CHAMPIONSHIP

With 19 former Premier League clubs and a rash of new gaffers with a range of experience, the race for the top flight is as wide open and hard-fought as ever

Luton, Charlton and the South Wales Derby make their second-tier returns

The annual bunfight for the biggest prize in world football starts here. With the Premier League growing ever more lucrative, unconfirmed rumours have suggested that a place in the top flight could be worth at least £7.8 trillion pounds to each promoted side this time around.

It’s a prize fund that already has Championship chairmen salivating, as they ponder just how many overpriced Ligue 1 midfielders they will be able to purchase once they reach the promised land. For just £55m, they, too, could buy Jean Michael Seri and Andre-frank Zambo Anguissa.

But who will those lucky chairmen be this time around? The Championship now appears to be as competitive as ever: more than half of the division will have their eyes on the top flight, and all except Bristol City, Brentford, Preston, Millwall and Luton have been in the (1992-) Premier League before.

Yet at the same time, there’s not a single club without some kind of doubt hanging over them. In each of the past two seasons, all three sides relegated from the Premier League failed to make an instant return. Huddersfield are recovering from a soul-destroying season that saw them relegated in March, while Fulham have quality but an unknown quantity in Scott Parker, just 10 matches into his managerial career. Cardiff surprised many in even reaching the Premier League, but with Championship specialist Neil Warnock at the helm they look likeliest.

Beaten play-off finalists Derby have lost Frank Lampard but replaced him with Phillip Cocu. Will it be the Cocu who won three titles with PSV, or the Cocu who plunged Fenerbahce into a relegation battle? If it’s the former, they could be ones to watch.

At Leeds, Marcelo Bielsa has God-like status but he’s entering his difficult second season – the last time he started a second campaign, at Marseille, he quit after just one match. Despite cost-cutting, West Bromwich Albion have also hired a big name: Slaven Bilic.

Middlesbrough have gone in the other direction, appointing rookie manager Jonathan Woodgate, while Stoke have allowed Nathan Jones to recruit as they recover from last season’s awful campaign. Bristol City have augmented their ranks, too – as have Brentford, cheekily taking Pontus Jansson from Leeds ahead of their last lap at Griffin Park.

Sheffield Wednesday hold play-off hopes but they’ve been hit hard by The Steve Bruce Situation (touring medium-sized venues near you). At Swansea and Nottingham Forest, much will depend on bold new appointments, Steve Cooper and Sabri Lamouchi. Hull have hired Grant Mccann, but it’s status quo at Wigan, Blackburn and Reading, for whom mid-table would be no disgrace, and Preston, who will hope for more.

Birmingham’s prospects are rather more uncertain following Garry Monk’s wildly unpopular hoofing, while Mark Warburton has a tricky task on his hands at QPR. Millwall will depend heavily on home form once more, with the three promoted clubs all more than capable of surviving. Luton have appointed former Belgium assistant manager Graeme Jones following their two consecutive promotions, Barnsley’s Daniel Stendel impressed many last term, and Lee Bowyer has finally got Charlton moving in the right direction.

Welcome to another season of the Championship, where absolutely anything could happen.