Another Championship season begins this weekend and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on.
Will Wrexham make it four promotions in a row to give their Hollywood-celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney their Premier League dream? Can relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Southampton bounce back up to the top flight at the first time of asking? Are Sheffield Wednesday already doomed to League One after a summer of chaos off the pitch? And how many managers will Watford get through between now and May?
Here, our EFL experts answer all the key questions before the campaign kicks off with Tom Brady’s promoted Birmingham City hosting Ipswich tonight (Friday).
Who will win the Championship title?
Gregg Evans: Ipswich. They look too strong, even with the departure of Liam Delap to Chelsea, and will dominate, most likely from start to finish. Manager Kieran McKenna knows exactly what he’s doing, too.
Richard Sutcliffe: Ipswich have the attacking armoury to bounce straight back up as champions.
Philip Buckingham: I can’t see past Ipswich either. Their ploy of signing the Championship’s best players 12 months ago backfired in the Premier League, but it means they’ve got a squad as strong as any in the second division now. They’ll take some stopping.
Chris Weatherspoon: Ipswich. Last season was pretty much a free hit for them and they’ll bounce back immediately.
Andrew Pigott: Southampton. They have a nice spine to their team, but also the best firepower in the division in Adam Armstrong, Ross Stewart, Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer and Damion Downs, even if they end up selling Tyler Dibling.
Who will go up automatically in second, and via the play-offs?
Evans: Leicester were dreadful in the Premier League last season but have a squad packed with quality in terms of the second tier. As long as they don’t lose too many more — players or points — they’ll be tough to beat and should go up in second. And I’ve got Wrexham as play-off final winners — they’ve recruited well and will carry momentum from previous seasons into this one. They won’t be strong enough to challenge for automatic promotion, but will be fired up to make a real impact.
Sutcliffe: Birmingham City feel like a good bet to snaffle second place in a division that looks pretty open. As mentioned, Leicester have a possible points deduction hanging over their heads, meaning the play-offs are their most likely route back to the Premier League.
Weatherspoon: Sheffield United became only the third second-division team ever to amass 90 points — even after a two-point deduction — and not go up automatically last season. Ruben Selles is a better manager than he showed at his last two clubs and will guide them to second. I fancy Coventry City as play-offs winners — they have a nice start, fixtures-wise, and pushed on impressively under Frank Lampard in the second half of last season after Mark Robins’ departure.
Buckingham: I’ll go with Southampton in second under new coach Will Still. Coventry get the nod to finally go up through the play-offs if they’re able to replicate the form shown after Lampard came in last November.
Pigott: Ipswich will go up in second — they’ve kept together a good core of the team that won promotion two years ago. I see Birmingham as play-off winners. With momentum on their side, plenty of goals and some big signings, it’s hard not to see them passing straight through the Championship.
Who will be relegated?
Pigott: Things look very bleak for Sheffield Wednesday before a ball has even been kicked. Hull City were fortunate not to go down last year, and despite impressing in their first year up after promotion, Oxford United will find it harder this time around.
Evans: Norwich City, Wednesday, Oxford. It’s a very poor second-tier this season and I reckon as many as 10 teams will be nervously looking over their shoulder at various stages. West Bromwich Albion also look like a club heading for trouble.
Sutcliffe: Wednesday, Charlton Athletic, Hull. The latter’s scattergun approach to player and manager recruitment is likely to come home to roost. Newly promoted Charlton have cherry-picked a lot of last season’s League One talent, but the danger with such an approach is ending up with a team that really belongs in the division below.
Buckingham: It’s sad to say, but it already looks as if Wednesday are doomed after a summer that means they’re turning up for a gunfight armed with a water pistol. I’ve also got concerns for Hull, who narrowly avoided the drop last season, but I’ll go with Oxford and Charlton to complete the three. They have decent managers in Gary Rowett and Nathan Jones, but both have shortcomings.
Weatherspoon: Wednesday’s awful off-field summer speaks volumes. Hull nearly dropped down last season and have little to crow about either. After those two, it’s one from as many as 10. Oxford signing young striker Will Lankshear on loan from Tottenham Hotspur could prove crucial in keeping them up. If they survive again, the end of Preston North End’s dreary 11-year stay in this division looms.
