THE NEW ROCK ’N’ ROLL
The Championship is full of famous clubs, big crowds and glamour managers. With Thierry Henry set to bring his va-va-voom, it’s. . .
Thierry henry will add a certain allure to the second tier of english football if he takes control of Aston Villa but in truth the Championship has been a Va Va Voom Town for some time.
With Frank Lampard at Derby and Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds and millions spent on players during the summer, the league is acquiring a new glamour.
Gareth Southgate is selecting england players from the Championship such as Mason Mount and Jack Butland.
John Terry, who is planning to join henry as an assistant, knows all about its quality having played for Villa last season, alongside Jack Grealish and against rising stars such as ryan Sessegnon, who was nominated for the PFA young Player of the year, and James Maddison, also in Southgate’s squad soon after joining Leicester from norwich.
‘The stigma has gone,’ said Stuart Webber, sporting director at norwich. ‘it has become the Premier League 2 in all but name and players and coaches are not dropping into football they feel is beneath them.
‘The level in the Premier League has become so high, they can afford the best managers, the best players and it is hard to get a chance, so the Championship has become a breeding ground and the best players are capable of stepping up.
‘Most clubs have international players and youth internationals and Bielsa is one of the best coaches in the world. it is a more credible league and this will only improve if Thierry henry goes to Villa because there will be less snobbery about the Premier League. There is football outside the Premier League and it’s pretty good.’
The Championship is jammed with proud clubs with decorated pasts and large, demanding audiences, which means the pressure is on but the interest certainly is high. Total attendances across 552 matches last season reached more than 11.3million at an average of around 20,500. UeFA acknowledge it as the third- best attended league in europe, with more fans in the stadiums than Spain’s La Liga or italy’s Serie A.
Crowds are big, there are lots of matches and there is global interest, especially where fallen giants such as Leeds and Villa are concerned, and the competition is healthy because most of the 24 clubs have eyes fixed on going up, not just staying up.
West Bromwich Albion have been energised by relegation. After eight years in the top flight, the giddy thrill of elite company had been eroded by the grind of survival football. Under cult hero Darren Moore, Albion kept most of the squad together, cut tickets prices, won a few games and scored 31 goals in 12 games, as many as they scored last season in the Premier League.
Stoke, after a decade in the top flight, found the Championship had altered radically when they returned this season. ‘it is very different,’ said chief executive Tony Scholes. ‘More than half the teams have attendances of more than 20,000 and the facilities have improved, which is maybe a legacy of the fact so many of the teams have been in the Premier League. There are more foreign owners compared to how it was and more foreign managers. ‘We started at Leeds with Bielsa and we’ve been to Sheffield Wednesday with a Dutch manager and norwich with a German. ‘Ten years ago, on the back of the iTV Digital collapse, the Championship was not a great place. This summer there were probably a dozen transfer deals worth more than £10m. We did one or two of them.’ Stoke paid £13.5m for Benik Afobe and £11.2m for Tom ince. international stars such as Jack Butland and Joe Allen stayed and Gary rowett joined as manager. Ticket sales held up and, after a poor start, they are gathering momentum.
‘We had 10 fantastic seasons in the Premier League,’ said Scholes. ‘But for clubs like Stoke the overriding objective is to stay in the league. if you compare that to winning promotion, there’s no doubt which sounds more ambitious.
‘This season we’re going into every game with a chance to win. in the Premier League there are some fixtures where anything is a bonus, but we are keen to get back there. Because of the money. Because of the glory.’
Competitiveness is the core of the Championship’s appeal. But for a small group cut adrift, most teams are in touch with promotion after a dozen games. The play-off system keeps more in the race.
Fulham made a late charge last season. Few predicted Cardiff’s success. Wolverhampton Wanderers won the title with the help of heavy investment and the influence of agent Jorge Mendes, using connections with Fosun Group and nuno espirito Santo to bring the likes of ruben neves and helder Costa to Molineux.
‘There’s a fascinating dynamic,’ said David Prutton, presenter for Sky Sports who spent much of his career playing Championship football. ‘ So many questions and debates and different narratives.
‘Wolves and Cardiff won promotion from opposite ends of the spectrum and this season there is a real openness to the league. you find beautiful old stadiums with character and strong bonds with supporters. it is something else to be inside Bramall Lane with Chris Wilder, a Sheffield United fan, in charge of his team and to feel the energy and emotion that brings.
‘i remember Paul Merson at Portsmouth so i know there have been stand-out players but we are seeing good young players like Mount, on loan from a glamourous club at a big Championship club, also producing. ruben neves at Wolves,
last season, was a beautiful footballer and we saw him stand up to the test of aggression which is a positive trait of English football.’
There is an air of unpredictability in the Championship not seen in the top flight since the ’70s and a style of football closer to traditional British.
Richard Stearman, having spent more than a decade playing in the Championship, has witnessed its boom and agrees it is fuelled by owners, players and managers who see it as a gateway to the big time.
‘The rewards are so great,’ said Stearman. ‘It’s hard to get away from the money filtering down which means teams can spend on managers and players. When I started at Leicester at 17 there was not a massive amount of foreign players. I moved to Wolves for £2m which was quite a big fee but it’s hardly anything now in the Championship.
‘Popularity is increasing. You can see with attendances and Sky Sports are showcasing it in a big way. It’s getting lots of coverage and it feels like everybody watches the Friday night game.’
Leeds and Middlesbrough drew in the Championship’s biggest TV audience this season when 575,000 tuned in to see a goalless draw on a Friday night in August.
The EFL’s new domestic rights deal worth £600m over five years will come into play next year and boost the coffers further. Transfer spending by Championship clubs has increased by more than 400 per cent since 2013-14 with £210m spent in 2017-18. Wages, too, are rising.
Ultimately, the pull of the Premier League is the driving force. It is one of the great paradoxes of modern football: what makes the Championship so good is the fact everyone is desperate to get out.