And the complete CHampionsip Preview
The Telegraph - The Championship: team-by-team guide to the 2009-10 season
The new Championship season begins on Aug 8 - how will the teams will fare? By Steve Wilson, Sam Green and David EdbrookeBARNSLEY
Premier class: Anderson de Silva
A spell with Everton, following a protracted move with dubious visa qualifications and economic rights issues, gives him a modern Premier League pedigree, as does his touch and vision on his day.
Championship fare: Escaped the drop on final day last season.
PREDICTION: The only way is down.
BLACKPOOL
Premier class: Jason Euell
Former Wimbledon, Charlton and Southampton striker hoping for an Indian summer by the Lancashire seaside.
Championship fare:You know you are in trouble when a team a division below you can poach your most successful manager in years [Simon Grayson] mid-season, even if it is Leeds.
PREDICTION: The trap door opens.
BRISTOL CITY
Premier class: Paul Hartley
Scotland international Hartley has title winning and Champions League experience from his Celtic days.
Championship fare: Perhaps flew too close to the sun in leading the division as late as March last year before getting the jitters and limping into the play-offs.
PREDICTION: Mid-table mediocrity beckons.
CARDIFF CITY
Premier class: Michael Chopra
The scorer of the fastest goal by a substitute in Premier League history – he netted for Newcastle against Sunderland in 2006 having been on the field for just 10 seconds.
Championship fare: They say the play-offs are a lottery, but it would be helpful if Cardiff City could at least buy a ticket. Slipping out of the play-off places on goals scored to Preston on the final day of last season was a bitter pill to swallow.
PREDICTION: Promotion is within their grasp, just as long as that pill was an upper, not a downer.
COVENTRY CITY
Premier class: Leon Best
Talented 21 year-old striker, whose sole goal knocked Blackburn Rovers out of the FA Cup last term.
Championship fare:The Ricoh Arena often vibrates to the sound of the Sky Blues' anthem, which includes the lyric 'We will never lose, Tottenham or Chelsea, United or anyone, they shan't defeat us.' Mercifully, Coventry, who finished in 17th place in English football's second most competent division last season, didn't play Tottenham or United, but they did lose to Chelsea in the FA Cup.
PREDICTION: Mid-table mediocrity or worse.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Premier class: Freddie Sears
On loan from West Ham for the entire season, the diminutive 19 year-old forward has the silk-laden touch to en-trance defenders and conjure goals… providing, that is, the Robbie Savages of this world don't kick him into touch first.
Championship fare: Manager Neil Warnock's sides invariably reflect some of his character: gritty, determined, with a never say die attitude – perfect for this league.
PREDICTION: A top-half finish.
DERBY COUNTY
Premier class: Dean Moxey
Shouldn't really be in this category, as he was plying his trade for Exeter City in League Two last season. But the versatile left-sided player more than held his own in Exeter's 0-0 FA Cup draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2005. Championship fare: Nigel Clough has put the Pride back in the Park, but he faces an uphill struggle to turn Derby into a promotion-pushing team.
PREDICTION: A season of hard graft.
DONCASTER ROVERS
Premier class: Matthew Mills
The former England Under-21 defender spent two years at Manchester City before dropping down to the Championship last season.
Championship fare: After falling out of the League in 1998, Rovers' return has been a triumph and Championship status is reward enough.
PREDICTION: A season of toil but safety.
IPSWICH TOWN
Premier class: Richard Wright
Once groomed as David Seaman's replacement at club and international level, Wright has two England caps, a Premier League winner's medal and Champions League experience, but returned to Ipswich last year having never quite fulfilled his early promise.
Championship fare: Ipswich have made the play-offs six times in the last 12 years – and only once have they made it count.
PREDICTION: More play-off heartbreak.
LEICESTER CITY
Premier class: Matty Fryatt
Well OK, maybe not, but Leicester have not had much to shout about recently and Fryatt banged in 32 goals last season as Nigel Pearson's boys romped home in League One.
Championship fare:The signing of Richie Wellens – a grizzled midfield warhorse with 350 games for Blackpool, Oldham and Doncaster – says it all.
PREDICTION: A stabilising year, mid-table.
MIDDLESBROUGH
Premier class: Adam Johnson
People thought it was a wind-up when Johnson was linked with Real Madrid but this product of the Middlesbrough Academy is surely destined for greater things.
Championship fare: The club is cutting its cloth accordingly. The £500,000 spent on Mark Yeates from Colchester will probably give a better return than the £7m spent on Didier Digard and Marvin Emnes a year ago.
PREDICTION: Promotion contenders after a rocky start.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Premier class: Joey Barton
The man they love to hate, 'they' including most Newcastle fans, Barton remains one of the most technically gifted players on the club's books. If he can avoid injury, suspension or jail he will be crucial to Newcastle.
