Having wondered if  Birmingham might face a tricky trip to Sheffield United, it was nice to be proven completely wrong – the Blues were 2-0 up at half time at Bramall Lane and ran out comfortable 4-0 winners, with Adam Rooney nabbing a brace. Jermaine Beckford also scored twice for Leicester who beat Swindon 2-0 but easily the performance of the weekend was Brighton beating Newcastle 1-0 at the Amex Stadium although it took an own goal from former Watford and Portsmouth defender Mike Williamson to settle the tie.

Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Southampton all face replays: Ian Holloway’s side had to come from behind at home to Sheffield Wednesday and only salvaged a draw courtesy of an injury time penalty from Kevin Phillips.  It was a similar type of story at the New Den as Rickie Lambert opened the scoring for Southampton but the Saints were pegged back due to a late equaliser from Darius Henderson. Middlesbrough bucked the trend by taking the lead at the Stadium Of Light, but couldn’t hold on.

Yesterday’s draw for the Fifth Round looks as if it could be a major obstacle for any of the clubs left in the competition – all six Championship teams that could take part have been drawn against Premier League opposition. Birmingham and Brighton have to travel to Chelsea and Liverpool respectively, while Leicester will play Norwich at the King Power Stadium. Whoever prevails between Millwall and Southampton will fancy their chances against Bolton: if Blackpool can win at Hillsborough they’ll visit Everton while Middlesbrough’s incentive to beat Sunderland at the Riverside is a home game against Arsenal.

Finally, Watford and Derby lost to Premier League opposition but Hull became the second Championship team to lose to Crawley Town in this season’s competition. Last season’s Conference Champions have beaten both the Tigers and Bristol City without conceding a goal: at this rate it may not be too long before Crawley feature in these posts regularly.

I’ll be back tomorrow to take a look at the midweek league games and a look at anything interesting that happened before the transfer window closed.

The fourth round will in all likelihood weed out even more Championship sides, with three clubs (Middlesbrough, Derby and Watford) facing Premier League opposition, leaving only Hull and Blackpool looking reasonable chances for progress to the fifth round.

Of the four sides facing replays, only Birmingham City emerged with any real credit having held Wolves to a draw in the Saturday lunchtime kick off. Millwall failed to score away from home again (this time at Dagenham & Redbridge) and despite taking the lead Brighton were held at home by Wrexham. None of the clubs with unresolved third round games have easy looking ties in the next round if they win their replays – neither Nottingham Forest or Leicester will fancy a visit from Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon, who knocked out Wigan at the Country Ground on Saturday.

Four clubs were knocked out by opposition from Leagues 1 and 2, although they can all make the excuse that they’ll be concentrating on the league. Reading – who’ve reached the quarter finals in the last two seasons – lost to Stevenage, who the Royals beat last year. West Ham lost to a late goal at Hillsborough: Sheffield Wednesday have now knocked out Championship teams out of the cup in the third round in consecutive seasons without conceding a goal. Wednesday’s victims last season – Bristol City – lost at Crawley and Doncaster lost at home to Notts County: both of those last two games could be League 1 matches next season.

At least the Championship is guaranteed a place at the Carling Cup final at Wembley at the end of February, so hopefully Crystal Palace and Cardiff can provide two games to remember. It’s only really over the last few seasons that Cardiff have reversed a long term trend of performing badly at Selhurst Park: even though the Bluebirds lost their last visit in the league (to a single goal from South African international Kagiko Dikgacoi last March), they’ve won three of their last six meetings in South London. The only other time these sides have met in this competition was in September 1969, when Palace won 3-1: the hosts went on to win seven of the next ten meetings between them.

Looking at more recent form, a couple of things stand out: Palace will have to score at least two goals to win. The Eagles haven’t done that since mid October in the league, but they’ve managed it in every round of this season’s Carling Cup including the brace that beat Manchester United in the last round. The other stat that is worth remembering is that there’s not been a draw between these two in South London since December 1984 and both Palace (at home) and Cardiff (away) have been involved in a lot of undecided games recently: Cardiff’s only other away game in the Carling Cup was a draw at Oxford United back in August and the Bluebirds only won on penalties at the Kassam Stadium.

