Championship 2025/26 Season

[Tommy G]

17 hours ago, leicesterseddon said:

Our underlying level of performance is not 3rd in the table. We will start to drop eventually unless we can create more chances.

Dropping Soumare/Skipp is a good start but the problem really is that we have nothing up front.

 

Has been obvious all summer but the club only acted on the final day of the window, and then only to bring in a loanee who has since failed to start a game.

 

Personally I’m still seeing us as upper midtable at the moment, unless I see something to justify thinking otherwise. And that’s before the inevitable 6-7 point deduction 

Thats going to leave a lot of people on here very upset and stressed - as we have seen the reaction on here when we're sitting 3rd, so if we do suffer a downturn further this forum will be grim. 

[Dan]

On 12/10/2025 at 19:23, leicesterseddon said:

Our underlying level of performance is not 3rd in the table. We will start to drop eventually unless we can create more chances.

Dropping Soumare/Skipp is a good start but the problem really is that we have nothing up front.

 

Has been obvious all summer but the club only acted on the final day of the window, and then only to bring in a loanee who has since failed to start a game.

 

Personally I’m still seeing us as upper midtable at the moment, unless I see something to justify thinking otherwise. And that’s before the inevitable 6-7 point deduction 

We're proficient at neither creating or stopping chances. I'd say we've been relatively solid at home and given little away, largely shutting out Birmingham and Coventry, which is pretty impressive. But in away games we are giving away two goals worth of chances basically every game against on the whole pretty average opposition.

 

We're doing well to be 3rd. Nobody will convince me otherwise. If we stay here, or climb further, it will almost certainly be because the level of performance has risen.

[Nolucklcfc]

4 hours ago, Dan said:

We're proficient at neither creating or stopping chances. I'd say we've been relatively solid at home and given little away, largely shutting out Birmingham and Coventry, which is pretty impressive. But in away games we are giving away two goals worth of chances basically every game against on the whole pretty average opposition.

 

We're doing well to be 3rd. Nobody will convince me otherwise. If we stay here, or climb further, it will almost certainly be because the level of performance has risen.

Would agree with all that, I just think the standard of the league is so poor you can to some extent get away with it but we do need to improve in so many areas 

[RobHawk]

In 2015/16 at this stage of the season we were 4th. We came back from the international break and drew 2-2 with Southampton. 

 

My point is, we were very happy with how things were going back in 15/16 but we weren't looking like we would go on and win the league. Performances werent title worthy, we couldn't keep a clean sheet and Claudio was still working out his best team. 

 

We know what happened next. 

 

I'm not saying that this will happen again, but I'm saying it's too early to write us off just yet. Marti is still working out his best team, if he can get the team right and it clicks, we can still walk away with the league. 

 

I believe based on the game at Swansea, that we are improving and there's more to come from the team. 

[adejo92]

Baring in mind we have thrown away 2 points on atleast 3 matches, its remarkable we are sat in third.

 

It shows just how competitive, but poor, this division is.

 

The table is going to change so much over the next few months and I think (hope) that we'll only get better and better.

 

You only have to be slightly less shit than the others to get out of this league,  you don't have to be good.

[TheGoldenGod]

2 minutes ago, adejo92 said:

Baring in mind we have thrown away 2 points on atleast 3 matches, its remarkable we are sat in third.

 

It shows just how competitive, but poor, this division is.

 

The table is going to change so much over the next few months and I think (hope) that we'll only get better and better.

 

You only have to be slightly less shit than the others to get out of this league,  you don't have to be good.

3 game weeks are killers for teams with less squad depth than ours. We still have two XIs that are competitive in this division!

[Fox92]

1 hour ago, RobHawk said:

In 2015/16 at this stage of the season we were 4th. We came back from the international break and drew 2-2 with Southampton. 

 

My point is, we were very happy with how things were going back in 15/16 but we weren't looking like we would go on and win the league. Performances werent title worthy, we couldn't keep a clean sheet and Claudio was still working out his best team. 

