# 2019–20 Tranmere Rovers F.C. season

The 2019–20 season was Tranmere Rovers' 136th season of existence and their first back in EFL League One in five years after successive promotions from the 2017–18 National League and the 2018–19 EFL League Two. Along with competing in League One, the club participated in the FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.
The season covers the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| 1 July 2019 | RW | Corey Blackett-Taylor | Aston Villa | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | RW | Kieron Morris | Walsall | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CB | Sid Nelson | Millwall | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CF | Stefan Payne | Bristol Rovers | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | Darren Potter | Rotherham United | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CB | George Ray | Crewe Alexandra | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | RB | Calum Woods | Bradford City | Free transfer |
| 1 August 2019 | CF | Morgan Ferrier | Walsall | Undisclosed |
| 19 September 2019 | CM | Neil Danns | Bury | Free transfer |
| 1 January 2020 | CB | Peter Clarke | Fleetwood Town | Free transfer |
| 6 January 2020 | DM | Luke McCullough | Doncaster Rovers | Free transfer |
| 31 January 2020 | CF | Andy Cook | Mansfield Town | Undisclosed |

### Loans in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Date until |
| 10 July 2019 | CF | Jordan Ponticelli | Coventry City | 10 January 2020 |
| 2 August 2019 | CF | Rushian Hepburn-Murphy | Aston Villa | 31 January 2020 |
| 8 August 2019 | AM | Jacob Maddox | Chelsea | January 2020 |
| 9 August 2019 | RB | Kane Wilson | West Bromwich Albion | 30 June 2020 |
| 2 September 2019 | LB | Cameron Borthwick-Jackson | Manchester United | January 2020 |
| 14 December 2019 | GK | Aaron Chapman | Peterborough United | 21 December 2019 |
| 3 January 2020 | CM | Alex Woodyard | Peterborough United | 30 June 2020 |
| 29 January 2020 | CF | James Vaughan | Bradford City | 30 June 2020 |
| 30 January 2020 | CB | Morgan Feeney | Everton | 30 June 2020 |

### Loans out

| Date from | Position | Nationality | Name | To | Date until | Ref. |
| 31 January 2020 | CF | | Paul Mullin | Cambridge United | 30 June 2020 | |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Name | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2019 | RB | Adam Buxton | Morecambe | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | James Devine | Marine | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | CB | Steve McNulty | York City | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | CF | James Norwood | Ipswich Town | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CF | Cole Stockton | Morecambe | Free transfer |
| 1 July 2019 | CM | Ben Tollitt | Blackpool | Released |
| 1 July 2019 | GK | Paddy Wharton | FC United of Manchester | Released |
| 1 August 2019 | LB | Zoumana Bakayogo | Notts County | Free transfer |
| 1 August 2019 | CM | Jay Harris | Macclesfield Town | Free transfer |
| 7 November 2019 | DF | Ben Kerr | FC United of Manchester | Free transfer |

## Pre-season

The Whites announced pre-season friendlies against Liverpool, Stoke City, Carlisle United and Walsall.

## Competitions
### EFL League One
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 17 | Accrington Stanley | 35 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 47 | 53 | −6 | 40 | 1.14 | |
| 18 | Rochdale | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 39 | 57 | −18 | 36 | 1.06 | |
| 19 | Milton Keynes Dons | 35 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 36 | 47 | −11 | 37 | 1.06 | |
| 20 | AFC Wimbledon | 35 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 39 | 52 | −13 | 35 | 1.00 | |
| 21 | Tranmere Rovers (R) | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 36 | 60 | −24 | 32 | 0.94 | Relegation to EFL League Two |
| 22 | Southend United (R) | 35 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 39 | 85 | −46 | 19 | 0.54 | Relegation to EFL League Two |
| 23 | Bolton Wanderers (R) | 34 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 27 | 66 | −39 | 14 | 0.41 | Relegation to EFL League Two |
| 24 | Bury (D, R) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −12 | — | Club expelled |
* 1 2 Bolton Wanderers deducted 12 points for entering administration.
* 1 2 Bury deducted 12 points for entering into an insolvency event, before later being expelled from the EFL on 27 August 2019. At the time of their expulsion, they had played no matches.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 10 March 2020. Source: BBC

#### Results by matchday

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | A |
| Result | L | L | W | L | D | D | L | D | W | L | L | W | D | L | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | D | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | D | L | W | W | W |
| Position | 15 | 20 | 13 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |

#### Matches

On Thursday, 20 June 2019, the EFL League One fixtures were revealed.

### FA Cup

The first round draw was made on 21 October 2019. The second round draw was made live on 11 November from Chichester City's stadium, Oaklands Park. The third round draw was made live on BBC Two from Etihad Stadium, Micah Richards and Tony Adams conducted the draw.

### EFL Cup

The first round draw was conducted on 20 June.

### EFL Trophy

On 9 July 2019, the pre-determined group stage draw was announced with Invited clubs to be drawn on 12 July 2019. The draw for the second round was made on 16 November 2019 live on Sky Sports. The third round draw was confirmed on 5 December 2019.
| Pos | Div | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | L2 | Salford City | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 6 | Advance to Round 2 |
| 2 | L1 | Tranmere Rovers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | Advance to Round 2 |
| 3 | ACA | Aston Villa U21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |
| 4 | L1 | Bury (D) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Automatically disqualified from competition |
* ↑ This group originally included the expelled Bury.