A Poor Championship season?

[Franchise FC]

It hasn't been a good season. The fight at the top has been entertaining but characterised more by Saints and West Ham's failures than our successes. The playoff battle has been apalling, its the fight not to get promoted and the teams that have put decent runs in during the second half of the season (Ipswich, Watford, Millwall) had done so badly in the first half that they counted for nothing in the end.

Last season's championship was the best in a long time, our first year back down was equally as terrible as this years with us throwing away such a good start and the whole league watching Birmingham over the season and being baffled at how they got promoted.

Thise Saints and WHU 'failures' have secured enough points, prior to Saturday, to have gained automatic promotion in the majority of years.
I'd suggest they'd have taken 85/83 points respectively if offered it before the season

[pea]

It hasn't been a good season. The fight at the top has been entertaining but characterised more by Saints and West Ham's failures than our successes. The playoff battle has been apalling, its the fight not to get promoted and the teams that have put decent runs in during the second half of the season (Ipswich, Watford, Millwall) had done so badly in the first half that they counted for nothing in the end.

Last season's championship was the best in a long time, our first year back down was equally as terrible as this years with us throwing away such a good start and the whole league watching Birmingham over the season and being baffled at how they got promoted.

Thise Saints and WHU 'failures' have secured enough points, prior to Saturday, to have gained automatic promotion in the majority of years.
I'd suggest they'd have taken 85/83 points respectively if offered it before the season

Which is surely just a reflection on how uncompetitative a lot of the league has been?

Points tally's don't mean anything at the end of the day, you can make them mean what you want to

[Franchise FC]

It hasn't been a good season. The fight at the top has been entertaining but characterised more by Saints and West Ham's failures than our successes. The playoff battle has been apalling, its the fight not to get promoted and the teams that have put decent runs in during the second half of the season (Ipswich, Watford, Millwall) had done so badly in the first half that they counted for nothing in the end.

Last season's championship was the best in a long time, our first year back down was equally as terrible as this years with us throwing away such a good start and the whole league watching Birmingham over the season and being baffled at how they got promoted.

Thise Saints and WHU 'failures' have secured enough points, prior to Saturday, to have gained automatic promotion in the majority of years.
I'd suggest they'd have taken 85/83 points respectively if offered it before the season

Which is surely just a reflection on how uncompetitative a lot of the league has been?

Points tally's don't mean anything at the end of the day, you can make them mean what you want to

I'm sure Snowball willbe able to prove this somehow, but the fact that their points tallys are enough to have gained promotion in most other years is a sign that the division has been MORE competitive, not less.

[Victor Meldrew]

I also disagree that our rise to the top has been at the fault of the other two. Our run has been magnificent and has included beating some teams right in the mix to make it even more spectacular. Credit where it's due. We've had a terrific run of form since January and that's what's allowed us to nick in.

I don't agree that if someone else had won the league the argument would've had been made though. That's just the Reading inferiority complex coming out in.

Agree with both of your points.
We have been the best side in a poor division but I would suggest that this division is often poor rather than this year being any better or worse than most others.
It is full of desperate clubs that have mainly seen better days but no longer have the financial clout to do much about it.
Two relegated clubs in West Ham and Birmingham who look to be finishing 3rd and 4th have operated with major players gone who couldn't even keep their sides in the Premier League and left a lot of dross behind that haven't been replaced.
West Ham lost Scott Parker (England's captain) and Dembe Ba (one of the leading goalscorers in the Premier League) and Birmingham lost Johnson and Dann to other Premier clubs as well as Jerome and Barrie Ferguson and yet here both teams are vying for a return to the top level.

When you watch other Championship games on TV there is often so little quality but generally plenty of effort.
I am glad that we have been promoted as we will raise the level of players in our squad to try to match the considerably better sides at least in the top half of the Premier League and even watching the likes of Stoke and Wigan are attractive prospects when compared to watching Barnsley or Doncaster.

I do think that there are occasionally good sides at Championship level such as our 106 team that was Premier League in waiting and the Newcastle team of a couple of years ago as well as the Oxford team that got promoted and the best of all the Liverpool side of 1962 that went up and immediately won the top title as that also was a team ready for a better level and some.
So goodbye to The Championship and I hope that we don't see you again for many years.

[Maguire]

The Championship has always been a fairly honest, low quality league. Okay you occasionally get a great side that plays some lovely football (us in 05/06, Forest in the 90s, Newcastle were a bit too good as well) but largely there's nothing special.

Our success this term has been a triumph of organisation, commitment, and hard work but that's what wins you titles. Even Newcastle had class defenders when they won it.

Really these things boild down to perception and the fact the big clubs didn't win leads people to draw a negative conclusion.