Championship - Round up so far

With just over a third of the season behind us, 6 managerial changes and the Championship table starting to take shape, it is time to review the nPower 2011/12 Championship season so far.

In accordance with my predicted Championship table that I published prior to the season commencing, and the general consensus of many Championship supporters, I think it is now you can the teams in the division that are either surpassing expectations or those that seem to be underachieving.

After the start to the season that Southampton have had I think it would be disrespectful not to start my review talking about them! Nigel Adkins’ Saints have taken the step up well and truly in their stride. They have opened up a 5-point gap over West Ham in second place and astonishingly they are already 13 points clear of the final play-off position. Their impeccable home record, which includes 9 wins from 9, coupled with the once-again prolific Rickie Lambert and help from influential midfielders Guly Do Prado & Adam Lallana (who have also chipped in with 13 goals between them already this season) has helped propel The Saints to the top of the pile and seemingly on target for a second consecutive promotion back to the Premier League.

Making my way down the league, West Ham were always expected to challenge for the title and an immediate return to the top flight and with them currently sat nicely in second place, they seem to be living up to those expectations but it hasn’t been without a few hiccups so far this season, especially at Upton Park where they’ve been defeated by both Cardiff and Ipswich and held to draws by Bristol City and Leeds. Fortunately for Hammers fans their away record has been the best in the league so far which has helped account for the slight hiccups at home and I am sure once the season progresses they’ll become more accustom to the league and their home record will improve, leaving them in great stead for a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Middlesbrough, Cardiff City, Leeds United and Hull City currently occupy the four playoff places and have all performed consistently well this season. Middlesbrough’s success so far this season seems to be based upon the goals of Marvin Emnes and their defensive record, which is the joint-best in the league. Malky Mackay has had a good start to his managerial career at Cardiff City after moving their this summer from Watford, with a good record at the Cardiff City Stadium as well as the impact made once again by Peter Whittingham, they look set to be in the playoffs for the third consecutive season. The other two spots are held by the Yorkshire duo of Leeds United and Hull City despite the latter only managing to score 16 times this season! Both clubs will look to continue their promising start and cement themselves as promotion contenders over the rest of the season but for Hull City that may be a quite an ask due to the loss of manager, Nigel Pearson, to Leicester City in the past week.

Delve into the middle region of the Championship table and you will find quite a number of teams in positions that have surprised a number of fans and pundits alike. One of these has to be Leicester City, who after spending massive amounts of money over the summer, are currently sitting in 8^th place and 14 points off the top of the pace. This slow start has already led to the departure of Sven-Göran Eriksson, with Nigel Pearson returning to the King Power Stadium. I expect Leicester to spend big once again in January as Pearson tries to improve early season form and make them promotion contenders. Another team currently struggling are Nottingham Forest, who after losing in the playoffs last summer, replaced Billy Davies with Steve McLaren who has consequentially now been replaced by ex-Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill after a poor start. On the other hand, two clubs that had been tipped for relegation this season have started brightly, these being Crystal Palace and Peterborough United. With myself being a Posh fan, I can’t deny that I am very surprised, yet pleased that we currently sit in the top half of the table. The squad morale that we seem to have is fantastic, and this seems to be pushing us to succeed in games that we would never seem like winning at this level 2 years ago. Grant McCann and Paul Taylor (Remember the name!) have both been fantastic, and the squad has coped very well with the loss of last season’s top-scorer Craig Mackail-Smith.

At the wrong end of the table there seems to be no real surprises with Doncaster Rovers, A.K.A The Willie McKay experiment, propping up the table. This comes despite the influx of experienced players such as Herita Ilunga, Pascal Chimbonda and El-Hadji Diouf who were also joined today by Aston Villa defender Habib Beye. With these new signings alongside established Championship players such as Billy Sharp and James Coppinger, it should only be a matter of time until Dean Saunders’ men get themselves out of trouble.  Coventry City are another team that are once again struggling in the division. A lack of funds and ever-falling attendances makes the future look very bleak for even the most optimistic Coventry fan and if performances don’t improve soon, League One looms for the Sky Blues. One shock in the lower echelons of the league for me is the position of Eddie Howe’s Burnley side. A number of seemingly astute signings over the summer haven’t paid off for the youngest manager in the league and only time will tell how long Barry Kilby will give Howe to hopefully change their fortunes around.

