Our thanks to Guy Owen for making us aware of footballing nirvana on Saturday.

@squadnos – good heavens. Mansfield have completed football

— Guy Owen (@MrGuyOwen) September 12, 2020

As was the case with Bolton Wanderers in Gary Parkinson’s recent article, Mansfield have had a busy summer in terms of transfer ins and outs, allowing the construction of a meritorious 1-11.

Left wing-back Mal Benning is the only one of the starting 11 to have retained his number from last year, while Ryan Sweeney has moved from 17 to 5, Harry Charsley has gone from 23 to 7 and Andy Cook is 11, having been 19 last year.

If you were being picky, you’d say that 5 should be the middle of the three centre-backs or that the midfield and attack should be reconfigured slightly differently to the German-like way it is, but it’s the best we seen in recent times, simply because it was 1-11. Striker Danny Rose has retained number 32, though, so perhaps the 1-11 may not be overly plentiful this season.

Unfortunately, Mansfield weren’t properly rewarded as they drew 0-0 with Tranmere Rovers, but hopefully good karma is on its way to the Stags this season.