There hasn’t really been much to report in the transfer market, although the rumour mill is grinding out the usual stories (most of which involve anyone that’s ever scored a goal in the Championship being linked with Leicester), so the only piece of news worth mentioning is that despite overseeing three consecutive league defeats, Nick Barmby has been appointed as permanent manager of Hull City.

I’ll be back on Friday afternoon with a recap of tonight’s game plus a look forward to the action at the weekend.

We’re now past the half way stage in this season’s nPower Championship and results over the Christmas break have set up what looks as if it could be an exciting conclusion to this season’s campaign.

At the top, the clear winners over Christmas were Cardiff and Reading, both of whom have clearly put their playoff misery behind them. The Bluebirds are now only two points behind Southampton and West Ham and although Reading’s festive season ended with a defeat at the Cardiff City stadium the Royals are now back in the top five for the first time since August.

The holidays couldn’t have gone any worse for Southampton and Hull. The leaders could only pick up three points from the nine available and lost their undefeated home record when a goal from Stephen Pearson gave Bristol City a surprise win at St. Mary’s and Southampton’s first home defeat in the league since losing to Brentford in December 2010. Apart from Ipswich – who I’ll be discussing in a moment – Hull were the only side not to record a win in their last three games and lost all three by a single goal. A few more poor results from the Tigers could see them slide dramatically down the table: they’ve already lost ten games this season.

However, Derby were clearly at the top of Santa’s Christmas list, having won all three of their games – an especially impressive feat as the teams they faced were fellow competitors for the playoff positions. The Rams are currently two points away from the top six and Nigel Clough’s team seem to have got over their poor form in November, when they only picked up one point.

At the bottom, Bristol City and Coventry picked up six points in three games but even that feat was something of a false dawn for the Sky Blues, who went back to the bottom of the table after losing to West Ham. They’re now three points behind Doncaster, seven points from safety and face a real battle to avoid dropping back into the third tier for the first time since 1964. Follow strugglers Nottingham Forest ended their goal drought when Marcus Tudgay opened the scoring after five minutes in their 3-1 win at Ipswich, but the Tractor Boys only picked up one point in their three games and could be sucked into a relegation battle.

Ipswich have been terrible recently – nine defeats in twelve games have seen them drop from sixth in mid October to 20th going into next week’s game at Birmingham City. The East Anglian side have conceded the most goals in the Championship so far this season (only Doncaster have a worse away defensive record) and it looks as if their form at Portman Road will be crucial over the next month: Cardiff, Middlesbrough and West Ham all have to travel to East Anglia.

For at least one weekend all the Championship clubs can put the league aside: the third round of the FA Cup takes place this weekend. Although I’ve pointed out more than once that the chances of a second tier club winning the competition are remote, it’s also worth pointing out that Championship clubs have reached the quarter finals at least in each of the last five seasons.

Blackpool, Watford, Middlesbrough, Brighton & Reading seem to have the best chances of making it to the fourth round, while Burnley, Cardiff, Leeds and Portsmouth already look as if they’re the teams that are going to be concentrating on the league for the rest of the season.

Three games involving Championship sides are being televised, starting with Birmingham v Wolves (ESPN Saturday 12:30pm) – these two were playing in the Premier League last season, but both were in the second tier when they last last met in the cup sixteen years ago. On that occasion Wolves won the replay after a draw at St. Andrew’s, which looks like it could happen again as this game looks as it if could be short of goals.

Sunday lunchtime’s game between Peterborough and Sunderland (ITV Sunday 1:30pm) is only the third meeting between these two sides at London Road in all competitions, but the Posh will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the first time they ever played Sunderland: a 7-1 defeat in the fourth round of the cup at Roker Park in 1967. That scoreline is unlikely to be repeated, but I’d not be surprised if there are goals in this one: the hosts have only failed to score in one home league game this season but have also only kept one home clean sheet in the Championship in 2011/12.