 

We know what happened next. 

 

I'm not saying that this will happen again, but I'm saying it's too early to write us off just yet. Marti is still working out his best team, if he can get the team right and it clicks, we can still walk away with the league. 

 

I believe based on the game at Swansea, that we are improving and there's more to come from the team. 

Non comparison though. Of course we were happy, we were 4th having nearly been relegated the season before. Also, although we didn't keep a clean sheet, some performances were impressive including the win at Upton Park, which was rare, and on the back of West Ham winning away at Arsenal the week before. The opening day when we battered Sunderland too was excellent.

 

This season our expectation should be to go up automatically. Sorry but with the squad and resources we have anything else is a failure. I've not seen enough yet to think we will achieve this, our performances seem to be in halves which is worrying.

 

Edited 14 October 2025 by Fox92

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, adejo92 said:

Baring in mind we have thrown away 2 points on atleast 3 matches, its remarkable we are sat in third.

 

It shows just how competitive, but poor, this division is.

 

The table is going to change so much over the next few months and I think (hope) that we'll only get better and better.

 

You only have to be slightly less shit than the others to get out of this league,  you don't have to be good.

The only game we were ahead that we have drawn was Wrexham. All the others we went behind in and equalised.

[Dahnsouff]

See people still working hard to be negative. 
#lifestooshort

[adejo92]

26 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

The only game we were ahead that we have drawn was Wrexham. All the others we went behind in and equalised.

Wrexham, Coventry & Oxford were all 2 points dropped in my opinion.

 

Missing an absolute sitter cost us against Coventry, an individual act of stupidity cost us 2 points against Oxford and being all round shit cost us against Wrexham.

 

As a whole, cant have any complaints sat in 3rd even with some poor results.

 

Still think we'll get promoted.

Edited 14 October 2025 by adejo92

[theessexfox]

On 12/10/2025 at 12:36, EastAnglianFox said:

Longest….international….break….ever!!

Just wait until next year. 

[davieG]

2 hours ago, theessexfox said:

Just wait until next year. 

Quite

 

A lengthier, 16-day international window will run from 21 September to 6 October next year, allowing up to four fixtures for each nation.

This will be followed by the usual nine-day, two-match windows in November and March to ensure that countries play the same number of matches whilst minimising the disruption to club football.

[Dan]

8 hours ago, Nolucklcfc said:

Would agree with all that, I just think the standard of the league is so poor you can to some extent get away with it but we do need to improve in so many areas 

I'd kind of agree and think our individual quality is still probably higher than basically anybody in the division and that is going to carry us to some wins. But that has been the majority of our points so far, I'd be far more confident if the performances were matching.

 

It's not to say we can't get better though. I think in a way if we were doing what we're doing now, getting the results unconvincingly, in April during the run in it would probably get a bit more respect. People calling it negative but I can't help what I'm seeing, it reminds me a little bit of Preston being up there in 2023/24 when every metric pointed to a bit of a freak run of form and sure enough that's what it was, while on the flip side us and Ipswich clearly looked the part. The difference with us to Preston I suppose is we have good enough players to probably sustain this longer, but I do think we're dropping down the table unless the performances pick up.

Edited 14 October 2025 by Dan

[WorcesterBlue]

On 06/10/2025 at 16:55, Lambert09 said:

I posted the same in another thread.  If we’d just been willing to spend 5mill instead of maybe 2/3 m on a loan fee, we’d be looking balanced right now. 
 

