Championship season 2025/26

[Doctoroncall]

57 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Losing track of the manager changes, hopefully Brentford go for McKenna , been changes at so many with Middlesbrough, Bristol City, Norwich,  WBA, who knows at the two Sheffield clubs,

Hull City appointed Sergej Jakirovic as their head coach on a two-year contract this week. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Both still happen at most pro clubs in the UK and are used in recruitment decisions to support each other.

Money is the common denominator to success in an AI driven recruitment approach but with more risk. If you’re a Prem club, you’re trading around the M&S+ standard of player markets and you’ll likely get a decent buy. If you’re in the Championship you’re trading around the Lidl centre aisle of player trading markets and the chances of getting a fucking unreliable piece of garbage increases greatly. Below the Championship you’re in street trader territory, but it matters less because quality is less of an issue.

[Doctoroncall]

11 hours ago, sockeye said:

As crap as Sport Republic's recruitment has been, this is on another level.

If true that the transfers were made solely due to AI modelling, then that’s a huge risk. Of course we have no idea as to what the AI model was trained to do (Brighton do well with theirs in their recruitment process) or the amount of any human interaction in the player selection. 
 

They will certainly be players to watch out for as well as the AI chosen Manager to replace Wilder (mad Nate the second)!

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

On 20/05/2025 at 19:49, sockeye said:

Absolutely buzzing for next season. Of course ourselves, Ipswich and Leicester will be fighting for promotion but I expect Wrexham and Birmingham will make a good fist of it too. A few big name play off stragglers like Coventry, West Brom, Sunderland will be up there and if the rumours of the Walton family buying Sheffield Wednesday are true they may well pick up as well. Not to mention the derby too. It'll be a breath of fresh air after this disaster of a season.

And next week the fixture list comes out (Thursday 26th June). Always a good day to examine those first few games and start thinking about which places to visit.  

[skintsaint]

[S-Clarke]

Odd one from Boro, why would Edwards get the job ahead of either of those two? If that is true, and I was a Boro fan, I'd be sat with my head in my hands right now.

The lack of takers of Cooper is plain odd though, he's clearly better than Rob Edwards.

Edwards just oversaw one of the biggest underachievement's in EFL history with the double relegation of Luton.

Edited Tuesday at 14:45 by S-Clarke

[skintsaint]

Selles to Sheff Utd is another rumour.

[leesaint88]

21 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Odd one from Boro, why would Edwards get the job ahead of either of those two? If that is true, and I was a Boro fan, I'd be sat with my head in my hands right now.

The lack of takers of Cooper is plain odd though, he's clearly better than Rob Edwards.

Edwards just oversaw one of the biggest underachievement's in EFL history with the double relegation of Luton.

I think it's more to do with Cooper and where he wants to be, currently he's got a job with the FA and he's probably quite happy with that compared to the cut throat world of club management. 

[UpweySaint]

47 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Selles to Sheff Utd is another rumour.

Guardian have it as basically a done deal. I don’t really judge Selles on his time with us and he’s reasonably well since leaving but I feel less worried about Sheff Utd with Wilder gone. He did a really good job with them last season and the fans understandably hold him in high esteem. If Ruben doesn’t get off to a strong start things could get tense their way.

The other interesting tidbit seems to be Rohl linked with plenty of jobs but still being at Sheff Weds. There has been speculation about him holding out for better offers or Chansiri not wanting to budge from a big buy out clause. Either way if he is still there when the new season kicks off it could be an interesting watch…

Have to say I’m feeling more pleased we got Still and got him relatively early. Throw in Edwards at Boro, McKenna linked to Brentford and whatever Leicester are up to and it feels like a lot of the fancied sides will have had a lot of upheaval.

I almost forgot Manning to Norwich from Bristol leaving them needing to find a replacement.

[Gloucester Saint]

Some transfer activity at other Championship clubs today.

Harry Darling as predicted has moved on a free to Norwich from Swansea despite interest from Brum and Wrexham. Wrexham have purchased Ryan Hardie from Plymouth though which is a decent signing for an ambitious club up from League One https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2q2rd565ro

Cameron Burgess a reasonable free transfer for Swansea, considering he featured fairly regularly for Ipswich last season in the PL and Aussie international defender.

