Championship betting – should Cardiff City and Craig Bellamy be backed?

While his former team-mates travel to Romania for the first leg of their Europa League play-off match, Craig Bellamy has returned to a place he calls home and the Cardiff supporters will be delighted to have seen the Welshman agree to join the Bluebirds on a season-long loan.

The news broke on Tuesday and the odds on Cardiff City winning the Championship began to tumble. Bet365 had 14/1 available about them finishing top of the league this season, although they and every other firm started to slash the odds down to 12/1 and then 10/1. Most firms are now offering just 9/1 about the south Wales team, although Bet Fred still offer 10/1.

What’s clear is that Bellamy is not going to improve how many goals the defence concede, while it’s also apparent that the player isn’t quite match fit, although he’s expected to play some kind of role against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday. Cardiff might be the best backed team in the Championship come the weekend and Sky Bet and totesport are the only firms to be holding 10/11 right now. The usually aggressive Paddy Power have just 4/5 about a home win for Dave Jones’ team.

Cardiff have enjoyed a solid start to the season, drawing with Sheffield United before coming from behind to beat Derby County last Saturday. There seems to be little hangover from their play-off final defeat at the hands of Blackpool last term and their latest odds on promotion to the Premier League stand at 3/1 with Ladbrokes.

Bellamy has also shot to the top of the Championship top goalscorer market since the player’s arrival at the Cardiff City Stadium. Middlesbrough’s Kris Boyd (9/1 Boylesports) has occupied a place as favourite, although the Welshman is no bigger than 8/1 (William Hill) to shoot his way to the top of the scoring charts. There’s a slight reservation that the Bluebirds already have two powerful strikers and Michael Chopra (12/1 Victor Chandler) might benefit from having the Manchester City star alongside him.

However, it was Peter Whittingham that scored the most goals out of any player in the Championship last season and the midfielder could profit from any spot kicks that are awarded to City. Although he’s not yet opened his account, 40/1 with Bet Fred is a massive price about a player who Nottingham Forest wanted to sign during the summer.

Perhaps the arrival of Craig Bellamy will upset the balance in south Wales and the Bluebirds are 9/1 (Coral) to be relegated from what is an unpredictable division full of evenly-matched teams. You can back the striker at 4/1 with Ladbrokes to open the scoring during Saturday’s match against Doncaster Rovers, while bet365 go 11/10 that the latest acquisition scores at some stage of the game.