http://media.tumblr.com/7d28ee41003a444ac1b98ba17c0d0a5f/tumblr_inline_mqr9raG0Rl1qzar12.png

 

The 2014/15 season of the Sky Bet Championship will begin on Saturday 8th August.

• Replacing the three promoted and relegated teams from last season are Hull City, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers, Bristol City, Milton Keynes Dons and Preston North End.
• Pre-season managerial changes have already occurred at Brentford, Derby County, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday.

bet365.com Odds to win the Championship

 

Derby County - 8/1

Hull City - 8/1

Middlesbrough - 10/1

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 12/1

Brentford - 14/1

Burnley - 14/1

Queens Park Rangers - 14/1

Sheffield Wednesday - 14/1

Nottingham Forest - 16/1

Bolton Wanderers - 20/1

Bristol City - 20/1

Fulham - 20/1

Ipswich Town - 22/1

Brighton & Hove Albion - 25/1

Cardiff City - 25/1

Leeds United - 28/1

Blackburn Rovers - 33/1

Reading - 33/1

Milton Keynes Dons - 40/1

Preston North End - 40/1

Birmingham City - 50/1

Charlton Athletic - 50/1

Huddersfield Town - 66/1

Rotherham United - 100/1

 

 

Any early predictions?

 

Fixtures released tomorrow at 9am.

 

Very excited my local club MK Dons have made it finally, hoping they won't just go straight back down, I think they have a good chance of staying up though.

 

Would also like this to be Middlesbrough's year!

It's great to see us as favourites, I can't remember the last time that was the case - probably never in my life have I seen Derby as favourites to win something at the beginning of a season (we were second favourites at this stage last year I believe).

 

That said, I can't see us challenging for the top 2. We've undergone a lot of changes and seem to be splashing the cash again on quite a few new players, it'll take time for everything to settle down. Play-offs are definitely a possibility, but I think we'll give others too much of a headstart in the first couple of months to be able to challenge right at the top. I think the board are definitely expecting promotion this season though as I've never seen Derby spend so much money as they have in the last couple of transfer windows except for a Premier League season, I hope they don't expect too much too soon as I'd hate to go back to the endless manager changing we had prior to Nigel Clough.

Opening Fixtures:

 

Birmingham City v Reading

Blackburn Rovers v Wolves

Bolton Wanderers v Derby County

Brentford v Ipswich Town

Brighton v Nottingham Forest

Cardiff City v Fulham

Charlton Athletic v Queens Park Rangers

Hull City v Huddersfield Town

Leeds United v Burnley

Preston North End v Middlesbrough

Rotherham United v MK Dons

Sheffield Wednesday v Bristol City

 

 

Here's a link to all the Championship fixtures:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/fixtures

 

Leeds United in the headlines for the wrong reasons:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-33620937

 

No need for that in today's society.

 

 

 

Leeds have always had a reputation for this sort of thing, but in this case i think the Frankfurt fans were the instigators.

 

On another note where was this match played, at a local park!? :lol:

Rotherham United's Kirk Broadfoot has been banned for 10 matches by the FA after he was found guilty of misconduct. He received the ban for sectarian abuse of winger James McClean during the game between Rotherham and Wigan in March. It is the longest ban for verbal abuse in English football even beating the eight-match ban Luis Suarez received for racial abuse to Evra back in 2011.

Good to see!

Reading have been fined £100,000 by the FA for failing to prevent a pitch invasion after their FA Cup quarter-final replay with Bradford City.

 

Tomorrow the season will begin with Brighton v Nottingham Forest.

 

How do people see that match going?

 

 

 

My predictions for the Championship:

 

Winner: Middlesbrough

 

Promoted: Wolves, Ipswich Town

 

Relegated: Preston, Huddersfield Town, Rotherham United

Poor performance from us against Sheffield Wednesday, lucky to only lose 2-0. Our defending was awful, both cheap goals to concede. Hopefully it's just a blip and we don't take too long to adapt to the Championship.

Middlesbrough and Preston North End in a drab draw there today.

 

Great win for MK Dons yesterday in their first season in the Championship. Not such a good day for QPR losing 2-0 back to Charlton.

 

 

Disappointed to see Bristol City lose at Hillsborough. They've been tipped to do well this year though, have they replaced JET?

 

:lol: at QPR though. I think a few years down there to restructure would really benefit them, rather than overstretching to get promoted again.

Disappointed to see Bristol City lose at Hillsborough. They've been tipped to do well this year though, have they replaced JET?

 

We've signed Jonathan Kodjia from French side Angers SCO. He scored 15 goals in 29 games last season and was named Ligue 2 player of the year.

Edited August 11, 20159 yr by OutstandingMixer

A 2-2 draw for Burnley against Birmingham City although Burnley needed to come back from behind twice.

 

 

So, Brighton are top of the league as the only team to have won two out of two :cheer:

We are currently losing to Middlesbrough, and we have had to substitute two more midfielders in this first half due to injury! That's four of our midfielders injured in the space of the first 3 games (Hughes, Bryson, Hanson and Hendrick), such bad luck for us after a very solid pre-season.

So, Brighton are top of the league as the only team to have won two out of two :cheer:

And you're currently ahead against Huddersfield Town.

 

 

And you're currently ahead against Huddersfield Town.

It finished 1-1, but that's still a decent start to the season.

We managed a last minute equaliser, meaning that we are somehow still unbeaten - 3 draws though! :lol: