A new Championship season – part III
The final grouping. Those clubs whose owners and fans are only planning a run at promotion, a bit like Wolves a year ago, but will start the season as the bookmakers favourites.
I going to throw a curved ball the begin with a start with Derby County, my tip as dark horses, although in this league everyone has a chance. Nigel Clough is the longest serving Championship manager (Powell is 3rd!) and after being allowed that much coveted ingredient – time, Clough Jnr has slowy recreated the Rams from basket case into a young dynamic outfit.
Clough was instrumental in restucturing Derby’s academy when he arrived from Burton in 2009 and Will Hughes, Mason Bennett, Michael Jacobs and Jeff Hendrick are just 4 of the names to watch.
Adam Smith has signed on another loan from Spurs to replace right back John Brayford who moved to Cardiff. Up front Clough has added Chris Martin and Johnny Russell, who was prolific in the SPL. County’s squad look a nice mix of youth and experience with an important element of stability thrown in.
Leicester City have been the least active club in the transfer market – yes you read that correctly, the Foxes have signed less players than the Addicks. French-born Ivorian Zoumana Bakayogo came to Tranmere via a very roundabout way, and Leicester signed the left back after Rovers released him. Jermaine Beckford moved to Bolton, but a lot of firepower remains with David Nugent, Chris Wood, Martyn Waghorn, Jeffrey Schlupp and £1m Jamie Vardy all jostling for a place.
Leicester led by much sought after captain Wes Morgan still have a lot of quality in their side and if the owners can stay patient with Nigel Pearson I have to think they will be a promotion prospect.
The circus that is Blackburn Rovers trundles on with Gary Bowyer given the ringleader’s black hat full time after a couple of spells as caretaker. At least that was a sensible decision by the Venky’s, who after another season of turmoil have thrown even more money at the problem.
Rovers’ wagebill must rival that of QPR, and added to the squad in the summer were 8 players including DJ Campbell, Matthew Kilgallon and Powell target Alan Judge. Swedish international Martin Olsson is a loss though, David Goodwillie isn’t. This is a huge season for Blackburn.
On the face of it Bolton Wanderers have been one of the division’s big spenders but Dougie Freedman has also moved on a fair bit of squad padding. Certainly he has upgraded his lot with Jermaine Beckford replacing 350-game veteran and folk hero Kevin Davies.
Bolton are joint 2nd favourites for promotion and finished last season strongly but Trotters fans will be devasted about the news that Stuart Holden picked up another serious injury whilst playing for the U.S.A in the final of the Gold Cup.
Arguably the best team Charlton faced last season was Nottingham Forest. Their team is brimming with better than good players for this level, and Billy Davies carries a very large squad. However if there was ever an example of why keep sacking your manager doesn’t work, then last season at the City Ground was it.
Davies was the 3rd manager to sit in the home dug out and Forest fell at the last hurdle and missed the Play-Off’s by a point. Davies has reached The Championship Play-Off’s five times, only successful once, but if he can give them the consistency to thrive in this division, I am sure they will embark on another Play-Off chase.
Forest’s new signings include defender Gonzalo Jara from WBA, Jamie Mackie from QPR and Jack Hobbs, who has joined from Hull on loan. David McGoldrick and Lewis McGugan both moved on to Ipswich and Watford respectively.
Harry Redknapp won promotion from The Championship with Portsmouth 11 years ago and his current side QPR find themselves back in this most unpredictable of leagues.
Harry has managed to shift some wages off Rangers’ ledger but many ‘hangers on’ remain. Luke Young, Joey Barton, Hogan Ephraim and Bobby Zamora are all still on the books to which Redknapp has added the experience of Richard Dunne and Karl Henry.
QPR fans probably expect the worst and we have read this book many times before. They do possess an impressive squad but I think a lot will depend on how really up to the challenge Harry is. Remember he was and still is a popular choice for England manager but whilst Tony Fernandes is no Venky’s there is still a lot that is wrong behind the scenes of QPR’s Subbuteo stadium.
The question is have Wigan Athletic re-found their level or are they too big a club to be hanging around the 2nd tier for very long? Owen Coyle is yet another manager who has taken a team out of this division, Burnley in 2008/9 and he has added to an already talented squad by bringing in 8 players that include Grant Holt, Scott Carson, Marc-Antoine Fortuné and Chris McCann.
Coyle has lost Koné, Alcaraz and Figueroa who all featured heavily last season but with a month of the transfer window to go four stand-outs James McCarthy, Shaun Maloney, James McArthur and Callum McManaman all remain at the DW.
Coyle won’t have a sense of grandeur and nor will Wigan’s supporters. I think they will be challengers but they may struggle to hang onto some of their stars as Premier League teams look to strengthen their squads with some home nation talent in the remainder of this window or in January.
Promotion favourites are Reading with good reason. The Royals didn’t break the bank after going up two seasons ago and the bulk of the squad remains from that title winning side. Nigel Adkins completes the list of managers that have won promotion from the 2nd tier and his record and that of Reading’s steadfastness makes them most people’s favourites.
Add to this the signing of Royston Drenthe and Adkins has a strong side on paper that despite last season’s woes, should be a match for everyone. The only question mark is The Championship loveable, sometime hateful volatility.