Championship fare: They will be the big scalp and leaving this division might not be as easy as the last.
PREDICTION: Another roller-coaster of a season ending in the play-offs.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Premier class: James Perch
The Forest captain, is the Swiss Army knife of Championship footballers, able to fit in anywhere across the defence, midfield, on the wing and even in goal should the need arise.
Championship fare: Events at Meadow Lane even threaten their position as the leading club in Nottingham.
PREDICTION: Steady if unspectacular improvement.
PETERBOROUGH UNITED
Premier class: Joe Lewis
Turning out for Morecambe 18 months ago, Lewis's elevation to the full England squad perhaps says more about the paucity of English goalkeepers but should not detract from his promise.
Championship fare: Having a director of football suggests aspirations towards grandeur. The post being filled by Barry Fry, however, disabuses those notions.
PREDICTION: Quick out of the blocks but not staying the course.
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE
Premier class: Carl Fletcher
Member of the West Ham side denied an FA Cup final win by Steven Gerrard due in 2006, Fletcher, a combative midfielder, is a regular for Wales and was given the captain's armband for his country earlier this year.
Championship fare: Flirted with relegation last season after a
post-new year loss of form that would make Phil Brown blush.
PREDICTION: A long season of toil.
PRESTON NORTH END
Premier class: Callum Davidson
Knows what it is like to get promoted to the top flight when he was at Leicester, the Scottish full-back is a North End stalwart and comforting presence at the back.
Championship fare:Four appearances in the Championship play-offs but still no Premier League cigar. Fate's way of telling you that you are in the right league?
PREDICTION: No play-off place, therefore no play-off heartache…
QPR
Premier class: Wayne Routledge
A player signed by Harry Redknapp and Martin O'Neill must have something going for him, even if Routledge has so far failed to live up to his early promise
Championship fare: The self-styled 'richest club in the world' have so far failed to turn hard cash in to success on the pitch.
PREDICTION: Play-off contenders but on the outside looking in.
READING
Premier class: Brendan Rodgers
The manager is a disciple of Jose Mourinho, having been a coach at Chelsea during the 'Special One's' reign. The Northern Irishman shares the Portuguese's self-belief and liking for dapper grey overcoats.
Championship fare: John Madejski and Steve Coppell may have established the Royals as top-flight upsetters, but a broader sense of history illustrates this to be a blip and the sale of Kevin Doyle and apparently imminent departure of Stephen Hunt suggest there is much work to do.
PREDICTION: Should challenge for the play-offs.
Sc**tHORPE UNITED
Premier class: Grant McCann
Sc**thorpe are more black hole than galacticos when it comes to stars but McCann has international experience with Northern Ireland.
Championship fare: Bounced back after being relegated a year ago – that did it through a play-off at the expense of Leeds and Millwall. Not a popular move.
PREDICTION: Just enough to stay up.
SHEFFIELD UNITED Premier class: Kyle Walker
England U-19 is a Premier League player in waiting, having signed for Tottenham but been loaned back to United. Intelligent defender.
Championship fare: United, they will tell you, were robbed of a Premier League place by West Ham and Carlos Tevez, but they've had two seasons since to correct that without much success.
PREDICTION: A comfortable top six finish.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY
Premier class: Marcus Tudgay
A fleet-footed forward who attracted summer interest from Burnley. Missed 2006-07 season after freak accident at a barbecue.
Championship fare: New chairman Lee Strafford supports the club – a sleeping giant in danger of slipping into a coma – and is consulting fans' groups and seeking investment, not to service debt but to invest in the squad – hardly Premier League behaviour.
PREDICTION: Up and down season ending somewhere in the middle.
SWANSEA CITY
Premier class: Ferrie Bodde
It was a huge relief to Swans fans when chairman Huw Jenkins said last week that talismanic Dutch midfielder Bodde would not be leaving, despite interest from Bolton.
Championship fare: Have spent most their existence kicking around the lower divisions. Fancy new Liberty Stadium has helped reignite dreams of top-flight football. But everyone's got a fancy new ground these days…
PREDICTION: Challenging for the play-offs.
WATFORD
Premier class: Tommy Smith
One of a few players to emerge with any credit from last season, Linked with a move to Sheffield United or Reading. Championship fare: Flirted with the idea of following Norwich, Charlton and Southampton into third tier last season – then failed to keep hold of the man who saved them: Brendan Rodgers.
PREDICTION: Lower mid-table at best.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Premier class: Jonathan Greening
The former Man U man has carved out a successful career as a ball-playing midfielder with Boro and WBA in the top division. Albion are battling to keep hold of him.
Championship fare: Too good for the Championship, not good enough for the Premier League – Darren Huckerby in team form.
PREDICTION: A swift return to the top table.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/5955980/The-Championship-team-by-team-guide-to-the-2009-10-season.html