The last game of the round is also the final game on TV: Leeds drew with Arsenal at the Emirates in last year’s competition before losing the replay at Elland Road so Monday evening’s game  (ESPN Monday 7:45pm) gives the Yorkshire side a chance of revenge. Thanks to the Leeds fans it should be a good atmosphere at the Library, but there are a couple of big problems for Leeds if they want to progress: they haven’t won away since November and it looks increasingly likely that they’ll have to contend with the second coming of Thierry Henry.

I’ll be back on Tuesday with a roundup of the notable stories from the FA Cup plus a preview of the Carling Cup semi final first leg between Crystal Palace and Cardiff City and any transfer news that’s worth printing.

After having made a rash prediction a fortnight ago, I’ve obviously temporarily jinxed both Southampton and West Ham. Having taken the lead against Blackpool at St. Mary’s, the Saints only managed to salvage their unbeaten run thanks to an injury time equaliser by Rickie Lambert after the visitors had taken the lead thanks to a howler by Southampton’s Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.

West Ham didn’t just lose at Reading, they imploded. You have to wonder if Big Sam wound his players up a little too tightly: Joey O’Brien can’t really complain about his two yellow cards for wild tackles, but although there was an element of taunting in Jimmy Kebe’s behaviour towards the end of the game, Jack Collison’s rush of blood was unpardonable and Neil Swarbrick was right to show the Welsh international a straight red card.

Hull won more comfortably at Coventry than the scoreline suggested and are in a good position going into Christmas programme. Despite the amazing comeback by Ipswich in the tea time game at Oakwell, the benefit of hindsight suggests that something spectacular might have been on the cards: prior to the game, there’d only been two other matches in the Championship this season that had featured eight goals: there are no prizes for guessing which teams were involved in a 5-3 defeat at Cardiff and a 7-1 drubbing at Peterborough.

This weekend is the penultimate Saturday programme for 2011 but with each club playing three games being played between Boxing Day and the 3^rd round of the FA Cup, you often hear pundits make the assumption that results over the festive season have a disproportionate impact of the success or failure of a club over the entire season. For example, this time year the three clubs that were eventually promoted were in the top six, while at the bottom half the clubs in the bottom six were eventually relegated. It was a similar story in 2009/10.

It might be more realistic to argue that results over the Christmas period give a long term indication of which direction a club could be heading. Last Christmas Coventry were in the last playoff place: after losing at Cardiff the Sky Blues only won one of their next sixteen games and have been in decline ever since. On the other hand, Middlesbrough were in the bottom six last Christmas but a 3-1 win at Preston was the start of a five game unbeaten run that effectively kick started their season.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Tony Mowbray’s finest 90 minutes in charge of Middlesbrough was their first win in Cardiff since October 1970. The end of season victory was as important for Boro as it was damaging for Cardiff: Mowbray’s side have shown that their form at the end of last season wasn’t a fluke. On the other hand, Cardiff have been rebuilt by Malky McKay – only two of the side that collapsed against Middlesbrough back in May played against Millwall last weekend – and are actually performing at a slightly better level than they were last season. There’s a clear incentive for both sides to go for the win this weekend as there’s a mathematical possibility that if this game produces a winner and West Ham fail to beat Barnsley, then either Cardiff or Boro could go second.

The big game at the wrong end of the table features two clubs that currently have a lot in common. Nottingham Forest are learning the same lesson as Bristol City did a year ago: when you have three managers in a calendar year, a collapse in home form and forget how to score goals it’s hard to be successful in the Championship. Although Messers McInnes and Cotterill were taken on to reverse the decline in South Bristol and the east bank of the Trent, it’s increasingly looking as if Steve Cotterill may have the harder job. The Forest boss could benefit from history this weekend though as Bristol City’s record against Forest at Ashton Gate is dire: the Robins haven’t beaten Forest in the league since December 1974 despite having had ten opportunities to do so. Four of the last six games between the sides in South Bristol have ended in draws – a result that neither side needs right now.

