Nine months, 46 games and for four teams it wasn’t until injury time in the final fixture of the season that their fates were decided. Brighton might still face play-off heartache, of course, but last Saturday displayed exactly what the Championship is all about: drama and sheer unpredictability.
Leicester and Burnley, far and away the best sides in the division, had long been assured of their places in the Premier League – even if the latter’s performance felled Reading in their race for sixth – while three of the four play-off positions had already been decided, meaning much of the final day attention was on the battle for survival. It was the ending this season deserved, with Birmingham, seven defeats on the bounce and 2-0 behind at Bolton, fighting back to earn a 93rd minute point and send Doncaster down instead.
They drop to League One with Yeovil and Barnsley – proof that it’s not just in the top tier that money determines so much. Interestingly, the highest rated player in the division was a Yeovil defender. Shane Duffy, who was on loan from Everton, had an average of 7.71 from 37 games despite the Somerset team conceding 75 goals.
Kieran Trippier, the Burnley right-back and leading creator with 14 assists, was another standout throughout the season, winning eight man of the match awards, while Ipswich’s Christophe Berra and Reading’s Alex Pearce should be commended for their defensive performances too.
In midfield, Danny Drinkwater provided a key platform for Leicester City while Andy Reid continued to sprinkle some magic over an otherwise troublesome season at Nottingham Forest. But the highest rated midfielder was Blackburn’s Tom Cairney who scored five and created six goals with an average return of 7.49, showing his versatility by playing in five different positions.
Up front, Troy Deeney and Sam Vokes had the highest average ratings but the two players who contributed the highest percentage of goals for their teams, Blackburn's Jordan Rhodes (25 of their 70 goals with four assists) and Leeds's Ross McCormack (28/59/8), were also in stunning form.
The pick of the bunch though was Burnley’s Danny Ings. His partnership with Vokes was hugely important but this was the year Ings turned from promising youngster to the real deal (Player Focus: Player of the Season Ings Coming of Age). Despite winning promotion, Sean Dyche is aware of interest from other sides and they may have a battle on their hands to keep him.
Thankfully, the season’s fun has not yet finished, with the final promotion place to be decided. Predicting the outcome of the playoffs is one of the more difficult assignments and though Brighton, the lowest scorers in the top half of the table appear to be outsiders on paper against Derby, it would be no shock to see them reach Wembley. Four wins and four draws at the tail-end of the campaign saw them sneak in and their biggest strength is their defensive record. But Steve McClaren's Rams deserve their favourites' tag and the league’s top scorers won five of their final six. Derby won both meetings by a single goal, so expect them to progress narrowly over two legs.
The other semi-final is even trickier to call. Many would have said QPR were nailed on certainties for automatic promotion but it was clear from the moment Charlie Austin was injured in late January that it was not going to be a walk in the park for their big-name squad.
Wigan started the campaign slowly but ended up transforming from mid-table obscurity to one of the division’s best sides when Uwe Rösler replaced Owen Coyle (Team Focus: Rosler Leading Wigan to Late Promotion Charge). Austin’s return has boosted Rangers but it would be foolish to read too much into Wigan’s recent form, seeing as Rösler changed things around quite a bit in preparation for these games.
Still, can the Ravel Morison effect (Team Focus: Morrison Deal Delay Highlights Harry's Concerns) work to Harry Redknapp’s advantage, who has never managed in the playoffs? Such is the high intensity of these games, how the respective benches are used could have a major impact. And that is one area where QPR have an advantage.
Who do you think will win the play-offs and fill the final promotion place from the Championship? Let us know in the comments below
