With 26 Clubs Unsure of Their Fate, is This the Most Exciting League Finale Ever?
Soccer: Who goes up and who goes down is still largely to be decided in the Championship and League One
No one can accuse the Football League of being boring. This weekend brings the final round of fixtures, with a remarkable 26 of the 72 clubs unsure which division they will be in next season. It is an extraordinary statistic and one that promises to produce a denouement to the campaign every bit as compelling as the Premier League title race, with 13 Championship clubs, nine League One and four League Two sides either chasing promotion or fighting relegation.
Comparisons between the standard of football in the top flight and the three divisions below are futile but, with the Championship the fourth-best supported league in Europe, it seems safe to assume that fans are enthralled by the prospect of following a club in a competition where most finishing positions are not a foregone conclusion at the start of the season.
"The Championship is so unpredictable," says Stoke's manager, Tony Pulis, before their critical home game against Leicester, where a point will ensure the Britannia Stadium hosts Premier League football next season.
"There's so much resting on this one afternoon: teams going for promotion, for play-offs, for avoiding relegation. It's a fascinating division and I'm sure there will be twists and turns on this one afternoon as there have been all season."
Should Stoke slip up, Hull City, another unexpected frontrunner, could win promotion to the top flight for the first time. Apart from those two, only Bristol City are sure of a play-off place, as Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich and Sheffield United seek to wrestle the initiative from fifth-placed Watford and sixth-placed Crystal Palace. At the other end Blackpool, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester and Southampton are desperately hoping to remain afloat.
"I can't ever remember a season finishing like this but, not withstanding that, it's the size of the clubs that are involved," said the Sheffield United manager, Kevin Blackwell. "You've got big clubs at one end, like West Brom and Stoke. And at the other end, you've got Southampton, Coventry, Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday. The crowds this weekend could be bigger than the Premier League and that just shows how big the games are."
Pulis believes the Championship's competitive edge owes much to the clubs' financial parity. Apart from the £11.2m a year the three sides relegated from the Premier League receive in parachute payments for two years, income does not vary greatly from club to club. "There's a better spread in this division, with the money shared out more, so anyone's capable of beating anybody," said Pulis. "It's a great division. Perhaps the Premiership could learn from the Championship."
Andy Knee, the Football League's Championship director, agrees that the financial structure has helped to create tomorrow's remarkable finale. "The distribution is very equitable," he said, pointing to the £1m each Championship club receives in television revenue. "Certainly the ethos of having a fairly level distribution - balanced and not a huge ladder payment - is one that we appreciate bears fruit. It gives everyone a shot at being where they would like to be at the end of the season."
Outside of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool it is difficult to believe many Premier League fans would not welcome a more level playing field. Whereas 45 points separate the top three from the bottom three in the Premier league today, the congested nature of the Championship means that Southampton, in 22nd place, are 24 points behind Hull City, in third place. Only two Championship fixtures this weekend involve teams with nothing to play for.
With so many teams packed together, there is a case for the competitiveness in the Championship hiding a multitude of sins, something that Knee strongly denies. "I have heard that argument quite a lot and it disappoints me," he said. "In the Cup competitions this year, quite apart from the fact that we had three of the four FA Cup semi-finalists, Championship clubs beat four of the current Premier League top six, so I don't think there is a great deal wrong with the quality."
Below the Championship League One is also replete with permutations as Doncaster, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle all go into this afternoon hoping to join Swansea City in winning direct promotion from the third tier. Having failed to overturn their 15-point penalty, Leeds must settle for a play-off place along with Southend United. Little is decided lower down the table, however, where Crewe, Cheltenham, Bournemouth and Gillingham are involved in a four-way scrap.
That second-placed Doncaster travel to Cheltenham and fourth-placed Carlisle host a Bournemouth side that have won their last six matches has only added to the tension. In League Two the picture is more clear-cut, although the duel at the top between two former Manchester United players, Darren Ferguson and Paul Ince, managers at Peterborough and MK Dons respectively, together with Hereford United's second successive promotion, has captured the imagination.
It is the Championship, though, where most attention will be focused this weekend. With so much at stake and undecided, supporters all over the country will be clasping radios to their ears, biting their nails and cheering when nothing is happening at the game they are watching. There might not be an extra £700,000 on offer for finishing one place higher in the table, as is the case in the Premier League, but the action will be every bit as exciting. "The great thing about the Championship is that from top to bottom you cannot predict results," added Blackwell.
"You go into the last games of the season and, although Leicester are at the bottom and face Stoke at the top, you wouldn't want to say who was going to win. It's the same with Southampton and Sheffield United and that goes all the way through the fixtures. Right now the Championship epitomizes everything that is good about sport."
