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.
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