Championship 2026/27

DamoNorthStand said:

The Red Robin said:

I think any of the below teams could be in the bottom three next season.

Charlton
Lincoln 
Watford
Sheffield United
Portsmouth 
QPR
WBA
Cardiff
Bolton
Stoke
Blackburn 

Hopefully we stay up again.

Wolves and Boro would be my favourites to go up. Decent managers, wouldn’t expect them to lose too many players. Expect Wrexham to throw some more money at it too. 

Would add Bristol City, Swansea, and Preston to that. 

Millwall have to keep progressing which will be hard if they lose Azeez and Ivanovic and don’t replace well 

Can’t see Ivanovic going anywhere after the season he just had. Would be more worried about losing Crama, Coburn or Neghli. I think Crama and Azeez will go but we should get good money for them. They both made the championship team of the season. The others have gone under the radar a bit which is good for us.

The Red Robin said:

I think any of the below teams could be in the bottom three next season.

Charlton
Lincoln 
Watford
Sheffield United
Portsmouth 
QPR
WBA
Cardiff
Bolton
Stoke
Blackburn 

Hopefully we stay up again.

Wolves and Boro would be my favourites to go up. Decent managers, wouldn’t expect them to lose too many players. Expect Wrexham to throw some more money at it too. 

Wolves will lose quite a few. Joao Gomes is going to Atletico Madrid, Jose Sa and Andre are both leaving. Bueno, Mane and Krejci will also have clubs interested in them.

I'd expect them to spend a bit as well though, they made a big profit on transfers this season after selling Cunha, Ait-Nouri and Strand Larsen, plus they've got parachute payments.

Seeing the table with play offs going down to 8th looks weird.

I really wouldn't be surprised to see West Ham in another relegation battle next season. They will go through a lot of upheaval this summer and I think they’ll start badly. Then the fans will get moody and the atmosphere will be awful. It all depends on which players they can keep, but their finances are in a mess. Regarding new signings, their owners couldn’t get that right in a league they already knew, so what chance in a new league?

I think Wolves have a manager who knew relegation would happen and factored that in.
They also have that very decent Armstrong player.
Wolves will do very well in my opinion, as will Burnley. West Ham will be a ‘scalp’ and may not walk it as others think but Summerville will be excellent, I don’t know if they can afford to keep Bowen.
We will be in the bottom seven most of the season……unless we’re not.
I think QPR, Watford, Sheffield United and Preston are more brittle than they look. Lincoln will probably start well and have a season like we’ve just had, Cardiff and Bolton will be modestly OK, as will Portsmouth.
My (it won’t happen) relegation wish list is Southampton, West Ham and Millwall.

jose said:

I think Wolves have a manager who knew relegation would happen and factored that in.
They also have that very decent Armstrong player.
Wolves will do very well in my opinion, as will Burnley. West Ham will be a ‘scalp’ and may not walk it as others think but Summerville will be excellent, I don’t know if they can afford to keep Bowen.
We will be in the bottom seven most of the season……unless we’re not.
I think QPR, Watford, Sheffield United and Preston are more brittle than they look. Lincoln will probably start well and have a season like we’ve just had, Cardiff and Bolton will be modestly OK, as will Portsmouth.
My (it won’t happen) relegation wish list is Southampton, West Ham and Millwall.

I completely agree with this....unless I dont

The Red Robin said:

West Ham will be able to outspend any team
in The Championship next season. But they’ve spent money very poorly in recent years. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cvgz1zl14k3o

West Ham have posted £100 plus loss to May 2025 and this year is likely to be little different. They already fall foul of the 85%, so it's not going to be a walk in the park for them.

It does feel like a proper coca cola championship next season 

Looking like a very tough league. Any improvement on 19th would be a good season for me. Just need to consolidate at this level and keep getting better each year, even if it’s slow progress 

I think Bowen actually wants to stay at West Ham to get them back up but it feels like they'll have to sell to balance the books. They don't have many other decent assets it seems.

DamoNorthStand said:

cabbles said:

charltonnick said:

fenaddick said:

Have a hunch teams like QPR & Swansea might be sleepwalking to trouble with a division that strong

So will we if we don't sign some quality players

Season’s hardly a few weeks done and already I’m nervous about next season 😂😂

We really need to add some quality in the summer - I’m sure we will; but you’ve got some tough old teams in there.  Last season we had the added bonus of trying to avoid 2 relegation spots and then Leicester getting a points deduction.  I can’t see any teams getting any points deductions this season and I’m already looking at our mini league of 

Lincoln
Bolton
Cardiff 
Pompey
Blackburn
Stoke (possibly)
Watford (maybe)

Got to put Preston in that - they dropped off a cliff second half didn’t they?

Yeah, but them, QPR, Bristol City and Swansea (I think) are starting like their 12th season in a row.  I’d like to think one of them may have a troubles season, but they’re utter stalwarts.  I think they still harbour hopes of sneaking the playoffs rather than getting sucked into a relegation scrap 

who knows.  They’re definitely not fighting for playoffs imo, hopefully they can get sucked into it 

cabbles said:

DamoNorthStand said:

cabbles said:

charltonnick said:

fenaddick said:

Have a hunch teams like QPR & Swansea might be sleepwalking to trouble with a division that strong

So will we if we don't sign some quality players

Season’s hardly a few weeks done and already I’m nervous about next season 😂😂

We really need to add some quality in the summer - I’m sure we will; but you’ve got some tough old teams in there.  Last season we had the added bonus of trying to avoid 2 relegation spots and then Leicester getting a points deduction.  I can’t see any teams getting any points deductions this season and I’m already looking at our mini league of 

Lincoln
Bolton
Cardiff 
Pompey
Blackburn
Stoke (possibly)
Watford (maybe)

Got to put Preston in that - they dropped off a cliff second half didn’t they?

Yeah, but them, QPR, Bristol City and Swansea (I think) are starting like their 12th season in a row.  I’d like to think one of them may have a troubles season, but they’re utter stalwarts.  I think they still harbour hopes of sneaking the playoffs rather than getting sucked into a relegation scrap 

who knows.  They’re definitely not fighting for playoffs imo, hopefully they can get sucked into it 

Preston are waiting on a takeover going through, if it doesn't or even if it's just delayed then I think they could maybe struggle

NabySarr said:

cabbles said:

DamoNorthStand said:

cabbles said:

charltonnick said:

fenaddick said:

Have a hunch teams like QPR & Swansea might be sleepwalking to trouble with a division that strong

So will we if we don't sign some quality players

Season’s hardly a few weeks done and already I’m nervous about next season 😂😂

We really need to add some quality in the summer - I’m sure we will; but you’ve got some tough old teams in there.  Last season we had the added bonus of trying to avoid 2 relegation spots and then Leicester getting a points deduction.  I can’t see any teams getting any points deductions this season and I’m already looking at our mini league of 

Lincoln
Bolton
Cardiff 
Pompey
Blackburn
Stoke (possibly)
Watford (maybe)

Got to put Preston in that - they dropped off a cliff second half didn’t they?

Yeah, but them, QPR, Bristol City and Swansea (I think) are starting like their 12th season in a row.  I’d like to think one of them may have a troubles season, but they’re utter stalwarts.  I think they still harbour hopes of sneaking the playoffs rather than getting sucked into a relegation scrap 

who knows.  They’re definitely not fighting for playoffs imo, hopefully they can get sucked into it 

Preston are waiting on a takeover going through, if it doesn't or even if it's just delayed then I think they could maybe struggle

Oh I hope that’s right mate I’m getting pissed off with them signing players we want 

Strikes me that Antonio is sour rather than anything else.