Following on from a few threads about this subject, I've been having a look at our stats according to whoscored.com (there's my disclaimer straight away). Stats on passing on there only go back to our last season in the Premier League, there's no Championship information prior to that. I'm presuming this season's stats are up to date.

Pass accuracy:

This current City side is, in terms of percentage, the worst passing side of the last 5 seasons. This doesn't tell the whole story as we've seen discussed - pass type has an effect on these statistics as the data below clearly shows - the lower the percentage of short passes, the less accurate the overall stat becomes.

2017/18: 61.6% accurate, 75.1% short passes
2016/17: 66.1% accurate, 75.5% short passes
2015/16: 71.8% accurate, 80.3% short passes
2014/15: 69.3% accurate, 77.5% short passes
2013/14: 75.4% accurate, 83.5% short passes

However, when you analyse successful short and long passes, there is still proof that our passing this season has been the worst in the last 5 seasons.

2017/18: long accurate 30.7%, short accurate 71.8%, total passes per game average 279.5
2016/17: long accurate 36.6%, short accurate 75.7%, total passes per game average 319.9
2015/16: long accurate 40.4%, short accurate 79.4%, total passes per game average 408.7
2014/15: long accurate 38.4%, short accurate 78.3%, total passes per game average 349.2
2013/14: long accurate 45.4%, short accurate 81.3%, total passes per game average 379

One accusation often labelled against Neil Warnock is that he likes playing long ball. Do the stats bear this out? Well, only his Rotherham team and Millwall (this season) have attempted more long passes than us in 4 seasons of Championship stats, so there might be some truth in this! It probably comes as little surprise that our overall pass inaccuracy stats (and therefore accuracy too) are currently the worst in 4 seasons of Championship football. His Rotherham side are 2nd worst in that list. Does it matter? Well, we're currently joint top of the division. Rotherham were doomed until Warnock took over and they stayed up quite comfortably, so the issue of pass success/long ball-short passing is largely irrelevant.

Do better passing sides win promotion/worse passing sides get relegated?

In 2016/17, the top 6 sides were in the top 7 accurate passers list. Brighton were the least accurate of the top 6 in terms of short passing and were only very marginally more accurate than Wigan and Blackburn, who were both relegated. Nearly half of Brighton's long balls were accurate, a very decent figure.

In 2015/16, while Hull and Middlesbrough were amongst the most accurate passers in the division, Burnley had a worse accuracy percentage than the three teams relegated. Burnley played quite a high percentage of long balls (in comparative terms) which affected that figure, yet they won the title.

In 2014/15, the three promoted teams had better passing statistics across the board than the three teams relegated.

So, to answer the question, teams can get promoted and even win the division without being the best passers.

Finally, a stat that might be of some interest. In 4 seasons of Championship stats, only in the last two seasons have teams recorded a pass success rate of over 80% - 2 last season and 5 so far this season. Fulham (this season and last) and Norwich (this season) are the first teams to get close to 90% short passes attempted. Maybe the Championship is becoming a bit more cultured in terms of football.

As for our carrot crunching friend trying to gain some moral high ground, Bristol City have, in each season since their promotion, been in the top 10 teams in the Championship for attempting long balls. So much for their slick pass and move game...

In essence, passing stats probably don't matter all that much. As one poster put it, ball --> onion bag. I've just presented some stats for those who are interested. I haven't read anything particularly into it.