The 2015/16 Championship campaign: some facts and figures

[The Lone Gunman]

All of the top four sides in this season's Championship (Burnley, Middlesbrough, Brighton and Hull) occupied either an automatic promotion position or a play-off place from the first week of September until the end of the campaign.

Derby entered the top six in mid-October and remained there for the rest of the season.

Sheffield Wednesday broke into the play-off positions in mid-January and, apart from one week towards the end of that month when they slipped to 7th, they also stayed in the top six for the remainder of the campaign.

From mid-October onward, only three teams other than the eventual top six ever occupied a play-off place. They were Birmingham, Ipswich and Cardiff, who made it into the top six for just one week in early-December following a 3-2 victory at bottom club Bolton.

The last team other than the top six to occupy a play-off place was Birmingham, who spent one week in 6th position at the end of January.

The gap between 6th and 7th place in this year's final Championship table was five points. Only once in the last twenty years has the gap been larger. That was back in 2005/06, when eight points separated the teams in the 6th and 7th positions.

At the other end of the table, a huge gap of nine points between the team occupying the final relegation slot (Charlton) and the team above them (Rotherham) was the largest at Championship level since the introduction of the three points for a win system in 1981.

Cardiff's final tally of 56 goals scored was their lowest in the Championship since the 2004/05.

[insider]

What are your thoughts on Slade as an outsider looking in ?

[The Lone Gunman]

What are your thoughts on Slade as an outsider looking in ?

The least inspirational Cardiff City manager I can remember. He made Alan Cork look interesting. However, to be honest I'm not sure if anyone else would have done too much better with the squad he had at his disposal. On paper, the teams City fielded looked severely limited to me more often than not, but until the final few games they kept grinding out reasonable results without ever looking like genuine play-off contenders.

[insider]

The least inspirational Cardiff City manager I can remember. He made Alan Cork look interesting. However, to be honest I'm not sure if anyone else would have done too much better with the squad he had at his disposal. On paper, the teams City fielded looked severely limited to me more often than not, but until the final few games they kept grinding out reasonable results without ever looking like genuine play-off contenders.

Thanks for that.

[The Lone Gunman]

Thanks for that.

A question for you (and anybody else who wants to answer it): was the Championship really as poor this season as it appeared to be? To be honest, during the last few years I haven't watched too much Championship football on TV, but I did watch plenty of games this season and the standard looked dismal more often than not. Most of the games were reasonably competitive and entertaining to watch as a result, but the actual quality of the football itself was generally awful.

The fact that teams as apparently limited as Ipswich, Cardiff and Birmingham remained in the top ten for almost all of the season seemed to speak volumes. The top six were fairly decent sides by this division's standards without being remarkable, but the rest appeared really weak this time around.

[insider]

I Think the championship has gone like the Premiership (Leicester apart)
What I mean is with the so called fair play rules teams with money or prepared to gamble on promotion will be near the the top.
I think the top six were there all on merit the rest were also rans.
Burnley parachute payments
Middlesbrough spent a fortune and would be in transfer embargo if they failed
Brighton did really well with a good manager I hope they go up
Derby have spent millions in the last couple of years and surely will be in a transfer embargo if they don`t win the play offs
Hull parachute payments
Sheff weds did well but must have spent a bit on loans and signings
Top six were decent enough but the rest was much of a muchness.

[The Lone Gunman]

It was an unusual season in statistical terms, as I highlighted above. Five of the top six were in those positions from mid-October onwards (at the latest). Nobody else other than the eventual top six managed to get into the play-off places for the final three months of the season. I doubt that has happened in a long time (if ever before). Meanwhile, the gap at the bottom was the biggest-ever under the three points for a win system.

So many clubs at this level now seem to have major problems of one sort or another. Very few appear settled off the field or on it. It's still a competitive division to a degree, although the final league table makes it look rather more tame this time around given that the top six were miles clear and the bottom three were hopelessly adrift. Meanwhile, the overall quality of the football definitely seems to have deteriorated.

[Cyclops]

A question for you (and anybody else who wants to answer it): was the Championship really as poor this season as it appeared to be?

My reply: Yes, the standard of Championship football was poor overall. I'm not surprised by your evaluation. Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Hull were by far the best teams to play at CCS. The also rans like Brum and Ipswich just worked hard and were well organised.

We played well against the better teams; but couldn't beat the poor teams. Was this down to poor motivation or lacking the determination to get the job done. Either way, Slade has to carry the can.

Edit: Should add there was an incredible inconsistency through the whole season by everyone. Down to lack of class or teams being unable to work so hard for 46 games?

[the other bob wilson]

I've felt for some time now that the modern day Championship is not designed for flowing football reliant on flair and skill. It's too much of a slog for that and, although I'm still a big fan of it, the Championship's main excitement and attraction for me comes from it's unpredictability and that feeling that the large majority of matches played in it remain competitive right up until the last whistle.
That said, apart from the two from three race for the automatic promotion places, it seems to me that 2015/16 was far from a vintage year for the division - any league where all of the major issues bar one have been decided going into the last day of the campaign is never a sign of a good league in my book.
Last season the teams who finished seventh and eighth (Wolves and Derby) looked like potential Premier League teams for much of the time and were both unlucky to miss out on the top six given the general standard of their play over the nine months of the season - can anyone really say the same about Ipswich and Cardiff this season?

[BLUEAWAY]

A question for you (and anybody else who wants to answer it): was the Championship really as poor this season as it appeared to be? To be honest, during the last few years I haven't watched too much Championship football on TV, but I did watch plenty of games this season and the standard looked dismal more often than not. Most of the games were reasonably competitive and entertaining to watch as a result, but the actual quality of the football itself was generally awful.

The fact that teams as apparently limited as Ipswich, Cardiff and Birmingham remained in the top ten for almost all of the season seemed to speak volumes. The top six were fairly decent sides by this division's standards without being remarkable, but the rest appeared really weak this time around.

The fact that we finished as high as eighth confirms for me that the 'Championship' was indeed 'poor'.