Buzzin Championship Football

An unusual weekend in so far as it’s spread over four days and there are three televised matches as well as three Yorkshire derbies.

The programme starts with the first Yorkshire derby: Doncaster’s trip to Middlesbrough (tomorrow, Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm) is Boro’s first game without Tony Mowbray being in charge for just over three years. Rovers have never won at Middlesbrough in the league: their only victory was in an FA Cup tie at Ayresome Park sixty years ago.

The final word on Tony Mowbray – for now. His overall career numbers actually aren’t that bad. He’d lost around 34% of his games since taking over at Hibs almost a decade ago but that number had gone up recently. On his watch Boro only finished in the top ten once and failed to make the playoffs: considering that this is Middlesbrough’s longest period outside the top tier since Mowbray played for them I think it’s fair to say that his stewardship was unsuccessful.

Saturday lunchtime’s game is the South Yorkshire derby between Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday (Sky Sports 1, 12:15pm) which looks as if it could be a cagey meeting between two struggling teams. Although the Tykes have only kept two home clean sheets in the last 10 games and currently have the worst defence in the Championship, last week’s win over Middlesbrough will have provided a morale boost. Wednesday haven’t won an away league game since April but have only lost once in their last five games at Oakwell.

Unfortunately, the biggest game of the weekend – and possibly the season – won’t be televised. It’s first versus second when Burnley entertain QPR and if either side is top at the end of the game, the reward at the end of the season could be massive. In five of the last six seasons, the team that lead the Championship at the end of October went on to win automatic promotion. Long term readers won’t be too surprised to find out that Cardiff (first place in October 2010) were the only team to miss out and only two of those teams (Wolves in 2009 and Cardiff last season) went on to win the Championship, but it’s a strong correlation nonetheless.

Remarkably, 41 years ago this week, Burnley were top of the old second division, one point ahead of QPR. Apart from a blip in March 1973 following a home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday, the Clarets – managed by club legend Jimmy Adamson – led the table from early October onwards. Although Rangers drew at Turf Moor in September and won the return in January, they finished one point behind Burnley. If – like me – you’re of a certain age and you can’t quite remember what you were doing at the time, ‘Mouldy Old Dough’ was number one and Gordon Banks had been seriously injured in a car crash that eventually cost him the sight in his right eye.

Back to tomorrow’s game – and once again I’ve got to mention that in my opinion QPR haven’t been tested yet. Six of their eight wins this season have been against teams that are currently in the bottom half of the table and last week’s 2-2 draw at Millwall was the first time they’ve conceded more than one goal this term. Rangers’ form at Turf Moor isn’t exactly inspiring either: they’ve failed to score in five of their last six visits and have only won once in the last 30 years.

That being said, Burnley have only had a marginally tougher set of fixtures this season. Three of their four wins at Turf Moor this season have come against clubs currently in the bottom six although beating Reading at the start of the month indicates that the Clarets may very well be as advertised.

There’s also the mouthwatering prospect of having three of the top ten goalscorers in the Sky Bet Championship on the pitch at the same time. Between them Sam Vokes and Danny Ings have scored fourteen of Burnley’s 22 goals this season. Charlie Austin – who joined QPR from Burnley in August – has notched six goals in 2013/14 but Rangers look a bit thin at striker at the moment: former England international Andrew Johnson is the only other QPR player to have scored more than one goal so far.

The only other game that could have an impact on Saturday evening’s table is at Huish Park where Nottingham Forest are the visitors. Yeovil won their first ever  league meeting in Somerset against Forest almost exactly eight years ago but lost the next three encounters without scoring – and the Glovers have only scored once in front of their own fans this season.

It’s the next round of the Capital One cup next week but with a rare televised Monday night game (Brighton v Watford, Sky Sports 1) I’ll be back on Monday with a round up of the weekend’s games so far plus a look at how the remaining Sky Bet Championship teams might do in the cup.

Last of all: don’t forget to put your clocks back on Saturday night!