Middlesbrough – another club with recent Premiership experience – are current favourites. Manager Gordon Strachan has bought in Kris Boyd from Rangers; if Boyd reproduces his outstanding goalscoring record in the Championship, he could be play a vital part in Boro’s promotion bid.

Although the clubs relegated from the Premiership shouldn’t be entirely written off, Burnley look the best equipped for a serious promotion challenge: Chris Iwelumo’s arrival from Wolves looks like a shrewd investment. Both Hull City and Portsmouth have off field issues that could hinder their efforts to make an immediate return to the top tier.

Two of the teams that reached the play offs last season should challenge for promotion places. Nottingham Forest were outstanding at home last season and Leicester City – where former Swansea City boss Paolo Sousa replaces Nigel Pearson as manager – look capable of maintaining their form from 2009/2010. Cardiff City’s prospects are unclear, but they should still be capable of a top ten finish, a prospect that both Ipswich Town and QPR will be hoping to achieve.

It’ll be interesting to see how the new arrivals from League One will perform. Champions Norwich City return after one season but may have to settle for a mid table finish; Leeds United will probably lead the division in attendance numbers, but their season may depend on how well new signing Billy Paynter adapts to the Championship. Millwall should avoid relegation but may have to be content with a bottom half finish in their first season at this level since 2005/2006.

A number of teams look as if they may struggle. Scunthorpe always seem to be punching above their weight but selling Gary Hooper to Celtic leaves The Iron without a proven goal scorer. Barnsley need to improve at home, Crystal Palace entered administration but eventually owed their survival to an outstanding away record that culminated in a win at Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season.

However, every club in the nPower Football League Championship will start on equal terms when the season starts on the evening of Friday August 6th, when Watford travel to Norwich City (7:45pm kick off, live on Sky Sports 3).

Barnsley

It is the second defeat on the trot in the Championship and third in a week including the Carling Cup loss at Arsenal for the Baggies and has put a temporary dent in their attempt at marching straight back to the Premiership.

Barnsley, who are at the other end of the Championship table, were much the better team and deserved the win with a performance that belies their position in the league.

Michael Chopra scored four in Cardiff’s mauling of Derby County as the Welsh team found their early season form and thrashed Nigel Clough’s side 6-1.

Promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough and Preston were both beaten, the latter by lowly strugglers Reading who won away 1-2 and lifted themselves up the table but will need to build on this result to avoid a relegation battle later in the season.

Gareth Southgate was booed by the home crowd following the 0-1 defeat by Leicester who are now just one point behind Middlesbrough after an indifferent start to the campaign.

Roy Keane’s Ipswich were robbed yet again as Sheffield United scored an equalising goal in injury time to make the score 3-3. Ipswich had led 3-1 and will be disappointed at letting the game slip away, although one point is better than none.

Ipswich Town’s Simon Clegg was quick to dispel any rumours that Keane’s time at the club was coming to an end by issuing a statement to say there is no pressure on the Irishman.

Coventry staged a late comeback to take all the points from their visit to Watford, trailing 2-1 the Sky Blues scored twice in the last ten minutes or so to seal the win 2-3.

Bristol City beat Blackpool 2-0 who are now both on 16 points just outside the play off places which is becoming very congested with five teams on the same points.

Crystal Palace were held to a 0-0 against visitors Sheffield Wednesday, the same result as at Doncaster who entertained Swansea. The bottom of the table clash between Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough and Plymouth was won by the south west team 1-2, their first win of the season.

Newcastle have the chance to stretch their lead to five points at the top of the league when they take on QPR tonight, while Nottingham Forest will host Scunthorpe in the other game.

sir bobby robson stand portman road

A hat trick from Kevin Nolan helped Newcastle United to beat Ipswich Town at Portman Road and move two points clear of West Bromwich Albion at the top of the Championship.

It was an emotionally charged afternoon at Portman Road where both Ipswich and Newcastle paid generous tributes to Sir Bobby Robson before the game and also at half time, when the North Stand was officially renamed the Sir Bobby Robson Stand by his widow Elsie.

But there was no sentimentality shown on the pitch where three goals in four minutes on the half hour mark, effectively wrapped up the game for Newcastle. A fourth goal just after the break sealed the win  and left Ipswich with their worst home defeat in six years.

