The Championship season is due to start on Saturday, following one of the shortest ever post-season breaks (despite it feeling like a very long time since Town were beaten by Millwall and the Cowley brothers were sacked less than 48 hours later).
As we embark upon a new season, I have decided to put together my predictions for the Championship this season. Any regular readers of the blog will know my predictions are often wayward and I expect this will be no different. Feel free to bookmark this page and come back to it in May to tell me how deluded my opinions were.
Automatic spots – Brentford to win it and Watford to finish 2nd
It feels like Brentford have been creeping closer to promotion every season for a number of years and I think this could be their time to shine. Despite the likelihood they’ll lose their two best players, they’ve a track record of replacing departing players with cheaper players that are just as good. In fact, they already have Ivan Toney from Peterborough, who looks like he could score plenty of goals. If only Huddersfield Town’s recruitment team were able to identify players in the way Brentford can.
I’m picking Watford for the second automatic spot because they should have a very strong squad even if a few of their biggest names leave. Their new manager is a bit of an unknown quantity but has a track record of winning things in Israel.
Playoffs spots: Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Stoke, Derby
Norwich have brought a lot of players in and kept many players from their Premier League squad. I think it may take them some time to adjust to the league but otherwise they should do well (hopefully they’ll still be in a state of flux when Town play them on Saturday).
I think Nottingham Forest have enough to make it into the payoffs, even if they rely on Joe Lolley a bit too much for creativity (why did we let him go?).
Stoke turned their season around last season after a dreadful start. They’ve got the individuals to do well and are now starting to play like a team.
It was possible Derby could have started this season with a hefty points deduction but it looks for now like they’ve dodged that bullet. Wayne Rooney, despite being in the twilight of his career, is able to pull the strings in midfield and could orchestrate a good season for Derby.
Top half of midtable: Preston North End, Cardiff, Millwall, Middlesborough, Swansea, Barnsley
Preston aren’t pretty to watch always but they are effective and I think they’ll just fall short of the playoffs.
Cardiff did well to make the playoffs last year but think they may suffer a hangover this season and drop into midtable.
Millwall have some good players and if they keep them together they could do well. Troy Parrot, on loan from Spurs, could be a great addition but it’s hard to know how well youth players will adjust to men’s football.
Middlesbrough looked doomed last season until Neil Warnock came and stopped their freefall. They’ve probably not got enough quality in their squad to compete at the top end but Warnock will squeeze everything he can out of them and I think a top half finish is possible.
Swansea are another team that I think will fail to replicate their performance from last season.
I like what’s happening at Barnsley, they’ve got an interesting manager who’s setting his team up to press hard. I expect their young squad to pull off some surprise results. However, I think there’s a ceiling on how far up the table they can hope to go and in my opinion that’s just inside the top half.
Bottom half of midtable: Bournemouth, Coventry Reading, QPR, Bristol City, Blackburn
I’m predicting Bournemouth will be the relegated club that struggles this season. Eddie Howe and a series of experienced players have all left and I think they’ll struggle with the reality of Championship football. I don’t think they’ll fail as badly as Huddersfield Town did last year but I can’t see them thriving at this level.
I’m predicting Coventry will be the strongest of the promoted sides and should achieve safety with relative ease.
Reading, QPR, Bristol City and Blackburn are, for me, middle of the pack Championship teams. Not likely to be involved in the action at either end of the table. Solid but unspectacular.
Just avoiding relegation: Huddersfield Town, Birmingham, Sheffield Wednesday
I’m being as optimistic about Huddersfield Town’s chances as possible here and saying we can manage 19th. I can’t see us doing well enough to steer clear of the relegation battle but I’m hoping the new philosophy might start to click towards the back end of the season and we’ll be able to avoid the drop.
Birmingham looked very poor at the end of last season and they took some heavy beatings. I can’t see their fortunes improving much this season.
The 12 point deduction means that Sheffield Wednesday have a mountain to climb to avoid relegation. If they can get into positive figures fairly quickly then that should spur them on but narrowly avoiding going down is most likely the best they can hope for.
Going down: Wycombe, Luton, Rotherham
Wycombe did an amazing thing in getting promoted but will have a real battle on their hands to stay up. I think they’ll pick up the odd win here and there but I don’t think they’ve got the squad to stay up.
I was really impressed with Luton staying up last season but I think they’ll struggle to repeat the same trick again.
I don’t know much about Rotherham but on paper their team looks like it will struggle. This season will be even more relentless than a typical Championship campaign because of the late start and I think the impact will be felt most by the club’s with smaller budgets.
A quick note on there predictions
As I mentioned at the start, I’m not the best at predictions, so don’t take it personally if I’ve predicted your team will do worse than you’re expecting. I follow Huddersfield Town fairly closely but only have a vague insight into the rest of the division. This means I’ve most likely fallen into the lazy stereotypes that annoy fans. Feel free to berate me in the comments if you really disagree with what I’ve put.
Predicted 20/21 Championship table
- Brentford
- Watford
- Norwich
- Nottingham Forest
- Stoke
- Derby
- Preston North End
- Cardiff
- Millwall
- Middlesborough
- Swansea
- Barnsley
- Bournemouth
- Coventry
- Reading
- QPR
- Bristol City
- Blackburn
- Huddersfield Town
- Birmingham
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Wycombe
- Luton
- Rotherham
Not an unreasonable prediction. But Championship is a difficult league to predict there are always one or two teams that defy expectations and that may well be Huddersfield it goes the other way too and that could be my team.
Just want to get back to watching Home and Away
Millwall Fan
Cheers Rus, all the best for the season (when you’re not playing Town).