Part two of four: nPower Championship
This division is by far one of the more up-and-coming leagues in Europe. It has been claimed to be the fourth most watched league in the continent behind the English Premiership, German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga.
I'm not surprised. The prize for being in the top two is prestigious and a play-off winner bags £90million to their kitty and gain promotion to the Premier League. No doubt all 46 matches for every team here is crucial as the competitiveness is increasing.
If a club fail to excell in this league, their futures could lead to disaster. Grimsby Town relegated in 2003, now are to play non-league football for the second consecutive season. Also the likes of Bradford City and Rotherham United featured as Division One (as the league was called until 2004) clubs playing consistently well, now are suffering in the fourth tier. So the top and bottom of the Championship table has a lot of focus.
Now to my prediction. It's been a fascinating league to predict as there are so many Premiership-quality sides. West Ham and Birmingham relegated last season from the top tier and are looking strong with managerial changes guarenteed. When writing this the Midland based club are yet to find one but the Hammers tied a deal with Sam Allardyce so he could lead the side for a possible return to the Premier League.
Even the teams who have promoted to the Championship last season offer strength and danger to the other teams competing at this level. Southampton have been in the Premiership before and would like return to top flight football. Norwich City exceeded most expectations with their promotion to the top flight, perhaps the Saints could do the same. Also Peterborough United are back to the second tier after relegating to League One in 2010. Brighton have a brand new stadium which will attract more Seagull supporters and all are behind Gus Poyet to succeed once again.
Without further ado, here are my predictions for the forthcoming season. Just to remind you, like the previous blogspot regarding the Premiership, these are predictions and a bit of fun.
West Ham, who have been bookies favourite to win the Championship, return to the Premiership after a year of trying. For much of the season was a battle at the top between themselves, Reading and Leeds United before a Birmingham breakthrough from February. The Whites return to the Premier League after going to hell and back since 2004.
The team who follows West Ham and Leeds United are Birmingham City who are turning into the so called "yo-yo" side relegating and promoting four years running. They overcame Reading in a 2-0 result at Wembley Stadium who defeated Cardiff City in a play-off encounter two years in a row.
Cardiff City were the surprise team of the season. Some were expecting them not to be in play-off contention this season but Malky MacKay performed well as manager and the board keep faith in the Scot despite their bitter rivals Swansea maintaining their Premiership status. Perhaps next time, they hope to avoid Reading.
Southampton return to the Championship in style as they made it to the play-offs. Made their work cut out with Leicester City and Middlesbrough always breathing down their necks. Soton dealt with the pressure and will go to the 2012/13 season with high confidence. Sven Goran Eriksson keeps his job at Leicester but Middlesbrough and Southampton lose theirs as Nigel Adkins switches to Boro as the season ended whilst Matt Le Tissier coaches his beloved Saints.
It's well worth mentioning Crystal Palace who seem to have overcome their relegation battle problems. They have been close to the drop in the last couple of seasons but this time around, a healthy 10th place is good for them. Same goes for Portsmouth as their 11th place finish is a good start if they want to return to the Premiership.
Some sides have great seasons, some teams don't. Barnsley confirmed their relegation with five matches remaning after winning just five matches, two of them came in the last two games of the season. It didn't help things when they fired and hired three different managers including Keith Hill before Christmas and Paul Hart on the wake of March. They will hope to bounce back, so will do Coventry City who learned their fate in the last game of the season when they lost to Southampton 3-1. It's the first time they will be in the third tier since 1964.
The last game proved interesting as Millwall and Doncaster Rovers could also have faced relegation but defeated Blackpool and Ipswich Town respectively. Brighton on the other hand finished in the relegation zone, despite appearing safe at the end of December in 16th but the last 22 matches let them down as they gained only 14 points from those games.
Blackpool disappointed their supporters after a superb Premiership debut last season, despite their relegation. They were certainly the team to watch but this season perhaps proved that their top flight appearance was a one-off. They failed to suitably replace Charlie Adam who joined Arsenal (this is a prediction, remember) for £9million in the summer 2011. Ian Holloway insists that next year will be completely different.
Those were the Championship predictions, I hope you are enjoying my predictions so far. Next up is League One where we will see both Sheffields and more ex-Premiership sides including Charlton Athletic and also Stevenage Borough. Stay tuned in the next few days or so and hope you are enjoying Wimbledon as well.
This division is by far one of the more up-and-coming leagues in Europe. It has been claimed to be the fourth most watched league in the continent behind the English Premiership, German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga.
