Championship is as unpredictable as ever,

Don Goodman can’t wait for the rollercoaster of a new Championship season to begin. But don’t ask him to pick the three teams who will win promotion.

And who can blame him when, in recent years, surprise packages such as Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Cardiff City have all reached the Premier League.

This season looks more unpredictable than ever as most of the 24 clubs will fancy having a strong run at finishing in the top-six.

“The league really is wide open,” says Goodman, who will be covering the Championship again for Sky Sports this season.

“You look at some of the lesser clubs – take Wigan, for example – they might never have a better opportunity to get promoted. It’s that open.

“But I’m expecting a scramble for players before the transfer window shuts as some big clubs have hardly done any business. Once that closes, we’ll have a better idea what clubs have got.

“The thing with the Championship is you can never predict from one season to the next. Even last year, you couldn’t really say Wolves were bankers for promotion.

“They had gone down the route of buying a lot of players from Portugal and went from 15th to first.”

There are seven new managers in place this summer, including at all three of the relegated clubs – West Brom, Swansea and Stoke.

Gary Rowett, a man with Championship experience from Birmingham and Derby, has taken over at Stoke and his club are favourites with the bookmakers, although that often counts for little at this level.

Over at Leeds, they dispensed with Paul Heckingbottom and brought in the much-travelled Marcelo Bielsa.

The 63-year-old Argentine has managed at two World Cups and in France and Italy. His coaching methods have been hailed by Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, but there have been a number of jobs where it has gone pear-shaped, including at his last club, Lille.

And Goodman is unsure whether he will be the man to revive the fortunes of the Yorkshire giants.

“We saw left-field appointments during Massimo Cellino’s reign and they all failed,” he admits.

“We know a foreign owner will go down the foreign route for a manager and that’s what (Leeds chairman) Signor Radrizzani