My last two blogs have focused on the teams relegated and promoted to the Championship, so what of three teams who have been plying their trade in the Championship for a bit longer and are fancied to put up a challenge for promotion? I will take a look at Leicester City, Blackpool and Cardiff - all hotly tipped to be up near the top come May 2013.
Leicester City - second favourites with a lot of the betting shops, well backed by the board and no stranger to the Premier League in the past. Last season Leicester managed to finish 9th, 9 points shy of the play-off places and will need to make a big improvement this season to realise their dream of being promotion hopefuls. The club have only ever spent one season outside of the top two leagues in 2008-09, during which they made an immediate return to the 2nd tier of football. Leicester will be looking to Kasper Schmeichel to guard the goal in the nets (player of the season for the club during 2011-12) and for captain Wes Morgan to help him out in defence at the back. A good opening day start with a 2-0 victory over Peterborough United at home has been undermined by consecutive defeats to Charlton and Blackburn away from home and with games coming up against Blackpool (current league leaders) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (looking to bounce back to the Premiership at the first time of asking) it will be interesting to see where the land lies afterwards but if promotion is to be realised for "The Foxes" I would say it is more likely to come via a play-off spot than automatically.
Blackpool - 4th favourites for promotion, working on a small budget but also having tasted life in the Premiership in the not so distant past. Last season Blackpool finished 5th and in doing so secured a play-off position which saw them reach the final against West Ham United, having defeated Birmingham in the semi-final. A heartbreaking 87th minute winner for West Ham saw Blackpool lose 2-1 and condemned to another season in the Championship. Blackpool will be hoping that Matt Philips (named in last seasons PFA team of the year) will be able to provide ample service from the wing and that Kevin Phillips can provide both experience and goals up front. Blackpool have made an excellent start to the current season winning all three of their opening games to be the only side in the Championship to still have a 100% record. Wins against Milwall, Leeds and a 6-0 demolition of Ipswich Town bodes well for the side and it wouldn't be surprising if "the Seasiders" were challenging near the top of the table again this season.
Cardiff City - 5th favourites for promotion, ambitious owners and yet to play at the pinnacle of the football pyramid. Last season Cardiff finished 6th and like Blackpool secured a play-off position but were thoroughly beaten in two legs in the semi-final by eventual winners West Ham. Cardiff will be looking towards Peter Whittingham (named in last seasons PFA team of the year) to provide some creativity in midfield and new signing but returning old boy Craig Bellamy to provide fire power up front. An indifferent start to the season has seen Cardiff scrape home to a win against Huddersfield, draw against Brighton and Hove Albion and lose comfortably to Bristol City and an improvement to performances will be needed if the "Bluebirds" are to reach the play-offs again.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Sunday, 19 August 2012
The Football League N-Power Championship - New boys from below
Last time out I looked at the three unfortunates to drop out of the Premiership into the Championship. This time I take a look at the three to come up into the Championship from League 1.
Charlton Athletic - the top team from league 1 last season, amassing over 100 points to take the title, a full 8 points clear of their nearest rivals. An impressive haul of 30 wins (from 46) and just 5 defeats made them worthy champions and they will hope this momentum will help them to settle into the Championship this season. Charlton are also one of the (many) teams in the Championship to have experienced life among the big boys in the Premiership - their last stay there was between 2000 and 2007. Sadly for them, following relegation to the 2nd tier a rapid descent to the 3rd tier followed shortly after but they will now be hoping that things are back on the up. Charlton will be looking towards Chris Solly (last year's player of the season at the club) to rise to the challenge in defence and for Bradley Wright-Phillips to provide some fire power up front. An impressive opening game against Birmingham which saw Charlton gain a point augurs well for the season but I think a season of consolidation would be welcomed by most at the "Addicks".
