In the opinion of many football fans including myself, the Championship – England’s second tier – is the most entertaining football league in the world. This isn’t only because my Luton Town have spent five of the last seven seasons playing at that level, but because of just how competitive the league is. Anyone can beat anyone: teams previously in the Premier League, England’s top flight, aren’t even guaranteed survival, let alone promotion. Many Championship sides have illustrious histories and passionate fanbases: from former English champions Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City, to the notoriously rowdy Millwall. While there has been plenty of excitement in the promotion race at the top of the table this season, the relegation of two sides with points deductions due to off-the-pitch issues has given this year’s league an unfortunate sour note, too.
‘Super Frank’ Guides Coventry Back to the Top Level of English Football
The biggest story this season has been at the league’s summit. This year has seen a long-awaited finale to a footballing fairytale with Coventry City being promoted back to the Premier League after an astonishing 25 years away that saw relegations all the way down to the fourth tier. Coventry’s success showcases league’s amazing strength in depth. To gain promotion, the ‘Sky Blues’ had to overcome teams with a significant financial advantage in the form of parachute payments – the Premier League’s system of compensating relegated clubs – which often leads to clubs leaving the Premier League and being immediately promoted back. This success has been years in the making, with new manager Frank Lampard finishing the journey begun by legendary boss Mark Robins. Upon clinching the title, Lampard took to the pitch to address the fans, thanking his players and staff, and the fans for their amazing efforts in his 15 months in charge.
The race for promotion is still to be concluded, with Ipswich Town, Millwall, Middlesbrough, Southampton, and Wrexham currently rounding off the top six, though with one game to go, that could still change. Wrexham making the Premier League would be particularly exciting, given that they’ve already been promoted three times in a row under the ownership of Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds. While I’m sure some will salivate at the prospect of Welcome to Wrexham chronicling them taking on the giants: Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool, there will be others dismayed by this outcome as critics of Wrexham question whether it’s fair for a side to buy their way up the leagues by spending more than other sides, as some would allege they have.
Points Deductions Seal Wednesday and Leicester’s Relegation Fate
Unfortunately, the relegation race hasn’t been as competitive, with the season marred by numerous points deductions for teams at the bottom of the table. The three teams facing life in the third tier next campaign will be Oxford United, Leicester City, and Sheffield Wednesday. While Oxford’s relegation comes solely off their playing performance, unfortunately matters off the pitch have impacted the other two.
Leicester City have become just the fifth team in the Premier League era – following Swindon Town, Wolves, Sunderland, and unfortunately Luton Town – to have been relegated from the Premier League to the Championship and then relegated from the Championship the very next year. This is a far cry from a decade ago, when the team went from 5000-1 outsiders to win the Premier League title. Leicester went on to finish fifth twice in later seasons, winning the FA Cup along the way, too. This season hasn’t gone well for ‘The Foxes’, who sacked manager Marti Cifuntes in January – placed 14th in the league – only to fall even further to what will be their first stint in the third tier since 2008/09. Their season hasn’t been helped by their receipt of a six-point deduction due to their breach of profit and sustainability rules. With Leicester currently eight points adrift though, they’d likely have been relegated regardless of this.
Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday’s sorry season has ended in a whimper. Anyone who calls themselves a football fan should have sympathy for the Wednesday faithful, as their poor treatment under previous owner Dejphon Chansiri left them under administration and fighting for their existence. Chansiri himself has since been banned from owning or directing an EFL team for three years, but his impact has been felt by the team’s initial 12-point deduction, later raised to 18. This has understandably had an impact on the pitch, with the team achieving just one win over the course of the season and now guaranteed to break the record for the Championship’s lowest ever points total. Sadly, rocky times could still be ahead for Wednesday, as although they look to have found new ownership, it may come with yet another points penalty next season. This is because of the new potential owners’ refusal to pay off Chansiri, who was the club’s main creditor, and would mean the club starts League One life 15 points adrift at the bottom. I’m sure all football fans, many of us having experienced similar situations in our clubs, agree with me in hoping Sheffield Wednesday will bounce back soon.
Oxford United’s Two-Year Championship Stay Comes to an End
Of course, as an Oxford-based paper, it would be remiss of me not to mention Oxford United who – despite putting up a valiant fight – have been relegated back to League One after two seasons as a Championship side. Charlton Athletic’s win earlier on Saturday 25 April saw them mathematically confirmed to be going down before kicking a ball that weekend. However, morale remains relatively high at the Kassam Stadium, with supporters staying behind to applaud the team despite their poor results this campaign. This was boosted further by their 4-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday that same day, which ended their home season on a high. Given they’re the only relegated side not to have faced a points penalty due to financial trouble, it’s not unreasonable to predict that they’ll be one of the runners and riders for promotion next year. Manager Matt Bloomfield admitted to having mixed emotions – feeling “extreme disappointment” at the club’s relegation, but pride for the support of the fans, and hope for the future. He’ll be wishing that his Oxford side follows in the footsteps of Birmingham City and Cardiff City, recently relegated sides who bounced straight back up.
This year’s Championship season has been dramatic on the pitch, with the nail-biting promotion race, and off it due to three clubs receiving points deductions (Leicester, Wednesday, and West Bromwich Albion who received a two-point penalty). That this has happened raises further questions about the quality of English football ownership, which has always been a concern of fans, especially in the wake of trouble at Bury F.C. who were expelled from the professional league system altogether in 2019. Hopefully, things will improve at the three struggling clubs, and we can all look forward to a very exciting 2026/27 Championship season. Back to this year, there’s still one game to go with a lot riding on it for the promotion contenders, meaning that the final chapter of this year’s Championship tale is yet to be written.