[Doctoroncall]

55 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

Guardian have it as basically a done deal. I don’t really judge Selles on his time with us and he’s reasonably well since leaving but I feel less worried about Sheff Utd with Wilder gone. He did a really good job with them last season and the fans understandably hold him in high esteem. If Ruben doesn’t get off to a strong start things could get tense their way.

The other interesting tidbit seems to be Rohl linked with plenty of jobs but still being at Sheff Weds. There has been speculation about him holding out for better offers or Chansiri not wanting to budge from a big buy out clause. Either way if he is still there when the new season kicks off it could be an interesting watch…

Have to say I’m feeling more pleased we got Still and got him relatively early. Throw in Edwards at Boro, McKenna linked to Brentford and whatever Leicester are up to and it feels like a lot of the fancied sides will have had a lot of upheaval.

I almost forgot Manning to Norwich from Bristol leaving them needing to find a replacement.

Bristol will appoint Gerhard Struber (ex Koln). 

[CB Fry]

3 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Selles to Sheff Utd is another rumour.

Feels like great news for us. 

[woodsaint1]

5 hours ago, skintsaint said:

😂 Rohl isnt the hot property he thinks he is. He'll be reporting back to Wednesday soon with his tail between his legs

[Disco Stu]

25 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

😂 Rohl isnt the hot property he thinks he is. He'll be reporting back to Wednesday soon with his tail between his legs

It's entirely down to his release clause.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

And Lampard to Leicester is interesting. Didn't really rate him while managing Premier League clubs but it looks like he learned a lot and he did a good job at Coventry. Think he'll do well at Leicester too. 

[UpweySaint]

3 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Bristol will appoint Gerhard Struber (ex Koln). 

Was he at Barnsley or am I confusing him?

[Midfield_General]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Harry Darling as predicted has moved on a free to Norwich from Swansea despite interest from Brum and Wrexham. Wrexham have purchased Ryan Hardie from Plymouth though which is a decent signing for an ambitious club up from League One https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2q2rd565ro

He was a major transfer target for Martin at Rangers, who has signed him twice before. They seemed pretty confident up there that their 'special relationship' would be enough to get him to join them, but instead he chooses to go to Norwich on a free. Ouch. 

Martin's first Champions League game is in just over 4 weeks time. 

[Gloucester Saint]

29 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

He was a major transfer target for Martin at Rangers, who has signed him twice before. They seemed pretty confident up there that their 'special relationship' would be enough to get him to join them, but instead he chooses to go to Norwich on a free. Ouch. 

Martin's first Champions League game is in just over 4 weeks time. 

Yes, forgot Rangers were after him, but he’s played for Liam Manning before at MK (ironically another ex-Martin club) and originally from Cambridge direction so once Manning took the Carrow hot seat this looked a formality. 

[Doctoroncall]

10 hours ago, UpweySaint said:

Was he at Barnsley or am I confusing him?

He was there. Doesn’t seem to be able to finish a season where ever he goes!

Seems to focus on defence and high press. 

[Midfield_General]

17 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Selles to Sheff Utd is another rumour.

Looks like this might be happening:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jun/17/sheffield-united-ruben-selles-take-over-from-chris-wilder-manager

Big decision to sack a manager with a track record of winning promotions, who in his last season has overcome a points deduction to get them to within a whisker of promotion back to the Premier League, to replace him with someone who's just come fourth bottom in the same league and been sacked for underperformance. Especially when the reason is that the incumbent manager 'disagreed with the owners' enthusiasm for a heavily data-driven player recruitment system'. 

So hopefully Selles gets off to a bad start with his squad of cheap spreadsheet players, the split fanbase revolts and they implode nicely. Then that's one promotion rival who would have been a big threat pointlessly and needlessly weakened. Excellent. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:32 by Midfield_General

[AlexLaw76]

Selles must interview very well

Remarkable really

Edited Wednesday at 08:44 by AlexLaw76

[Doctoroncall]

I can imagine Sheffield United recruitment will be continuing to look at young hungry players (like everyone else). But the new owners were happy enough to give Wilder a three year contract in December. Bizarre. 
 