There are two televised games this weekend: if you don’t mind interrupting your Sunday lunch, the South Coast derby between Portsmouth and Southampton should be worth watching on (BBC2, 1:00pm) especially as it’s only the fourth league meeting at Fratton Park since Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976 and the third meeting in all competitions this century. Pompey’s home form is as good as any of the promotion contenders while it’s worth remembering that Southampton haven’t kept a clean sheet on the road since August and lost their last two away games to sides in the bottom six.

On Monday night The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff is on BBC2, which might have been a better name for Crystal Palace v Birmingham City (Sky Sports 7:45pm), which is the last game in the Championship before Christmas. Neither club has been in a particularly good run of form recently – despite knocking Manchester United out of the Carling Cup Palace haven’t won at Selhurst Park or scored more than one goal in a league game since mid October, while Birmingham have lost four of their last five games and have failed to score in three of those.

All being well I’ll be back before the end of next week with an overview of the games over the holiday period, but I’ll wish you all a Happy Christmas now just in case I get sidetracked by repeats of the Morecambe & Wise Show combined too many mince pies and glasses of port…

Blackpool had to come from behind twice at Middlesbrough; Scott McDonald scored both goals for the hosts but both of the Tangerines’ equalisers came within five minutes of Tony Mowbray’s side taking the lead.

However the most significant games last weekend were at the bottom of the table. On Saturday, Coventry’s defeat at home to West Ham combined with Doncaster’s reverse in the Yorkshire Derby at Oakwell mean that both sides are now in serious danger of coming adrift at the bottom. The situation worsened for the bottom two when two goals from Nicky Maynard helped Bristol City win at Millwall at The New Den: the Robins are now only two points away from safety.

Although there’s the usual danger of tonight’s games being overshadowed by the Champions League, they have implications for both ends of the table. Burnley – who lost at home to Leeds on Saturday – travel to Birmingham City and Cardiff hopefully won’t get stick in traffic when they make the often nightmarish weekday trip from South Wales to Coventry.

Birmingham’s game – rescheduled due to the demands of the Europa League -  is one of those they need to win if they’re going to challenge for promotion. The Bluea are unbeaten at St Andrew’s and three points would put them just outside the promotion places with two games still in hand. Burnley are confirming to a pattern away from Turf Moor – win one, lose one – in which case they may be in for their first win at Birmingham since April 2007.

Even though Coventry have not got the greatest home record at the Ricoh Arena, there’s a chance that the hosts might spring a surprise tonight: the Sky Blues have not lost four consecutive home games in the league for almost seven years. The only problem – and it’s a big one -  is that Cardiff have only lost two of the last ten meetings between the clubs in the Midlands.

I’ll be back with a preview of the weekend’s action on Friday, in the meantime have a good week.

It’ll be interesting to see if – unlike last season – any of the other promotion candidates can mount a credible challenge for the title. West Ham were heavily fancied to beat Bristol City on Tuesday night but failed to do so but along with Cardiff winning convincingly at Derby the real eyebrow raiser was Leeds’ worst home defeat for three decades – United were already a goal down to Blackpool when Tom Lees was sent off and former ‘pool goalkeeper Paul Rachubka was substituted at half time having been made the scapegoat for Leeds’ woes by their fans. A hat trick from Jonjo Shelvey and a brace from Lomana Lua Lua means that Blackpool are now within striking distance of the playoffs while Leeds drop back to tenth.

Five of the twelve games this weekend will have an impact on both ends of the table and although there’ll be no change in the bottom three, there has been some movement within that group. Despite being the only club in the competition without a home win, Bristol City will be hoping to continue their improvement under new boss Derek McInnes even though there’s no guarantee that they’ll beat Burnley.

