Championship level 22/23

[nyclaret]

I was listening to the Athletic podcast before the weekends games and a journalist mentioned that it’s not a bad time to go down. He went on to say the standard has been very poor. I’ve watched next to nothing of it in recent seasons so can’t really comment. Can anyone confirm?

[BabylonClaret]

You can bet it will be the hardest its ever been before the season starts

[distortiondave]

It looks like a weak division to me.
If I was a neutral the only decision I'd have to make would be whether to stick my tenner on us or Norwich to win the league.

[jedi_master]

I think it's a poor league whenever I watch it - even the Play-Offs recently, it's such poor quality.

We have been away a long time, you'd be shocked.

We can absolutely bounce back but we need a manager who knows that division and knows how to get a team promoted out of it (i.e, Farke or Wilder, for me). I also feel it's absolutely crucial we keep Ben Mee, if we do the defence we will be kicking off with (Roberts, Collins, Mee, Taylor) will give us enough clean sheets to be a platform to guarantee a Play-Off spot as a minimum.

[quoonbeatz]

No idea but it looks a lot more competitive than the PL. More of an actual sporting competition than a business league.

[NewClaret]

My perspective is it’s really deteriorated in recent years and the gap to the PL has grown.

As 3rd worst, and to be honest, a bit unlucky in some of the events of the season, I think that should give us real hope. We need to:

- retain a core of experienced, committed pro’s - Mee, Cork (hopefully done), Jay (done) and maybe Vyds/Barnes depending on injury severity/wages.

- bring in a few frees/loans quickly to gel with the squad. We particularly need pace on the wings/up front, some midfield creativity and midfield goals.

- promote some of the promising youth players.

And we’ll be fine.

[NewClaret]

I think it's a poor league whenever I watch it - even the Play-Offs recently, it's such poor quality.

We have been away a long time, you'd be shocked.

We can absolutely bounce back but we need a manager who knows that division and knows how to get a team promoted out of it (i.e, Farke or Wilder, for me). I also feel it's absolutely crucial we keep Ben Mee, if we do the defence we will be kicking off with (Roberts, Collins, Mee, Taylor) will give us enough clean sheets to be a platform to guarantee a Play-Off spot as a minimum.

Agreed. We also need to start well & that involves an early management appointment, quick signings so they have a pre-season together. That is on Pace.

Hopefully we’ll also have a a few of our big star names to help us in the first month.

[Spijed]

Whilst not good enough for the Prem Kevin Long should be ok at this level as and when required, especially in a back three.

[NewClaret]

Whilst not good enough for the Prem Kevin Long should be ok at this level as and when required, especially in a back three.

Completely agree. I think we really underrate our players due to the very high standard of the prem.

[kenyon6923]

its amazing Norwich will be one of the fav to bounce back considering how generally poor we have been this season we still managed to finish 13 points ahead of them - or does that highlight how poor that last third of the top league really is ? Already quite quickly you can see next seasons relegation battle being Fulham/Bournemouth/Forest or Huddersfield - after that Leeds ? Brentford maybe ? then your hoping for a collapse at say a Palace, Brighton, Southampton ? cant see alot getting into it TBH like this season

[Quickenthetempo]

It looks like a weak division to me.
If I was a neutral the only decision I'd have to make would be whether to stick my tenner on us or Norwich to win the league.

It's hard to say until we get a manager and know which players will be in our squad, but we finished quite higher than them in the premier league.
But that was by staying in games longer with fight, next year we will dominate the ball and have to try and win from the start. Something Norwich seem to adapt well to.

[RVclaret]

Some good managers knocking around who make the difference. Wilder should get Boro going with his first pre season. Dean Smith knows the league at Norwich and has promotion. Then either forest or Hudd, both have very impressive managers. Makes our appointment a really big one.

[Herts Clarets]

I have seen quite a bit of Forest lately (due to them being shown on Sky more or less every game) and i wouldn't fancy our current teams chances against them. They have some very good players, Johnson and Spence 2 that stand out immediately. Unless we have a significant recruitment program over the summer, in particular midfield and up front, we aren't going to be walking the League. Obviously pending the inevitable departures this summer could either be a golden opportunity for a much needed refresh or the decimating of our Premier League talent and replaced by the unknown.

[distortiondave]

Norwich have won their last two Championship seasons with 94 and 97 points. Watford are the wildcard, could really go either way with them.
After that you'd fancy Sheff Utd and whoever is left between Huddersfield and Forest to push top 6 - all of the other 'big' teams - WBA, Middlesbrough, Stoke, Swansea, Cardiff are all busted flushes and whilst one of them might have a great season you can be pretty certain that they won't all be good.

[Milltown1882]

Bookies have Watford and Norwich top 2 followed by West Brom then us. 11/1 to win the league.

[Quickenthetempo]

Bookies have Watford and Norwich top 2 followed by West Brom then us. 11/1 to win the league.

Just seen SkyBet offering 12/1. I was gobsmacked it was so high.

If it was this squad with an attacking manager I would lump on.

[AlargeClaret]

Champ is usually incredibly competitive and usually a good few big money teams at the sharp end . That said , it’s on the weaker side of the last 5/6 yrs definitely . West Brom.Sheff Utd look ok and there’s Watford , Norwich and us and the odd random . Unless we have some sort of implosion I’d imagine we’ll be extremely strong in this division .Though if we don’t get up first time…

[kenyon6923]

Norwich have won their last two Championship seasons with 94 and 97 points. Watford are the wildcard, could really go either way with them.
After that you'd fancy Sheff Utd and whoever is left between Huddersfield and Forest to push top 6 - all of the other 'big' teams - WBA, Middlesbrough, Stoke, Swansea, Cardiff are all busted flushes and whilst one of them might have a great season you can be pretty certain that they won't all be good.

its a "funny" league in that over the years unexpected clubs have made play offs / got promoted, Brown/Hull, Holloway/Blackpool, Eddie/Bournemouth, Wagner/Huddersfield, SD/Us and this year Luton and Huddersfield have done brilliantly. Needs a super manager who the club/squad believe in and buy into his philosophy and some luck with injuries etc etc and its that momentum that seems to drive you forward.

[Milltown1882]

If we can keep Cornet and Weghorst we could be looking at Mitrovic numbers next season. If not then I really am worried.

[RicardoMontalban]

Whilst not good enough for the Prem Kevin Long should be ok at this level as and when required, especially in a back three.

Saw someone last week lamenting Long as something along the lines of ‘a very average premier league’ defender. Perhaps they got carried away with the hyperbole but average premier league players shouldn’t be sniffed at by a team that’s finished 18th. Long will be fine as back up.

[burnley007]

If we can keep Cornet and Weghorst we could be looking at Mitrovic numbers next season. If not then I really am worried.

We won't keep Cornet, he won't play in the Championship.

[Rileybobs]

I haven't seen a great deal, but the bits I have the standard has looked pretty poor. Huddersfield supporting mates of mine think they're nowhere near good enough to go up, yet they've cruised to the play-off final. Fulham and Bournemouth have been promoted at an absolute canter, Fulham were useless last season. The intensity seems much lower than in the PL, which I think has got stronger every season since we've been up.

I don't think we have much to fear, but our most important piece of business this summer is which manager we task with getting us back up.

[Vegas Claret]

Championship is about consistency. Forest have looked amazingly good in some games yet only finished 3rd, Fulham walked it and yet lost 10 and drew 9. I don't think the division is a weak league but I don't think it's amazing. The biggest thing we may have going for us is being one of the least skint