers over a rival offer from Walsall.
Newport - Last season 19th, Bookies 50/1 12th - With the press claiming that the club is on the verge of a serious cash injection, the Exiles could find themselves suddenly propelled into the play-off picture. Touted as relegation prospects in early bookies lists, the Rodney Parade club have made a number of shrewd signings including former Luton forwards Danny Crow and Aaron O'Connor and now sit in the middle of expectations for the coming season. However, if the cash injection fails to materialise then the budgeted 1,800 crowds could be the start of another financial disaster for the club which averaged only two thirds of that last season.
Nuneaton - Last season 5th Conf North (p), Bookies 250/1 18th= - Surprise Conf North play-off winners, Nuneaton are not expected to dent the top half of the table at all. A different club, and stadium, to the one the Bulls faced in their last Conference spell, financial disaster has seen the club sink to the depths and rise back up again since a 2008 reformation. A team largely made up of players that have failed to make the grade previously at Conference level, they have spent most of their summer spending money on more of the same with only former Telford forward Kyle Perry having any extensive experience at this level.