Championship Predictions 2016/17 (Part 2/4)
With just a day remaining until the 2016/17 Championship season gets underway at Craven Cottage, it is time to publish my predictions for the new season.
Part two includes the teams positioned 18th - 13th and will be followed by part three imminently.
18th – Wigan Athletic
League One Champions Wigan enjoyed an excellent season in England’s third division, with ‘on fire’ top goal scorer Will Grigg even becoming a household name thanks to his fine campaign in front of goal, selection to the Northern Ireland squad for the European Championships, and a little help from a now rather well-known song in which he is the focus.
And, after it seemingly all went wrong for the Greater Manchester club following their 2012-13 FA Cup victory and double relegation from first the Premier League and then the Championship a year later, manager Gary Caldwell has brought a feel-good factor back to the DW Stadium.
If Wigan are to finish outside of the bottom three and even exceed the expectations that I have placed on the club, then Caldwell will need to get the best out of midfielder Nick Powell, who could be an invaluable addition to the side following his free transfer from Manchester United.
Wigan boast a good team, but their squad might not have the necessary depth to see them push towards a mid-table place in their first season back at this level.
Wigan returned to the Championship at the first time of asking after they were crowned champions of League One.
17th – Reading
Preparing for their fourth season at this level after relegation from the Premier League back in 2013, this campaign could yet be the most challenging for the Berkshire-based club.
Fans may have been excited by the appointment of former Manchester United and AC Milan defender Jaap Stam as the club’s new manager, but this will be the Dutchman’s first stint in management, and his transfer activities would appear to have quickly wiped away the initial intrigue that came with his arrival.
Welshman Hal Robson-Kanu left the club at the end of last season before going onto light up the European Championships in France, while the sale of talented winger Aaron Tshibola to Aston Villa would point to a lack of ambition from owner Narin Niruttinanon.
Oliver Norwood is another noticeable name to have left the Madejski, and although Stam has brought in compatriot Joey van den Berg to replace the Northern Irishman, the former Sc Heerenveen man has no experience of playing outside of the Dutch Eredivisie.
16th – Brentford
Brentford have enjoyed two excellent seasons in the Championship since their promotion from League One in 2014, finishing fifth in their first season back in the second tier – losing to Middlesbrough in a play-off semi-final tie – and then a very respectable ninth last time out.
However, Brentford left their play-off surge until the latter part of last season, and a similarly slow start this time out could prove costly to their hopes of replicating their fine achievements over the past two years.
It would not be unquestionable to suggest that the division is stronger now than it has been for several years, and while many teams have improved their squads, The Bees have stood rather still.
Former Southend stopper Daniel Bentley will be a good replacement for departing goalkeeper David Button and striker Romaine Sawyers could be a decent addition from Walsall, but manager Dean Smith will once again be reliant upon star man Alan Judge producing the kind of form that he showed before suffering a leg break at the back end of last season, which subsequently kept him out of the European Championships.
15th – Fulham
It is fair to say that the last couple of seasons have not been kind to Fulham, and this transfer market has been no different.
Slaviša Jokanović has seen the heart of his side ripped apart this summer, with star strikers Ross McCormack and Moussa Dembélé leaving for Aston Villa and Celtic respectively. Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg also travelled north to join Everton, while central defender Dan Burn has also decided that his career is best suited elsewhere, choosing fellow Championship side Wigan as his preferred destination.
Last season’s 20th placed side have brought in Sone Aluko from Hull, a player who has proven that he can make a difference at this level, and another experienced player in Kevin McDonald could also improve Fuham’s chances for the upcoming campaign.
But in all truth, Jokanović will need to find a striker who can net over 20 goals a season in order to justify the sale of McCormack to Championship rivals Aston Villa; a task that would appear to be an near impossibility at this stage in the market.
Sone Aluko could prove to be a key signing for Fulham this season.
14th – Queens Park Rangers
QPR finished their first season back in the Championship with a new manager (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink) and in mid-table (12th). A disappointing first campaign improved towards the latter stages, but I would predict that times are only going to become more difficult for the London club.
The loss of winger Matt Phillips and playmaker Leroy Fer will almost certainly damage Hasselbaink’s hopes of bringing back Premier League football in the coming seasons, and the club have also lost their two most experienced players in Clint Hill and Robert Green.
The Acquisition of Jordan Cousins from relegated Charlton Athletic will go some way to filling the void that has been left by Fer’s absence, while central defender Joel Lynch and fullback Jake Bidwell should sure things up at the back.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to be inspired by QPR’s current squad, and a repeat of last season’s league positioning would mark a good season (in my estimations) given the resources that remain at Loftus Road.
13th – Wolverhampton Wanderers
I am going to put it out there right away, money alone will not bring you success in the Championship.
Wolves’ new takeover by Fosun International – the group’s first football club - and the recent appointment of former Inter Milan goalkeeper Walter Zenga will bring some much needed encouragement to the Molineux faithful.
However, I would warn those supporters to take at least some degree of caution to the appointment of a manager who has been in the hot seat at 16 different clubs in the space of just 18 years, lasting more than a season on just one occasion throughout that period.
The transfer market has been kind to the division’s latest big-spenders, with Kevin McDonald and Rajiv van La Parra the only two key players to have left one of the Championship’s ‘biggest’ clubs.
Iceland international Jón Dadi Bödvarsson was an important part of the nation’s astonishing run to the European Championship quarter-finals, but just shy of £3 million for a striker who has scored four goals in 41 appearances for former club Kaiserslautern and his country can certainly be questioned.
Walter Zenga has been appointed as the new manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