The final reckoning Who can finish with what
Premier League
Title
Manchester United or Chelsea, though Arsenal have a mathematical chance
Europe
Liverpool have secured the fourth Champions League place. Fifth place and qualification for the Uefa Cup is between Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth
Relegation
Derby are down and Fulham, Birmingham, Reading, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Wigan are fighting to avoid the other two relegation places
Championship
Title
West Bromwich Albion's goal difference means they are as good as sure of the title if they beat QPR tomorrow
Automatic promotion
Hull or Stoke
Play-offs
Hull or Stoke, and Bristol City are sure of their places - Watford, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Ipswich and Sheffield United are battling for the remaining two places
Relegation
Colchester and Scunthorpe are down - Blackpool, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester and Southampton are fighting to avoid the final place
League One
Title
Swansea
Automatic promotion
One of Doncaster, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle; other two in the play-offs
Play-offs
Leeds and Southend have qualified
Relegation
Port Vale and Luton are down; two from Crewe, Cheltenham, Bournemouth and Gillingham will join them
League Two
Title
Milton Keynes Dons
Automatic promotion
Peterborough and Hereford
Play-offs
Rochdale, Stockport, Darlington, Wycombe
Relegation
Mansfield and Wrexham
Scottish Premier League
Title
Between Celtic and Rangers
Europe
Celtic and Rangers have qualified for the Champions League. Third place and qualification for the Uefa Cup is between Motherwell, Dundee United and Hibernian
Relegation
Gretna
Division One
Promotion
Hamilton
Relegation
Stirling Albion, and Clyde will follow if they do not win the relegation/promotion play-offs
Division Two
Promotion
Ross County, and one from Airdrie United, Raith and Alloa if they win the play-offs
Relegation
Berwick Rangers are down, and Cowdenbeath will follow them if they do not win the relegation/promotion play-offs
Division Three
Promotion
East Fife, and one from Stranraer, Montrose and Arbroath if they win the play-offs
Comparisons between the standard of football in the top flight and the three divisions below are futile but, with the Championship the fourth-best supported league in Europe, it seems safe to assume that fans are enthralled by the prospect of following a club in a competition where most finishing positions are not a foregone conclusion at the start of the season.
"The Championship is so unpredictable," says Stoke's manager, Tony Pulis, before their critical home game against Leicester, where a point will ensure the Britannia Stadium hosts Premier League football next season.
"There's so much resting on this one afternoon: teams going for promotion, for play-offs, for avoiding relegation. It's a fascinating division and I'm sure there will be twists and turns on this one afternoon as there have been all season."
Should Stoke slip up, Hull City, another unexpected frontrunner, could win promotion to the top flight for the first time. Apart from those two, only Bristol City are sure of a play-off place, as Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich and Sheffield United seek to wrestle the initiative from fifth-placed Watford and sixth-placed Crystal Palace. At the other end Blackpool, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester and Southampton are desperately hoping to remain afloat.
"I can't ever remember a season finishing like this but, not withstanding that, it's the size of the clubs that are involved," said the Sheffield United manager, Kevin Blackwell. "You've got big clubs at one end, like West Brom and Stoke. And at the other end, you've got Southampton, Coventry, Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday. The crowds this weekend could be bigger than the Premier League and that just shows how big the games are."
Pulis believes the Championship's competitive edge owes much to the clubs' financial parity. Apart from the £11.2m a year the three sides relegated from the Premier League receive in parachute payments for two years, income does not vary greatly from club to club. "There's a better spread in this division, with the money shared out more, so anyone's capable of beating anybody," said Pulis. "It's a great division. Perhaps the Premiership could learn from the Championship."
Andy Knee, the Football League's Championship director, agrees that the financial structure has helped to create tomorrow's remarkable finale. "The distribution is very equitable," he said, pointing to the £1m each Championship club receives in television revenue. "Certainly the ethos of having a fairly level distribution - balanced and not a huge ladder payment - is one that we appreciate bears fruit. It gives everyone a shot at being where they would like to be at the end of the season."
Outside of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool it is difficult to believe many Premier League fans would not welcome a more level playing field. Whereas 45 points separate the top three from the bottom three in the Premier league today, the congested nature of the Championship means that Southampton, in 22nd place, are 24 points behind Hull City, in third place. Only two Championship fixtures this weekend involve teams with nothing to play for.
