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The Championship Thread - 2023/24


CSA96
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Suppose now that we know all the teams in the division, we should get a thread going to track what goes on...

Any teams people are particularly looking forward to facing or grounds that people want to tick off?

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Rotherham have a new ground since we last played there so that's one to tick off. I've also never been to Preston.

Quite a lot of travelling involved for the fans who go to every game, around half are over 3 hours drive in a car or about 17 hours if you go on the bingo bus.

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9 minutes ago, WGC Saint said:

Well I’m looking forward to Norwich ad Ipswich away now I live 35mins from both.

I had a ticket for Norwich away and I had just bought my train trickets when all football was stopped on the day before because of Covid lockdown. Perhaps I shall be able to go this time. Ipswich is also a possibility. My old man used to go and watch them when Alf Ramsey was in charge and we lived near Harwich. Another Chris Marsden goal would be very welcome.

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As a season ticket holder from the midlands, this has some cracking away fixture potential for me personally. 

Football wise, I am actually looking forward to next season. We were not getting back to the Poch/Koeman years any time soon and had settled with being bottom half also rans. Time to win a few games and get some positivity back around the club. 

 

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The least attractive away games for me are Leicester, Leeds, Sunderland, West Brom, Middlesbrough and Stoke either for the fact we’ve played in those places many times in recent memory and/or are a pain in the arse to get to.

otherwise some cracking trips on offer 

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4 hours ago, The Cat said:

Rotherham have a new ground since we last played there so that's one to tick off. 

How many away tickets do they give. Only ground I've not been to, so will fancy that trip.

Edited by Chez
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3 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I had a ticket for Norwich away and I had just bought my train trickets when all football was stopped on the day before because of Covid lockdown. Perhaps I shall be able to go this time. Ipswich is also a possibility. My old man used to go and watch them when Alf Ramsey was in charge and we lived near Harwich. Another Chris Marsden goal would be very welcome.

I also still have my ticket for this match! a shitty collectors item. 

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2 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

There are some huge teams in the league this coming season.

Majority of them have recently been in the Premier League, says it all really about how competitive this is going to be.

Anyone that thinks we’re walking the league needs to give their head a wobble.

Yeah, lots of teams similar to us in terms of history and fan base.  As you say, it's going to be competitive but at least everyone stands a chance to finish near the top unlike the PL.

I think those saying we will walk the league are being ironic because some people did think that last time.

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10 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

I also still have my ticket for this match! a shitty collectors item. 

Make me a third person with an envelope with the tickets for me and two mates who were looking forward to a catch up.

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8 hours ago, The Cat said:

Away fans get a whole end by the looks of it, around 2500.

Should be plenty for us then, going to be quite a few long trips that will be tough on the finances. Rotherham also only one I haven't done so will be a must. 

Not fussed about Sunderland (awful away end ) , Leeds, Middlesbrough , don't really like Norwich away end either stuck in the corner. 

Bristol City will be a good one, big allocation behind the goal, direct trains that aren't too pricey 

 

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Not been to Bristol City, Preston or Rotherham so hopefully will be able to do those next year. Hopefully we don’t have any awful Friday night games. 

The shambles of train situation in this country completely puts me off going away though, and I’m sure it’s impacted some of our home attendances this year, especially with the M3 and Avenue being so slow this year. Hopefully trains will be a bit more reliable next season. 

Im guessing TV fixtures will be announced about a month before the fixture, so won’t be booking any travel until then. Anyone know how many games were on TV last year for the champ clubs? 

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The one ground I will hopefully visit that I’ve always wanted to is Hillsborough given its history and an ex-work colleague supports SW, so we’ve promised each other a seat.

Is there anyone here who knows if all Saints/Championship games will be streamed on Saintsplayer?

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14 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Suppose now that we know all the teams in the division, we should get a thread going to track what goes on...

Any teams people are particularly looking forward to facing or grounds that people want to tick off?

