EFL 2020-21: New season begins after 38-day summer break

After 106 years, Harrogate Town kick off their first English Football League campaign with a trip to Southend United on Saturday.

Their League Two season opener comes just 41 days after they beat Notts County in the National League promotion final at Wembley at the end of a season that was dragged out to 365 days because of the pandemic.

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver simply says “there hasn’t been enough hours in the day” to get the Yorkshire club ready for the historic campaign.

There hasn’t even been time to ensure they start life in the EFL in their own home town, as work to replace the synthetic pitch at their Wetherby Road ground with grass means the Sulphurites will initially groundshare with Doncaster Rovers 42 miles away.

“Everyone is so excited about this new chapter in the club’s history,” he told BBC Radio York.

“Everything has been a whirlwind. There has not been much time to reflect on what happened a few weeks ago in terms of promotion.

“But in a way that is a good thing because we have forward momentum, everyone is still buzzing from that high we gained and we are ready and energised.

“You couldn’t get through the workload we’ve had to get through if our heads were in the clouds. We have got to this point because of a good work ethic and because our collective spirit has been fantastic.”

Joining them in League Two is Barrow, a club making their Football League return after a 48-year absence having not been relegated in the first place.

The Cumbrian side were cruelly voted out of England’s fourth tier in 1972 and fittingly voted back in almost half a century later after the regular National League season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic and they were declared champions in June.

Former Blackburn midfielder David Dunn leads them back into the EFL as manager having taken over from Ian Evatt, who left to become Bolton Wanderers boss after guiding the Bluebirds to promotion.