With so many teams packed together, there is a case for the competitiveness in the Championship hiding a multitude of sins, something that Knee strongly denies. "I have heard that argument quite a lot and it disappoints me," he said. "In the Cup competitions this year, quite apart from the fact that we had three of the four FA Cup semi-finalists, Championship clubs beat four of the current Premier League top six, so I don't think there is a great deal wrong with the quality."
Below the Championship League One is also replete with permutations as Doncaster, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle all go into this afternoon hoping to join Swansea City in winning direct promotion from the third tier. Having failed to overturn their 15-point penalty, Leeds must settle for a play-off place along with Southend United. Little is decided lower down the table, however, where Crewe, Cheltenham, Bournemouth and Gillingham are involved in a four-way scrap.
That second-placed Doncaster travel to Cheltenham and fourth-placed Carlisle host a Bournemouth side that have won their last six matches has only added to the tension. In League Two the picture is more clear-cut, although the duel at the top between two former Manchester United players, Darren Ferguson and Paul Ince, managers at Peterborough and MK Dons respectively, together with Hereford United's second successive promotion, has captured the imagination.
It is the Championship, though, where most attention will be focused this weekend. With so much at stake and undecided, supporters all over the country will be clasping radios to their ears, biting their nails and cheering when nothing is happening at the game they are watching. There might not be an extra £700,000 on offer for finishing one place higher in the table, as is the case in the Premier League, but the action will be every bit as exciting. "The great thing about the Championship is that from top to bottom you cannot predict results," added Blackwell.
"You go into the last games of the season and, although Leicester are at the bottom and face Stoke at the top, you wouldn't want to say who was going to win. It's the same with Southampton and Sheffield United and that goes all the way through the fixtures. Right now the Championship epitomizes everything that is good about sport."
The final reckoning Who can finish with what
Premier League
Title
Manchester United or Chelsea, though Arsenal have a mathematical chance
Europe
Liverpool have secured the fourth Champions League place. Fifth place and qualification for the Uefa Cup is between Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth
Relegation
Derby are down and Fulham, Birmingham, Reading, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Wigan are fighting to avoid the other two relegation places
Championship
Title
West Bromwich Albion's goal difference means they are as good as sure of the title if they beat QPR tomorrow
Automatic promotion
Hull or Stoke
Play-offs
Hull or Stoke, and Bristol City are sure of their places - Watford, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Ipswich and Sheffield United are battling for the remaining two places
Relegation
Colchester and Scunthorpe are down - Blackpool, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester and Southampton are fighting to avoid the final place
League One
Title
Swansea
Automatic promotion
One of Doncaster, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle; other two in the play-offs
Play-offs
Leeds and Southend have qualified
Relegation
Port Vale and Luton are down; two from Crewe, Cheltenham, Bournemouth and Gillingham will join them
League Two
Title
Milton Keynes Dons
Automatic promotion
Peterborough and Hereford
Play-offs
Rochdale, Stockport, Darlington, Wycombe
Relegation
Mansfield and Wrexham
Scottish Premier League
Title
Between Celtic and Rangers
Europe
Celtic and Rangers have qualified for the Champions League. Third place and qualification for the Uefa Cup is between Motherwell, Dundee United and Hibernian
Relegation
Gretna
Division One
Promotion
Hamilton
Relegation
Stirling Albion, and Clyde will follow if they do not win the relegation/promotion play-offs
Division Two
Promotion
Ross County, and one from Airdrie United, Raith and Alloa if they win the play-offs
Relegation
Berwick Rangers are down, and Cowdenbeath will follow them if they do not win the relegation/promotion play-offs
Division Three
Promotion
East Fife, and one from Stranraer, Montrose and Arbroath if they win the play-offs
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
- Free World Cup 2006 Wallchart and Office Sweepstake Kit...
- Premier League Clubs
- Record $425 Million Paid by U.S. for World Cup TV Rights
- FIFA sends Warner scalping issue to committee – but not ethics
- Footballers and their Birds
- The World Together
- Birmingham to Add Samaras to Striking Options
- Magilton's Men Happy to Be Home and in the Mood to Make Merry
- Rams Ready to Wrap Up Villa Signing
- Saturday Clockwatch - As It Happened
- Lampard Out for 'a Few Weeks' After Scans Confirm Torn Thigh Muscle
- Croatia's Modric Set for Premier League Auction
- FA Rejects Zokora's Red Card Appeal
- How Mourinho Withdrawal Jolted Fa Into Swift and Decisive Action
- Van Gaal Invites England Offer
- Hennessy Proves a Class Apart As Heroics Keep Albion at Bay
- Ferguson Claims His Woolly-gloved Babes Need More Protection
- Ethan Zohn Survives Survivor: Africa and Wins $1 Million