04/03/2009
By Tom Brown
The English Premiership looks as open as it has for years this season, with a realistic 7 teams battling it out for a top four finish. Manchester ‘Money-Bags’ City, Harry Redknapp’s revamped Tottenham and ever improving Aston Villa are looking to take advantage of the ‘big fours’ early season inconsistency and regular ‘blips’.
However, if you think this is competition for the title, take a look at the second tier of English football, The Championship.
With 15 games gone, just 6 points separate the top 10. Within that top ten, you have a mixture of the relegated trio, early surprise packages who you would have backed to be in battling it out at the lower reaches of the table, as well as the usual clubs that have spent the last few years ‘there or there abouts’.
At the top of the bunch we have pre-season favourites Newcastle. After last season’s embarrassment which saw them relegated from the top tier, in a similar fashion to that of Leeds United only a few years ago, their 1-0 win at Sheffield United on Monday put them right back to where they want to be, and expect to be.
Fellow relegated teams West Brom and Middlesbrough have had fairly strong starts to life in the Championship too, with Roberto Di-Matteo’s new look Baggies flying high in second, and newly appointed Gordon Strachan’s Middlesbrough sitting reasonably nicely in seventh.
All three teams have a different boss in the dugout from the one’s that stood there in disbelief last May, and the squads have been altered a fair bit as well. But after just 15 games, all three teams will still be hoping to secure automatic promotion come the end of the season.
Currently in the playoff positions you have Cardiff and Bristol City, who have been beating around them heights for the last couple of seasons, but have never managed to reach the glamour of the Premiership. However, I personally like the look of Dave Jones’ side this season and can see them pushing for automatic promotion towards the latter part of the season.
Also in the top 6 are promoted side Leicester City, who have been up and down for the last decade of so, but will be hoping to push themselves back to the Premiership after a solid start to life in this seasons Championship.
Finally, there’s QPR. Last season’s early favourites to win the title, after a huge financial takeover, but struggled to sign the players they wanted and flirted around mid table for the whole season. This time around, under the management of ex-Ipswich boss Jim Magilton, the Hoops seem to have put together a squad capable of competing.
The other 4 teams that fill the top 10 positions include Middlesbrough, and typical promotion pushers Preston, who like Cardiff and Bristol City, always seem to be there or there abouts, but never quite have enough to make it into the top flight.
And then there are two teams that were tipped for relegation before a ball had been kicked. Blackpool and Nottingham Forest. Ian Holloway has impressed since becoming boss of the Seagulls and a series of ‘shock results’ have seen his side rise towards the business end of the league.
As for Forest, the foundations have always been there and a recent run of form have seen them in and out of the playoffs in the first third of the season.
But looking at this league, and the inconsistency of almost ‘every’ team, a small run of wins can see a club turn a relegation battle into a promotion push. Even if basement side Ipswich Town, who picked up their first win of the season at home to Derby last weekend, string four or five wins together before Christmas, they will see their season completely turn full circle.
You cannot predict a result in this league. Anyone can beat everyone, and that’s what makes it so exciting. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a team who are currently in the playoff zone after 15 games, find themselves in a relegation battle come May, and vice versa. Forget about the ‘big four’ in the Premiership, it seems to have turned into the ‘big twenty-four’ in this seasons Championship.