New-look Championship returns with competitive twist but old shadows linger
New-look Championship returns with competitive twist but old shadows linger
Richard JollyFri, August 14, 2026 at 6:14 AM UTC
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After the most dramatic play-off campaign of all, the Championship’s play-offs will be bigger than ever this season. The two developments are actually unconnected, but the most lucrative match in global football took a new turn, and England’s second flight gained more attention across the footballing planet, after a scandal that soon acquired its own name: Spygate.
As the Championship restarts this weekend, it is with a warning that standing behind a tree and filming a training session on an iPhone can come at a cost; potentially of £200m as well as considerable reputational damage. It also means perhaps the most eagerly anticipated game of the season, by those with affiliations to neither club anyway, will be on 27 November: Southampton against Middlesbrough.
Under German coach Tonda Eckert, Southampton went 19 games unbeaten at the end of last season before the Spygate saga saw them thrown out of the play-offs and deducted four points for this campaign (PA)
The second tier instead has a more conventional blockbuster tie on the opening weekend, in West Ham’s trip to Burnley, reuniting two of the clubs relegated in May. The Hammers’ presence in the Football League, along with that of Wolves, may earn it more attention. There are reasons to think, too, that the standard will be higher, the promotion battle more competitive, and not merely because seventh and eighth places will now bring play-off spots.
Last year brought unpredictability in abundance. Twelve months ago, few forecast Coventry running away with the title. Hull were tipped more for relegation than promotion. Now, however, there is no doubt West Ham start as favourites, and not merely because they got 39 Premier League points.
Co-owner David Sullivan casts a shadow over their summer, but, even with arrivals so far limited to Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon, it otherwise looks productive. West Ham have banked some £140m for Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville, but captain Jarrod Bowen’s decision to stay gives them a player who ought to be too good for the level. So should several others: relegation was underachievement given their expenditure and talent. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo, another who did not walk away, got 99 points in his only previous Championship campaign, with Wolves, which feels auspicious.
Nuno’s former club have gone Portuguese again by parachuting in manager Cesar Peixoto following the brutal sacking of Rob Edwards. Until then, it seemed they were benefitting from having months to prepare for the Championship: Adam Armstrong, a guarantee of second-tier goals, was signed back in January. Before Edwards’s dismissal, Wolves made their flagship summer signings, laced with experience but boasting a combined age of 70, in Kieran Trippier and the returning Raul Jimenez. Since then, there has been less turnover of players than may have been anticipated.
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Meanwhile, Burnley have also revisited an old formula. They went Belgian by appointing Nicky Hayen as the manager, perhaps hoping to unearth another Vincent Kompany. The Clarets won promotion in each of their last four Championship seasons, posting a century of points in the last two. There are reasons to wonder if they can remain a yo-yo club or if the string will snap and strand them in the Football League, but they have sold well in banking around £85m so far. Arrivals have been fewer, but they already had too many players and plenty of them boast experience of getting out of this division.
American eyes might be concentrated on Wrexham, who overachieved to record their highest ever finish of seventh last season. Phil Parkinson continues to spend their commercial revenues in distinctly unglamorous ways, with Danny Imray, Ben Whiteman and, seemingly, Anthony Patterson, but his matter-of-fact approach has served them well. The other moneyed club who came up from League One in 2025, Birmingham, arguably underperformed to come 10th last year. Given their ambition, it feels surprising that manager Chris Davies remains. There has been continuity in the squad, too, though centre-back Dael Fry looks a smart signing.
Wolves are second favourites with the bookmakers to bounce straight back behind West Ham, whose 14-year Premier League stay was halted last season on the final day (PA)
He came from Middlesbrough, who made history last season by losing both the play-off semi-final and final; they were readmitted as a result of Southampton’s expulsion. Boro may have wished they were not, given their muted performance in defeat to Hull at Wembley. They were compelled to sell the Championship’s player of the year Hayden Hackney but, furnished with funds from that and the sell-on clause they attached to Morgan Rogers, Kim Hellberg may have addressed two deficiencies: enter Manchester United goalkeeper Radek Vitek, following Sol Brynn’s play-off final error, and Tottenham striker Will Lankshear, which might mean fewer Teesside laments about Tommy Conway’s finishing. The American Sebastian Berhalter, meanwhile, looks a good, and strangely cheap, successor to Hackney.
Southampton kick off unbeaten in 19 Championship games – 21 including the play-offs – but propping up the table on minus four; it is part of their punishment for spying. If they should prepare for being branded cheats at many an away ground this season, there could be a more serious consequence to follow. Manager Tonda Eckert got the club’s backing – though, regardless of the morality, his illicit approach to research may have ranked as football’s most expensive error ever – but faces an FA charge. A lengthy ban could mean Southampton have to do what many thought they ought to have done anyway and got rid of Eckert. Instead, they have turned two influential loanees, goalkeeper Daniel Peretz and striker Cyle Larin, into permanent arrivals, but the excellent Shea Charles has gone.
Southampton and Middlesbrough, with their own scores to settle, form part of an extended fight for the play-off spots (Getty)
There are others who could challenge. Millwall confounded predictions to come third with 83 points last season, illustrating that, pound for pound, there are few better Championship managers than Alex Neil. Norwich had a shocking start but, by winning 13 of their last 20 games, produced play-off form after Philippe Clement was appointed. Sheffield United also erred in last summer’s managerial choice, in Ruben Selles, and had to send an SOS to Chris Wilder. Theirs has been a subdued summer, selling Andre Brooks (and, probably, Gustavo Hamer) and parting company with Wilder’s long-serving assistant Alan Knill, but there is still talent in a squad which will be bolstered by Kalvin Phillips.
United’s neighbours Sheffield Wednesday set their own record last season, finishing the campaign with no points, due to deductions and being in administration. They were always expected to go down: Leicester’s demise, however, ranked as a shock, with Oxford joining them in League One.
Bolton, Cardiff and Lincoln made the opposite journey. The Imps may have paid for their success, losing manager Michael Skubala to Bristol City, but they surged to the title on a 29-game unbeaten run. They are in the second tier for the first time since 1961. It is an example of the Championship’s ability to provide different plotlines. Some, however, keep being recycled. As the season begins, it is with another new Watford manager.
Source: “AOL Sports”
