2017/18 Championship Preview Part Two

2017/18 Championship Preview

Championship Tips

English Championship 2017/18 Preview Part Two

Promotion Hopefuls

Last season was very much about consolidation for Aston Villa following their first relegation to this level since the Premier League era began. The ill-fated appointment of Roberto Di Matteo never lasted long and he was promptly replaced by Steve Bruce. As Bruce has enjoyed huge success in the Championship with the likes of Hull, Birmingham and Wigan, Villa fans were hoping for an instant impact and the possibility of sneaking into the playoffs but they were never in a position to do so. A 13th place finish with 16 wins, 14 draws and 16 defeats summed up their inconsistency but the additions in January have now had plenty of time to embed themselves in whilst Bruce has made a point of strengthening in defence with Chris Samba and one of the highest profiling signings of the summer, John Terry coming in. Terry has already been made captain and Bruce will hope his experience and leadership will be a deciding factor in the club’s push for a return to the Premier League. Glenn Whelan is another who will be pivotal in that push and his signing from Stoke is something of a coup at this level.

Wolves were arguably the talking team ahead of last season with the change in ownership leading to a number of changes on and off the park. Walter Zenga was installed as head coach whilst the owners link to Portugal meant the club were able to bring in a number of quality young players, some of whom for big money. Zenga has long since departed (as has his replacement Paul Lambert) but the influx of good players has continued – and got even better. Nuno Espirito Santo has replaced Lambert and he will be familiar with many of the players at his disposal, including the much vaunted Ruben Neves who he coached at Porto. Neves is thought to be the most expensive player in Championship history and is one of the most exciting signings the league has seen. Diogo Jota is another who big things are expected of and the most recent addition – Leo Bonatini – is something of a lesser known but will be given the opportunity to take advantage of all that creativity in behind and score the goals that Wolves fans will hope to see them in and amongst the promotion hopefuls.

Brentford enjoyed another solid season last time around finishing 10th, having previously reached the playoffs in 2014/15 and ninth in 2015/16. It is tremendous consistency for a club who are establishing themselves at this level and have seen some major changes in that time on and off the park. Dean Smith has been in position for 18 months now and will be looking forward to this season feeling that they can challenge some of the bigger names once again. The Bees recruitment is such that they are able to unearth a number of exciting talents from all over Europe and two of their star men from last season were the Spaniard Jota and Dane Lasse Vibe. They combined for 38 goals and will be crucial to any success once again. Smith will be hoping Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins can supplement those goals having arrived over the summer to essentially replace Scott Hogan who moved for big money to Villa in the Winter transfer window.

New Management

Birmingham and Nottingham Forest survived by the skin of their teeth last season and simply have to be doing better considering the size of both clubs. Both required late season appointments to ensure they stayed in the league as Harry Redknapp took over at St Andrews whilst former Brentford and Rangers manager Mark Warburton took the reins at the City Ground. David Stockdale has been the biggest arrival for Redknapp thus far but you expect as the window draws to a close that a number of other deals will be done whilst Warburton has used his contacts north of the border to strengthen the squad with Barrie McKay and Jason Cummings arriving from Rangers and Hibs respectively. Another significant addition is Daryl Murphy who remains in the Championship following Newcastle’s promotion last season. He’s vastly experienced at this level and if he can recapture the form which saw him finish as top scorer for Ipswich then he could be a really important player. Both clubs certainly have the scope to be competitive but there appear to be more questions than answers at this stage and may struggle to make the impact their fans hope for.

Alex Neil would have been extremely disappointed with how things ended at Norwich City but he has bounced back into management quickly and will be looking to make Preston as competitive as they were under Simon Grayson. Although last season was something of a disaster with Norwich, Neil did win promotion from the Championship with the Canaries back in 2015. That may just be beyond this Preston team but he will be hoping to steer clear of the bottom of the table at the very least. Aiden McGeady will be a miss considering the form he was in over the second half of the campaign but Josh Harrop is an interesting signing from Manchester United, as is the loan signing of Stephy Mavididi from Arsenal. Neil has a reputation for working with younger players during his time at Hamilton and I expect to see them be comfortable enough.

The usual suspects

Cardiff, QPR and Ipswich are synonymous with the Championship, as are their managers. Neil Warnock took over at the Welsh club last season whilst Ian Holloway made his return t Loftus Road as well and were able to improve the fortunes of both clubs during that time – although Rangers’ did fall away towards the end of the season. Mick McCarthy is now over five years of service at Portman Road which is something of a miracle in this day and age, especially in the Championship. Despite all the worries off the field and a limited transfer budget, Ipswich were never in any real danger of going down last year. As you would expect from Warnock, he has been shrewd as ever in their transfer dealings over the summer. Callum Paterson, Danny Ward and Lee Tomlin are all interesting additions in Cardiff. Holloway has done very little so far and Ipswich’s main acquisition is Joe Garner from Rangers for over a million pounds – a substantial outlay for the Tractor Boys. Cardiff may be best equipped of this trio to creep into the playoff picture.

Bumbling Bees

Burton are likely to have the smallest budget in the Championship again this season so survival will be the name of the game again for Nigel Clough’s men – something they achieved by a single point last term. Their chances have not been helped with Liam Boyce – signed from Ross County during the summer – suffering a major knee injury in pre season. It’s difficult to see anything other than a relegation battle ahead but they had a good home record last year and Clough knows the division well.

Bristol City enjoyed really good second half of the campaign which seen them pull clear of the struggles at the bottom half of the table when it appeared they were doomed earlier in the season. Lee Johnson is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Gary, by making City into one of the better teams at this level but he will have a task to do that this season in what appears to be an incredibly difficult division.

I should make this clear that Barnsley are pretty unfortunate to be included within this part of the preview but they didn’t really fit elsewhere and by virtue of their name beginning with a B they find themselves with two teams who struggled last season. That was certainly not the case for Paul Heckingbottom’s team who were excellent all season and played some of the most attractive football in the league. They will take a similar approach once again going by their summer signings and I would have little worry if I was a Barnsley supporter once again.