Sportsman Untitled: Gab Sutton and Benjamin Bloom reflect on their pre-season predictions

The Sportsman Untitled - A weekly Championship podcast also shown on YouTube -  was back this week with a special episode and in the final release before Christmas, I was joined by EFL experts Gabriel Sutton and Benjamin. 

Back in August, before a ball was kicked this season, we all got together and thrashed out our predictions for the upcoming Championship campaign. From title winners to the relegation trio, and the Golden Boot winner to the surprise package, we covered it all. And obviously, we got a lot wrong. Christmas is a time for reflection, so this week, we took a look back at what we got right, and wrong, so far. 

In this episode we take a look back at our predictions from the start of the season, in which we talk in depth about the likes of underperforming Luton Town and overperforming Blackburn Rovers. John Eustace has done a terrific job of late at Ewood Park, with Rovers winning their last six matches on the bounce which has made them genuine play-off contenders this term. 

He is certainly in contention to become manager of the season at this stage, given a couple of our pundits had Blackburn to get relegated at the start of the season given all the off-the-field issues they have. Whoops. He and Tom Cleverley have arguably been the biggest overperformers in the dugout so far, with the Watford boss now looking set to stay in post for the rest of the season, which is an achievement in itself at Vicarage Road these days. 

Championship Odds

We also discuss two managerial vacancies on this week’s show. Despite winning a surprise promotion at Wembley last season, Oxford United made the decision to part company with Des Buckingham after one win in their last 16 games. That sounds like a fair decision on paper, but given they currently sit outside the bottom three after a rapid start to the campaign, and survival is the only aim this term, it feels harsh. 

The U’s have overperformed this term so far and now they will search for a replacement for Buckingham, a boyhood Oxford fan who will be devastated to lose his job at this stage of the season. I’m not sure this decision will pay off for them in the long run, but the list of experienced Championship managers currently available is long. 

They will be in competition with Millwall for a new boss, after they and Neil Harris parted company. The Lions went for a different approach when giving Joe Edwards the job last season, and that didn’t work out, so it will be interesting to see who they plump for this time. With Gary Rowett, Ryan Lowe, Mark Robins and Steve Schumacher all currently out of work, they certainly won't be short of options. 

Millwall sit 13th in the league but have lost their last three outings, so perhaps it isn’t a bad time for a new manager to come in with some fresh ideas. We are now up to seven managerial changes in the league so far, and expect that number to sky-rocket over the next month or so, as the packed Christmas schedule often claims many victims. 

The panel also discuss some upcoming fixtures this weekend in the form of Plymouth v Middlesbrough and Leeds v Oxford, while Gab gives his Championship treble for the weekend and offers up a team to be concerned about as 2024 comes to a close.

Make sure you like and subscribe to The Sportsman on YouTube to be notified of the latest release of every Sportsman Untitled episode. We’ll be back after the festivities to get stuck into some more Championship action! 

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