Stockport County: Sunderland, Colchester United deals sign potential Dave Challinor switch – View

A strong winning run in the first half of the 2023/24 campaign was backed up with enough positive performances after Christmas to send the Hatters charging to the League Two title and, with that, into the third tier.

Challinor often opted to play a back three with wing-backs on either side or a back four with two strikers backed up by somebody in the no.10 role.

Two signings already sealed this summer, however, suggest that the County boss may be taking a different approach.

Stockport have previously done without wingers

Due partly to injuries and partly to Challinor’s relatively fluid tactical approach, a number of different structures were used by the 48-year-old throughout the season, but the options available were limited by the lack of wingers at the club.

It’s difficult to know whether the club didn’t carry wingers as Challinor’s style largely had no use for them, or whether the manager adapted his style because of the profile of players he had, but the end result is the same; County rarely deployed wingers.

That’s not to say that the Hatters always played through the middle. Often, the likes of Louie Barry and Tanto Olaofe would be fielded as strikers but would provide width, as would midfielders and wing-backs venturing forward.

That County already played with width is clear through the number of crosses they played last term, 1019, which was the fourth-highest in League Two.

What they often did not have, though, is two players to stay high and wide throughout the game, stretching their counterpart’s defence and providing a permanent presence in these areas for the opposition to consider. It now appears that this is another weapon that Challinor wants in his arsenal.

The signings of Jayden Fevrier from Colchester United and Jack Diamond from Sunderland appear to show that Challinor wants the option to deploy wingers heading into the new season.

Diamond has played more centrally in the past, but in the main, his outings have come on either flank, most commonly on the left.

As a right-footed winger, used to playing on either flank, he provides Challinor with the flexibility to play him as a traditional wide man, getting balls into the box for a target man like Kyle Wootton, or on the left with Diamond able to cut in and take on a shot of his own or play through to a pacey forward like Olaofe.

Fevrier arrives slightly differently in that he has played predominately as a wing-back for his former club, Colchester, but County, in their announcement of the signing, expressly labelled him as a winger and have added him to the ‘Forwards’ section of the squad list on the official website, alluding to where they see him being used.

Like Diamond, Fevrier has also been used across the front three in his young career. As a left-footed winger, the 21-year-old will mirror what Diamond offers on the opposite flank, able to cut in or provide crosses depending on the side Challinor puts him on.

They both also appear to fit into a trend of players being capable of playing a number of positions, increasing the adaptability of the squad and also opening up the potential for rotations between players in-game.