Roy Keane’s patience was visibly deserting him in the dug out where he looked furious for the best part of the game. The disappointed manager said after the game;

“Clearly we are disappointed. We started alright but the first goal knocked our confidence. You have to persevere and encourage players. We have given teams a helping hand and we can’t keep doing it. I’m sure Kevin Nolan thought it was Christmas with the first goal and before we knew it we were three down. We certainly have to defend better.

I don’t like losing football matches, the expectations are high but we have got to deal with it and get on with it.”

Meanwhile the coach that Keane replaced at Ipswich, Jim Magilton, now at Queens Park Rangers saw his team secure their first home win of the season, beating lowly Barnsley 5-2.

Rangers had led the game 3-0 at half time, but a spirited fightback by Barnsley in the second half reduced the deficit to just one goal. However looking for the equaliser left the Barnsley defence exposed to the counter attack and QPR took full advantage snatching two more goals for a comfortable win.

Magilton saw his team move into eighth place in the league, nine points behind leaders Newcastle, and insisted that his QPR team have ‘raised the bar’ in their Championship campaign.

Having reached a compensation deal with Rotherham, Robins starts his new job with Barnsley with immediate effect. He will take his backroom staff from Rotherham with him including assistant John Breckin, first team coach Steve Taylor and goalkeeping coach Nick Daws.

Barnsley are firmly pinned to the bottom of the Championship League One with just one point from five games in contrast to Rotherham who are currently at the top of League Two with fifteen points and lead Bournemouth on goal difference.

Robbins said of his appointment at Barnsley:

“There was no going back. It spoilt it slightly as I wanted a clean break away. But it happened how it happened. I just want to concentrate on getting Barnsley off the bottom of the table.

I know one or two of the squad here from my playing days and I am really looking forward to working with them. Hopefully we can hit the ground running. We have to get points on the board quickly. We are playing catch-up and our season starts now.”

However, Championship managers and chairmen were very busy as well and many signings were made as clubs aim to improve their squad ahead of the final third of the season. Let’s take a look at the most significant signings to have taken place yesterday.

Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers splashed the cash on Hearts captain Christophe Berra. It is thought that the 24-year-old midfielder moves to Wolves for a fee around the £2.5m mark.

Fellow high-flyers Cardiff City also managed to secure a transfer coup on deadline day as they brought in Sunderland striker Michael Chopra for a club-record fee of £4m. The former Newcastle man initially joins on loan, but will sign a permanent contract at the end of the season.

Another interesting move involving one of the higher placed teams was that of Arturo Lupoli. Having failed to make much of an impact at Norwich, his loan was terminated so that Sheffield United could swoop in and secure his services. It will be interesting to see how he does.

Speaking of Norwich, they were one of the busiest Championship clubs on deadline day as they brought in Fulham defender Adrian Leijer, non-league striker Cody McDonald and Rangers striker Alan Gow. This follows the signing of Chris Killen from Celtic a few days earlier.

Barnsley were also very busy as they signed Coventry striker Michael Misfud, Liverpool winger Adam Hammill and Fulham midfielder Andranik Teymourian on loan. They are obviously keen to freshen up a squad that has failed to win in their last six games in all competitions. The football odds are starting to suggest they could go down and this has forced them to act.

Watford were another team to make a couple of signings in a bid to claw themselves away from the drop zone. They have brought in Latvian winger Aleksandrs Cauna on-loan and also completed the permanent signing of Don Cowie who joins from SPL club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

So, Wolves and Cardiff were the biggest spenders as they look to secure promotion to the Premier League, with Norwich, Barnsley and Watford the busiest teams as they aim to secure their Championship status for another year.

However, as soon as Glenn Roeder was sacked as Norwich City manager last week, Jamie Cureton was immediately recalled to the squad. He then completed a remarkable week by starting, scoring and helping Norwich City to a comfortable 4-0 victory over the club he had been on loan at previously, Barnsley.

Former Norwich City goalkeeper Bryan Gunn was in charge for the match and Jamie Cureton admits that he much prefers playing under the caretaker boss than Glenn Roeder. In fact, the former Reading striker has been rather critical of the previous regime.

