Being relegated is never easy but finding yourself demoted to a lower division without actually going down would be galling in the extreme.

This is the situation Tranmere Rovers find themselves in after the rest of the League One clubs voted to end the season using a points per game system. The sense of injustice emanating from Birkenhead can be seen from space.

Not only are the well run, financially sound community club being forced to start the 2020/21 campaign in League Two, but they are also being forced to make redundancies due to a loss of income projected in the short-term to be around £1 million, according to their owner Mark Palios.

It is in these circumstances that Mike Jackson walks into the dugout to take over from the departing Micky Mellon. The former assistant to the now Dundee United boss has been given a great opportunity by the club and is hoping to be the man to right the wrongs forced upon the Super White Army at the end of the 2019/20 campaign.

He may not be a household name but he does have a wealth of experience. He got into coaching a decade ago while at Shrewsbury Town. After a persistent knee injury forced him to retire, he became a member of the backroom staff at the Shropshire club and also had spells as both caretaker and permanent manager.

He has been part of the setup at Prenton Park since Micky Mellon became manager in 2016-17 and, therefore, knows the side inside out. It is this sense of continuity that helped Mark Palios make the decision to appoint the 46-year-old to continue the good work undertaken by Micky Mellon over the last few years.

He is taking the team into uncharted territory. No one knows how lower league football will look post-COVID or when crowds will be allowed to attend matches again. Some clubs may not even survive the summer if reports are to be believed, so these are strange times indeed.

Jackson will need to revamp the squad with a number of players having left or expected to leave this summer. Conner Jennings and Paul Mullin have joined Stockport and Cambridge respectively while strong centre-half Manny Monthe is being targetted by Portsmouth.

Alex Woodyard is expected to return, a midfield who was part of the Lincoln side that made the League Two play-offs in 2017-18, while Jackson will likely have several of his own targets in mind. With around 1,400 footballers projected to be out of contract, there will be plenty of options available to clubs on a budget.

The sense of injustice the club and fans feel right now could end up working in their favour. Tranmere is an already close-knit community outfit and the circumstances around their demotion will only serve to create a siege mentality and draw everyone associated with the Super White Army closer still. You need this unity to be successful in League Two, a ruthlessly hard division at the best of times.

What has happened to Tranmere is unfair but they are a great club with a superb set of supporters and, most importantly, intelligent owners who really care about the club. This will give Mike Jackson and his team the best possible platform to bounce back to where they belong at the first time of asking, and all at D3D4 Football will be right behind them.

words James Richards, D3D4 Football