I hope you have enjoyed my review of the season so far!

Follow me on Twitter; @Jake__Baxter

Life as a Southend United Fan

Being a Southend United fan, I felt that now might be an enjoyable time to take a look at the progress the club has made so far this season.  We are currently sat on top of the League Two pile after seventeen games, reached the semi-finals of the JPT and have taken Preston North End to a home-replay in the FA Cup first round.  Not a bad start to the season!  There have been many fantastic achievements already this season and the foremost enjoyable factor is on the pitch itself.  Southend are currently on a thirteen-game unbeaten run in all competitions and the team as a whole has developed considerably over the summer. 

At the beginning of last season, Paul Sturrock, was given one of the toughest challenges of his career to date – to rebuild Southend United, with limited funds and less than a handful of first-team players.  It is fair to say he has achieved that in abundance; This Southend United side no longer looks like a bunch of players drafted in to be able to field a side in the league, but a team that is playing with togetherness and desire to gain promotion to the third tier of the English Football Pyramid.  Sturrock also appears to have been a major force in the development of players at the club, such as Kane Ferdinand (now linked with a £500k move to The Hammers), Ryan Hall (top assists in League Two) and Mark Phillips who has been an instrumental figure this season.

Another pleasing factor from this season is the way the club has conducted itself off the pitch after the issues that occurred last season.  The club appointed Tara Brady as the new Chief Executive of the club and he appears to have brought a desire to change the business ethic at the club.  An article was released recently, claiming that Tara had worked hard to reduce the fees that had been paid to players’ agents – However, this had not affected the calibre of player the club could attract.  The strength of the squad has been proven after Luggy (Paul Sturrock) decided against signing former Arsenal/Spurs man Rohan Ricketts and more recently Yannick Boli (former PSG striker and once linked with Real Madrid).

Finally, a recent BBC interview with Ron Martin (Club Chairman) has shown that the club is 90% of the way through the process to commence building work on the proposed new stadium at Fossetts Farm.  Martin claimed that they are at an ‘advanced stage’ and although he didn’t want to put a definite date on when the development would begin; he indicated that early 2012 would be the latest. 

This is an exciting time for any Southend United fan and also for any Southend resident, but fans should also be aware that many clubs have moved into a new stadium and encountered further financial problems.  There is the ‘myth of a new stadium’ solving clubs financial worries and this has unfortunately been the case for now non-league Darlington Football Club, who are sat in the National Conference Division with a 25,000 seater stadium and only able to open one stand for a match.  Not to mention Coventry City, who are in the Championship and struggling even to afford the rent of the pitch itself, let alone the actual physical aspect of the stadium.

Having said this, I feel Southend United are in a position of far greater potential than Darlington.  With the unveiling of Southend Airport becoming International, the building of major sporting training venues and the general development of the area, could there be a better time for a club to attempt to increase its commercial capacity and revenue streams?  The opportunities, if managed correctly, could be endless; The facilities at disposal will allow for the community projects to expand considerably, the Southend United youth academy will be able to aim for the next category under The EPPP and Fossetts Farm may even be able to compete for national events such as Under-21 International matches.

So, I certainly don’t mean to sound negative about the future of Southend United, I am extremely excited, but I want fans to understand that the new stadium will not instantly secure the clubs future.  There will be an unbelievable amount of work to do, but I believe if done correctly, this could be a great time to be a Shrimper.  Let’s hope the team sticks to together and finishes League Two the way it’s started!