On paper Coventry have the hardest task facing the clubs in the drop zone this weekend when Southampton travel to the Ricoh Arena, but the leaders have only won one of their last ten visits to Warwickshire and haven’t picked up maximum points on their travels since winning at Ipswich in mid August. The Sky Blues aren’t terrible at home – although this is their first game against a team in the current top six – but really need to start winning games if they’re to escape the bottom three.

The other game featuring two sides from the bottom six will see Steve Cotterill return to Fratton Park for the first time since he left Portsmouth and both clubs will be looking to avoid defeat. Goals could be at a premium on the South Coast and with Nottingham Forest apparently being unable to keep clean sheets on the road, their porous defence could prove a stumbling block to any chance of success in Hampshire.

There are two games between the top six on Saturday afternoon: rather than unneccesarily over complicate the situation at the top of the table, it’s entirely possible that West Ham could be out of the automatic promotion places on Saturday evening yet only Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough can overtake them. Palace travel down the M4 to Cardiff City, but although The Bluebirds haven’t lost at home to Palace since 2004 they’ve only won two of the six meetings between the clubs in South Wales since then. Middlesbrough entertain Watford on Saturday teatime in the only televised game this weekend (Sky Sports 2, 5:20pm) but although Boro haven’t lost at the Riverside since April they’ve only won twice at home this season and Watford will be encouraged by the points earned by Coventry and Portsmouth on Teeside this season.

If the Hammers want to remain in second spot they’ll need to do something in this weekend’s game of the week they’ve they’ve been unable to do since September 1954: win at Hull City. Admittedly these sides only met four times in the league over the last two decades and although Sam Allardyce’s side have only lost once on their travels this season, this game looks as if it’s going to be a tight, low scoring affair and it’s also worth remembering that West Ham have yet to record a victory away to a team in the current top six.

Finally this week, it’s difficult to remain detached about the Championship when we’re lucky to have a player like Billy Sharp of Doncaster Rovers playing in it. His two day old son died on Saturday but on Monday he rang Rovers’ manager Dean Saunders to ask if he could play against Middlesbrough during the week; Sharp opened the scoring after 14 minutes and revealed a t-shirt that simply said ‘That’s for you son.’

Birmingham City

Last season: relegated from the Premier League

Manager: Chris Houghton (appointed June 2011)

Current odds to win the Championship: 12/1

Blackpool

Last season: relegated from the Premier League

Manager: Ian Holloway (appointed May 2009)

Current odds to win the Championship: 18/1

Brighton & Hove Albion

Last season: promoted from League One (Champions)

Manager: Gus Poyet (November 2009)

Current odds to win the Championship: 18/1

Peterborough United

Last season: promoted from League One (Play Off Winners)

Manager: Darren Ferguson (January 2011)

Current odds to win the Championship: 100/1

Southampton

Last season: promoted from League One (Runners Up)

Manager: Nigel Adkins (appointed September 2010)

Current odds to win the Championship: 16/1

West Ham

Last season: relegated from the Premier League

Manager: Sam Allardyce (appointed June 2011)

Current odds to win the Championship: 4/1F

The first thing that stands out about the six new clubs joining the Championship is that none of them are novices in terms of second tier football. In fact, four of these clubs have played in the Championship within the last three seasons and both Brighton and West Ham have taken part in the competition within the last decade, so at least they’ll be spared the same kind of novelty status as Swansea already have in the Premier League.

West Ham have been installed as the bookies favourites to win the Championship, but recent history doesn’t necessarily support the hypothesis that the Hammers only have to turn up every week to win the title. Only seven of the last 20 Championship titles have been won by teams that had been relegated from the Premier League the previous season and only three of these titles were won in the last decade: it’s probably safer to say that there’s more chance of a team that finished in the top ten in 2010/11 winning the Championship this season than any of the teams that weren’t good enough for the Premier League.

It’s probably even safer to state that neither Brighton, Southampton nor Peterborough will win the title. You have to go back to the mid 1980s to find the last time that a team won consecutive divisional championships to reach the top tier of English football when Jim Smith’s Oxford United performed that particular feat.

