Just been looking at Adkin's relegation season with S****horpe.....they got off to a decent start - they were in 9th position at the end of October. But they then started to fall away sharply, not winning a single game in November or December: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S****horpe_United_F.C._Season_2007-08 (bloody swear filter....replace **** with ****) ;-)
Perhaps they had a problem with the strength in depth of their squad. A good start followed by a slump would suggest a problem with injuries perhaps.
Anyway, squad depth won't be an issue with us, hopefully, so I think we can safely dismiss Nigel's record in the Championship as something largely out of his control.