The Sky Bet Championship kicks off on Friday night, after what seems like a yawning stretch of literally hours without football. Here, The Times brings you up to speed with this season’s runners and riders, and the odd lame mare here or there, in what looks set to be at typically chaotic and thrilling season in the second tier.
Automatic promotion challengers
West Bromwich Albion have turned to the former Barnsley head coach Valérien Ismaël to replace Sam Allardyce and lead their promotion charge. West Brom can expect the same high-pressing, high-intensity, direct and dogged football that took Barnsley to the play-offs last season, against all odds, and ruffled a few feathers along the way.
Quite how West Brom’s squad will adapt to Ismaël’s brand of football — which is perhaps best suited to players with fewer miles on the clock, and lighter wallets — remains to be seen. Hal Robson Kanu and Kieran Gibbs were among eleven departures. The England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and wing-wizard Matheus Pereira will likely follow. The former Barnsley captain Alex Mowatt has joined Ismaël at the Hawthorns, and the Brighton defender Matt Clarke, who joins on loan, will buttress the backline. Grady Diangana, Callum Robinson, Karlan Grant and Robert Snodgrass have the makings of a fearful forward line.
Fulham parted company with Scott Parker post-relegation and have placed their faith in the former Hull City, Watford and Everton manager, Marco Silva. The Portuguese has his doubters, and the Championship will be an eye-opener, but Fulham arguably possess the strongest squad in the division and one littered with promotion medals. Silva’s biggest task will be nurturing a harmonious dressing room — many of his squad were jettisoned in the Premier League last season. Harry Wilson, who flourished during loans at Derby County and Cardiff City, joins from Liverpool for £12 million, while the goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga arrives from Tottenham Hotspur.
The third of last season’s relegated teams, Sheffield United, have handed the reins to Slaviša Jokanović, who has promotions with Watford and Fulham on his CV. Yet after the journey the Blades have been on with Chris Wilder, it would not be a surprise to see Bramall Lane take some time to acclimatise. United’s squad is virtually unchanged. John Lundstrum, who joined Rangers, is the only departure to mourn.
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A pivotal season awaits for Rhian Brewster, who failed to find the net in 27 Premier League appearances after his £20 million switch from Liverpool a year ago. Expect a big season, too, from Daniel Jebbison, the rangy 18-year-old striker who scored against Everton on his first Premier League start in May.
Bournemouth were deeply average last season, under two pretty uninspiring head coaches (Jason Tindall and Jonathon Woodgate), yet still made the play-offs — vast Premier League parachute payments will do that for you. Scott Parker is undoubtedly an upgrade. Emiliano Marcondes and Leif Davis, who join from Brentford and Leeds United (on loan) respectively, are the only new signings to date but, while Arnaut Danjuma is likely to depart, the former Fulham boss inherits solid foundations and David Brooks, Junior Stanislas, Dominic Solanke and Phillip Billing bring the firepower.
Top two prediction: West Bromwich Albion, Fulham
Play-off hopefuls
Queens Park Rangers soared to a ninth-place finish during the second half of last season, having made some shrewd loan signings in January. Four of them — Charlie Austin and Sam Field from West Brom, Fulham’s Stefan Johansen and Hull City’s Jordy De Wijs — have now been made permanent. Andre Dozell, a classy 22-year-old midfielder from Ipswich Town, and the Burnley defender Jimmy Dunne, 23, are two more smart additions among a total of nine arrivals. Mark Warburton’s dynamic young team have been the division’s great entertainers, with goals aplenty (at both ends), but there is simmering hope that this season might yield a top-six challenge.
Middlesbrough have Neil Warnock at the helm so few in their right minds would bet against a ninth promotion. The 72-year-old still knows how to set up a Championship team — and motivate them. Britt Assombalonga is finally off the wage bill. His replacement, Uche Ikpeazu, joins from Wycombe Wanderers and is just the kind of striker Warnock can get the most from. Lee Peltier, who joins from West Brom, is a solid citizen familiar to Warnock from their time at Cardiff City. Matt Crooks, a rangy goalscoring midfielder, joins from Rotherham United. Expect another striker (or two, knowing Warnock) to arrive by close of deadline day.
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Mick McCarthy’s blistering start to life as Cardiff City manager — seven wins in an unbeaten opening ten games — eventually faded last season and they finished eighth, but the former Republic of Ireland manager still knows his way around the division. James Collins’ arrival from Luton Town provides another strong attacking weapon alongside Wales’ Kiefer Moore.
Chris Hughton is in the thick of a much-needed clear-out at Nottingham Forest, but it may take several more transfer windows for the 62-year-old to rectify years of scattergun recruitment. Brennan Johnson, son of the former striker David, has been much-coveted after a fruitful season on loan at Lincoln City, but Forest appear determined to keep hold of the 20-year-old winger, who will hope to make a big impact at the City Ground this season.
