It will have been a fair few years (if ever) that the League 2 promotion race has had this much interest but the story of what is going on at Wrexham is transcending sport. Can the Welsh giants follow-up their National League title with back-to-back promotions? They are the favourites and we take a look at some of the prices of the top teams…

As I sit here on Friday 28 July, just over a week before the season starts, Wrexham’s star man is currently recovering from a punctured lung in the United States and is set to miss the first few games of the season whilst he recuperates. The 28 year-old has a phenomenal campaign and will be key to Phil Parkinson’s plans to win League 2. I don’t think his absence will harm their promotion push too much but it is certainly less than ideal preparation. The Red Dragons have not invested heavily in their squad but you’d have to wonder whether they had to. We are odds-on at 4/5 that they are playing in League 1 for the 24/25 season.

Stockport got close last year but Wembley heartache sees them remain in the fourth-tier for at least one more year. We have them as the second-choice in the betting at 5/4 to win promotion but I just can’t look beyond the two teams that came up from the National League.

In terms of statement signings, you can’t do much better at this level than David McGoldrick and considering he bagged 22 goals for League 1 Derby a year ago and he’s joining 42-goal man Macauley Langstaff up top, that is one potent partnership that has every chance to be extremely prolific. The Langstaff/Mullen anytime goalscorer double will be extremely popular all season long. Out of the top three in the promotion betting market, the 7/4 for Notts County feels like the best value of the bunch.

For a year I lived in the Medway Towns and Gillingham were my local club. They weren’t very good then but after a disappointing campaign a year ago, some significant investment in the squad came in January that really got things turned around and they haven’t slowed down this summer. Plenty of positivity is coming out of Prestfield but I don’t see them as on the level of Wrexham or Notts County so I’ll bypass them at 9/4 to win promotion.

Mansfield are the fifth-choice but Gillingham keep raiding them and signing some of their best players. Oli Hawkins, George Lapslie and Lewis Page all swapped Field Mill for the bracing wind of the River Medway. I’m not feeling much value here.

Before Wrexham, the most famous club in this division were Salford City and whilst the interest in the whole Class of ‘92 seems to have ebbed somewhat, they continue to be there or thereabouts in terms of gunning for promotion in League 1. Neil Wood managed to survive the whole season, which was a big plus but they failed come play-off time going down on penalties. At 7/2 and the eighth choice to win promotion according to the Betfred market, that actually feels like a spot of value.

If you want a longshot that feels like they are a bit longer than I’d expect then how about Swindon Town? Charlie Austin might be 34 but he can still score 20-25 goals at this level. If you have a goalscorer then you always have a chance. The Robins can be backed at 6/1 to win promotion and I’ll tip them up alongside Notts County. Wrexham at odds-on are just too obvious a choice for me.