League One talking points: Reading reborn, favourites Luton, Bale in at Cardiff?

The 2025/26 Sky Bet League One season kicks off this weekend.

The curtain-raiser comes on Friday night, when Luton - who were relegated from the Championship - host AFC Wimbledon - who won the Sky Bet League Two play-off final - at Kenilworth Road, live on Sky Sports.

Following that, every single one of the other 23 opening weekend fixtures in League One and League Two will be available to watch live across Sky Sports.

• EVERY League One and League Two game live on Sky on opening weekend
• Got Sky? Watch EFL games LIVE on your phone📱
• Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW 📺
• Choose the Sky Sports push notifications you want! 🔔

Ahead of the start of the new season, here are a selection of the key talking points...

Luton to bounce back with a title win?

One season after relegation from the Premier League, it was only goal difference that relegated Luton from the Championship and spared Hull.

"To work so hard to get ourselves so close and fall at the final hurdle is particularly painful," said Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield.

The task now is to stop the rot and prevent a third straight relegation - and Bloomfield is shaping his squad accordingly.

Club legend Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu was released, along with Tim Krul, Victor Moses and Amari'i Bell, while six players have been sold, including Carlton Morris, Thelo Aasgaard and Alfie Doughty.

They have signed six players, with four of them having Championship experience in abundance between them: Kal Naismith, George Saville, Hakeem Odoffin and Nahki Wells. The best part? All four have come in on free transfers.

The expectation that comes with being picked out as early title favourites can weigh heavy, but Luton have fought much greater battles and this is one they will relish.

Things are finally looking up at Reading

There was genuine fear Reading could have been kicked out of the EFL last term. Former owner Dai Yongge was disqualified as a director in March under the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Test and dreams of a proposed sale drifted away as the season progressed.

Fortunately, a takeover led by former Wycombe owner Rob Couhig was finally completed in May - and under the new regime, life has been breathed back into the football club.

Ex-Chairboys captain Joe Jacobson has been appointed as the new CEO, and he spoke exclusively to Sky Sports last week about his new role and the ambitions going forward. An in-depth feature will follow on skysports.com on Thursday July 31.

There is little talk of the woes of the past, even though Noel Hunt and his squad managed to finish seventh, just three points off the play-offs, amid all the uncertainty. Naturally, there is a feeling among fans that they could thrive further with stability.

Transparency is key, too. Couhig and Jacobson are only too happy to discuss the project, which is key to earning the fans' trust. A recent open day at their Bearwood Park training ground attracted over 3,000 fans, with shuttle buses from the Select Car Leasing Stadium running for almost 12 hours.

Next year marks 20 years since Steve Coppell's side led the Royals to a Championship-record 106 points. Marking that with a return to the second tier would, of course, be the dream, but for most, just having a bright future to look forward to again is enough for now.

Billionaire-backed Wycombe aiming to go one better

For many months of last season, Wycombe were the biggest threat to Birmingham and Wrexham's automatic promotion pushes. It was only in the final fortnight they dropped away after three straight defeats - and they subsequent lost to Charlton in the play-offs.

In truth, though, Mike Dodds' record of seven wins from 17 after taking over from Matt Bloomfield in February was not quite enough. The gap to second-placed Wrexham was eight points in the end.

The Chairboys clearly do not want to leave this season's fate up to chance.

Backed by Georgian-Kazakh billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze, nine intriguing signings have been made currently, including that of striker Bradley Fink - a former Borussia Dortmund youth player - and Irish midfielder Jamie Mullins, who joined from Brighton.

In-demand frontman Richard Kone has not yet been tempted away, either.

Though they came so close last year, it was not unfamiliar territory; they were promoted to the Championship in 2019/20, albeit on points-per-game due to Covid forcing a premature end to the campaign.

But to do it without the asterisk would be a different prospect altogether.

Stockport due another promotion... if history is anything to go by

Given Stockport were in the National League as recently as 2021/22, they fact they are challenging at the top of League One is seriously impressive. But they want more.

County finished third, only five points behind Wrexham, in 2024/25, in their first season back at that level since 2009/10, and it was a penalty shoot-out defeat to Leyton Orient - after a 3-3 draw on aggregate - that denied them a place in the play-off final.

This is personal for manager Dave Challinor, who has seven promotions on his CV to date. The National League North, National League and League Two are done and in the bag. Getting out of League One and into the Championship is the natural next step for both manager and club.

Past club history is encouraging, in that sense. It took six attempts to get out of the National League North, three to get out of the National League and two to get out of League Two.

The second-tier exile has lasted over 23 years now - and Stockport are probably better equipped than they ever have been to work to end it.

New manager, talk of a Bale-led takeover - but no signings for Cardiff yet

In May, Cardiff finally succumbed to the relegation they had been flirting with for the best part of four years, bringing to an end a period of more than 20 years exclusively in the top two divisions of English football.

The writing was on the wall pretty early on. Erol Bulut was sacked after five defeats from the first six that left the Bluebirds bottom, but despite an initial bounce, Omer Riza could not turn the tide. Aaron Ramsey oversaw the final four games, but could not guide his boyhood club to any more than two points.

It feels like there is a chance for a fresh start for the Welsh club now.

Highly-rated former Man City Elite Development Squad manager Brian Barry-Murphy has taken over and there has been talk of Gareth Bale leading a consortium to buy Cardiff from owner of 15 years, Vincent Tan.

However, at the time of writing, they are yet to sign a first team player either permanently or on loan, and the sole outgoing has been Callum O'Dowda to Ferencvaros. Granted, they have the squad to more than compete at this level, but, in that respect, there has been little to whet the appetite.

All change at Plymouth under Cleverley

Plymouth were rocked at the end of May when, shortly after relegation, Miron Muslic departed to take over at Schalke, just four months into a three-and-a-half-year deal at Home Park.

"We are frustrated by this decision, having implemented clear structures, processes and personnel to aid Miron and his coaching staff as we look to return to the Championship at the earliest opportunity," said a statement on the club's official website.

"Not only that, the club... received repeated verbal promises from Miron that he was committed to Argyle and would do everything to help the club bounce back to the second tier."

All they could do was move on, albeit with a bitter taste in their mouths. Within a fortnight, Tom Cleverley had been brought in as his successor, who no doubt has his own point to prove after a predictable sacking by Watford.

Since then, there has been a squad overhaul. Ten players have left and another 10 have come in for a fraction of the price, with a reported profit of almost £3m made in the process. The biggest miss will, arguably, be Ryan Hardie, who scored 74 goals for the club since 2019/20.

Such a sizeable player turnover can be a risk, but Plymouth will be hoping to buck that trend and get back to the Championship straightaway.

The return of open competition

Last term, all the focus was on Birmingham and Wrexham - two clubs with US owners and Premier League ambitions. Theirs was a two-horse race that ended, perhaps unsurprisingly, with both gaining automatic promotion.

This time around, the aforementioned Luton have been installed as favourites by the majority of bookmakers.

But so many other clubs, including Plymouth, Cardiff, Huddersfield, Bolton, Stockport, Blackpool, Reading and Wycombe, are in the mix.

It really could be anyone's season.

Ad content | Stream Sky Sports on NOW

Stream Sky Sports live with no contract on a Month or Day membership on NOW. Instant access to live action from the Premier League, EFL, F1, England Cricket and so much more.

Find out more here...

Get more EFL straight to your phone on WhatsApp!

📱 Sky Sports EFL is now available to follow on WhatsApp channels.

Get messages and alerts for the latest breaking news, analysis, in-depth features, live streams and highlights from our dedicated EFL channel.

👉 Give us a follow