There is a debate to be had over which is the best league in world football; many observers of the English Premier League will offer the EPL as the finest in the sport, whereas others will promote the case of the German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga or even one of the South American divisions. As for the most exciting and entertaining, the English Championship takes some topping.
Exhibit A: the 2024/25 season. At the time of writing, with four just rounds of games to be played, every single one of the 24 teams has a mathematical possibility of being either promoted or relegated – three clubs, namely Norwich City, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City, can still be promoted OR relegated.
It’s an extraordinary state of affairs; the dictionary definition of a campaign going down to the wire. And it’s far from the first time that the Championship has delivered such chaos. Although the football played isn’t always the most eye-catching, for pure drama and unpredictability the second tier of the English game is a heavyweight champion.
2010/11
The Championship is a fascinating division in part due to its variety. Often, it will feature faded big clubs and plucky provincial upstarts, who will try to compete on an equal footing despite the obvious differences between them. The second tier can be a launchpad for future success, or something of a footballing graveyard – condemning those in free fall, and those without the resources to compete at the level, to a season of misery.
Leicester City
The 2010/11 season was proof positive of that trend. Finishing in tenth place that term was Leicester City, who five years later had not only been promoted to the Premier League, but also lifted the trophy in that extraordinary underdog campaign.
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest, now a viable contender for the Champions League places, failed to get promoted from the Championship in 2010/11, while Crystal Palace – an established EPL force now – finished just six points above the relegation zone in that same season.
Doncaster
In fact, just six points separated the Eagles from Doncaster Rovers, who have fallen to League Two since, and Scunthorpe United, whose descent has taken them to the sixth tier of the English game. The Championship can make dreams come true… or start a journey that condemns a side to the footballing abyss.
2012/13
Few matchdays quite sum up the majesty of the Championship quite like the final round of games of the 2012/13 season. Of those 12 matches, nine had something riding on it for one or both of the teams – and the drama unfolded in typically dizzying Championship style.
Peterborough United and Crystal Palace
Peterborough United would have stayed up had they drawn or beaten Crystal Palace. But they conceded an 89th minute goal that saw them go 2-3 down… they were unable to find an equaliser, and suffered the quite astonishing feat of being relegated despite amassing 54 points – a Championship record high for a demoted side.
Hull City and Watford
Hull City needed to better Watford’s result to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League. As their respective games edged into injury time, Hull were winning and Watford were drawing. And then the Tigers were awarded a 90th minute penalty. Surely they would score it and seal promotion? Their fans raced onto the pitch in one of the most premature pitch invasions in the history of football. Eventually, they returned to the stands and… Nick Proschwitz missed the spot kick. Whoops.
Cardiff City, Watford and Leeds United
Their opponents, Cardiff City, then raced down the other end of the pitch and won a penalty of their own, which was duly converted by Nicky Maynard. All of which meant that Watford had seven minutes of injury time to find the goal that would send them up in place of Hull… and their contest with Leeds United did see a late goal scored.
However, it was Leeds’ Ross McCormack that found the net, meaning that Hull were promoted. Their fans could celebrate… once their heart rates had dipped back below 200bpm.
Nottingham Forest and Leicester City
As if all that wasn’t enough, bitter East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest and Leicester City faced off with the winner earning the final play-off place. That game was level 2-2 until injury time, when Leicester’s Anthony Knockaert popped up with a late, late winner at the City Ground. This was a Saturday afternoon in May that no football fan would forget in a hurry.
2018/19
Few seasons sum up the madcap world of the Championship quite like 2018/19. At the heart of the chaos were Leeds United, whose head coach Marcelo Bielsa is renowned as one of modern football’s most innovative thinkers.
Aston Villa and Leeds United
Such innovation, it turns out, extended to ‘spying’ on opposition teams in training – one secret agent was found hiding in a bush at the training ground of rivals Derby County. Leeds also deliberately gave a goal away against Aston Villa. They had scored a questionable goal themselves when a Villains player got injured; the Yorkshiremen played on, rather than kicking the ball out, and Mateusz Klich, who was in a clear offside position, scored.
Bielsa then demanded that his players let Villa score an uncontested goal from the kick off, as madness once again reigned in the Championship.
The most iconic moment of the Marcelo Bielsa era ⁉️
We look back at THAT incident as Leeds United faced Aston Villa in 2019 😱pic.twitter.com/HIixkjBLB9
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 27, 2022
Norwich City and Nottingham Forest
The 2018/19 campaign also went interstellar in terms of goals. There was a famous 5-5 draw between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, and how about the entertainment on show at promoted sides Norwich City and Villa: their 46 games saw a staggering 150 goals (93 scored, 57 conceded) and 143 goals (82 scored, 61 conceded) respectively.
As if all that wasn’t enough, there was still time for Norwich City’s bus to break down on their championship victory parade – forcing the players to push the stricken vehicle through the streets of the city.
2022/23
The Championship also has a habit of throwing up barely believable statistical quirks, with the 2022/23 campaign taking the biscuit in that regard. After seven weeks of the season, Reading sat at the top of the league table, while Luton Town were a lowly 16th after a sluggish start.
Luton and Reading
But come the end of the term, Luton were promoted and Reading were relegated – proof of the Championship’s zany goings on. Blackburn Rovers went 27 games without a draw, which is bizarre in itself, but they then proceeded to tie each of their next four outings. Between April 10 to May 1, the Lancashire outfit then drew five out of six games played – costing them a place in the play-offs.
Preston North End
And your attitude to the old glass half full vs glass half empty debate will determine your view on Preston North End’s start to the campaign. Their first eight games finished either 1-0, 0-1 or 0-0, and they became only the third team in Football League history to keep seven consecutive clean sheets at the beginning of a term. Their fans didn’t get much in the way of value for money, mind…