Having said that, it’s well worth remembering that automatic promotion is where clubs that have either been relegated or promoted seem to find most success. Over the last two decades, only half of the automatic promotion places have been filled by teams that had competed in the Championship the previous season, compared to eight second place finishes by relegated Premier League clubs and two by teams from League 1, including last season’s runners up Norwich City.

As for promotion via the playoffs – forget it. Eighteen of the last 20 playoff winners were teams that had played at least one season in the Championship, so although a ‘first season’ playoff winner is overdue (the last club to manage it was Watford in 1999), it’s also unlikely that any of the six clubs mentioned above will be celebrating at Wembley at the end of 2011/12.

So what  – if anything – does those stats prove? Possibly that the gap between the poorest Premier League teams and the better Championship sides has narrowed, but that it normally takes at least one season to adjust to the demands of Championship football before staging a successful promotion campaign. This is where the arrivals from the Premier League may also have a unique disadvantage amongst the new arrivals: they’ll play at least eight more games than they did last season, and in West Ham’s case most opponents that will treat matches against the Hammers as their biggest game of the season.

It’s probably also true to say that while the calibre of the promoted League 1 teams has improved (only four of the last 30 clubs to be promoted from the third tier were relegated after one season), it’s difficult to tell if the collective performance of Norwich, Leeds and Millwall last season was part of a new trend or if those particular teams were overachievers. The last time more than one promoted club finished in the top ten in the second tier was a decade ago and Millwall’s ninth place finish was the best position achieved by a League 1 playoff winner since Manchester City were promoted in 1999.

Looking into my admittedly slightly rubbish crystal ball, I can see the following scenario happening:

* Birmingham and West Ham in the mix for the title, but possibly losing out to one of the established Championship teams. I’ll go for Leeds but with Burnley and Ipswich as potential dark horses.

* Brighton, Blackpool and Southampton to finish in the top half with the Saints reaching the playoffs and Blackpool having exactly the same type of season as Hull and Burnley have had over the last couple of years. I’m not sure how Brighton will cope with playing in a new stadium in a different division: the Seagulls will have played most of the main contenders by the end of October so we should have a better idea of how they’re coping by then.

* I’ll admit that it’s difficult to be positive about Peterborough at all, especially as their gung ho attacking style has been blunted with the sale of Craig Mackail-Smith to Brighton. His absence – combined with their frankly ridiculous defensive record last season (they conceded goals in 36 of their 46 league games last season) and Darren Ferguson’s less than stellar record at this level – seems to indicate that anything better than 17th will be hailed as some sort of miracle.

However, the time for speculation is almost over: Blackpool travel to Hull for the first game of the season on Friday night (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm) and I’ll be at a game on Saturday afternoon.

It’s been a long three months. But the Championship is back.

The following day there will be a further 10 matches with the pick of the games being a late kick-off televised match between newly promoted Southampton and one of the strong favourites for promotion, Leeds United.  The first round of fixtures will be completed when Cardiff City travel to Upton Park to play automatic promotion favourites West Ham United.
With new players and managers ready to impress, the forthcoming Championship season looks likely to be as exciting as the previous; and of the three teams relegated from the Premier League two will be starting the season afresh with new managers.

Chris Hughton steered Newcastle United to a runaway Championship title in 2009/10 but was unceremoniously sacked by maverick owner Mike Ashley last December.  Hughton returns to management as replacement for Alex McLeish at Birmingham City.  McLeish resigned from the position in May and was subsequently appointed as manager of black Country rivals Aston Villa, citing a lack of backing and available transfer money from the owners.  But Hughton is a first-class coach and his previous experience in the Championship makes me believe Birmingham will be fighting for promotion alongside West Ham next season.

West Ham are clear favourites with the bookies; and while they target more players to sign alongside the excellent acquisition of Kevin Nolan from Newcastle it is still unclear whether top players such as Scott Parker, Robert Green and Matthew Upson will be playing in claret and blue come the new season.

