Another season has come and gone in the Championship and now seems as good a time as any to look back and assess just what’s happened. So, here’s a team by team review starting with the bottom half.
24th Rotherham United – It’s been a miserable season for The Millers. They could only amass 23 points and a lethal combination of lack of investment and terrible managers meant they were screwed from the off. They only amassed 23 points which is even less than Sunderland did and had 8 more games to get points off.
23rd Wigan Athletic – Will Grigg was not on fire, in fact, he wasn’t even burning just a little bit. The appointment of Warren Joyce backfired massively as Wigan are relegated for the third time in five years. They didn’t even win the FA Cup this time.
22nd Blackburn Rovers – Despite Tony Mowbray’s best efforts it just wasn’t enough to keep Blackburn up. Rovers continually sell their best players and don’t reinvest plus their ownership is horrible. They started the season with Owen Coyle as their manager, so in a way its impressive they finished this high.
21st Nottingham Forest – Mark Warburton came in and just about kept Forest up but with the players they have, Forest need to be way higher up the table. At least they can sing about those European Cups they’ve won. Forest fans never mention them…
20th Burton Albion – For a club like Burton to stay up in the Championship is very impressive and a testament to the work of Nigel Clough and his players. Albion do need to be careful they don’t do a Rotherham next season though.
19th Birmingham City – Harry Redknapp does it again. Rowett’s Birmingham were Premier League hopefuls but the bizarre decision to sack him for Zola made the second city club look League Two standard. Harry came in, did a job and I look forward to his wheeling and dealing next season.
18th Queens Park Rangers – Very meh season for QPR. Ian Holloway came in to push Rangers up the table but they’ve massively stagnated since then. But at least Holloway’s got a few funny anecdotes though.
17th Bristol City – Another club with another pretty average season. Tammy Abraham is quite good but the rest of their players? Not so much. Look forward to City doing the exact same thing next year.
16th Ipswich Town – Mick McCarthy has been at Town for five years which is the equivalent of a millennia in modern football terms. Ipswich have truly become the Stoke of the Championship as literally nothing noteworthy has happened to them this season. Personally I’d get rid of Mick but I wouldn’t fancy being the one to tell him.
15th Wolverhampton Wanderers – New owners has meant managerial turmoil for Wolves. Jackett, Zenga and Lambert all came and went and it seems like agent Jorge Mendes is essentially running the club which is a bit odd.
14th Barnsley – The season started so well for Barnsley but they then had a great idea to sell pretty much all their best players, mainly to Aston Villa, which meant they finished four points below them.
13th Aston Villa – Villa spent an absolute truck load of money in the summer so a 13th placed finish is unacceptable. Villa need to get their act together and go up pretty soon or they might wanna ask Blackburn Rovers what happens when the money runs out.
That’s all for part one, shortly I’ll be reviewing the season of the teams that placed 12th to 1st