“I have spoken to a few managers and they all think it is going to be the toughest League One ever' - Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough gives his take on the season ahead

It is a league which features eight former Premier League sides looking to recapture their glory days as well as cash-rich Wrexham.

And Clough is under no illusion just how hard the task will be ahead of Mansfield’s return to League One after 21 years away.

“Despite it being a good break the season seems to have come around quite quickly,” he said.

Will Evans wants to repay the faith

Nigel Clough delivers his pre-season verdict

“Then you see the fixtures and it dawns on you just how tough it is going to be this season and the quality of the opposition we will be facing week in week out.

“I have spoken to a few managers in League One and they all think it is going to be the toughest League One ever with the teams that have come into it.

“All the hard work we have put in in recent years was to get us to this point. As exciting as it is, it is a little bit daunting about how tough it is going to be.

“I think it is going to be the toughest season the club has had for some time. We are going to some big ex-Premier League clubs and that just shows you the strength of League One this year.”

But Clough is vowing Stags will make that step up with a positive attitude and looking to give things a real go.

“We will still approach it as positively as we can,” he added. “We are going to approach it with a smile on our face.

“I’m sure we will have some setbacks along the way, but we are going to try, just as we did last season, to have a go from the first day and that is what we will be asking of the lads against Barnsley.

“We want to generally keep the same standards and same approach in games because we think that it is our strength, going forward and taking chances. We will have to defend but we feel with the attacking players we have got, that will be our forte.”

Stags head to Barnsley with somewhat of a selection headache up front with illness and injuries limiting the pre-season game time of Will Swan, Will Evans and Lee Gregory.

George Maris, Rhys Oates, Baily Cargill and Alfie Kilgour are also ruled out.

Get more build up to Barnsley v Stags, as well as post game reaction, here.