With or without those players I believe West Ham under the guidance and man-management skills of Big Sam Allardyce will be one of a few teams chasing promotion back to the Premier League come next May along with the likes of Leeds, Birmingham, Reading and Millwall. It will also be interesting to see how the very ambitious Brighton fair after winning the League One title and holding on to their very talented young manager, Gus Poyet.

Of the three relegated teams I expect Blackpool to struggle and would be surprised if they make the play-offs.  They have lost a few key players including Charlie Adam to Liverpool, and it will be down to Ian Holloway to pick up the pieces from a very disappointing 2011 which saw Blackpool plummet from the top 10 to be relegated in just five months.

Ahead of the new English Football League season a new Football scores website will be launched.  The site will feature not only domestic football scores but a service that extends to international football scores including the European Championships, international friendly matches, international qualifiers and, of course, the FIFA World Cup.

Reading, Leicester, Millwall and Ipswich all finished strongly last season, while Leeds United and Nottm Forest will both be targeting a return to their former glories with a return to the top flight, next year.  Also in the mix will be Blackpool, West Ham and the League Cup winners Birmingham after they all faced relegation from the Premier League.

The fortune of the three relegated teams will no doubt rely substantially on retaining their best players and adapting to life in the Championship.  Blackpool are the only one of three to keep their manager, but it looks likely that Ian Holloway is going to lose his captain and star asset, Charlie Adam to either Spurs or Liverpool.  I think Blackpool will suffer from having such a great season in the Premiership that began so well but by January had lost its wheels.

After losing Alex McLeish to Black Country rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham have in my opinion made a fantastic appointment in Chris Hughton who was unceremoniously sacked by Newcastle after he steered them to promotion as champions in the 2009/10 season.

Hughton has said that he is knows he will lose some of his best players and he expects to revamp the squad before the new season.  Defenders Scott Dann, Roger Johnson and goalkeeper Ben Foster are among the players linked with transfer rumours.

The West Ham owners sacked Avram Grant less than one hour after they were relegated in May and in Big Sam Allardyce have appointed a manager with plenty of man-management experience and getting the most out of his squad on a shoe-string budget, but less experience of the Championship than both Holloway and Hughton.  West Ham is destined to lose some of their top players as long as other teams agree to match the big wages West Ham is currently offering the likes of England internationals Scott Parker, Robert Green and Matthew Upson.  But he has already made the signing of the summer with the acquisition of Newcastle’s Kevin Nolan who has chosen to drop down a division to link up once more with Big Sam.

Furthermore, Steve McLaren’s appointment at Nottm Forest is an interesting one.  McLaren is known for his coaching abilities and youth policy which is a great fit with what Forest wants to achieve by re-focusing on their youth academy.  That said they have allegedly made an approach for out-of-favour Sunderland midfield playmaker and former City Ground favourite Andy Reid.  McLaren is also keen to keep out-of-contract duo Rob Earnshaw and Guy Moussi.

Before the transfer merry-go-round has really started, it’s a bit premature to be betting on the teams who will be promoted just yet.  That said, I believe with Big Sam Allardyce and Sven Goran Erikson, given backing from their respective owners, will be able to entice good players to West Ham and Leicester respectively to block any holes left by outgoing players and in doing so look likely to be among the favourites to achieve automatic promotion in what promises to be another thrilling Championship season

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Brightonv Doncaster

Bristol City v Ipswich

Burnley v Watford

Coventry v Leicester

Derby v Birmingham

Hull v Blackpool

Middlesbrough v Portsmouth

Nottingham Forest v Barnsley

Peterborough v Crystal Palace

Reading v Millwall

Southampton v Leeds

West Ham v Cardiff

Currently all games have been scheduled for Saturday 6th August, but it’s possible that one or more of these games could be re-scheduled for television coverage – West Ham v Cardiff looks like a prime contender.

It’s a bit early to be making predictions, but the outcome of Peterborough v Crystal Palace might be worth keeping an eye on over the long term.