They have already recruited two young hungry players last season. Total appearances of zero. 

[Barsiem]

All those who thought Selles would be a decent manager at a higher level will soon find out!  Personally think it's a bonkers appointment, but good luck to him (apart from when they play us of course)

[Wade Garrett]

It seems to be more important to be good at PowerPoint presentations than to be good at managing a football club.

Selles for Wilder, fucking hilarious.  Blades fans must be fuming.  The guy is an onion.

Also Wednesday are set to be given a transfer embargo for the next 3 windows - according to Jim Shite on Talksport.
 

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, Barsiem said:

All those who thought Selles would be a decent manager at a higher level will soon find out!  Personally think it's a bonkers appointment, but good luck to him (apart from when they play us of course)

He'd have to fail pretty spectacularly not to get top 4-5 with them tbh. Squad depth and finances are far above probably 19-20 teams in this league, not sure we'll learn much unless he comfortably secures automatics.

For the record, i think he could be a good manager - but he's still early on his career and he's done nothing but manage at basket case clubs so far.

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

It seems to be more important to be good at PowerPoint presentations than to be good at managing a football club.

Selles for Wilder, fucking hilarious.  Blades fans must be fuming.  The guy is an onion.

Also Wednesday are set to be given a transfer embargo for the next 3 windows - according to Jim Shite on Talksport.
 

Wednesday can sign loans and frees only. It will go to appeal, so like shortened. 

[Midfield_General]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Also Wednesday are set to be given a transfer embargo for the next 3 windows - according to Jim Shite on Talksport.
 

Ooof, another smack in the teeth for Danny. He's currently desperately trying to convince Leipzig to hire him after being passed on by us, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Hamburg and Werder Bremen because their madman Chairman is demanding £5m to release him from his contract. I wonder if he might actually do the unthinkable and resign at some point, just to get out of that basket case of a club, even though it might potentially personally cost him millions in lost earnings. 

[skintsaint]

4 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

I wonder if he might actually do the unthinkable and resign at some point, just to get out of that basket case of a club, even though it might potentially personally cost him millions in lost earnings. 

I still think that if another club takes him on, they have to pay compensation if the original club demanded it.

[Midfield_General]

1 minute ago, skintsaint said:

I still think that if another club takes him on, they have to pay compensation if the original club demanded it.

Wouldn't it be more likely to be a 'gardening leave' type scenario, where he could resign but would still be held to a notice period (e.g. six months) during which he can't work for anyone else? Jordan did that to Steve Bruce at Palace if I remember correctly. Once that notice period expires though I don't think the previous club can have any further hold over him. 

Not that a six month garden leave period would do him a lot of good for a club who was looking to appoint someone now though, e.g. Leipzig. 

[skintsaint]

[skintsaint]

4 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Wouldn't it be more likely to be a 'gardening leave' type scenario, where he could resign but would still be held to a notice period (e.g. six months) during which he can't work for anyone else? Jordan did that to Steve Bruce at Palace if I remember correctly. Once that notice period expires though I don't think the previous club can have any further hold over him. 

Not that a six month garden leave period would do him a lot of good for a club who was looking to appoint someone now though, e.g. Leipzig. 

I think it all gets agreed between the three parties and some form of compensation gets agreed upon. Knowing Sheff Weds owner there won't be much negiotiation!

[skintsaint]

Official

Tough gig following someone getting sacked even after getting 92 points last season (before deductions).

Edited Wednesday at 18:47 by skintsaint

[Badger]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Official

Tough gig following someone getting sacked even after getting 92 points last season (before deductions).

And who was a local bloke, and as far as I’m aware, popular with the support 

[Badger]

6 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Ooof, another smack in the teeth for Danny. He's currently desperately trying to convince Leipzig to hire him after being passed on by us, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Hamburg and Werder Bremen because their madman Chairman is demanding £5m to release him from his contract. I wonder if he might actually do the unthinkable and resign at some point, just to get out of that basket case of a club, even though it might potentially personally cost him millions in lost earnings. 

Have Leicester given up on him though or have I missed something? 

