Top 5: Championship clubs who must improve to avoid relegation battle

The 2016/17 Championship season is now well underway and it is recently relegated Newcastle United who are leading the way.

This, of course, comes as no real surprise as they are under the leadership of ex-Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez and have spent in excess of £50m over the summer.

The Magpies currently sit at the top of the table on 31 points and have won each of their last five games. Brighton, Huddersfield Town and Norwich City are all not too far behind and there are a whole host of clubs behind these who are all still in with a chance of climbing the table and mounting a challenge.

Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

At the other end of the table; it is certainly worrying times for Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United, who currently occupy the bottom three spaces whilst Derby County, Cardiff City, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers are all in danger too.

Six managers have already been sacked over the course of this campaign and there is certainly plenty of room for improvement.

Some of the clubs in this division will have to change their fortunes fairly quickly if they want to keep up with the rest of the teams in this league and with this in mind, here are five Championship clubs who SHOOT think need to improve should they want to avoid a relegation battle this season…

Barnsley

Tykes boss Heckingbottom – Photo: Charlotte Wilson / Offside.

Barnsley have perhaps been the most inconsistent team in the Championship so far this season having won six of their opening games, but also losing seven encounters.

Before a 2-0 victory away to Brentford last weekend, The Tykes had not won in six league fixtures after drawing one and losing five.

However, before this winless spell, Barnsley had three back-to-back victories and Paul Heckingbottom will want to address their variable form as soon as possible.

So, whilst Barnsley may look fairly comfortable in 12th place – should their inconsistency continue, they might be keeping an eye of those teams who are just behind them.

Nottingham Forest

Midfielder Henri Lansbury – Photo: Paul Roberts / Offside.

Nottingham Forest are the only club in the bottom six of the Championship form table over the last 10 games not to have sacked their manager.

This will be troubling news indeed for Reds boss Phillipe Montanier, with his team ranked 19th in the league and having won only once in their last nine matches.

He must be under extreme pressure after a slow start to the season and it has been reported that Forest have already spoken with Gianfranco Zola and Pierluigi Casiraghi over a move to the City Ground.

Should they lose against Jaap Stam’s Reading on Saturday, you can’t help but think that Montanier’s short time at the City Ground will come to an abrupt end.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves’ Dominic Iorfa squares up to Ross McCormack of Aston Villa – Photo: Paul Roberts / Offside.

Following the departure of head coach Kenny Jackett over the summer, Wolves have now sacked their second manager in the space of less than 90 days.

Walter Zenga and his backroom staff all parted company with the club after just 14 Championship fixtures, with the Chinese owners hoping to guide the club to promotion at the earliest available opportunity.

Wolves currently sit 18th in the Championship table, having lost four of their last five games and they currently sit four points off of the relegation zone.

They will need to turn things around quickly should they wish to avoid another disappointing campaign.

Wigan Athletic

Wigan waved goodbye to Caldwell recently – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

After 18 months in charge at the DW Stadium, Wigan called time on Gary Caldwell’s time in charge of the club and gave him his marching orders earlier this week.

Despite guiding the club to promotion from League One last season, Caldwell was given just 14 games in which to prove himself in the Championship and, rather unfortunately for him, the challenge just proved to be too tough.

The Latics are currently second from bottom in the league and have only managed to take 11 points from a possible 42 – winning just two games to date.

Should Wigan want to remain in this league, they will need to start picking up points… and fast!

Rotherham United

New Millers boss, Jackett – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Yet another club who have parted company with their manager this season are Rotherham United. Alan Stubbs managed just one league win during his five months with The Millers before being sacked and replaced with ex-Wolves boss Kenny Jackett.

Rotherham are rock bottom of the Championship table and have lost their last seven games. They have six points from 14 matches, are currently five points adrift of Wigan in 23rd place and are already eight points away from safety.

Jackett definitely has his work cut out and his players look totally devoid of confidence. The club looks doomed already and with around three-quarters of the season to go, these will be worrying times for the club indeed.