EFL SEASON PREVIEW: Championship, League One and League Two get underway
The new season of the Championship, League One and League Two gets underway tonight. Burnley's return to the second tier begins with a visit to play-off finalists Huddersfield Town. The season is divided into 46 rounds, divided this time by the Qatar World Cup in November and December.
Championship, League One and League Two season starts this weekend. Fulham won last season's Championship. The fixture list is more congested than ever.
Vincent Kompany is the new manager of Burnley. Ben Mee, James Tarkowski, Nathan Collins, Nick Pope and others have been sold to soften the financial blow of relegation. Kupany has returned to his old club Manchester City for goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, defenders CJ Egan-Riley and Taylor Harwood-Bellis and midfielder Scott Twine. League One player of the season, Twin was at MK Dons last season.
Norwich and Watford are the favourites to win the Championship this season. Norwich have accumulated a lot of money from the Premier League. They will buy Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara from Sao Paulo. Teemu Pukki's last two Championship seasons have yielded 29 and 26 goals respectively. Rob Edwards was the surprise choice as Watful's manager. He is the eighth permanent manager in a little over four years. Vakoun Issouf Bayo and Rey Manaj are new arrivals at Watfull. The club has a good squad with a few players leaving.
West Brom wilted in the bright glare of promotion expectation last season. Steve Bruce has won promotion from this division four times. John Swift from Reading and Jed Wallace from Millwall have been signed. The Baggies were the lowest scorers in top half of the table last year.
Ryan Giles has joined Middlesbrough on loan from Wolves. Sheffield United finished sixth last season. Paul Heckingbottom has brought Tommy Doyle and Reda Khadra on loans to strengthen the back line at Sheffield Utd. Luton reached the play-offs last term. Joe Allen has returned to Wales from Stoke City. Swansea are looking to improve on last year's mid-table finish. Preston, Millwall, QPR, Stoke, Blackburn, Coventry and Bristol City will also be looking towards a play off challenge.
Sunderland are back in the Championship after four years in League One. Alex Neil guided them back to the play-offs. Daniel Ballard from Arsenal and Aji Alese from West Ham are signed. Jack Clarke and Leon Dajaku are made permanent loanees.
Rotherham and Wigan have just come up from League One and are favourites to go back down. Birmingham City fans should be worried despite a takeover by former Barcelona striker Maxi Lopez and businessman Paul Richardson. Lee Bowyer was sacked in early July and replaced by John Eustace. Reading finished 20th last season and their signings have been freebies or loans.
Huddersfield Town plays Burnley on Friday at 8 pm.
Sunderland takes on Coventry City on Sunday at 12 pm.
Watford plays Sheffield United on Monday at 8 pm.
Derby County will play in the third division for the first time since 1986. The club was in administration for nine months but was taken over by David Clowes in July. Liam Rosenior's side have brought in a host of free signings. Wayne Rooney has left for Washington.
Derby are in League One. This season's line-up features Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Charlton and Bolton. Wednesday are the bookies' favourites for promotion. Ipswitch are itching to get out of the division. Peterborough and MK Dons will also expect to have a say in the promotion conversation.
Ipswich won the League One title last season.
Stockport County returned to the EFL at the end of last season after 11 years away. Mark Hughes will hope to bring a fresh lease of life to Bradford City. Salford replaced Gary Bowyer with former Man United academy coach Neil Wood at end last year.
EFL highlights will return to ITV after a number of years elsewhere. All the day's action from all three divisions will be shown each Saturday at 9pm on ITV4. Jules Breach and Hugh Woozencroft will front the show and be joined by a panel of pundits.