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Looking at the grounds / distance / allocations I think very few will sell out to season ticket holders, no incentive to get your away games up to qualify for Bournemouth away for example. Hopefully QPR and Millwall give us upper and lower tiers as bound to be popular with lack of London games. 

Probably get Plymouth or Watford boxing day 

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28 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Not been to Bristol City, Preston or Rotherham so hopefully will be able to do those next year. Hopefully we don’t have any awful Friday night games. 

The shambles of train situation in this country completely puts me off going away though, and I’m sure it’s impacted some of our home attendances this year, especially with the M3 and Avenue being so slow this year. Hopefully trains will be a bit more reliable next season. 

Im guessing TV fixtures will be announced about a month before the fixture, so won’t be booking any travel until then. Anyone know how many games were on TV last year for the champ clubs? 

Saturday 12.30pm is the usual kick off time. You'll have a fair few on a Friday night or occasionally a Monday night, and I think by memory Sunday 12pm gets used as well.

The first round has more games as it doesn't clash with the Premier League. You'd imagine Leeds and Leicester will be more attractive from a TV point of view (and they have more rivalries around them anyway) but I reckon a fair few of our games will get moved.

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4 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

The one ground I will hopefully visit that I’ve always wanted to is Hillsborough given its history and an ex-work colleague supports SW, so we’ve promised each other a seat.

Is there anyone here who knows if all Saints/Championship games will be streamed on Saintsplayer?

Can't imagine that'll sell out tbh, big away end. I used to live in Sheffield and never used to be a problem.

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18 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Suppose now that we know all the teams in the division, we should get a thread going to track what goes on...

Any teams people are particularly looking forward to facing or grounds that people want to tick off?

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Good time to live in Yorkshire. Plenty of easy pickings...

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Current best odds to win the league according to Oddschecker - who's worth a bet then?

6/1 - Leicester
7/1 - Leeds
10/1 - Saints, Middlesbrough (Saints are 8/1 or 9/1 in some places - 10/1 is with SkyBet)
14/1 - Norwich
16/1 - Watford, West Brom
20/1 - Ipswich, Stoke, Sunderland
25/1 - Blackburn, Millwall, Coventry
28/1 - Swansea
33/1 - Sheff Weds, Hull
40/1 - Cardiff, Preston
50/1 - QPR, Huddersfield, Bristol City, Birmingham
100/1 - Rotherham, Plymouth

Source:

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/winner

Note: these are the best odds from the 8 bookies who've currently priced it up. There will be more over the coming weeks so you may be able to get more than 10/1. I doubt much more though...

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This is a seriously competitive league this year.  On paper it looks great viewing and it's going to be very hard, in my opinion, for anyone to 'walk it' this year. It's going to be a right old slog, but hopefully a fun one.

Former established PL sides everywhere you look, even Wednesday and Ipswich coming up for L1 just add to the strength of the league. 

Edited by S-Clarke
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All of the odds given by the bookies mean nothing at this stage. Leicester, Leeds and Saints in particular will need to see what players they have left after the top clubs and other PL clubs come knocking. Leicester more than Leeds or Saints could be ripped apart and that 6/1 price will be a joke.

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7 hours ago, Rut said:

Current best odds to win the league according to Oddschecker - who's worth a bet then?

6/1 - Leicester
7/1 - Leeds
10/1 - Saints, Middlesbrough (Saints are 8/1 or 9/1 in some places - 10/1 is with SkyBet)
14/1 - Norwich
16/1 - Watford, West Brom
20/1 - Ipswich, Stoke, Sunderland
25/1 - Blackburn, Millwall, Coventry
28/1 - Swansea
33/1 - Sheff Weds, Hull
40/1 - Cardiff, Preston
50/1 - QPR, Huddersfield, Bristol City, Birmingham
100/1 - Rotherham, Plymouth

Source:

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/winner

Note: these are the best odds from the 8 bookies who've currently priced it up. There will be more over the coming weeks so you may be able to get more than 10/1. I doubt much more though...

