Buzzin Championship Football

The new English nPower Football League Championship 2011/12 season kicks off on Friday 5th August when Hull host recently relegated Blackpool.

The following day there will be a further 10 matches with the pick of the games being a late kick-off televised match between newly promoted Southampton and one of the strong favourites for promotion, Leeds United.  The first round of fixtures will be completed when Cardiff City travel to Upton Park to play automatic promotion favourites West Ham United.
With new players and managers ready to impress, the forthcoming Championship season looks likely to be as exciting as the previous; and of the three teams relegated from the Premier League two will be starting the season afresh with new managers.

Chris Hughton steered Newcastle United to a runaway Championship title in 2009/10 but was unceremoniously sacked by maverick owner Mike Ashley last December.  Hughton returns to management as replacement for Alex McLeish at Birmingham City.  McLeish resigned from the position in May and was subsequently appointed as manager of black Country rivals Aston Villa, citing a lack of backing and available transfer money from the owners.  But Hughton is a first-class coach and his previous experience in the Championship makes me believe Birmingham will be fighting for promotion alongside West Ham next season.

West Ham are clear favourites with the bookies; and while they target more players to sign alongside the excellent acquisition of Kevin Nolan from Newcastle it is still unclear whether top players such as Scott Parker, Robert Green and Matthew Upson will be playing in claret and blue come the new season.

With or without those players I believe West Ham under the guidance and man-management skills of Big Sam Allardyce will be one of a few teams chasing promotion back to the Premier League come next May along with the likes of Leeds, Birmingham, Reading and Millwall. It will also be interesting to see how the very ambitious Brighton fair after winning the League One title and holding on to their very talented young manager, Gus Poyet.

Of the three relegated teams I expect Blackpool to struggle and would be surprised if they make the play-offs.  They have lost a few key players including Charlie Adam to Liverpool, and it will be down to Ian Holloway to pick up the pieces from a very disappointing 2011 which saw Blackpool plummet from the top 10 to be relegated in just five months.

Ahead of the new English Football League season a new Football scores website will be launched.  The site will feature not only domestic football scores but a service that extends to international football scores including the European Championships, international friendly matches, international qualifiers and, of course, the FIFA World Cup.