Title challengers





The Championship has a reputation as an exciting, unpredictable division and this season the outcome seems even more uncertain than usual. There are no clear favourites for automatic promotion, never mind the title, and a list of play-off contenders that could stretch halfway down the table.

Excitement is not necessarily Tony Pulis’s stock in trade but Middlesbrough look as well placed as any to challenge for the title this season. Having taken over at the Riverside last December Pulis steered Boro to the play-offs with 11 wins from 22 matches. Boro have had a mixed pre-season but look to have the most complete squad in the division and the most experienced manager.

Last season Wolves rewrote the rule book by bringing Champions League quality to the Championship and, as a result, earning promotion at a canter. The team most closely fitting the template of “doing a Wolves” this summer has been Nottingham Forest. Bankrolled by the Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, Forest have spent more than £25m on players, including two prospects from Benfica in the midfielder João Carvalho and the winger Diogo Gonçalves. Will they be the next Rúben Neves and Diogo Jota?

Stoke are another club who have spent like they mean it. Peter Coates, the owner, has recruited Gary Rowett, who jumped ship from Derby. It feels like a classic Stoke squad, except they will be playing one tier lower. They have set out their stall and there is no place to hide, not least for the regarded Rowett.

Joao Carvalho is a key signing for Nottingham Forest. Photograph: Sam Tebbutt/Frozen in Motion/Rex Shutterstock

Going about their business more quietly have been Darren Moore’s WBA. After almost pulling off an escape from relegation last season the local hero was given the job full-time only to promptly lose the goalkeeper Ben Foster and the key centre-half Jonny Evans. But Moore has steadied things since.

Play-off contenders

It is in this bracket that the really interesting stuff is going on. Marcelo Bielsa, El Loco, the man who inspired Pep Guardiola and shattered the physical limits of any number of players with his intensive pressing style, has landed at Elland Road. The Argentinian has started cautiously at Leeds, introducing a back three during pre‑season but persisting with much of last year’s squad and completing only the Championship-tested permanent signings of Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford to date. The project could explode into either greatness or infamy, but there is no doubting Leeds will be a team to watch.

Leeds United’s new manager Marcelo Bielsa poses for a photo with a fan. Photograph: Simon Davies/ProSports/Rex Shutterstock

Down the M1 and the Championship’s second most glamorous managerial appointment has been shaking things up at Derby. Frank Lampard’s first job tasks him with refreshing the perennial play-off candidates after another promising season ended in disappointment.

Disaster averted, the buyout of Aston Villa by Nassef Sawiris and Wes Eden has plugged a financial gap that had looked like swallowing up one of England’s grandest clubs. Now the main problem appears to be playing catch-up in a transfer window where rivals have strengthened. Steve Bruce, who has won the support of the new owners (at least in the short term) built a play-off bid on the back of five loan signings last year and will be forced to look at similar again.

For those who just missed out on the top six last term hope springs once more. Millwall went on a late‑season charge that caught everybody by surprise and the majority of last season’s squad are still available to Neil Harris. Alex Neil’s Preston have strengthened with four new signings that fit their unheralded and hungry template and have slotted straight into the first team. Brentford have lost some key talent, but that does not knock the model. Bristol City have similarly sold and strengthened, adding experience to the squad in Ipswich’s Adam Webster and Andreas Weimann from Derby.

Relegation candidates

Garry Monk admitted this week that he is still not sure whether Birmingham are under a transfer embargo with only a fortnight of the window remaining. Since signing the full-back Kristian Pedersen in June, all has been quiet at St Andrews where they are still trying to reduce a wage bill that has seen them face challenges under Financial Fair Play rules. This is not a great atmosphere under which to begin a new campaign, especially for a side that only just escaped relegation last season.

A cloudy mood has also descended on Reading who avoided relegation by three points, failed to win in pre-season and their key defender Liam Moore has submitted a transfer request. Paul Clement, the manager, is preaching calm but has yet to be given funds this summer.

Bolton had the closest call of all last season but Phil Parkinson appears to have recruited well, adding the experience of Clayton Donaldson, Jack Hobbs and Marc Wilson to his squad. Hull have lost a number of senior players, most notably Abel Hernández, their main goal threat, and have replaced them with unproven signings while antipathy from fans towards the Allam family has hardly dissipated. Rotherham enter the division as League One play-off winners and will be favourites to continue their recent yo-yo status but Paul Warne’s team will relish being underdogs.

Three players to watch

Mason Mount, Derby County

With the title of ‘golden player’ at the European under-19 championships last summer, followed by 14 goals in the Eredivisie for Vitesse Arnhem, Mount had a sparkling reputation even before he signed up to play under Frank Lampard. Now the manager has a chance to develop a player whose prodigious talents as a box-to-box midfielder match his own.

Mason Mount in action for Derby against Wolves in pre-season. Photograph: Andy Clarke/Rex Shutterstock

Harvey Barnes, West Brom

Another young English midfield talent, Barnes won the golden boot at last year’s Toulon tournament. He scored five times on loan at Barnsley last year before being recalled to parent club Leicester where he shone in FA Cup cameos and made three Premier League appearances. Both creative and strong on the ball, a berth on the left of midfield for the Baggies should provide the best platform yet for his talents.

Mo Eisa, Bristol City

This 24-year-old striker has taken a very different career path to Mount and Barnes. Born in Sudan and raised in north London, Eisa developed his game outside the professional system and two years ago was plying his trade in the eighth tier of English football at Greenwich Borough. Fifty-two goals in 81 league appearances drew the attention of Cheltenham Town where he moved last summer. Another 23 league goals later (a Cheltenham club record) and Eisa is a million pound player. With pace, height and calmness in the finish Eisa could be a great fit for Lee Johnson’s slick City.