Stockport County manager Dave Challinor confirmed another play-off finish for his side in League One this season, extending a record of his own at the same time.
The 49-year-old took the Hatters’ hot seat in November 2021, then a National League club, and has since led them to the upper echelons of the third tier in just a few short years.
A potential ascent to the Championship beckons, but Challinor already has a unique record in the bag.
Challinor extends play-off record to 14 seasons with Stockport County
Challinor – famed during his playing career for his long throw – turned out for Stockport as a defender in the early 2000s, as well as Tranmere Rovers and Bury, before ending his career with Colwyn Bay.
At Colwyn Bay, he eventually retired his throwing talents and stumbled upon his sublime knack for management as a player-manager.
In his following 14 full seasons as a manager at Colwyn Bay, AFC Fylde, Hartlepool United and now Stockport, Challinor has never finished outside of the play-offs.
It’s a feat that began in the seventh tier of English football – the Northern Premier League Premier Division for the uninitiated – and extended into League One when Stockport came back from a goal down against Huddersfield Town on Monday afternoon to confirm their spot this term.
On the road to Wembley once again this season, for what would be the second time with the Hatters, Challinor is hunting down the eighth promotion of his managerial career.
Each season, critics presume he must have reached his ceiling. Without fail, Challinor finds a way to smash through it.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, if the Hatters don’t make their way into the Championship this season, you wouldn’t bet against Challinor making the jump himself to take charge of a second-tier club.
Few managers can boast a record as strong as his, but fewer still will take a place as prominent in the Hatters’ history, regardless of what comes next.
