So, welcome to part 1 of my review of the 2014/15 season in the Championship. As mentioned above as I cover the league I consider myself an 'expert' on most of the teams in the division having seen them all plenty of times and written previews for every single match - that's 552 previews not including the upcoming play offs!
I've split this into 4 parts to make it more readable and hopeful it will give you some insight into one of the most underrated and exciting leagues in the world.
AFC Bournemouth
Summary of the season
Bournemouth achieved something beyond their wildest dreams by being promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history. They did this on the back of some wise spending (almost every player cost a fee so the stories of the penniless club achieving promotion are somewhat wide of the mark), an exciting young manager and a stable squad.
They rarely changed the starting XI unless absolutely needed, something which mirrors Burnley and Leicester when they were promoted last season and play one of the most attractive styles of football in the country, scoring the most goals (98) and having the best goal difference (+53) in the division. This went some way to getting them promoted as heavy victories over Birmingham and Blackpool amongst others earlier in the season saw them have a huge advantage over most of the other teams chasing a top 2 finish.
I expected them to fall away as they suffered injuries and suspensions but they managed to avoid these for the most part of the season with 10 players starting at least 35 games. The squad will need to be bolstered for next season but Eddie Howe is unlikely to make too many changes to both personnel and style but with huge losses (£10.3m) posted for the 2013/14 season it's clear they had to go up sooner rather than later to sustain their outgoings.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Eddie Howe is one of the brightest young managers in England and widely tipped as a potential future international manager. He has been in charge of the club since they were down near the bottom of League Two, only leaving briefly for a short spell at Burnley. He favours attractive passing football, playing out from the back with 2 attacking wingers and 2 strikers. He is likely to stick with this next season which could leave them a little open against the better teams but it worked in a very competitive league in the Championship. They almost always stuck to a 4-4-2 formation.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
Bournemouth finished 1st, well beyond most people's expectations. I thought they could make the play offs with a good run but by avoiding injuries they surpassed most peoples thoughts and become one of the early favourites to go up. They never looked like dropping out of the top 6 and finished as champions thanks to a last minute goal conceded by Watford.
3 Key Players
Matt Ritchie - outstanding on the wing and destined to shine in the Premier League. He has an excellent left foot and got 15 goals and 17 assists which is more than some teams managed, never mind an individual player. Would be one of my contenders for the top 3 players in the Championship.
Callum Wilson - A talented young English striker playing his first season at Championship level and managed to bag 20 goals and an England U21 call up. Likes to play on the shoulder of the last man and is great at creating chances but his finishing can be a little wayward at times, often made up by the amount of chances Bournemouth create.
Harry Arter - Has been excellent in midfield and weighed in with a lot of important goals, particularly in the 2nd half of the season. Scored some screamers to help the team but his passing, vision and combative nature (picking up 13 yellow cards) helped Bournemouth add variety to their play.
Standout young player
Ryan Fraser - Although he didn't get as many starts as he would have liked due to Eddie Howe's reluctance to rotate, Fraser played his part in almost half the games Bournemouth played. He is a tricky winger, with pace and the ability to go past his man and often plays on the left, allowing him to cut inside on his right foot.
Birmingham City
Summary of the season
Birmingham started awfully and it wasn't until Lee Clark was sacked in October that things improved. After Gary Rowett was appointed they went from strength to strength, banishing an abysmal home record to move up the table based on a well organised defensive game. They had a useful striker in Donaldson and pace and creativity in the supporting wide players to cause problems for teams without ever looking to worried at the back.
After the 8-0 home loss to Bournemouth they would have been very worried but only conceding 36 goals in their remaining 32 games (including letting in 4 goals on 4 separate occasions) shows the improvement they made defensively.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Gary Rowett has done an outstanding job. He took over a club in very difficult circumstances and by signing few players he has turned them around. Expectation will be greater on him next season and he will have to work on a tight budget but he knows what he wants and will work with a smaller squad to achieve it. He stuck very firmly to a 4-5-1 formation but altered slightly towards the end of the season playing 4-4-1-1 and 3-5-2 at times.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
Birmingham finished 10th and given their position when Rowett took over it was an outstanding achievement to propel themselves into the top half of the table. Fans are happier with their home form (winning 10 and drawing 7 compared to winning 2 and drawing 8 the season before) and would gladly have taken mid table before the start of the season.
