Championship 2022/2023 Preview
The new footballing season in England gets underway this weekend, and the Championship takes centre stage as it kicks off in a matter of hours, on Friday evening as Huddersfield take on Burnley in what is set to be a cracking opening fixture.
In what is one of the world’s most exciting league’s, with ever changing promotion chances, and a huge scramble at the bottom to avoid the drop, we have seen some of the most dramatic moments in football occur in the Championship, and this season looks to be a brilliant watch, with plenty of teams battling out for promotion to the top-flight, and a heap of narratives to be aware of this campaign.
With that in mind, we’ve picked out a few of our big things to watch out for this Championship season. With good and bad stories to tell, these are the headline grabbing tales that many will be keeping an eye on, no matter their allegiance. We will round off with our complete league table prediction, from 1 down to 24. If we get anywhere close to being correct then believe us, you won’t hear the end of it.
As always, let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) what you are excited for in this Championship season, who you think will get promoted and who might be in with a chance of the drop.
Good Kompany
One of the biggest talking points ahead of the new season is the discussion of Burnley and new manager Vincent Kompany. Last season saw Burnley part with their well-loved manager Dyche, while Burnley dropped out of the Premier League, despite a last gasp resurgence towards the close of the season. Meanwhile, Kompany was managing Anderlecht who finished runners up in the Belgian Cup, and a 3rd place league finish. A combination nobody would have predicted this time last year, but the former defender is at the helm and ready to open the season as his side take on Huddersfield in Friday’s league opener.
Of course Kompany will be making headlines as he is still so highly-regarded from his playing days, and many won’t have seen much/any of his spell managing in Belgium so he is a bit of an unknown. Burnley meanwhile have been so defensively strong in recent years that we may see a change to the typical Burnley that we have become accustomed to, but only time will tell.
Off-field financial issues have plagued the conversation around Burnley during preseason, and Kompany himself has made note of this on many occasions. Despite this, and the offload of big names such as Nick Pope, and recently Ben Mee among others, they have recruited a few young talents, utilising the City connection to bring across CJ Egan-Riley and Muric on permanent deals while loaning Harwood-Bellis. Along with the City links, Kompany has also brought in League 1 player of the season Scott Twine who will give a huge boost to the side. The final notable addition is former West Ham and Anderlecht midfielder Josh Cullen who will again reinforce the midfield.
With the overhaul of the side, the adaption of the whole club to a new manager and the obvious fallout from relegation, Burnley on paper should be box office this season, and from gaging reactions online, most neutrals are predicting them to go close this season if not win the whole thing, while their own fanbase is perhaps more calm about this prospect and think they may struggle to adapt.
Whether you expect Kompany to take Burnley back at the first time of asking, or crash and burn, when they kick off the season on Friday, they may give us more of a clue as to how their season will play out.
Brucey Bonus
From a manager at the start of his career, to one of the most experienced managers around, Steve Bruce left Newcastle and almost instantly came back into management at West Brom, and although the season pretty much collapsed for them after Bruce’s arrival, giving a manager with 4 promotions from the Championship to his name a full season at the club will perhaps get them back to the top.
Last season, being back in the Championship after relegation they suffered with the fallout from bouncing between the leagues in the last few years, but now settled in the Championship, they will be looking to compete at the top of the table, and whether through automatic promotion or the hard way through the playoffs, West Brom are certainly being predicted to cause some trouble for many opposition sides this year.
Having brought in Jed Wallace and John Swift, they have brought in a huge amount of attacking creativity and experience in the division which should help the likes of Dike and Grant ensure plenty of goals this season which could be enough to get them to that top level.
Wild Boys
In my personal opinion, Chris Wilder is one of the best managers in the whole division going into the season. He brings out the best of the squad he has, and gets his side playing good football. Signing Ryan Giles will work perfectly in Wilder’s wing bag system and complement Isaiah Jones in this setup.
Having just missed out on the playoff spots last season, they will look to build on this in the current campaign, and although perhaps needing a goalscorer to get them up to the very top, what they have brought in looks good. Despite losing key man Djed Spence who had impressed hugely last season at Nottingham Forest, they will feel like they have a big chance this season of being up there come the end.
Dreading The Drop
Looking down now, and there are several teams who may want the season to be over before it’s even begun. Reading just narrowly avoided the drop last year, but things haven’t improved over the summer and even manager Paul Ince is predicting much of the same for the coming campaign. With huge off-field issues threating to derail their campaign further, they are all-but destined for the drop.
Down there also will be Rotherham, who are the yo-yo side between the Championship and League 1 will also struggle, especially after losing Michael Ihiekwe and Michael Smith to Sheffield Wednesday. Meanwhile, Birmingham are also set to struggle this year despite holding one of the leagues most exciting youngsters in Jobe Bellingham who of course is the younger brother of Jude and will hope to make this season his full breakthrough campaign at just 16. The club are struggling massively off-field with rumours of takeovers threatening to plague their campaign, while sacking Lee Bowyer earlier this month, John Eustace is set to take the reigns and hopes to prevent the drop that many (including ourselves) are predicting.
Predicted Table
1. Norwich
2. Middlesbrough
3. Burnley
4. Watford
5. West Brom
6. Sheffield United
7. Coventry
8. Swansea
9. Sunderland
10. Millwall
11. Luton
12. Stoke
13. Preston
14. Huddersfield
15. Blackburn
16. QPR
17. Wigan
18. Bristol City
19. Blackpool
20. Cardiff
21. Hull
22. Birmingham
23. Rotherham
24. Reading