Buzzin Championship Football

Brighton moved a point clear at the top with a 2-0 win over Peterborough and Southampton’s defeat at Leicester was their first loss this season and featured a controversial own goal – Saints’ Ricky Lambert scored at the wrong end but appeared to have been pushed into the ball by Sol Bamba.

At the other end of the table, although Doncaster Rovers picked up their first point of the season although they had to come from behind at home to Bristol City to do so.

 Biggest thumping of the week came at the City Ground, where West Ham beat Nottingham Forest 4-1. Although both sides had chances early on, the game was effectively over after half an hour as the Hammers established a three goal lead that Forest never really looked like overcoming.

Whether it was the result in particular, Forest’s poor start to the season at home (they’ve not won a home game in the league since the end of April) or their complete lack of activity in the transfer market, on Friday afternoon there were all sorts of rumours circulating about Steve McClaren’s future at the club. Forest weren’t exactly quick out of the blocks at the start of last season but they still reached the playoffs: how much of this particular crisis has been inspired by Derby’s transformation into a decent team is open to debate, but it can’t have helped matters.

Not surprisingly, the most interesting moves made by Championship clubs before the transfer window closed were those that involved players either moving to or from clubs in the Premier League. Cameron Jerome moved from Birmingham to Stoke; Scott Parker’s eventual departure from West Ham was inevitable but Sam Allardyce brought in David Bentley on loan from Spurs, the club Parker joined. Having apparently given up any hope of signing Bristol City’s Nicky Maynard, Leicester bought Jermaine Beckford from Everton.

However, the deal that might have the most impact this season involved Reading landing Adam Le Fondre from Rotherham. The Stockport born striker –who is still only 24 – scored 110 goals in 257 appearances for Stockport, Rochdale and Rotherham and if he can maintain that rate in the Championship then the Royals will have bought themselves a bargain.

So what – if anything – can we learn after five games? With just over 10% of the season gone it’s almost compulsory to make sweeping generalisations, particularly as this time last year Swansea and Scunthorpe were level on points. However, it already looks as if the momentum that propelled Brighton and Southampton to automatic promotion hasn’t stopped yet, Birmingham City’s promotion campaign could be derailed by their participation in the group stages of the Europa League and if West Ham are serious about being promoted they need to stop conceding late goals at home.

Looking at the ‘established’ Championship clubs, the early season form of both Derby and Crystal Palace is surprising but not entirely unexpected and emphasises – once again – that managerial consistency is extremely valuable at this level. Whether either of those clubs can maintain their current performance is something we’ll find out soon, as I suspect Middlesbrough may be the best long term promotion prospect from the ‘surprise’ teams so far.

At the other end of the ‘surprise’ scale I’ve already mentioned Nottingham Forest; Reading’s poor start can be excused due to a playoff hangover and some appalling luck (the missed penalties against Barnsley in particular) but Leeds appear to be victims of a combination of ‘second season’ syndrome exacerbated by disappointment at not reaching the playoffs in May. I’d expect a gradual improvement from all three of those teams before Christmas: however, if I was a fan of either Coventry or Doncaster I’d be slightly worried, although on the positive side only one of the clubs in the bottom three at this stage last season was ultimately relegated.