As the season’s run-in approaches, it can only mean one thing: with help from our readers, it’s time for FFT’s annual list of the finest stars outside the top flight
30. Ross Stewart
Sunderland striker Ross Stewart in action against Queens Park Rangers (Image credit: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Blessed with two great nicknames (‘Loch Ness Drogba’ and ‘Highland Haaland’), Stewart was cursed with two cruel injuries, breaking up his 10 goals and three assists from just 13 league games, then ending his season in January.
DID YOU KNOW? He averaged a Championship-best 0.86 goals per 90 minutes this campaign.
29. Teemu Pukki
Teemu Pukki of Norwich City shapes up to shoot against Sunderland (Image credit: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Club: Norwich City Position: Forward Age: 33
One word defines the fabulous Finn in this division: inevitable. At 33, Pukki remains a menace to defenders with his one-touch shooting and eye for an open team-mate. In a season he’d call disappointing, he still offered 17 goals and assists before March.
HE SAID “I’ve always felt loved at Norwich.” Will he be kept on?
28. Carlton Morris
Carlton Morris of Luton Town in action against Grimsby Town (Image credit: Tony Marshall/Getty Images)
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Simultaneously a club-record signing and an absolute bargain at around £2m, Morris arrived from relegated Barnsley to be the perfect striker for Luton’s renewed play-off charge: strong, mobile and newly prolific. He’d been with Norwich aged 11 to 25 but played for them just once due to endless loans away; now settled, he’s oozing confidence.
27. Conor Hourihane
Conor Hourihane of Derby County walks out the tunnel ahead of a fixture against Port Vale (Image credit: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Club: Derby County Position: Midfielder Age: 32
HE TOLD FFT"I turned 32 in February, and I’ve been really fortunate to play for some big clubs in my career. Before the season began, I was asking myself: ‘What would excite me in my next move?’ Derby came along and I viewed it as a great opportunity to help a huge club to rebuild and get back to where they belong. It ticked every box."
26. Michael Cooper
Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Michael Cooper punches the ball against Ipswich Town (Image credit: Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Rarely does a terrific goalkeeper play 120 League One games before being poached. If Argyle pull off an incredible promotion, their match-winning local hero will be why; if they don’t, his February injury will be why not.
DID YOU KNOW? He’d prevented a league-high 6.8 goals (per xG) before his untimely knee knack.
25. Marcelino Nunez
Marcelino Nunez of Norwich City after scoring against Birmingham City (Image credit: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Club: Norwich City Position: Midfielder Age: 23
The scuttling schemer’s strong start faded, after 12 months of non-stop football due to Chile’s calendar. February’s Goal of the Season contender against Birmingham helped to reignite his first campaign in England.
DID YOU KNOW? Nunez made his Championship debut six days after playing in Chile, then played for Norwich five times in 14 days.
24. Aaron Collins
Aaron Collins of Bristol Rovers in action against Shrewsbury Town (Image credit: James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images)
Step up? What step up? After representing six teams in League Two, Collins has been effortlessly brilliant in his first stab at League One – quick, creative and clinical.
DID YOU KNOW? The Welshman reached ‘the double double’ (10 goals, 10 assists) on January 1. Two months later, no one else in the whole EFL had managed it.
23. Jed Wallace
Jed Wallace of West Bromwich Albion celebrates scoring against Coventry City (Image credit: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Club: West Bromwich Albion Position: Forward Age 29
The legendary Lion became a Baggie and emerged with credit from Steve Bruce’s lackadaisical reign before thriving for Carlos Corberan. Loved for his industry, leadership and off-pitch work, Wallace has real quality as well.
HIGHLIGHT A millimetre-perfect cross, while sprinting, for Daryl Dike’s clincher at Sunderland.
22. Dan Barlaser
Middlesbrough star Dan Barlaser in action against Stoke City (Image credit: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Returning to his native North East in January after his Rotherham performances wowed Boro, the ‘Geordie Pirlo’ dictates the pace of a game with an elan that few in the Championship can match.
HIGHLIGHT A first-half hat-trick of assists, with two laser-guided passes from deep, in the Millers’ 4-0 August mauling of Reading.
21. Jonson Clarke-Harris
Jonson Clarke-Harris of Peterborough United scores from the penalty spot against Portsmouth (Image credit: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Though Peterborough haven’t matched high expectations, their captain is clinical in open play and deadly from 12 yards (penalties make up a quarter of his career tally for the Posh). He’s set for a second League One Golden Boot – one for each foot.
DID YOU KNOW? Call him ‘The Orthodontist’, because he has five braces this season already.
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Huw was on the FourFourTwo staff from 2009 to 2015, ultimately as the magazine's Managing Editor, before becoming a freelancer and moving to Wales. As a writer, editor and tragic statto, he still contributes regularly to FFT in print and online, though as a match-going #WalesAway fan, he left a small chunk of his brain on one of many bus journeys across France in 2016.
