Gordon Strachan

There are only six teams that can realistically win the Premier League, although there are at least a dozen sides who have the potential to finish top of the Championship. While Newcastle cruised to the title last season, it looks set to be more competitive this time around, with fifteen teams currently trading at 20/1 or lower.

It’s Middlesbrough who are the favourites to win the English second flight and potentially join fellow north-east clubs Newcastle and Sunderland in the Premier League next term. They have certainly been the big spenders of the Championship this summer, recruiting Barry Robson, Willo Flood, Scott McDonald and Stephen McManus from former club Celtic. However, the real coup de grace is the acquisition of Kris Boyd and that means the bookies are offering no bigger than 7/1 (Victor Chandler) about Boro.

Most firms have Nottingham Forest as second favourite to win the league and they should certainly be featuring at the right end of the table come May. Billy Davies steered his team to third place last season and there are several young players in the squad who should improve. The Tricky Trees should have plenty of firepower in Robert Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock, with Coral offering a best price 9/1 that they win the league.

The team that finished like a train in the Championship last season were Reading, who were relegation candidates after the first few months of the campaign but ended up close to the play-offs. Brian McDermott deserves tremendous credit for turning around the Royals’ fortunes and they are 14/1 (Sporting Bet) to continue making progress by winning the league.

Former Reading boss Steve Coppell is sure to get a warm reception when he returns to the Madejski Stadium next season with his Bristol City team. It’s a shrewd appointment by the Robins as they look to finally make the big time and Sky Bet offer 20/1 that the supporters at Ashton Gate are toasting a title-winning campaign. Striker Nicky Maynard is one reason why they might be riding high, although the manager will be concerned by how many goals were conceded last term.

It’s unusual to see the three relegated teams from the Premier League so low in the outright betting list. Burnley are 11/1 (totesport) to bounce back from last season’s relegation, although the bookmakers expect Hull City (22/1 bet365) and Portsmouth (28/1 Coral) to have a much tougher time of things on their return to the Championship.

Queens Park Rangers are back among the favourites this season, two years after Flavio Briatore bought the west London club. In that time, several managers have come and gone, although Neil Warnock is a manager well-versed in the Championship and the Super Hoops are 12/1 (Coral) to win the league. Roy Keane’s Ipswich Town (16/1 Paddy Power) are also among the favourites, although it could be a couple of promoted teams that feature near the top.

Leeds United have finally made it out of League One and are 18/1 (Blue Square) to make it a double promotion by winning the Championship. However, they were faltering badly towards the end of the campaign and that allowed Norwich (18/1 Victor Chandler) to win the league. Perhaps the Canaries can have another season to remember.

Life certainly isn’t dull at present if you’re a Southampton supporter. This time last week, the very future of the south coast giants looked in doubt when a consortium, co-fronted by former Saints favourite Matt Le Tissier, pulled out of a deal to buy the club, blaming the refusal of the Football League to budge on matters pertaining to the club’s holding company being placed into administration at the end of last season. It appears no-one was prepared to take on the newly-relegated League One side, which must begin the new season on -10 points. But, out of the blue, a white knight suddenly appeared in the shape of German-born multi-millionaire Markus Liebherr, the driving force behind the Swiss-based Mali Group, who manufacture everything from heavy-lifting cranes to domestic fridges. His first act was to freeze out manager Mark Wotte, who had only agreed a new 12-month rolling contract days earlier, his existing deal having ended at the end of June. The former Netherlands U-21 coach certainly seems to have been hard done by, but Liebherr is obviously keen to be surrounded by his own men, one of which, if the market vibes are accurate, maybe Gordon Strachan. On the face of it, it would seem a strange move for the ex-Celtic boss to transport his family from one end of Britain to the other to manage a team in the third tier of English football just months after leaving a club that appear regularly in the group stages of the Champions League. But Strachan, who enjoyed some success with the Saints in a previous spell as manager, is now as short as 4-5 with Skybet to make a swift return to management. Former Portsmouth boss Tony Adams has been the only name attracting significant support and is now 5-4 while it’s 18-1 and above others. The Saints are a best 25-1 with Skybet and extrabet to win League One next season, while Skybet offer 8-1 that Championship football will return to St Mary’s in the 2010/2011 season. But in a league that features three other recent Premier League clubs, Herr Liebherr may be forced to wait a while before seeing a positive return on his investment. Perennial play-off sufferers Leeds are again the bookmakers favourites to win League One (7-2 with Stan James and Coral).