Sheffield Wednesday - promoted after finishing 2nd in league 1 last season and for many a so-called "sleeping giant". Wednesday finished 3 points clear of their neighbours Sheffield United and therefore avoided the somewhat lottery of the play-offs. This is another team who have lived the high life in the Premiership only for things to go a bit pearshaped during the 2000's having been relegated to the 3rd tier of football twice during this time. One of the admirable things about Wednesday is their fans and the fact that they have regularly averaged gates of over 20,000 despite their perceived relative underperformance. Players to look out for include Jose Semedo (Wednesday's player of the season last year) and Gary Madine who made it into the BBC League 1 team of the season and was the league's 5th top goal scorer. Just like Charlton, Wednesday opened up with a draw against Derby County. What was impressive about this was coming back from 2-0 down to rescue a draw. Some of that resilience may just see the "Owls" keep their place in the league and again a season of consolidation would probably make most Wednesday fans happy.
Huddersfield Town - promoted following success in the play-offs after finishing 4th in the league and then defeating Sheffield United in the final following the longest shootout ever contested in the current league one play-offs format, winning 8-7. Although Huddersfield haven't been in the top tier of football for quite some time now, they do hold the distinct honour of being one of the few teams (and the first) to have won 3 successive league titles putting them amongst the company of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Players who hold the key to Town's season are: Jordan Rhodes - top scorer and player of the season last year and Jack Hunt (featured in the PFA team of the year last season). A narrow defeat to Cardiff (one of the pre-season favourites to be promoted this year) on the opening night of Championship football was very unfortunate and in fairness, it could be argued that Huddersfield created the better chances. If the "Terriers" can hold onto their talisman Rhodes they should have a good chance of staying up, if Rhodes departs, it'll be interesting to see who can and will take up the mantel.
Next time out I'll be taking a look at three other teams who may hold hopes for promotion.
Charlton Athletic - the top team from league 1 last season, amassing over 100 points to take the title, a full 8 points clear of their nearest rivals. An impressive haul of 30 wins (from 46) and just 5 defeats made them worthy champions and they will hope this momentum will help them to settle into the Championship this season. Charlton are also one of the (many) teams in the Championship to have experienced life among the big boys in the Premiership - their last stay there was between 2000 and 2007. Sadly for them, following relegation to the 2nd tier a rapid descent to the 3rd tier followed shortly after but they will now be hoping that things are back on the up. Charlton will be looking towards Chris Solly (last year's player of the season at the club) to rise to the challenge in defence and for Bradley Wright-Phillips to provide some fire power up front. An impressive opening game against Birmingham which saw Charlton gain a point augurs well for the season but I think a season of consolidation would be welcomed by most at the "Addicks".
Sheffield Wednesday - promoted after finishing 2nd in league 1 last season and for many a so-called "sleeping giant". Wednesday finished 3 points clear of their neighbours Sheffield United and therefore avoided the somewhat lottery of the play-offs. This is another team who have lived the high life in the Premiership only for things to go a bit pearshaped during the 2000's having been relegated to the 3rd tier of football twice during this time. One of the admirable things about Wednesday is their fans and the fact that they have regularly averaged gates of over 20,000 despite their perceived relative underperformance. Players to look out for include Jose Semedo (Wednesday's player of the season last year) and Gary Madine who made it into the BBC League 1 team of the season and was the league's 5th top goal scorer. Just like Charlton, Wednesday opened up with a draw against Derby County. What was impressive about this was coming back from 2-0 down to rescue a draw. Some of that resilience may just see the "Owls" keep their place in the league and again a season of consolidation would probably make most Wednesday fans happy.
Huddersfield Town - promoted following success in the play-offs after finishing 4th in the league and then defeating Sheffield United in the final following the longest shootout ever contested in the current league one play-offs format, winning 8-7. Although Huddersfield haven't been in the top tier of football for quite some time now, they do hold the distinct honour of being one of the few teams (and the first) to have won 3 successive league titles putting them amongst the company of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Players who hold the key to Town's season are: Jordan Rhodes - top scorer and player of the season last year and Jack Hunt (featured in the PFA team of the year last season). A narrow defeat to Cardiff (one of the pre-season favourites to be promoted this year) on the opening night of Championship football was very unfortunate and in fairness, it could be argued that Huddersfield created the better chances. If the "Terriers" can hold onto their talisman Rhodes they should have a good chance of staying up, if Rhodes departs, it'll be interesting to see who can and will take up the mantel.
Next time out I'll be taking a look at three other teams who may hold hopes for promotion.
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