3 Key Players
Darren Randolph - has improved a lot from the error stricken goalkeeper who signed from Motherwell and has played almost every game since the start of 2013/14. A good shot stopper, he still occasionally struggles on crosses but it's important for Birmingham to tie him down to a new contract
Michael Morrison - a key player after signing, initially on loan before making it permanent, from Charlton. Birmingham's defensive record took a huge hit when he was injured in February and only started to improve again when he came back into the team. An old fashioned centre back who has excellent positioning.
Clayton Donaldson - Often had a very tough role, playing the lone striker, but adapted to it very well. Capable of holding the ball and competing for headers but also with a good turn of pace, the majority of his 15 goals came from poachers finishes in the box.
Standout young player
Demarai Gray - Built up massively after a few impressive cameo appearances last season and the subject of numerous bids from Bournemouth in the January transfer window (topping out at £5m if rumours are believed). The 18 year old has excellent dribbling ability and an eye for goal but has also improved the team aspects of his game thanks in no small part to Rowett. Birmingham will be hopeful of getting him to sign a new contract in the summer.
Blackburn Rovers
Summary of the season
Blackburn flattered to deceive for large parts of the campaign and looked to be heading into a fight for the play off spots before their FA Cup run took control and they dropped vital points in successive home games against Brentford and Brighton. This left them with too much to do and they slipped away to end the season in upper mid table. While they were close to the FA Cup semi finals and play offs the season will have more than a tinge of disappointment about what could have been. A huge injury list for the latter half of the season did not help with the final few weeks being played with no recognised central defenders.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Gary Bowyer did an excellent job of steadying Blackburn both on the field and financially. He has coped well under an FFP embargo but some fans still can't take to his rigid tactics and lack of positive substitutions. He goes with a 4-4-2 for most games and has taken to playing 2 attacking wingers but occasionally sets out with a 4-5-1 in difficult away matches.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
While finishing 9th is not bad given their financial restrictions and injury problems it probably is not quite good enough. The lack of a concerted play off push could mean that the better players such as Rhodes, Cairney and Gestede are head hunted in the summer and this will severely weaken Rovers for next season. Take Rhodes and Gestede out and they would lose 41 goals from a team that scored 66 all season - a potentially catastrophic hit.
3 Key Players
Rudy Gestede - While Rhodes tends to grab most of the headlines Gestede is an absolute handful of a striker. He is superb in the air, one of the best in the Championship at attacking the ball and as well as scoring goals he created a good number, either through taking men away or being the focal point for Blackburn's more direct play.
Ben Marshall - Started the season on the fringes of the team but his ability quickly shone through to become one of the most dangerous wingers in the Championship during the first half of the season. Though he tailed off a bit after Christmas his delivery from wide and ability to cut inside and shoot was key in the early stages for Blackburn.
Matt Kilgallon - Despite barely featuring until after Christmas Kilgallon showed his value to the team by stepping into an injury ravaged defence and helping hold it together. By the back end of the season he was captain and marshalling a young defence. Some excellent positional play and a good eye for a timely challenge helped him stand out from the rest.
Standout young player
Adam Henley - didn't get much of a look in when Blackburn were at full strength but took his opportunity when it came and his solid, consistent performances were rewarded with a call up to the Wales squad. Likes to get forward and has good pace but can be caught out positionally at times. Showed plenty of promise.
Blackpool
Summary of the season
An absolute horror show of a season for Blackpool which started in the worst possible fashion and only went downhill from there. Jose Riga seemed a decent appointment after keeping Charlton up in 2013/14 but he immediately clashed with chairman Karl Oysten - vilified by fans - and things never got going. A list of their problems:-
- Had to cancel a pre-season tour as they only had 8 players
- Didn't sign a goalkeeper until the day before the season
- Only had 9 registered players on the morning of their first game of the season
- Only had 4 on the bench against Nottingham Forest on their first game of the season
- Fielded an unregistered player in the Capital One Cup defeat to League Two Shrewsbury (for which they were fined)
- Didn't win a game until 3rd October
- Twice tried to replace Riga while he was still in post
- Appointed Lee Clark
- Nile Ranger went AWOL in November with the club not knowing where he was amid claims he was being paid £90 per week
- Clark systematically alienated almost every player signed by Riga, making many train with the youth team
- The awful state of the Bloomfield Road pitch, which is worse than many Sunday league pitches.