Speaking about the former manager, Jamie Cureton revealed that a number of the players felt Glenn Roeder ‘didn’t have faith in the team’. This then led to fear of failure and lack of confidence. Jamie Cureton went on to admit that, under Glenn Roeder, the players couldn’t play with any ‘freedom’.

With Bryan Gunn at the helm temporarily though, Jamie Cureton was much more comfortable. He said that he ‘wasn’t afraid to make a mistake’ because Bryan Gunn wasn’t ‘screaming and shouting’ on the touchline, much like Glenn Roeder had been doing during his time at Carrow Road.

Overall, I think it is fair to say that Jamie Cureton is much happier now that the former Newcastle boss has left the club. He can start concentrating on being a Norwich City player again and do all he can to steer the club away from relegation.

As for who the next permanent manager of Norwich City will be, well Bryan Gunn did his chances no harm with the victory at the weekend. However, the football odds are still suggesting that Paul Ince and Aidy Boothroyd are the front runners, with the board expected to make a decision by the end of the week.

Barnsley are consulting their lawyers and considering legal action.

Hume, 25, has just recently been moved out of a high dependency unit in hospital after undergoing a very serious operation.

Morgan was only initially booked for the challenge but replays show a clear indication that the Sheffield United defender forcefully used an elbow whilst challenging for a header with Hume. This caused an angry reaction from Barnsley’s manager Simon Davey as he deemed the incident as a straight red card.

Referee Andy D’Urso has been heavily criticised, Davey and assistant Ryan Kidd approached him at half time over Hume’s treatment by the Blades. D’Urso was a Premier League verified referee and this display adds to the poor refereeing currently been had in the Championship.

We hope the ex-Leicester City striker can make a full and speedy recovery from this horrid, unusual injury.

The Blades have sent their sympathy. They are said to be ‘saddened’ and ‘concerned’ over Iain Hume’s condition.

Sheffield United are currently fourth and if the Football League hands further punishment to Chris Morgan they could be without one of their stronger and most influential players.

As for Barnsley, they will be missing a vital striker for a significant part of the season, as they look to move clear of the relegation zone.

Barnsley striker Kayode Odejayi, who’s FA Cup quarter-final goal knocked out Chelsea, scored two goals, one either side of Stephen Foster.  Apparently, Watford were pretty dire and Radio Five Live’s 606 with Tim Lovejoy had several Watford fans dissing the teams’ abysmal performance.

In a post-match interview on Radio Five Live, Watford manager Adie Boothroyd praised Barnsley manager Simon Davey and suggested Barnsley had played for a draw, but finished with all three points.  I’m not quite sure how he worked that out.  It sounded more like Barnsley decided to attack Watford and The Hornets had no sting!

How else would a team who is fighting relgation thrash a team pushing for promotion to the Premier League?

Watford are struggling.  After a fantastic start to the season their invisibility has dipped and I wouldn’t be surprised if they drop out of the play-off places altogether.  The other game to be played yesterday saw Ipswich and FA Cup finalists Cardiff City draw 1-1, a point which puts Ipswich back into seventh place, equal on points with Wolves.

West Brom are now joint top of the table after they came from behind with three goalsin the last 10 minutes to beat Blackpool on Tuesday night.

I am now thinking West Brom, Hull City and Wolves for promotional to the Premiership.  What do you think?

It took 32 minutes for Ryan Babel to set up Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool to take the lead; and it was only the fantastic saves by former Manchester United goalkeeper, Luke Steele, who had only been signed on an emergency loan from West Brom on Thursday because Barnsley’s other keepers were unavailable, that kept Barnsley in the game.

But in the second half Barnsley, even with the worst away record in the Coca-cola Championship, managed a 57th minute equaliser with a goal from Foster. And after a clear penalty shout was ignored Barnsley felt that luck was against them; and probably thought a replay would at least earn them some much needed cash.

But on 90 minutes there was time for one more Barnsley attack; and to the shock of the Kop, and no doubt disgust of the American owners, Liverppol were dumped out of the FA Cup when Brian Howard found the back of the net!

Liverpool had already had to replay First Division Luton in the third round, and twice come from behind to beat Havant & Waterlooville from the Conference South in the fourth round. Yesterday their time was up.