Us or Leeds

I think we’ll see Leicester be taken apart and im not sure how financially able they are to rebuild 

Big draw though due to their recent history, Vardy will almost certainly stay and barring injuries would have a field day in the champ

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7 hours ago, Rut said:

Current best odds to win the league according to Oddschecker - who's worth a bet then?

6/1 - Leicester
7/1 - Leeds
10/1 - Saints, Middlesbrough (Saints are 8/1 or 9/1 in some places - 10/1 is with SkyBet)
14/1 - Norwich
16/1 - Watford, West Brom
20/1 - Ipswich, Stoke, Sunderland
25/1 - Blackburn, Millwall, Coventry
28/1 - Swansea
33/1 - Sheff Weds, Hull
40/1 - Cardiff, Preston
50/1 - QPR, Huddersfield, Bristol City, Birmingham
100/1 - Rotherham, Plymouth

Source:

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/winner

Note: these are the best odds from the 8 bookies who've currently priced it up. There will be more over the coming weeks so you may be able to get more than 10/1. I doubt much more though...

Seems bizarre as no one knows what kind of squad we will have in August

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Preston, Blackburn and Rotherham are the new ones for me, although I'll certainly be doing a lot more than I did last season. 

Really looking forward to it, a lot of 'proper clubs' in there which will make for some great away days - Plymouth, Sheff Weds & a couple of trips to the north east (Stay in Newcastle) are the ones I'm specifically looking forward to. 

Tough league to call. The relegated sides (3 pretty big, former established PL sides) will have the money to be very strong. But there are sides like Millwall, blackburn, Sunderland, Middlesbrough who done well last season, so you'd expect to be up there and the likes of WBA & Norwich who underperformed last season and you'd expect to be stronger.

I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if we finish anywhere between 1st - 10th. Certainly wont piss the league. 

My gut says, Leicester (champions), Leeds and WBA to go up. Cardiff, Plymouth and Rotherham to drop, imo. 

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10 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

What's the streaming situation like down here?

Brilliant - There is a whole EFL player (ifollow i think its called) which streams every single game from your club throughout the football league. 

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Just now, LordHester said:

I know Leeds fans who say you'd be mad to think they'll come straight back up next year.

I think they'll spend and I think they'll get a decent manager in. Wouldn't be surprised if they got Rodgers. 

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5 minutes ago, CSA96 said:
Leeds United trying to hire West Brom boss Carlos Corberan.
 

would be a really good appointment for them - knows the league  and has done a decent job with the clubs hes been at in the league, knows Leeds. 

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2 hours ago, Raging Bull said:

I see that the Leeds owner has secured a £26 million loan against their stadium to help finance the purchase of Sampdoria. 
 

Thierry Henry Smile GIF by hamlet

they could loan themselves gabbiadini, gaston ramirez and yoshida at no extra price now

Edited by SotonianWill
Just found out Gaston doesn’t play for them anymore
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I have done some guessing of possible results not based on the actual merits of teams now but on how we do historically against them, like we are nailed on to lose at Norwich, Stoke and Rotherham, Bristol City and Cardiff are likely to do the double, we will draw at Plymouth and we have a good chance of winning at QPR etc. I came out with 72 points. This past season that would have us comfortably in the play-offs but well short of automatic promotion.

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29 minutes ago, SO16_Saint said:

What’s the Championship equivalent of MOTD?

The EFL Highlights show. Presented by Hugh Woozencroft (not the best, but not irritating) with a standard range of EFL pundits. Dean Ashton, Jobi McAnuff, Jamie Mackie, Matt Jarvis, Clinton Morrison etc.

Airs earlier than MOTD at 9pm on ITV4, then shows again just after 11pm on ITV1. Then it's on again on ITV1 about 9am on a Sunday.

They also upload it to ITV on demand once the Sat 9pm showing has completed.

(Slightly ashamed that I know this because I started watching it with five or six weeks of our season to go, to prepare myself)

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