How will Wrexham do?
Sutcliffe: Mid-table. A big rebuild was needed to make last season’s squad Championship-ready, and this is well on track. But it’ll be another couple of windows before they are ready to make a concerted push for Premier League promotion starting this time next year. For now, beating the club’s previous highest-ever league finish, 15th in the old Second Division in 1978-79, is an achievable target.
Evans: They’ll make a decent impression and kick on. Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore are good signings and I’ve no doubt their spending won’t stop here. Looking forward to another series of Welcome to Wrexham.
Weatherspoon: Outside the play-offs, but inside the top half. It’s easy (some might say mandatory) to dismiss them as a fairytale never too far from crashing into reality, but beneath the Hollywood glitz, there’s a football club in better health than many they’ll face this season. They have momentum after three promotions in a row, but the big question is whether investing in older heads might finally start to falter — and if Phil Parkinson, who has managed over 1,000 games in his career but only 141 as high as this division, has hit his ceiling.
Buckingham: Reality will bite this season. I struggle to see them getting near the top six, given the clubs they’re competing against. This is a very different test from the ones Wrexham have repeatedly aced in the past three years. The top half would be a huge achievement.
How will the relegated clubs do?
Weatherspoon: Parachute payments play a huge part here, but there are some quirks to consider. Southampton have an impressive squad on paper but are carrying the mental scars from that 12-point, two-win Premier League season, while Still is going to have a lot of eyes on him. They’ll be up there, through having a high floor. A long-awaited points deduction for Leicester will likely be hefty, albeit not enough to keep them completely away from the promotion discussion. As I said above, Ipswich will win the title.
Sutcliffe: All three will challenge, albeit Leicester’s possible points deduction hangs over the club like a dark cloud. Ipswich’s attack looks strong, and it will be fascinating to see how Still adapts to managerial life in England after making his name in France’s top flight.
Pigott: This is an incredibly unforgiving league and I have a feeling Leicester will find it the hardest of the three. Play-off push for them.
Evans: They will all finish in the top 10.
How will the promoted clubs do?
Evans: There’s a lot of noise around Birmingham and their push for back-to-back promotions under NFL legend Tom Brady and co is on. Perhaps they’ll make the play-offs and it will be intriguing to see who finishes higher between themselves and Wrexham. It feels like Charlton will struggle. The Valley, in south-east London, is a decent away day, though.
Pigott: I’ve been impressed with Charlton’s business. A mixture of solid Championship experience — Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke, goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, Joe Rankin-Costello — plus players who have shown signs they could handle the step up to the second tier — Charlie Kelman, Rob Apter, Harvey Knibbs and Tanto Olaofe. They’ll have enough to remain in the division.
Weatherspoon: Birmingham, buoyed by their money and momentum, should occupy a play-off spot Wrexham will come to covet. Charlton risk being a ‘Best of League One’ side in the wrong division, but the inadequacies of others will see them just about secure safety.
Which manager will attract Premier League interest?
Pigott: John Mousinho continues to do an excellent job at Portsmouth on a tight budget. Premier League clubs will surely be keeping an eye on his progress.
Evans: At this stage, none of them. If Chris Davies keeps Birmingham on an upward trajectory and flying high, his reputation will continue to grow, but which club could convince him to move on when the project is so exciting at St Andrew’s?
Weatherspoon: I agree with Gregg — possibly none of them. Ipswich’s McKenna remains an obvious candidate, while, at a push, Liam Manning has City Football Group experience and an opportunity to impress at Norwich.
Sutcliffe: It’s difficult to say in a division where 19 of the 24 managers have been appointed in the past 12 months. McKenna has his admirers, but last season was a struggle among the elite.
Player of the season
Evans: Birmingham’s Tommy Doyle. An all-action 23-year-old midfielder with Premier League experience for Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, he should stand out at this level and could become his team’s heartbeat.
