Objectively, it’s very easy to see why promotion to the Premier League matters. For clubs, it offers a massive financial return in a sport in which owners are lucky to break even. Last year’s playoff final was described as the most lucrative one-off fixture in sport, worth £134 million over five seasons -- even if the winner, QPR, are to be immediately relegated back to the second tier. For supporters, meanwhile, it represents a chance for their teams to test themselves on one of the biggest stages of all, against some of the best clubs on the planet.
The English Championship is the most exciting league in Europe
Since three of Europe’s five big leagues are totally over, turn your attention to the richest competition in sports -- the Premier League promotion race.
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This year’s promotion battles is one of the best ever. With what is surely to be one of the tightest finishes in history, the Championship’s top four are separated by just two points, the top eight by just nine. With five games remaining, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll end up in the top flight next season. If we’re talking in football manager speak, every side’s final few matches are cup finals. And who doesn’t love cup finals?
Aside from the pure excitement generated by the unpredictability of the thing, there’s also the simple fact that the Championship’s quality seems to have suddenly hit a peak. Unlike last season, in which two fairly poor, brutish teams -- Leicester City and Burnley -- somehow managed to crush the rest of the field, this campaign has given rise to several sides capable of being competitive in the top flight.
The favorites for promotion at present are league leaders Bournemouth, whose rise under young manager Eddie Howe has been little short of meteoric. Of all the sides in the race for the Premier League, they probably have the least familiar squad. The Cherries’ success has been as much down to the fine management of Howe as it has individual quality -- their star is Matt Ritchie, a 25-year-old late bloomer who’s just debuted for Scotland. They’re exceptionally organized, playing a high-pressing, quick-tempo game that has allowed them to score more goals than anyone else this season.
Having only been relegated last year, second-placed Norwich City are a rather more familiar outfit. They managed to retain the core of the team that went down under Neil Adams last season; their only major departures were Leroy Fer and Robert Snodgrass, but having received a very healthy fee in excess of £14 million, they were able to more than cover their losses. Some wise signings and the brave managerial appointment of young former Hamilton Academical boss Alex Neil has seen them move up to within touching distance of bouncing back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Third- and fourth-placed Watford and Middlesbrough have both been made to wait a little longer for their returns to the top tier, with the former having last played there in 2007, and the latter two years later. Aitor Karanka's Boro were the Championship's pacesetters heading into the most recent round of fixtures, though the defensive solidity on which their season's success has been constructed went awry in a 2-0 defeat away to Slaviša Jokanović's Hornets on Monday.
If there is a criticism to be had of Boro, it’s that they’ve been a little too reliant on Chelsea loanee forward Patrick Bamford for goals, though their FA Cup victory over Manchester City shows quite how dangerous they can be when on form. Watford, meanwhile, have greater variety in their goalscorers. Strikers Troy Deeney, Odion Ighalo and Matěj Vydra would probably walk into any other team in the league, and have scored a combined total of 52 goals in division this season. Now that Jokanović seems to have tightened their defense, their confidence will be at a crucial high.
Four points then separate fourth from fifth, though the race for a playoff place will be as hotly contested as an automatic promotion spot. At present, Steve McClaren's Derby county hold the advantage, though only goal difference keeps them above the league's most in-form side, Kenny Jackett's Wolverhampton Wanderers. Brentford and Ipswich Town are outside of the top six by just a point and three, respectively.
It’s a pity that recent sackings mean the fun of watching former Premier League court jester Ian Holloway and certified sexist-racist-homophobe Malky Mackay fight for their Championship lives won’t come as an added bonus, but the upshot is nevertheless that the remaining weeks of the English second tier will feature some of the most fascinating football in Europe this season -- and watching it no longer means sacrificing on quality. These are all very good, very even teams fighting over a massive prize.
