League One promotion fight: Rampant Blues cruise, but it’s game on to go up with them

By Chris Dunlavy

The fight for promotions from League One 

Has the summit of League One ever been stronger? From big-spending Birmingham City to Wrexham and their Hollywood backers, the third tier has riches the envy of many a Championship side.

The Blues are home and hosed, nobody is catching Chris Davies’ side now – but who will join them in the second tier?

“I don’t rule anyone in or out,” said Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson, whose side began the weekend in third.

“There are plenty of teams who will still be thinking they’ve got a great chance to get automatic promotion, and a lot of teams thinking they can make the play-offs.”

There certainly are – here are the runners and riders in a constantly-changing race for the Championship…

Title-chasers

Chase? More like a procession.

Birmingham are over the hills, far away and cantering into the sunset.

When Krystian Bielik announced that the Blues were “too good” for League One in September, the Pole appeared primed for an egg to the face.

But the versatile Blues man was spot on.

Though behind Wycombe Wanderers and Wrexham at various points, Birmingham have topped League One for most of 2025 and are now thundering towards an instant Championship return.

No-one should be surprised.

Backed by US businessman Tom Wagner, Birmingham are one of the wealthiest clubs in the EFL, let alone League One, as the spectacular £12m capture of Jay Stansfield illustrated last summer.

The 22-year-old striker has scored 16 times this term and is likely to spearhead an immediate assault to reach the Premier League next season.

Promotion-Hunters

Now it gets interesting.

For most of the season, the race for automatic promotion appeared a three-way contest between Birmingham, Wycombe and Wrexham.

Yet as the Blues have eased clear, the other two have been reeled in by a chasing pack that contains some formidably in-form outfits.

Charlton Athletic are on a storming run, with last weekend’s 2-1 victory over Wigan Athletic marking a 13th win in 19 games since December 21.

Only Birmingham (and not by much) have collected more points in that period than Nathan Jones’ side.

“Nathan’s certainly got them on a roll,” said former Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder David Prutton recently.

“I think he’s had the time to create the club in his own image, get the right people in the right places, and, more importantly, move people on that didn’t quite fit his vision of what he wanted Charlton to be.

“Now they’ve got every chance.”

The Addicks face Wycombe and Wrexham in back-to-back away games towards the end of the campaign – the key will be sustaining their current form long enough to make those fixtures count.

After a brief festive wobble, Stockport County had lost just one in nine ahead of yesterday’s huge six-pointer with old foes Wrexham.

Leyton Orient, Barnsley and Bolton Wanderers have all been dispatched within that run, making a mockery of any notion that the January departure of Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry would derail the Hatters’ season.

With five of their last eight at home and a trip to Wycombe on the final day, Dave Challinor’s men are firmly in the mix.

Chairboys’ chances

Wycombe slipped out of the automatic promotion places for the first time since October following last weekend’s damaging 1-0 defeat at home to Wrexham, only to bounce straight back with a vital 3-2 win at Rotherham.

That victory was just the Chairboys’ third in eight league games since Mike Dodds replaced Matt Bloomfield and they have been living off the proceeds of a blistering start to the campaign for quite some time.

Can they rally for one last sprint down the home straight?

Tuesday’s battling win says yes, and it should not be overlooked that Wycombe wield the division’s top scorer in Richard Kone.

The Chairboys’ testing run-in, however, makes Wrexham the clear favourites to land that second spot.

Though far from their rampant best in recent weeks, Phil Parkinson’s side are steadily grinding out results and striker Sam Smith – a £2m signing from Reading in January – is popping up with some key goals.

A fixture list that includes five bottom-half teams should hold no fear and the Red Dragons will hope to have a record-breaking third consecutive promotion in the bag by the time Charlton visit the Racecourse two from home.

Play-off contenders 

Inconsistency has plagued the play-off contenders all season.

Huddersfield Town, Barnsley, Leyton Orient – all of them have appeared poised to take a grip on the top six, only to fall dramatically off the boil.

It is why the likes of Stockport, Charlton and Wycombe can probably rest assured that they will secure at least a play-off berth, and why outsiders like Blackpool, Lincoln City and Stevenage can – just – cling to a pipe dream.

Bolton are the latest team to get the jitters.

Having surged into the top six on a run of five wins from six games under new gaffer Steven Schumacher, defeats to Bristol Rovers and Stockport launched them straight back out again.

An odd proposition all season, the Trotters are blessed with a fine array of attacking options and a red-hot striker in John McAtee, above, but can’t keep the back door shut for love nor money.

Only the division’s relegation battlers have shipped more goals, and a tally of one clean sheet in ten games makes them hard to back, despite a relatively gentle run-in.

Schumacher, though, is keeping the faith.

“We’re on the back end of two results that have gone against us but what we need to remember is we’ve given ourselves a brilliant chance,” said the 40-year-old, who won the League One title with Plymouth Argyle in 2023.

“I certainly won’t lose belief in them and I hope our fans don’t either.”

Barnsley & Leyton Orient

Barnsley and Leyton Orient have also dropped off the pace.

Both will be hard pressed to mount a revival from here.

The Tykes are in freefall, a sequence of eight defeats in 12 games pre-weekend leaving the Yorkshire side on the periphery of the chase.

The recent dismissal of manager Darrell Clarke suggests the club’s owners haven’t given up hope, but they will need to be pitch perfect in the final eight games – including a trip to Birmingham.

Orient arrested their own headlong tumble with a victory at Blackpool last time out.

What that means remains to be seen, but the dizzying run of 12 wins from 15 games that thrust the unfancied O’s into the mix was never going to be sustainable.

That they are even in with a shout is a major achievement.

Reading

Much the same can be said of Reading, for whom catastrophic financial problems, the loss of an inspirational manager in Ruben Selles and the sale of top-scorer Sam Smith have proved water off a duck’s back.

The Royals’ young squad are now unbeaten in ten under Noel Hunt, left, but will be tested by a gruelling schedule of five away games in their final eight.

Huddersfield

Huddersfield began the weekend in possession of sixth spot thanks to a 5-1 demolition job on Crawley Town last time out, but it’s difficult to draw any concrete conclusions from that.

The Terriers have seesawed madly all season and are about as predictable as Donald Trump’s outbursts, with the recent departure of manager Michael Duff throwing yet another variable into the mix.

Can big-money January signing Joe Taylor, left, find his groove?

Will games against three of the current top five dash their hopes?

With this lot, it’s anyone’s guess.