An alternative Championship team of the year

Posted by on Apr 18, 2011 in Bristol City, Cardiff City, Championship, Leeds United, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, QPR, Reading, The Seventy Two | 8 Comments

As the dust settles on another PFA Team of the Year, the recriminations begin. Fans up and down the country make their cases for the inclusion of their own favourite players rather than those selected from other sides. Quite how you can judge so many players you barely see with any accuracy is beyond me. Nevertheless, let’s jump on the bandwagon with an alternative Championship team of the year…

For …

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Norwich City 3 Bristol City 1: a tactical perspective

Posted by on Mar 15, 2011 in Bristol City, Championship, Norwich City, The Seventy Two | 3 Comments

Last season, it was Ian Holloway’s Blackpool that won promotion to the Premier League playing attractive football despite a relative lack of investment. This time, Norfolk is the home of their potential successors. Tangerine Dreaming, a superb tactics blog on Blackpool FC, examined the Canaries as they met Bristol City in a vital televised clash.

Winning the centre ground is vital in football matches and Norwich did this with …

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The Championship run-in: a very brief overview

Posted by on Mar 4, 2011 in Barnsley, Bristol City, Burnley, Cardiff City, Championship, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Doncaster Rovers, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Leicester City, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Preston North End, QPR, Reading, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield United, Swansea City, The Seventy Two, Watford | 5 Comments

At this stage of the Championship season, most teams have stabilised at a position that reflects their overall quality. There are some anomalies, of course, with Portsmouth perhaps the most pressing of these - Pompey have won their last five - but, generally speaking, you can measure the task ahead by a team’s league position.

So let’s do precisely that. Listed below is the current Championship table including the average …

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Which Championship managers are bound for the Premier League? Part 2

Posted by on Mar 4, 2011 in Barnsley, Bristol City, Burnley, Cardiff City, Championship, Doncaster Rovers, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, The Seventy Two | No Comments

The second part of this mini-series has been a little while coming. Apologies for that, but it is well worth the wait. Included below are the views of some of the Championship’s top bloggers and most prolific tweeters on whether the man in charge of their club is destined to manage in the Premier League.

Tony Mowbray (Middlesbrough)

by @smog_blog

Tony Mowbray has already managed a Premier League team - …

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Which Championship managers are bound for the Premier League? Part 1

Posted by on Feb 24, 2011 in Bristol City, Burnley, Championship, Derby County, Leeds United, Leicester City, Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Reading, The Seventy Two | 8 Comments

Ultimately, the Premier League is the standard that all Championship clubs must aspire to reach. And every manager in the second tier must believe in his ability to earn a living at the highest level. So which managers are cut out for the top flight? The Seventy Two enlisted some readers to offer their views…

Steve Cotterill (Portsmouth)

by @mrnipps

Ten years ago, the answer would almost certainly have been …

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