Wrexham's glamour and Notts County's history mean Bradford City, Doncaster Rovers and Harrogate Town find a division worthy of the attention

The profile of English football's fourth tier has never been higher than it will be in 2023-24. The money injected is sure to break records.

Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers start with genuine promotion hopes. Poor relations Harrogate Town are unlikely to be contenders, but it will not stop them trying to poop a few expensive parties.

The main reason – though not the only one – is Wrexham.

In these ever-more vacuous times no currency is higher than celebrity and they ooze it – not a sentence one expected to type a few years ago.

A club which began the century struggling for its existence is now owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. With huge amounts of money poured in, global attention has kept a none too virtuous circle turning.

A hit documentary has given Wrexham a profile in North America dwarfing higher up the pyramid.

Reynolds, McElhenney and chief executive Shaun Harvey exploited it shrewdly. Last season TikTok were shirt sponsors, now United Airlines.

Players were attracted too, from Paul Mullin and his lower-league scoring pedigree to former England and Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster. In Phil Parkinson, Reynolds and McElhenney appointed a canny lower-league manager.

The world's oldest club followed in their slipstream. Notts County’s 107-point season and 8,600 average crowds were remarkable feats overlooked when Wrexham trumped them but they too will be big beasts.

The far less historic Milton Keynes Dons and Forest Green Rovers’ eco-warriors join from the other end, relegated from League One with long-term over-achievers Morecambe and Accrington Stanley.

Big-spenders like Stockport County, Salford City and Gillingham who missed the promotion boat last season will be determined not to again.

It promises an exciting or daunting season for City and Rovers, depending on your viewpoint.

"Last year it became an eight- or nine-horse race (for promotion), that will probably look more like 12 or 13," says Ryan Sparks, chief executive of Bradford, last season’s big fish with average gates of over 17,000. "It should do, anyway, if everyone achieves their potential.

"I'd put a fair amount on this being the highest-spending League Two. Clubs are coming in that will spend, in my opinion, between £2.5m and £3.5m on wages. Last year that would make you the top spender.

"You're not going to win this division on £1.5m unless you have the season of your life. You can do it around the £2m mark and some have very recently – they've had a couple of gems, a player that's come out of nowhere – but generally speaking, you need to be between £2.5m and the rest if you're serious.

"Sweating the asset is what you've got to do. We share Wrexham's kit partner, Macron, and their shirt sales will be unbelievable internationally. They're developing an international audience, they bring so much value to the EFL.

"I would imagine they want to build a business to ensure whatever they build is sustainable. Every club has the same conversation, other clubs just have more liquid cash."

Part of the challenge will be not to get dragged into an arms race. Bradford's previous dices with financial disaster should guard against that.

"Last year we had the second or third-highest budget in the division and we'll always be in and around that," says Sparks. "Anything we generate that is in any way a profit goes directly onto the grass.

"We have an incredible academy, we sell players to the Premier League every year. Without an under-23s side or a B team at this level it's virtually impossible without someone throwing millions at your club, which puts it at immense risk.

"Our turnover in this financial year will be north of £8.2m, the highest in the club's history in League Two or One – significantly higher. Last year's finances were something like 42 per cent higher in terms of operational turnover – non-football transfer revenue, basically.

"You might think Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have just thrown millions at it and they probably have but they've increased it to a global business. They've got a large fanbase so it's quite genuine.

"We're up against a variety of clubs, some you could call boutique, owner-fuelled with only a handful of thousands watching. Then there's Wrexham and Notts County, traditional clubs with a huge core fanbase that could grow very quickly.

"We've just got to make sure we can put on the table a budget that keeps us competitive.

"I back our recruitment team over any in this division and we have the ability to sign the best players because we have things no one else in this division has – our supporter base, Valley Parade and our history."

Doncaster’s recruitment has helped lift them out of the doldrums after two-and-a-half years of miserable under-performance.

Bringing back Grant McCann raised hopes, but the way he swiftly recruited eight new players – a smart mix of experience and hungry young talent – makes them look like a club ready to tilt for promotion after too long treading water. They are certainly setting their bar there.

It ought to be a campaign worthy of the attention it attracts.