Mansfield Town Football Club

Mansfield Town are one of English football's great survivors. Founded in 1897 and based at Field Mill — one of the oldest football grounds in the world, now commercially known as One Call Stadium — the Stags spent decades in the lower divisions of the Football League before enduring a painful spell in non-league football between 2008 and 2013. Their return to the EFL via the National League play-offs in 2013 began a slow but steady resurgence that culminated in the League Two championship in 2023-24, earned under manager Nigel Clough with a brand of disciplined, organised football.

Promotion to League One represented the club's highest divisional status in over two decades, and the Stags have embraced the challenge. Field Mill, which has hosted football since the 1860s, provides an intimate but atmospheric setting, and the club's fanbase — drawn from Mansfield and the surrounding former coalfield communities — has grown considerably during the recent period of success. The rivalry with nearby Nottingham Forest and Notts County adds local spice.

Under the ownership of John Radford, who took control in 2010 and oversaw the return from non-league, Mansfield have been run with increasing professionalism. The appointment of Nigel Clough in 2020 brought tactical nous and stability, and his team's promotion-winning campaign was built on defensive solidity and the prolific goalscoring of key forwards. Now established in League One, the ambition is consolidation and, in time, pushing towards the Championship — a division Mansfield have never reached in their history.