Sutcliffe: Louie Barry, 22, could be an inspired loan signing by Sheffield United. The Aston Villa winger was far too good for both Leagues One and Two as a loanee at Stockport County for a season and a half from summer 2023, but injury ruined his short spell at this level with Hull for the second half of last season.
Buckingham: Jack Clarke. He is coming off a trying first season with Ipswich in the Premier League, but, boy, was he a star at this level with Sunderland. There were not many better than him in 2023-24, and the 24-year-old is still a winger who can make a fool of most full-backs.
Weatherspoon: Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney, 23, has turned down a move to Ipswich, though wealthier suitors lurk. If Hackney goes, or even if he doesn’t, 21-year-old midfielder Shea Charles will be a huge part of Southampton’s promotion bid after spending last season on loan in this division at Wednesday.
Pigott: Ronnie Edwards at Southampton. Perhaps signed a year ago with this season back in the Championship in mind, the 22-year-old is an excellent defensive prospect with lots of league experience under his belt already after four seasons with Peterborough United.
Leading goalscorer
Pigott: Mihailo Ivanovic’s record in his debut year at Millwall last season (12 goals in 37 league games, 22 of them starts) was impressive. Left-footed efforts, right-footed ones, penalties, headers in the air and headers on the floor. Still only 20, the Serbian looks a real prospect.
Sutcliffe: Southampton’s Archer, 23, should be in the goals, but 22-year-old Jay Stansfield may well be the player who fires Birmingham back to the Premier League after 15 seasons in the second and, briefly, third divisions.
Buckingham: Sammie Szmodics could do no wrong when last in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers (27 league goals in 2023-24), and the 29-year-old ought to get plenty of opportunities in a potent Ipswich attack.
Evans: Ellis Simms at Coventry. If he stays fit, this could be the season the 24-year-old former Everton striker really kicks on.
Weatherspoon: Most teams in the Championship share their goals around — no player scored 20 in the league last season, despite it being a 46-game regular season. United States international Haji Wright, 27, heads a strong-looking Coventry attack and has got to double figures in each of his two years at the club, even while missing three months in the middle of last season with an ankle injury.
Breakout star
Evans: Jeremy Monga at Leicester. The 16-year-old made his senior debut last season and has all the attributes to develop into a regular.
Pigott: I’m very interested to see how Watford’s 19-year-old winger Nestory Irankunda does. He’s obviously raw at that age, but quick and powerful. The Tanzania-born Australia international could benefit nicely from the creative talent around him at Vicarage Road.
Sutcliffe: Charles enjoyed an exemplary 2024-25 season on loan at Wednesday and the 21-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder will now be looking to make a big impact back at Southampton.
Buckingham: Provided his recovery from November’s season-ending anterior cruciate ligament knee injury goes to plan, this ought to be the year we see Ollie Arblaster really make a name for himself in senior football with Sheffield United — at 21, he’s a midfielder with huge potential.
Weatherspoon: Barry has been talked about as a prospect for so long, he feels older than 22 (here’s The Athletic labelling him Aston Villa’s breakthrough star at the beginning of the 2020-21 season!). He scored goals aplenty in League One in the first half of last season as Stockport chased promotion and at Sheffield United this time, he’ll similarly enjoy playing in a team battling at the top end of a table.
Game you can’t miss
Evans: Birmingham vs Ipswich tonight! Expect an electric atmosphere at St Andrew’s as the newly promoted home side test themselves against the best team in the division.
Pigott: Southampton vs Portsmouth; Sunday, September 14. It’s nearly six years since these bitter south-coast rivals and near-neighbours last met. That’ll be a quiet night at the library.
Buckingham: The Sheffield derbies might be too one-sided to really pique the interest, so I’ll go Swansea City vs Wrexham — an all-Wales affair — on Friday, December 19. The first time the clubs have met since March 2003.
Weatherspoon: The East Anglian derby is usually fun. If Manning can get Norwich ticking, Ipswich’s mid-April trip to Carrow Road will have a lovely mix of local acrimony and promotion jeopardy.
(Top photos: Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds show off their latest promotion trophy; and Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga; by Getty Images)