I'm not surprised. The prize for being in the top two is prestigious and a play-off winner bags £90million to their kitty and gain promotion to the Premier League. No doubt all 46 matches for every team here is crucial as the competitiveness is increasing.
If a club fail to excell in this league, their futures could lead to disaster. Grimsby Town relegated in 2003, now are to play non-league football for the second consecutive season. Also the likes of Bradford City and Rotherham United featured as Division One (as the league was called until 2004) clubs playing consistently well, now are suffering in the fourth tier. So the top and bottom of the Championship table has a lot of focus.
Now to my prediction. It's been a fascinating league to predict as there are so many Premiership-quality sides. West Ham and Birmingham relegated last season from the top tier and are looking strong with managerial changes guarenteed. When writing this the Midland based club are yet to find one but the Hammers tied a deal with Sam Allardyce so he could lead the side for a possible return to the Premier League.
Even the teams who have promoted to the Championship last season offer strength and danger to the other teams competing at this level. Southampton have been in the Premiership before and would like return to top flight football. Norwich City exceeded most expectations with their promotion to the top flight, perhaps the Saints could do the same. Also Peterborough United are back to the second tier after relegating to League One in 2010. Brighton have a brand new stadium which will attract more Seagull supporters and all are behind Gus Poyet to succeed once again.
Without further ado, here are my predictions for the forthcoming season. Just to remind you, like the previous blogspot regarding the Premiership, these are predictions and a bit of fun.
West Ham, who have been bookies favourite to win the Championship, return to the Premiership after a year of trying. For much of the season was a battle at the top between themselves, Reading and Leeds United before a Birmingham breakthrough from February. The Whites return to the Premier League after going to hell and back since 2004.The team who follows West Ham and Leeds United are Birmingham City who are turning into the so called "yo-yo" side relegating and promoting four years running. They overcame Reading in a 2-0 result at Wembley Stadium who defeated Cardiff City in a play-off encounter two years in a row.
Cardiff City were the surprise team of the season. Some were expecting them not to be in play-off contention this season but Malky MacKay performed well as manager and the board keep faith in the Scot despite their bitter rivals Swansea maintaining their Premiership status. Perhaps next time, they hope to avoid Reading.
Southampton return to the Championship in style as they made it to the play-offs. Made their work cut out with Leicester City and Middlesbrough always breathing down their necks. Soton dealt with the pressure and will go to the 2012/13 season with high confidence. Sven Goran Eriksson keeps his job at Leicester but Middlesbrough and Southampton lose theirs as Nigel Adkins switches to Boro as the season ended whilst Matt Le Tissier coaches his beloved Saints.
It's well worth mentioning Crystal Palace who seem to have overcome their relegation battle problems. They have been close to the drop in the last couple of seasons but this time around, a healthy 10th place is good for them. Same goes for Portsmouth as their 11th place finish is a good start if they want to return to the Premiership.
Some sides have great seasons, some teams don't. Barnsley confirmed their relegation with five matches remaning after winning just five matches, two of them came in the last two games of the season. It didn't help things when they fired and hired three different managers including Keith Hill before Christmas and Paul Hart on the wake of March. They will hope to bounce back, so will do Coventry City who learned their fate in the last game of the season when they lost to Southampton 3-1. It's the first time they will be in the third tier since 1964.
The last game proved interesting as Millwall and Doncaster Rovers could also have faced relegation but defeated Blackpool and Ipswich Town respectively. Brighton on the other hand finished in the relegation zone, despite appearing safe at the end of December in 16th but the last 22 matches let them down as they gained only 14 points from those games.
Blackpool disappointed their supporters after a superb Premiership debut last season, despite their relegation. They were certainly the team to watch but this season perhaps proved that their top flight appearance was a one-off. They failed to suitably replace Charlie Adam who joined Arsenal (this is a prediction, remember) for £9million in the summer 2011. Ian Holloway insists that next year will be completely different.
Those were the Championship predictions, I hope you are enjoying my predictions so far. Next up is League One where we will see both Sheffields and more ex-Premiership sides including Charlton Athletic and also Stevenage Borough. Stay tuned in the next few days or so and hope you are enjoying Wimbledon as well.
Blackpool so low? I don't think they will make play offs but I'm not sure they will be that low. I'm a Burnley fan myself and I think we will only make the play offs if we play at our very best every game. Which is unlikely.
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