As preparations begin for County’s return to League One next season, we take one last look back on a glorious campaign at Edgeley Park, that ended with the club’s first EFL title in 57 years.
We’ve been crunching the numbers from a season we will never forget, and this is what we’ve found:
Champions again – finishing top of the pile:
Dave Challinor’s side weren’t just Champions this year, but Champions in style after a perfectly timed eight-game winning run saw us wrap up the title with two games to spare – seeing off the challenges of Mansfield Town and Wrexham to eventually finish four points clear at the top.
It marks the seventh successive season that the club have recorded a top-seven finish, across three different divisions from the National League North to League Two, and is the tenth straight year that the club have finished in a higher position in the pyramid than the previous year – with an 11th now guaranteed in League One next season.
Having gone 52 years without winning a league title from 1967-2019, remarkably this is now our third league title in the last five years following our National League North and National League successes in 2019 and 2022 respectively.
It is our first league title in the EFL, however, since our famous Division Four winning side of 1966/67, where County were crowned Champions with three games to spare under Jimmy Meadows.
Having also masterminded our National League title win in 2022, Dave Challinor became just the second manager in the club’s history to guide us to two promotions, alongside Jim Gannon, whilst he is the first County boss to win two league titles.
Legendary goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe went one step further this season too, becoming the first ever County player to win three promotions with the club, having been part of the journey since our days in the National League North.
A record points tally:
The 92 points that County finished on last season is a new club record in the EFL, surpassing the previous record of 85 set under Danny Bergara in 1993/94 and falling just short of the overall club record of 94 set two years ago in the National League. Even when adjusting the 1966/67 team’s tally to award three points for a win, the class of 2023/24 still finished off two points better off.
Our 27 league wins is the second-highest number the club have recorded in the Football League, bettered only by the 28 racked up during the 1929/30 campaign.
County lost just eight times in League Two last season, the joint-fewest in the division alongside Mansfield Town, whilst only League One champions Portsmouth (5) and Ipswich Town (6) lost fewer games across the entire EFL.
The winning run:
Key to County’s success last season was a record-breaking winning run from September through to November, that saw us storm from 20th all the way to the top of League Two.
A 3-3 draw at home to Crawley Town on 2nd September had left County with just one win from the opening six league games of the season, but a 2-1 win at AFC Wimbledon the following week sparked an incredible turnaround in form.
We went on to win 13 consecutive games in all competitions, smashing the previous club record of ten straight wins set twice under Dave Challinor in our National League title-winning campaign. Although a defeat to Bolton Wanderers in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy brought that run to an end, our winning streak in the league continued.
Our 2-0 win over Colchester United on November 18th was our 12th straight victory in League Two, leaving us six points clear at the top of the table. Not only was it a new club record for consecutive league wins, but it also saw us equal the all-time League Two/Division Four record set by Luton Town in 2001/02. A 2-1 defeat at Newport County in our next game saw us fall just short of the overall EFL record of 14, set by Preston North End (1950/51), Manchester United (1904/05) and Bristol City (1905/06).
Biggest win:
Shortly after that winning run had come to an end, County returned to form in stunning fashion at Edgeley Park with an incredible 8-0 victory over Sutton United in December.
Just a few days prior, County had exited the Emirates FA Cup at home to National League side Aldershot Town in a Second Round Replay, with manager Dave Challinor demanding a reaction from his players after what he described as the worst performance in his time at the club.
A reaction is certainly what he got as County exploded out of the traps against a struggling Sutton side, going 4-0 up after just 23 minutes following goals from Paddy Madden, Kyle Wootton and a Ryan Croasdale brace.
The Hatters were relentless right until the end, with Madden adding two more in the second half to complete his hat-trick, whilst Joel Cotterill and Tanto Olaofe, against his old side, also got in on the act.
It finished as County’s biggest win in any competition in almost 100 years of football, dating back to our EFL record 13-0 victory over Halifax Town in January 1934. A day that will live long in the memory of anyone who was there to see it.