- Relegated by Easter
- Only 4 wins all season
- No away wins - first time in a season at Championship level since 1989/90
- Lowest amount of points in the 2nd tier since it switched to 24 teams
- Forced abandonment of their final game of the season against Huddersfield amid a pitch invasion by fans
- Chairman suing his own clubs fans
- Record profits of over £9million yet none of it invested back into the club
- Removed the statue of club legend Stan Mortensen to try and prevent fans gathering next to it to protest
- At least 2 players received summons to appear in court for different criminal offences
- The kit man quit mid way through the season and so the bus driver doubled up as kit man.
- Joe Lewis had to wear a goalkeeper shirt he had signed as a raffle prize before the game against Reading as they had no other kit to wear
Safe to say not many fans will be buying the season review DVD and even fewer are likely to renew their season ticket until the chairman leaves - a tough season in League One awaits.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Lee Clark had his hands tied in part to be fair but he came with a poor track record. He lives on an unbeaten run for Huddersfield which stretched 43 league game - though many of these were draws which cost them promotion. He was sacked at Birmingham with a terrible home record and didn't fair much better at Blackpool with only 3 wins after he took over in October. He signed quite a few players, increasing the huge turnover in the last 18 months and stuck to a 4-5-1 for the latter part of the season, though it did little to stem the flow of goals they conceded. It's no surprise he has now taken the decision to resign.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
Blackpool finished bottom and it was nothing that was unexpected at the start of the season. Thing went from bad to worse and it's not just their last placed finish and record low points total that is the problem but the knock on affects it will have for next season. The club is systematically being drained of it's life blood by the chairman.
3 Key Players
Jamie O'Hara - the standout player by quite some distance. It seems unlikely he will be at the club next year and he seems to have regained his joy of playing after almost 2 years out of the spotlight whilst at Wolves. His set pieces in particular show he still has the quality though he doesn't have the fitness to get up and down like he used to.
Joe Lewis - Despite regularly being dropped with claims that it had nothing to do with a payment trigger in his contract to Cardiff (which no one believed!) Lewis performed heroics at times to keep the score down in many games. He pulled off a string of good saves through out the season and though he wasn't completely blameless he still stood out as one of Blackpool's better players.
Andrea Orlandi - though he didn't consistently perform he at least showed glimpses of his ability to travel with the ball and pick a pass out in tough circumstances. He played in a wider role for the latter part of the season and it suited him by releasing him from any defensive obligations, allowing him to get on the ball and go forward.
Standout young player
Henry Cameron - Cameron came into his own later in the season with his quick feet and dribbling ability and youthful enthusiasm. He has pace to beat a man and makes some good movement off the ball but does lack experience which can show at times but at just 17 years old he has a promising future - mentions must also go to Dom Telford and Mark Waddington who also impressed, though the latter had his season cut short but a foot injury.
Bolton Wanderers
Summary of the season
Bolton went into the season with a fair bit of optimism after finishing last season very strongly. Though they had to reduce the budget they were confident of a play off place. Safe to say things didn't go according to plan and by the beginning of October Dougie Freedman had been sacked. Neil Lennon took over and after a very good start they became one of the more inconsistent teams in the division as a host of injuries and loan players disrupted their season. At one time they had 12 players out injured and 9 players in on loan (bearing in mind only 5 can be included in a match day squad). They will look to improve next season but a huge debt from their Premier League days seems to be hampering any plans they had to spend their way into the big time.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Lennon did very well when he first took over and lifted Bolton away from relegation trouble within the first 2 months of his appointment. After Christmas, things slipped into a bit of a rut as they struggled to put any kind of run together and never seriously looked like finishing anything other than lower mid table. He will have a difficult summer as he tries to mould the squad into the one he ones on a tight budget. He is one of the more flexible managers int he division, regularly switching formation between 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
Bolton finished 18th and while they would have taken that when they were in the bottom 3 in October they will be slightly disappointed they failed to kick on after Lennon's initial good form. Too many dropped points from good positions and inconsistency means their season was pretty much over by March as they were well clear of the drop and never going to trouble the play offs.
