Five things in EFL: Fallen giants and ambitious upstarts

Ambition can be many things – the enemy of success or what drives people to new heights – just ask a few of the sides lining up for week two of the English Football League.

West Ham United and Leicester City’s ambitions lay well above the Championship and League One respectively but previous failings mean they are now having to dig themselves out of self-constructed holes.

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On the other side of the coin, there are teams like Lincoln City, Bromley and York City who are probably still pinching themselves after last season’s heroics.

The EFL has sub-plots wherever you look and we have selected five things to keep an eye out for this weekend.

Hammers hoping for speedy getaway

Such has been the yo-yo nature of sides relegated from the Premier League in recent seasons, West Ham fans will expect a swift return to the top flight, although their own history suggests sometimes it is never as easy as it sounds.

The last time the Hammers found themselves in the Championship for the 2011-12 campaign, they had to come through the play-offs to earn promotion back to the promised land.

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They look like they mean business this time around – smashing the EFL transfer record by spending £22m on Celtic midfielder Arne Engels before taking Leeds striker Joel Piroe on loan – which will only increase the expectation of a promotion-winning season.

Where will the highest attendance be in England on Saturday? Not in the Premier League, but at the Hammers’ London Stadium where a 62,500 sell-out will have the majority demanding a win over Charlton (15:00 BST).

This will be a first league meeting between the two London sides for 19 years and while the Addicks are still feeling their way back into the second tier after consolidation on their return last season, the Hammers know anything less than a win may have some of the natives getting restless, even at this early stage.

Imps out to upset establishment

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Lincoln City last prepared for a home game in what we now call the Championship.

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Sixty-six years is a long time to wait for anything, and many Imps fans must have thought they would never see the day when second-tier football returned to Sincil Bank.

With respect, when you are being trounced 4-0 at home by North Ferriby United in the FA Trophy in 2014, facing games on a level footing against the likes of West Ham, Southampton and Wolves are probably not at the forefront of your mind.

Two trips to non-league football since their last Championship outing will have sharpened the minds of any supporter getting ahead of themselves as they prepare to welcome Portsmouth on Saturday (12:30 BST), but without ambition that North Ferriby experience might have been a more regular occurrence.

The Tony Mowbray derby

Football is littered with great characters and popular one-club men but there cannot be many who can claim to be well liked wherever they go.

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Tony Mowbray is surely one of those select few as he prepares to pit his Blackburn Rovers side against Middlesbrough – the club where he made his name as a player before managing them for three years.

The 62-year-old, who has had to overcome bowel cancer, returned to Rovers for a second stint in June having previously led them to promotion from League One in 2017-18.

A 2-2 draw at Wolves last Friday was a more than decent start for Mowbray and for the visit of Boro (15:00 BST), he can expect a warm welcome from all four sides of Ewood Park.

“Everybody’s got us relegated – but that’s very good motivation for the team,” said Mowbray after the draw at Molineux.

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Keeping Blackburn away from trouble will only make him even more popular in that part of Lancashire.

Same division – different feelings

Having just been promoted from the National League South, Bromley finished 14th in the National League in the 2015-16 season.

That same year, Leicester City were upsetting the odds with their famous Premier League title win.

Such has been the rise of Andy Woodman’s Bromley, they can expect plenty more comparisons like that this season and, such has been the Foxes’ fall from grace, they will get similar.

While the Ravens are delighted to be in League One, Leicester are still rubbing the bruised ego which followed their disastrous relegation from the Championship on the back of demotion from the Premier League, amid various financial woes and points deductions.

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Now under Russell Martin, rather than opening their home campaign against Arsenal, Liverpool or even Brighton, it is Burton Albion who will make the short trip to the King Power Stadium (15:00 BST) and home fans will find Gary Bowyer’s side have little respect for reputations.

Bromley’s home opener against Cambridge United (15:00 BST) may well be a re-run between two promoted sides from last season, but the hosts have already served notice of their intentions with their 1-0 win at Barnsley last weekend.

Can Millers grind York bandwagon to a halt?

Rotherham United’s attempts to halt their slide started just three weeks after their descent into League Two with the appointment of former England boss Steve McClaren as their new head of football.

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The fact it then took a further six weeks to install a head coach in Alex Bruce has left them playing catch-up in terms of recruitment and readiness for the rough and tumble of fourth-tier football.

The Millers’ opening 2-1 defeat by Cheltenham Town means they have won only two of their past 19 league games so this might not be the best time to be welcoming a buoyant York City to south Yorkshire.

Despite a late change in boss, with Scott Lindsey replacing the title-winning Stuart Maynard barely a week before their first competitive fixture, hopes are high for a second successive promotion for the Minstermen.

Beating highly-fancied Bristol Rovers last weekend has only raised those expectations on the back of a summer of impressive transfer business.

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Six years ago, York were facing the likes of Farsley Celtic and Gloucester City in the National League North while Rotherham were in the Championship, beating Middlesbrough and Derby.

In the blink of an eye they are on equal ground and York’s ambitions could well see them overtake Rotherham, who need to stop the rot quickly.

BBC Sport will have live text coverage of all the weekend’s EFL action.