Michael O’Neill continues to clear the decks after years of excess at Stoke City. The sale of defender Nathan Collins, 20, to Burnley raised £12 million and his replacement, Ben Wilmot, who joins from Watford for about £1.5 million, underlines a more frugal approach at the Bet 365 Stadium. The striker Tyrese Campbell is nearing a welcome return from his long-term knee injury.
After last season’s 12th-place finish, it would not be a surprise to see Luton Town’s upward trajectory continue. Long-serving Collins may have been lost to Cardiff, but Carlos Mendes Gomes joins from Morecambe after some shimmering displays in League Two, as do the experienced duo Cameron Jerome and Henri Lansbury from MK Dons and Bristol City respectively.
Millwall finished 11th last term but Gary Rowett has made a number of shrewd additions. The midfielder George Saville returns to the Den two years after leaving for Middlesbrough. The Arsenal defender Daniel Ballard, 21, joins on loan after an impressive spell at Blackpool. And Benik Afobe arrives on loan from Stoke City: if fit and healthy, the former Wolves and Bournemouth striker knows where the net is.
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Play-off prediction: Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, QPR
Relegation threatened
Derby County, who stayed up by the skin of their teeth on a fraught final day of last season, look doomed. A transfer embargo leaves them with a skeleton squad, littered with youth players, while nine out-of-contract players — including Phil Jagielka, Ravel Morrison and Curtis Davies — are training in hope of a deal. Derby’s two best players, Krystian Bielik and Jason Knight, will miss the opening months of the season through injury, the latter of whom was the victim of a training ground tackle by the manager, Wayne Rooney. Mel Morris remains keen to sell up, but takeover talk has gone quiet.
Huddersfield Town saw only flashes of the flowing football they hoped would follow Carlos Corberan, a coach formerly on the staff of Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa, from their Yorkshire neighbours last summer. It’s been a busy but underwhelming summer for the club; the return of the goal-shy Jordan Rhodes does not inspire belief of avoiding another season of struggle. Reading, shackled by a transfer embargo for EFL breaching spending rules, have lost Michael Olise and Omar Richards to Crystal Palace and Bayern Munich respectively. Royals fans will hope the vim and vigour of manager Veljko Paunovic can steer them to safety.
For League One champions Hull City, and their manager Grant McCann, a year in the third tier proved restorative. McCann has added the Chelsea goalkeeper Nathan Baxter and Manchester United defender Di’ Shon Bernard on loan to his well-drilled side, while the Exeter City winger Randell Williams arrives after excelling in League Two. The academy graduate Keane Lewis-Potter, 20, a winger with a hand in 19 League One goals last season, is one to look out for.
Blackpool’s promotion via the League One play-offs was richly deserved and Neil Critchley, the former Liverpool academy coach entering only his second full season as head coach, moulded a slick unit both in and out of possession. The gulf between the divisions is growing but we can be certain that Blackpool and Peterborough United, League One’s runners up, will attack the Championship with gusto. Darren Ferguson’s team, as ever, is brimming with goals. Jonson Clarke Harris found the net 31 times last season, and they have added Lincoln City’s goalscoring midfielder Jorge Grant and Jack Marriott, who returns to London Road three years after leaving for Derby County.
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Prediction: Derby, Huddersfield, Peterborough
And the rest?
Swansea City parted company with manager Steve Cooper and a host of Premier League loan players after defeat to Brentford in the play-off final. Russell Martin, the EFL’s youngest head coach, joined from MK Dons at the weekend but has little time to prepare and diminished resources.
Bristol City put their faith in Nigel Pearson to undertake an overhaul but the former Leicester City midfielders Andy King and Matty James, and former Oxford United defender Rob Aitkinson, have been the only incomings. Blackburn Rovers, who finished a disappointing 15th last season, have also had a clear-out, but Crewe Alexandra left-back Harry Pickering (who was signed, then loaned back, in January), is their only new addition. Signs of another season of mid-table mediocrity will ramp up the pressure on Tony Mowbray.
Barnsley returned to Austria, for the third time in succession, to appoint their new head coach, the former Hartberg boss Markus Schopp. The 47-year-old joins a club with a clear blueprint and a developing young squad, but a repeat of last season is a long-shot. Lee Bowyer led Birmingham City to safety with ease after swapping Charlton Athletic for St Andrews in March and, to this observer, his managerial record is hugely underrated. Midfielder Ryan Woods is a solid signing from Stoke City. The Manchester Untied winger Tahith Chong, 21, joins on loan after spells at Werder Bremen and Club Brugge. The playoffs, though, will be a step too far this season.
Preston North End handed Alex Neil’s former assistant Frankie McAvoy the reins after the Scot’s departure and inherits a team full of industry but low on quality. Mark Robins’ young Coventry City team, who joyfully return to the Ricoh Stadium after a two-year exile at St Andrew’s, should improve upon last season’s 16th-place finish after last season’s experience.
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● Who are you tipping at the top and bottom of The Championship? Leave your predictions in the comments below
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