The goals:
That win over Sutton United provided eight of the 96 league goals that County scored this season, our best goalscoring season in exactly 90 years; since the free-scoring side of 1933/34, who managed an incredible 115 goals in just 42 games under Fred Westgarth!
It made County the leading goalscorers across the entire EFL in 2023/24, with Ipswich Town the second highest scorers with 92. Premier League Champions Manchester City were the only side in the top four divisions of English football to match our tally of 96.
Our goal difference of +48 was the highest in League Two for the second consecutive season, and is also the club’s biggest in the Football League since that same 1933/34 Third Division North side. County hero Alf Lythgoe scored an incredible 46 league goals on his own that season!
The defence:
At the other end of the pitch, County’s rock-solid back line played a big part in their title success. Dave Challinor’s side conceded just 48 goals in their 46 league outings, the second best defensive record in the league behind 3rd place Mansfield Town (47).
Our legendary goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe also picked up the League Two Golden Glove award after playing every minute of our league campaign, keeping 17 clean sheets in the process – one more than AFC Wimbledon’s Alex Bass. Fraser Horsfall’s performances at the back were also recognised, after being named as County’s sole representative in the League Two Team of the Season.
Player stats:
Every player that pulled on a Stockport County shirt contributed to our success in one way or another last season, but even so there were some standout milestones reached and records broken across the season.
Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry quickly earned his place in Stockport County folklore after an astonishing start to the campaign, setting a new post-war club record after scoring in seven consecutive appearances in the league. The 20-year-old grabbed his first goal for the club in our win over Barrow in August, and went on to score in every game up until our win over Forest Green Rovers in October – earning him the League Two Player of the Month award for September.
As mentioned already, Ben Hinchliffe became the first County goalkeeper ever to win a Golden Glove award and the first player in our history to be involve in three promotions with the club. The County legend also broke overtook Billy McCulloch to break into the all-time top ten list for Stockport County appearances and has since climbed up into seventh, having featured 376 times for the club across three separate divisions. Next season he will be looking to become just the sixth player in our history to hit the 400 game mark.
Club captain and iconic Irish forward Paddy Madden enjoyed a stellar finish to the 2023/24 season, finishing as our top goalscorer in all competitions with 22 goals. In the process, Paddy became our leading goalscorer in the 21st century after clocking up his 50th for the club in that win over Sutton United in December – overtaking Matty Warburton.
His final goal for the club, the hat-trick strike in our title-clinching win at Notts County, was his 65th in total, earning him a place in our top ten all-time goalscorers list, overtaking Jim Gannon’s tally of 64. He scored an incredible four hat-tricks over the course of the season, with two of them coming against Sutton. He is the first County player to score two hat-tricks against the same side in a league season since Alf Lythgoe managed it against Southport in 1933/34.
Fellow striker Tanto Olaofe also had a season to remember at Edgeley Park, ending the campaign as our top goalscorer in League Two with 20. In the process, he became the first Stockport County player to score 20 league goals in an EFL campaign since Luke Beckett in 2002/03. At 24, he is the youngest County player to hit that tally since Brett Angell did so at 21. On fire.
Attendances:
What better way to finish than talking about the supporters. The average attendance at Edgeley Park in League Two last season was an incredible 9,331, with the Vitality Railway End regularly being open for sale to satisfy the demand of home supporters.
That average attendance beats last year’s average of 9,108, making it the highest recorded average attendance at Edgeley Park since our last EFL title-winning season in 1966/67. Over the course of the season, over 250,000 came to watch the Champions in SK3, the second successive season we have passed that number.
Our New Year’s Day clash against promotion rivals Mansfield Town also saw us set a new record attendance for an all-seater Edgeley Park, with 10,334 people watching our top of the table clash against the Stags. It beats our previous record of 10,319 set against Rochdale last season, and was the biggest crowd in SK3 since over 11,000 watched us draw with Manchester City in March 2000.
