With just seven games to go till the end of what's been a tumultuous Championship season, it's conceivable that the Premier League could boast three debutantes when the new campaign begins in August. Sandwiched in between Stoke and Bristol City in the top two spots, and Hull and Plymouth in fifth and sixth position, Watford and West Brom are the only two clubs in the top six to have played Premiership football since the inaugural 1992-93 season.
A cluster of clubs who have all recently crashed and burned in the top-flight - Crystal Palace, Wolves, Ipswich and Charlton - lie just beneath the top six, and they could all be in with a shout of a big day out at Wembley. Even Burnley, QPR, Sheffield United, and Cardiff, in 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th places respectively, are in with a realistic chance of claiming a play-off place, in what's been one of the tightest seasons in the league's history.
In this money-mad corporate era of the beautiful game, an FA Cup win for a Championship side and three newcomers to the Premier League next season could go a long way to restoring some fans' dwindling faith in our national obsession.
Though they'd probably be pasted more often than not in the Premier League, it would be great to see one or more of Stoke, Bristol City, Hull or Plymouth in the Premier League. Steve Coppell and Reading have proved that you don't need to break the bank to survive, you just need a great manager and some shrewd investments. It helps if you try and play a bit of football too, instead of hitting the big man and hoping to react quickest to the knockdowns.
After a combative goalless draw away at Watford, Stoke City are currently top of the Championship on goal difference. The last time they were hosting the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal was 1984-85, when they were relegated with just three wins all season. Manager Tony Pulis and the club's fans will be praying that, should they make it to the promised land of the Premier League, their current squad do not suffer a similar fate.
Promotion for Bristol City would be astonishing considering they were in League One last year, and their last campaign in the top-flight was way back in 1980, when Steve Coppell was blazing down the wing for Manchester United and Martin O'Neill was winning European Cups with Nottingham Forest. Their burly (to put it kindly) striker Lee Trundle, regularly touted as the best player outside the Premiership, could be about to get his chance to prove his skills against the big boys.
South Coast minnows Plymouth and northern under-achievers Hull City have never played in the top flight, so promotion for them could spark scenes of unbridled ecstasy as the realisation dawns that the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea will be coming to town next season.
Unfortunately for those of us who regularly root for the underdogs, the smart money is on familiar Premiership faces Watford and West Brom overhauling Stoke and Bristol City's slender advantage to clinch the top two spots before the final day on the season on May the 4th. Watford were bullied out of the top league last season but their direct, rather one-dimensional style under Aidy Boothroyd looks set to be enough to make an immediate return. West Brom have spent the last two seasons out of the Premier League, but if they can maintain their free-flowing football (which has also seen them claim an FA Cup semi-final place) for another month, they'll be favourites to go up with The Hornets.
The enthusiasm for this year's pleasantly surprising FA Cup has rekindled the idea that all clubs might still be, after all, on a level playing field. Fresh faces in the Premier League next season, as another predictably over-hyped Grand Slam Sunday approaches, would be similarly uplifting for those of us who love the game, not just one of the Big Four.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Romance of the FA cup rubbing off on the Championship
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