There are no Uefa Champions League-winning managers currently working in Italy or France. There is one, Carlo Ancelotti, managing in Germany. Spain boasts two, the 2014 and 2015 victors Luis Enrique and Zinedine Zidane.
Yet that is only as many as England’s second tier. The Championship starts on Friday night with the strange spectacle of two men who have conquered Europe plying their trade at a lower level.
Rafael Benitez, a 2005 winner with Liverpool, and Roberto di Matteo, who oversaw Chelsea’s 2012 triumph, are now in charge of Newcastle United and Aston Villa respectively.
Managers and clubs alike are improbable presences in the Championship. They add to the allure of a division which, while overshadowed by its overbearing sibling, the Premier League, has much to recommend.
The quality can be underestimated but the knock-on effect from the influx of expensive imports in the top league means the second tier boasts players who, in an earlier era, would have been employed at a higher level. Parachute payments give recent Premier League participants further spending power and, their rivals suggest, an advantage.
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Yet and although three of the favourites, in Burnley, Middlesbrough and Hull City, went up last season, the 21st century has brought a series of surprise promotions: Burnley’s 2009 and 2014 triumphs are cases in point. So, too, those of Watford in 2006, Swansea City and Blackpool. The resident cliché is that anyone can beat anyone, but its competitiveness forms part of the Championship’s appeal.
Its attendances render it the ninth biggest league in any sport in the world. Bigger than Serie A, Ligue 1, the Chinese Super League and cricket’s Indian Premier League, to name but a few. Almost 10 million spectators paid to attend games last season. That number is almost certain to increase with the presence of Newcastle and Villa, two of the 10 biggest clubs in the country.
Villa are in the second tier for the first time in 29 seasons, Newcastle for only the second in 24. Giants have fallen together and secured high-profile appointments.
Newcastle’s was the most expensive relegation ever in terms of transfer fees: they paid out some £80 million (Dh391m) in the 12 months before going down.
Theirs is shaping up to be the costliest promotion ever: the signings of Mohamed Diame, scorer of the play-off winner that took Hull back to the Premier League, and Villa’s Ciaran Clark have taken their outlay to £45m, breaking the previous record set by Middlesbrough last season. In the £10m winger Matt Ritchie and the £12m striker Dwight Gayle, they have bought from top-flight clubs. They have demonstrated the ambition Benitez surely demanded when he agreed to stay.
Villa had been muted, with their only significant addition being Tommy Elphick, who captained Bournemouth to promotion two seasons ago, until they spent £12m on Ross McCormack, scorer of 71 Championship goals in the last three seasons.
But while Benitez’s side have to be favourites for promotion, Di Matteo’s pose the question if underachievers can be galvanised and the wrong sort of mentality removed. Plenty of others have already found the Championship, a division that rewards consistency and unity, a tough division for those with a poor attitude.
The third relegated club, Norwich, have the core of the side that went up two seasons ago. They should challenge, along with Brighton and Hove Albion and Sheffield Wednesday, two of those beaten in the play-offs. The third team to suffer that fate, Derby County, have been expensive underachievers, but could be galvanised by Nigel Pearson’s appointment as manager.
Ipswich Town, Birmingham City and Queens Park Rangers could represent outsiders to watch.
Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, two great clubs who have been misrun in recent seasons will look for stability and success under Philippe Montanier and Garry Monk respectively while World Cup semi-finalists Walter Zenga, the former Al Nasr and Al Jazira manager, and Jaap Stam are intriguing appointments at Wolves and Reading. But, one way or another, Newcastle and Villa should supply the stories of the season.
How the relegated sides will fare
Aston Villa: Chinese businessman Tony Xia completed his takeover and brought in Di Matteo but Villa still have the bulk of the squad that produced the most ignominious season in their 142-year history. Some departures are likely but the strike duo of Rudy Gestede, who was prolific for Blackburn in the Championship, and McCormack could be crucial.
Newcastle United: Got 102 points in their last season in the Championship and some think they could top that. While sales should eventually include Tim Krul, Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse, Cheik Tiote and Georginio Wijnaldum, Benitez has bought well to give him a gifted group. Newcastle fans finally have a manager they believe in.
Norwich City: Promising manager Alex Neil stayed and, while Ireland’s Euro 2016 star Robbie Brady could join Nathan Redmond in leaving, Norwich have a strong squad with plenty of Championship experience. They missed out on McCormack but signed Tottenham winger Alex Pritchard and look well equipped to come back up.
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