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The new Championship season has arrived! Here are five bold predictions for the 2024/25 campaign, with Burnley sacking Scott Parker among the *certainties*.
Des Buckingham’s Oxford United are understandably firm favourites for relegation after his side shocked the masses last season by sneaking into the play-offs and earning promotion back to the Championship with a well-deserved win at Wembley against third-placed Bolton Wanderers.
Having finished 15 points adrift of the automatic promotion places in League One, Oxford’s step up – in theory – to the Championship is steeper than the one being taken by Derby County and Portsmouth, but the play-off winners have more reason to be optimistic than the two other promoted sides.
Losing last season’s star player Josh Murphy on a free transfer to Portsmouth was an unwelcome blow, but Oxford have still had a very strong window as they have added Championship quality to their squad in various positions.
Peter Kioso, Will Vaulks and loanee Malcolm Ebiowei are among their standout additions, but their best bit of business is arguably keeping hold of highly sought-after midfielder Cameron Brannagan, who has extended his contract.
Do not expect this season’s contest at the bottom to be as exciting as 2023/24 as around ten Championship sides scrapped it out around the relegation zone. Still, Plymouth Argyle (*Wayne Rooney‘s Plymouth Argyle*), Blackburn Rovers and even Watford are likely to be at risk of joining the three promoted teams in fighting to avoid the drop to League One.
I’m not saying Oxford are certain to stay up as the three coming up could go straight back down, but their impressive recruitment and Buckingham’s coaching credentials *currently* give them more of a fighting chance than their former League One foes.
Derby really need to be very active in the transfer market this month as their squad is one of the worst in the division, while manager Paul Warne has question marks surrounding his credentials at this level after his relegations with Rotherham United.
Oxford’s advantage over Portsmouth isn’t as strong after their recent business, but last season’s League One champions could do with boosting their optimism further by having a busy month.
On one hand, Burnley appointing Parker makes sense as he has two Championship promotions on his CV with Fulham and AFC Bournemouth. On the other hand, it will be concerning for Clarets supporters that his two previous teams were underwhelming as they adopted his plodding approach which often lacks urgency.
Yes, Parker has two promotions. But this is largely thanks to the superb quality of his last two squads as they carried him to Championship glory. This was a similar case with Leicester City in 2023/24 as less capable managers than new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca would have got them over the line.
Hampered by Kompany’s naivety, Burnley infuriated neutrals as their narrow-minded manager refused to tinker with their style to boost their survival chances. But they return to the Championship with an enviable squad and should compete for promotion.
While Burnley are well-equipped for a top-two push, Parker currently has far too many cooks and a lot of work is required to make his squad streamlined enough to ensure they are not impacted by the same overcrowded problem suffered by Chelsea in recent years.
This means Parker may be tested more this season than he has been previously in the Championship and if Burnley swiftly slip out of the promotion picture, club chiefs could cut ties with a manager whose reputation is yet to recover from that 9-0 loss to Liverpool.
