Is this going to be the most wide open Championship in years?

• The upcoming Championship season could be the most wide-open in years with relative few stand-out promotion and relegation favourites.
• There are question marks over all three relegated teams, while the promoted teams are more ambitious than most.
• Lots of mid-table teams are vying to become the Championship’s surprise package.

It feels like this is said every summer, but could the upcoming Championship season be the most wide-open in years? 

For a start, only four teams are receiving parachute payments. This isn’t unheard of, but is a relatively low number. The three relegated teams, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton, as well as Sheffield United, who went down from the Premier League a year earlier, will get them. Burnley and Leeds United have been promoted, while Luton Town were relegated again to League One. 

The three relegated teams are expected by many to challenge near the top of the table, while play-off losers Sheffield United also look strong. Leicester, meanwhile, could face the threat of a points deduction after being charged over alleged financial breaches, so their success over the upcoming season will be dependent on their particular situation.

But none of the three looks as strong as some of the relegated sides that have come down in the past, while the Foxes are currently managerless and will be without the talismanic Jamie Vardy next term for the first time in over a decade. Ipswich will be adjusting to the lack of Liam Delap, who has joined Chelsea for £30 million, while Southampton now have Will Still as manager, giving him his first major UK-based role. 

From play-off failure and mid-table obscurity to mounting a challenge? 

Along with Sheffield United and promoted Sunderland, Coventry City and Bristol City finished in the other two play-off spots last term, with just two points separating the Robins from Blackburn Rovers and Millwall. Then, right to the bottom of the table, no more than three points separate any two teams next to each other. 

After finishing in the play-off places twice in the last three seasons, Coventry will want to go one further, and Kaine Kesler-Hayden looks a good signing from Aston Villa. The other three teams may not be ones fans associate with the play-offs generally, but all three could potentially challenge again (even if the jury is still out on Blackburn manager Valérien Ismaël). 

West Bromwich Albion, just behind in ninth, will also be hopeful with new manager Ryan Mason in his first permanent role and Nat Phillips joining on a permanent deal from Liverpool.

Of the teams in mid-table, Queens Park Rangers could mount a challenge. They pulled off a coup in signing winger Kwame Poku from Peterborough United, while forward Charlie Kelman returns to Loftus Road after a fruitful year at Leyton Orient. Former Celtic prodigy Karamoko Dembele has joined permanently, too, and will be another year older next season. 

Swansea City, who’ve spent the past few years hovering around mid-table, look an intriguing prospect now that Luka Modrić, leaving Real Madrid this summer after 13 years, became co-owner earlier this year. Former Manchester United prospect Ethan Galbraith is set to join from Leyton Orient, while new winger Zeidane Inoussa, a Sweden youth international, joined the Swans despite interest from Celtic and Saint-Etienne. 

Moving past relegation worries and League One promotion 

Derby County will hope to firmly re-establish themselves in the second tier with a full season under John Eustace – the manager has already moved to sign Championship staples Danny Batth and Andi Weimann, both of whom he knows from his time at Blackburn Rovers, as well as Carlton Morris, who was playing in the Premier League with Luton just over a year ago. 

Then there’s Hull City, whose chairman Acun Ilicali sometimes makes decisions that divide fans. They finished seventh in 2023-24 under Liam Rosenior, who was then sacked, and finished 21st last season under Tim Walter, sacked and Rubén Sellés, also sacked. Sergej Jakirović is now tasked with providing the attacking football Ilicali wants and getting the Tigers further up the table. 

As for the teams coming up from League One, Birmingham City and Wrexham both have ambitious owners and plans to go even further than the Championship. Birmingham have signed the highly-rated goalkeeper James Beadle on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion days after the 20-year-old won the Under-21 Euros with England, as well as former Sheffield United loanee Tommy Doyle on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Wrexham have added a keeper themselves in Leicester’s Danny Ward, and also signed experienced striker Ryan Hardie from relegated Plymouth Argyle. 

If there was any team nailed on for relegation, it would have to be Sheffield Wednesday. Though they finished in a respectable 12th place last term, they’re in dire straits under owner Dejphon Chansiri. Manager Danny Röhl is set to leave the club, and long-serving captain Barry Bannan has seen his contract expire.  

Meanwhile, six players have handed in their notice due to unpaid wages, while the club is currently under a transfer embargo. Other Championship clubs are likely to be interested in a few players, and relegation to League One is probably one of the best-case scenarios, realistically speaking, for the Owls. 

Charlton Athletic, promoted alongside Birmingham and Wrexham, have returned to The Championship with rather less fanfare, and will be among the relegation favourites for many. Goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, who played in the Premier League as recently as 2024, could be a great signing, however, while manager Nathan Jones knows the Championship well from his time at Stoke City and Luton. 

With no clear favourite, surprise packages making the play-offs last year, mid-table teams ready to challenge, and some ambitious promoted sides, it really does feel as if anything could happen in the Championship next season. Throw in a potential points deduction and an erratic chairman or two, and the 2025-26 campaign promises to be a fascinating ride.

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