Foot of EPL ............

 

	17		Nottingham Forest2	38	9	9	20	49	67	-18	32	WLWL	19	5	5	9	27	30	19	4	4	11	22	37
	18		Luton Town	38	6	8	24	52	85	-33	26	LLXL	19	4	4	11	28	37	19	2	4	13	24	48
	19		Burnley	38	5	9	24	41	78	-37	24	LLLX	19	2	4	13	19	43	19	3	5	11	22	35
	20		Sheffield United	38	3	7	28	35	104	-69	16	LLLL	19	2	4	13	19	57	19	1	3	15	16	47
1	Everton (-8)
2	Nottingham Forest (-4)

2023/24				Overall									Home						Away
				P	W	D	L	F	A	Gdf	Pts	Form	P	W	D	L	F	A	P	W	D	L	F	A
	1		Leicester City	46	31	4	11	89	41	+48	97	LWWW	23	17	1	5	47	18	23	14	3	6	42	23
	2		Ipswich Town	46	28	12	6	92	57	+35	96	WWXX	23	16	6	1	59	32	23	12	6	5	33	25
	3		Leeds United	46	27	9	10	81	43	+38	90	LLWL	23	16	5	2	45	16	23	11	4	8	36	27
	4		Southampton	46	26	9	11	87	63	+24	87	WLLL	23	15	3	5	54	29	23	11	6	6	33	34
	5		WBA	46	21	12	13	70	47	+23	75	WLLL	23	15	4	4	38	17	23	6	8	9	32	30
	6		Norwich City	46	21	10	15	79	64	+15	73	LXXW	23	15	4	4	43	22	23	6	6	11	36	42

 

The last four Championship winners have been relegated teams, the last three were the team who finished 18th in the EPL and Luton Town filled that spot this season. Prior to that the title was won by Leeds United who had finished third the year before, which is the position they again filled in 2023/24 and they have been priced strong favourites at circa 4.50 to repeat that feat.

 

The top 3 through those last five seasons (15 teams) have been provided by 12 who were either relegated, or playoff losers the previous campaign ( six of each).

 

Most compelling statistic of all is that 8 of the last 10 teams filling the automatic promotion places were receiving parachute payments from the Premier League. This is no surprise, not only is this a massive financial income boost, but comes at a time when many Championship teams are keeping a tighter hold on finances and are less willing to gamble for the Holy Grail of promotion, like we have seen Forest, Villa, Derby and others do in the recent past, with varying success. Coventry City ( 5th and 9th last two seasons, along with a FA Cup semi final) , Millwall (top 9 in 4 of the last 7 seasons) and Luton Town (19-12-6-3 last four Championship campaigns) have shown it can be done on a relative shoestring and staying within budget. No surprise that all three have played at a lower level in recent seasons. City were League 2 in 2018 and were a penalty shoot out away from the top flight five years later, Town were promoted that season, just nine years after they returned to the Football League from non league. Both have had major financial issues in the past, but, unlike some other clubs, appear to have learned their lesson and still been competitive.