3 Key Players
Tim Ream - Mr Reliable and his versatility was a huge bonus to Neil Lennon as he played most of the season at left back but was comfortable in a back 3 and as a wing back as well. While not excelling in any position he did well enough to be one of the first names on the team sheet and get involved with the USA team again, though Klinsmann seemed to feel he was not up to the standards of a regular pick. His lack of pace could be exposed but he is comfortable on the ball and his positioning and reading of the game are very good.
Eidur Gudjohnsen - Showed his complete class when he came back to the club he left many years previously and although he wasn't an automatic pick due to his age and inability to play 2 games back to back in a demanding league, his vision in the role behind the strikers was often key to unlocking a tight defence.
Adam le Fondre - Struggled badly at Cardiff and failed to make a decent impression, but it was still a surprise when he was loaned to Bolton in January. He immediately looked like the player he was at Rotherham and Reading and finished with 8 goals in 17 games - a good record for a lower table team. His poachers instant and movement around the area is very difficult to pick up.
Standout young player
Zach Clough - this was one of the more difficult selections as Tom Walker or Josh Vela could easily have got the nod. Clough though looked to have that bit of magic which could make the difference for Bolton next season. He likes to play off the strikers and his ability to find pockets of space and be brave on the ball resulted in him scoring 5 goals in just 8 league appearances before a dislocated shoulder ended his season.
Brentford
Summary of the season
Promoted from League One just 1 season ago, Brentford achieved success beyond their expectations and landed a play off spot by winning on the final day of the season. Their base of buying talented younger players and making them into saleable assets while pushing themselves up the table is a very good business model and one not often found in football. They are very well backed by a chairman with a clear vision and though this has caused some contention with the decision of Mark Warburton to leave at the end of the season despite their achievements, it is one that will keep Brentford on an upward trajectory. They were the team most expected to drift away after a promising start but their exciting style of football won many people over and gives them a real shot as they go into the play offs.
Manager Assessment & Usual formation
Mark Warburton is a likeable man, who has bonded a talented team of players together. His background is not really in football and he is one of the newer breed of managers capable of looking beyond the result and into the performance. Brentford have based their recruitment strategy heavily on statistical modelling and while this has been fruitful for a few years Warburton wanted the final say, something which owner Matt Benham disagreed with so they will part ways at the end of the season. Warburton should have no problem finding employment, though whether he finds it as perfect a fit for him as Brentford was when he took over is debatable. Stuck rigidly to a 4-2-3-1 formation and very rarely had to rotate the squad as they avoided injuries and suspensions for the most part.
Finishing position and was it acceptable
Brentford finished in 5th place, something they could only have dreamed of at the start of the season. Though they were not one of the favourites to go down they were expected to be in mid table and so to push for a top 6 finish was a great achievement. They didn't look like they would make the play offs after a few disappointing performances at home against Cardiff, Millwall, Forest and Bolton saw them drop points but they took advantage of Derby's slip up on the final day to extend their season.
3 Key Players
Alex Pritchard - an excellent capture on a season long loan from Tottenham, he had impressed previously at Swindon but stepped his game up in the Championship and was one of the key creative forces playing in behind the lone striker. His long range goals and creativity in a fast paced attacking unit helped Brentford to swiftly break down their opponents and he finished the season with 12 goals and 7 assists.
Jonathan Douglas - not one of the players who will take the limelight but a key man alongside Diagouraga for much of the season in a solid midfield unit. They often did the dirty work to allow the front 4 to play with so much freedom and though defensive in nature Douglas often got forward to chip in with important goals. His work rate and ability to control the tempo in midfield was very important.
Moses Odubajo - Signed for a big fee from Leyton Orient and intended to play as a midfielder he was switched to right back in October as Alan McCormack suffered a bad injury to his ankle. Odubajo took to the role with ease and slotted comfortably into the formation, providing an excellent attacking outlet as he played so high up the pitch but his pace and stamina allowed him to recover so he rarely got caught out. Has now made the position his own and looks very comfortable in it.
Standout young player
James Tarkowski - at such a young age to be playing so many games at centre back should give an indication of Tarkowski's talent. He is classy on the ball and able to receive it from the keeper and play out from the back but capable of also doing the physical nature of defending as he puts in tackles and takes up excellent positions to head the ball clear. Several times this season it looks like he could have lost his place to either Tony Craig or Liam Moore but he not only kept it but is now one of the first choices on the team sheet.
I'll be publishing the 2nd part of my review soon.
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