[Midfield_General]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

Have Leicester given up on him though or have I missed something? 

As it stands Van Nistelrooy is still there and there's not a lot of noise about him leaving. A lot of their fans seem to think he'll be staying, not least because they can't afford to sack him. They're skint. 

Even if they did get rid of him, I can't see them being so desperate for their next man to be Rohl that they'd pay a £5m release fee for him, given their situation. They'd go for a free agent. 

[Saint86]

Don't like how his is shaping up - Could very easily see Wilde going to Leicester now.

[Willo of Whiteley]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Don't like how his is shaping up - Could very easily see Wilde going to Leicester now.

Leicester don’t have enough to shift Ruud van Nistelrooy let alone get someone else in too.

[Saint_clark]

On 17/06/2025 at 20:44, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

And Lampard to Leicester is interesting. Didn't really rate him while managing Premier League clubs but it looks like he learned a lot and he did a good job at Coventry. Think he'll do well at Leicester too. 

He needs to stop jumping ship from clubs when he gets halfway to some success. Leicester has the potential to be a cluster fuck for him - if he doesn't get them in the top two, the fans will want him out. 

[CB Fry]

Where is "Lampard to Leicester" even coming from? I can't see any even wild speculation about it.

Edited Thursday at 06:36 by CB Fry

[Holmes_and_Watson]

6 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Leicester don’t have enough to shift Ruud van Nistelrooy let alone get someone else in too.

If the squad didn't deliver for RVN last season, it could be a long season as they clear out the squad within PSR constraints, as they can't afford to sack him. Hopefully with a points deduction too.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

He needs to stop jumping ship from clubs when he gets halfway to some success. Leicester has the potential to be a cluster fuck for him - if he doesn't get them in the top two, the fans will want him out. 

I think he’s only left one club by choice, Derby. I think he’s been sacked in his other jobs ( perhaps unfairly at Chelsea). 

[Football Special]

12 hours ago, Badger said:

And who was a local bloke, and as far as I’m aware, popular with the support 

Sheffield United fans are really not happy with Wilder going or with Selles as the replacement, first time he'll manage with the expectation of winning games, hopefully they'll struggle. 

[revolution saint]

50 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Sheffield United fans are really not happy with Wilder going or with Selles as the replacement, first time he'll manage with the expectation of winning games, hopefully they'll struggle. 

Yeah, that would be my concern too.  Selles doesn't strike me as a particularly daring or adventurous coach and is more attuned to the defensive, hard to beat side of the game.  They'll still have one of the better squads in the division but can easily see them picking up too many draws for a shot at automatic promotion.

[Pamplemousse]

Fixtures are out in a week's time. I'm fairly certain that we will be at home for the first game of the season, not ITK but we're usually at home on Bank Holiday August weekend as the skates prefer to be away for the Victorious Festival in the city, and the opening four games of a season are usually HAHA or AHAH. So fitting that pattern would mean we're at home on MD1.

[revolution saint]

18 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Fixtures are out in a week's time. I'm fairly certain that we will be at home for the first game of the season, not ITK but we're usually at home on Bank Holiday August weekend as the skates prefer to be away for the Victorious Festival in the city, and the opening four games of a season are usually HAHA or AHAH. So fitting that pattern would mean we're at home on MD1.

I'm calling Wrexham at home on the Friday night.

[skintsaint]

1 minute ago, revolution saint said:

I'm calling Wrexham at home on the Friday night.

Wrexham will be at home v either Swansea, Leicester, Ipswich or us. 

[whelk]

Wrexham valued at £475m. Mental

https://originalfootball.substack.com/p/wrexhams-475m-play-how-a-hollywood

Edited Thursday at 14:50 by whelk

[skintsaint]

31 minutes ago, whelk said:

Wrexham valued at £475m. Mental

https://originalfootball.substack.com/p/wrexhams-475m-play-how-a-hollywood

Give it 5 to 10 seasons, it will be 14.75m

[skintsaint]

Another new boss, this time at Bristol C.

 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

...and the opening four games of a season are usually HAHA...

You might find the opening fixtures a laugh, but I'm hoping to start a serious promotion campaign. 🙂