It is often said that the Championship is one of the hardest divisions to get promoted from. One thing that cannot be argued with though is that it is the most lucrative division to escape, with the riches of Premier league football awaiting the three sides lucky enough to do so.
So who will be the front runners in the 2011-2012 season?
This years Championship line up could in fact be the strongest ever as England's second tier will boast the likes of West Ham, Birmingham, Cardiff, Southampton, B
righton and Leicester.
Realistically it would be difficult to predict who will finish top, second or even in the top half for that matter, but here I am going to take a look at the front runners who should be challenging at the summit come next May.
Firstly I will start with last seasons beaten Play-Off finalists Reading. After a late surge towards the end of last season, Brian McDermott's men forces their way into the play-offs where they lost to Swansea at Wembley 4-2 in an enthralling game believed to be worth £90 Million to the winners. Despite missing out on promotion, the Royals will know th
at if they can keep hold of hotshot Shane Long then another crack at promotion should be on the cards.
West Ham, Birmingham and Blackpool will all have access to their parachute payments after being relegated from the top flight in May. West Ham and Birmingham both have new managers in place for the new term in Sam Allardyce and Chris Hughton, the latter of course guided Newcastle straight back up to the Premier League the season before last after their relegation 3 years ago and Brum supporters will be hoping for the same.
Another club with new management in charge are Nottingham Forest after they appointed former England flop Steve McLaren who will be looking for a successful return to management in England with a club that has potential to return to the big time, boosted by the return of legend midfielder Andy Reid from Sunderland.
Many will argue that the favorites to make a return to the Premier League are big spending Leicester City, managed by another former England boss, Sven Goran-Eriksson. The foxes this week secured a £5 Million pound deal to bring Reading defender Matt Mills to the club.
We can also expect sides such as Southampton, Brighton who have recently acquired the services of free scoring striker Craig Mackail-Smith from Peterborough, Middlesborough and Ipswich to mount challenges for one of the four available play-off places.
The relegation battle looks as tough as the promotion one with no side looking incapable of steering clear of the dreaded drop. Last season saw Preston, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe slip into League One, an example that no one is safe in this division.
The obvious concerns will be there for Watford after they lost the services of manager Malky Mackay (Cardiff), Don Cowie (Cardiff) and top goal scorer last season Danny Graham (Swansea). The Hornets have little money to spend despite the sales and after appointing Sean Dyche as their new manager despite no experience, the future seems bleak.
Other sides we can expect to see at the lower end of the division include Barnsley, Derby and Doncaster, again mainly based on the money these sides have to strengthen their squads.
It's going to be another epic season of Championship football and one that will be a roller coaster journey for fans of the Championship sides.
Do you agree? As always let me know what you think? What would your realistic ambitions be for your club?
24 teams have a chance to go up, 24 teams have a chance to go down! Thats the Championship
ReplyDeleteThink you're right on watford, having lost both vital players and their manager they mat struggle.
ReplyDeleteThink you can lump Peterborough and Palace in the relegation favourite places also. Peterborough's kamikaze style will fail again unless they get some good defenders in, and replace CMS.
Palace's best players are jumping ship, and so far their biggest signing is Glenn Murray-Never played at Championship level and i fear without the good team around him at Brighton that provided him with the scoring chances last year, he will struggle.
reckon Leicester will be up there, Hull and Ipswich outside bets IMO also along with BHA and Saints....but who really knows!!
did a similar blog myself on same subject about a month back, what do you think bout my thoughts? http://strattonsays.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-early-thoughts-promotion-and.html
Cheers Brad,
ReplyDeleteJust read your blog mate, looks good. I disagree on the Peterborough front. It's the way they play football and I think Ferguson would be foolish to change that- why fix it if aint broke?
Palace showed good fight under Freedman when he took over last season and I think if they add some quality to their team then they could be the real dark horses.