Can anyone provide examples of a team going up without a decent striker?  Goals win games and you can’t rely on a season of fatawu wonder goals because too often those will just be strikes into row z 

 

this below sort of backs that up:(only 3 non-strikers listed in 10 years) 

 

### Promoted Teams from the EFL Championship to the Premier League (2015/16 to 2024/25 Seasons)

Below is a list of all teams promoted to the Premier League over the last 10 completed Championship seasons (2015/16 through 2024/25). Each entry includes the season, the promoted teams (top two automatic via league position, plus the playoff winner), and the top goalscorer for each promoted team in the Championship that season (with goals scored). Data is sourced from official EFL records and statistical databases.

| Season     | Promoted Teams                  | Top Goalscorer (Team)              |
|------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| 2015/16   | Burnley (1st), Middlesbrough (2nd), Hull City (playoff) | Sam Vokes (Burnley, 15 goals)<br>David Nugent (Middlesbrough, 11 goals)<br>Abel Hernández (Hull City, 20 goals) |
| 2016/17   | Newcastle United (1st), Brighton & Hove Albion (2nd), Huddersfield Town (playoff) | Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United, 23 goals)<br>Glenn Murray (Brighton, 23 goals)<br>Nahki Wells (Huddersfield Town, 15 goals) |
| 2017/18   | Wolverhampton Wanderers (1st), Cardiff City (2nd), Fulham (playoff) | Leo Bonatini (Wolves, 12 goals)<br>Junior Hoilett (Cardiff City, 12 goals)<br>Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham, 15 goals) |
| 2018/19   | Norwich City (1st), Sheffield United (2nd), Aston Villa (playoff) | Teemu Pukki (Norwich City, 29 goals)<br>David McGoldrick (Sheffield United, 15 goals)<br>Tammy Abraham (Aston Villa, 26 goals) |
| 2019/20   | Leeds United (1st), West Bromwich Albion (2nd), Fulham (playoff) | Pablo Hernández (Leeds United, 12 goals)<br>Charlie Austin (West Brom, 11 goals)<br>Karlan Grant (Fulham, 14 goals) |
| 2020/21   | Norwich City (1st), Watford (2nd), Brentford (playoff) | Teemu Pukki (Norwich City, 26 goals)<br>Troy Deeney (Watford, 12 goals)<br>Ivan Toney (Brentford, 31 goals) |
| 2021/22   | Fulham (1st), Bournemouth (2nd), Nottingham Forest (playoff) | Aleksandar Mitrović (Fulham, 43 goals)<br>Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth, 29 goals)<br>Saman Ghoddos (Nottingham Forest, 12 goals) |
| 2022/23   | Burnley (1st), Sheffield United (2nd), Luton Town (playoff) | Zian Flemming (Burnley, 21 goals)<br>Ollie McBurnie (Sheffield United, 13 goals)<br>Carlton Morris (Luton Town, 20 goals) |
| 2023/24   | Leicester City (1st), Ipswich Town (2nd), Southampton (playoff) | Jamie Vardy (Leicester City, 21 goals)<br>Ali Al-Hamadi (Ipswich Town, 14 goals)<br>Adam Armstrong (Southampton, 21 goals) |
| 2024/25   | Leeds United (1st), Burnley (2nd), Sunderland (playoff) | Joel Piroe (Leeds United, 21 goals)<br>Jay Rodriguez (Burnley, 18 goals)<br>Tommy Watson (Sunderland, 15 goals) 

It seems to be always the way. Somebody publishes something and everybody respects it. That is until somebody with specialist knowledge looks at it and then doubt is cast about all its accuracy. 

23-24 Ipswich Ali Al-Hamadi scored 4 not 14. Chaplin and Broadhead 13 goals each.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, WorcesterBlue said:

It seems to be always the way. Somebody publishes something and everybody respects it. That is until somebody with specialist knowledge looks at it and then doubt is cast about all its accuracy. 

23-24 Ipswich Ali Al-Hamadi scored 4 not 14. Chaplin and Broadhead 13 goals each.

