The Championship is back with the new campaign starting on Friday night when Blackpool travel to Hull. The 2011/12 season looks like it could be one of the tightest in history and a number of sides will fancy their chances of making it to the promised land of the Premier League with recently-relegated West Ham (4/1 outright) among the favourites to return to the top flight.
The Hammers experienced a nightmare season last year. After a disappointing start to the campaign they never really looked like they had the mentality to stay in the Premier League.
The Upton Park side were constantly criticised for seemingly wasting their obvious talent and former boss Avram Grant was seen by many as the reason for their consistently flat performance.
However, Sam Allardyce in now in charge at the club and if there’s one thing ‘Big Sam’ knows how to do, it’s motivate his sides.
The former Bolton boss has also invested wisely bringing in the likes of Matt Taylor and Kevin Nolan and the squad is now arguably stronger than last term. He will be confident he can return the east London club back to the Premier League at the first attempt and not many would bet against him.
Leicester (9/2 outright) will be another club looking for promotion after a summer that has seen them spend heavily and bring in a number of established stars as they look to return to the top flight for the first time since 2004.
Sven-Goran Eriksson took over the side midway through last season and nearly took them to the play-offs after an appalling start. One Foxes player to look out for is one of Sven’s former starlets at Manchester City, Michael Johnson, who has signed on at the King Power stadium on-loan and will be looking to reinvigorate his career after a terrible run of injuries.
A fully-fit Johnson has the ability to play at the very top level and he’ll be looking at this season as a chance to gain first-team football and rebuild his reputation.
Nottingham Forest fans will be hoping their side can finally fulfil their potential after falling short in the play-offs for the last two seasons. Steve McClaren has been installed in charge at the City Ground and will be looking to succeed where predecessor Billy Davies failed and inspire his side to take the next step.
They’ll be looking to the likes of Dexter Blackstock (40/1 top scorer) to fire them to glory and this season could finally be their year to make a return to the top flight.
Finally one team who could be the surprise package of the season is newly-promoted Southampton, who will be hoping their young squad can take them back to the top flight for the first time since 2004. Saints have invested well during the summer and have managed to bring in influential midfielder Jack Cork from Chelsea.
However, their most important piece of transfer business was keeping young winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He could be one of the stars of the season if he can hit the heights of last term.
Whatever happens, the Championship always provides excitement so strap yourself in and get ready for yet another rollercoaster season in the Football League.
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