About half the players/goal numbers are incorrect. Unfortunately, if you're expecting people on this forum to put more thought and effort into their arguments than copy-pasting from ChatGPT and taking its hallucinations as the gospel truth, then you are going to be disappointed

[Tommy Fresh]

1 hour ago, Guest said:

About half the players/goal numbers are incorrect. Unfortunately, if you're expecting people on this forum to put more thought and effort into their arguments than copy-pasting from ChatGPT and taking its hallucinations as the gospel truth, then you are going to be disappointed

Players at clubs they didn't even play for is superb 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Players at clubs they didn't even play for is superb 

You can't tell me you don't have fond memories of Karlan Grant's goal-laden spell at Fulham

[Gazza M]

5 hours ago, davieG said:

Quite

 

A lengthier, 16-day international window will run from 21 September to 6 October next year, allowing up to four fixtures for each nation.

This will be followed by the usual nine-day, two-match windows in November and March to ensure that countries play the same number of matches whilst minimising the disruption to club football.

Joy. 

[jayfox26]

17 hours ago, Dan said:

We're proficient at neither creating or stopping chances. I'd say we've been relatively solid at home and given little away, largely shutting out Birmingham and Coventry, which is pretty impressive. But in away games we are giving away two goals worth of chances basically every game against on the whole pretty average opposition.

 

We're doing well to be 3rd. Nobody will convince me otherwise. If we stay here, or climb further, it will almost certainly be because the level of performance has risen.

I think that's fair. We haven't had a good 90 yet. We've had spells in games where we've looked good but as you said, we've given up a lot of chances, especially away from home. A lack of a decent striker could be our un doing. If Fatawu was to get injured, we'd be 100% bollocksed!

[StanSP]

16 hours ago, davieG said:

Quite

 

A lengthier, 16-day international window will run from 21 September to 6 October next year, allowing up to four fixtures for each nation.

This will be followed by the usual nine-day, two-match windows in November and March to ensure that countries play the same number of matches whilst minimising the disruption to club football.

 

11 hours ago, Gazza M said:

Joy. 

On the one I had, I see the positive of it. It means there's more gameweeks to the start of the season as opposed to 3 and then an instant international break just as the season gets going. 

 

With the later first window, you'd hope there'd be about 6 or 7 at least before the break. 

 

On the other hand it's going to seem like an age during the break before domestic football restarts! 

[murphy]

10 minutes ago, StanSP said:

 

On the one I had, I see the positive of it. It means there's more gameweeks to the start of the season as opposed to 3 and then an instant international break just as the season gets going. 

 

With the later first window, you'd hope there'd be about 6 or 7 at least before the break. 

 

On the other hand it's going to seem like an age during the break before domestic football restarts! 

this place will break out with cabin fever.  Imagine the threads that will appear  - 'Your all time favourite kit sponsor', 'who would win a fight between Nigel Pearson and Robert Huth', 'Best players who had a moustache'...

 

 

 

(Ind Coope, RH and Ali Mauchlen btw)

 

 

[davieG]

6 minutes ago, murphy said:

this place will break out with cabin fever.  Imagine the threads that will appear  - 'Your all time favourite kit sponsor', 'who would win a fight between Nigel Pearson and Robert Huth', 'Best players who had a moustache'...

 

 

 

(Ind Coope, RH and Ali Mauchlen btw)

 

 

Added to my list of pointless potential new threads

[MrsJohnMurphy]

11 hours ago, murphy said:

this place will break out with cabin fever.  Imagine the threads that will appear  - 'Your all time favourite kit sponsor', 'who would win a fight between Nigel Pearson and Robert Huth', 'Best players who had a moustache'...

 

 

 

(Ind Coope, RH and Ali Mauchlen btw)

 

 

"Would a team of 11 Jannik Vestergaards beat a team of 11 Patson Dakas?"

[murphy]

36 minutes ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

"Would a team of 11 Jannik Vestergaards beat a team of 11 Patson Dakas?"

The moveable object versus the resistible force.

[Reg Vardy]

1 hour ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

"Would a team of 11 Jannik Vestergaards beat a team of 11 Patson Dakas?"

0-0