Five things guaranteed to happen in the Championship this season: Bowen record, Eckert boos, Wilder rage

The funniest league in the world returns on Friday night and ahead of a new season of Championship football, we’re letting you know five things that will definitely happen.

While the Premier League can seem like a well-polished product, the Championship still possesses the rough-around-the-edges feel that made us all fall in love with football in the first place.

It is a division in which silly things happen almost every week because while there are some very good teams in the league, there are an awful lot of bad ones too.

Here are five things that will almost certainly happen this year in the second tier.

Jarrod Bowen will break the Championship goalscoring record

Jarrod Bowen is frankly far too good for this league. When was the last time a player with a reasonable chance of making an England World Cup squad then played his football in the second division?

West Ham are clear favourites for the title this season and the Opta supercomputer has given them a 64% chance of doing just that. A man central to that objective will be Bowen, was the club’s top scorer and top assister in the Premier League last season.

The Championship goalscoring record stands at 43 set by Fulham’s Alexander Mitrovic in the 2021-22 season and if the Hammers perform anywhere near expected, Bowen could well break that tally.

Nuno has been here and done it before having taken Wolves up, and with £100m+ still available to spend, their squad could get even stronger before the window closes.

All logic points to an easy West Ham title win.

Tonda Eckert will be the most booed man in the country

Southampton fans saw the funny side when their club was investigated ahead of their play-off semi-final against Middlesbrough, donning full ghillie suits with matching binoculars. Well, who’s laughing now?

Spygate has faded away from the back pages but it is still rumbling on in the background. The FA is moving at glacial pace in its dealing of three charges levelled at the Southampton boss but a new season is meant to be a fresh start and Saints are still dealing with the hangover of the previous campaign.

Project PR has been going into overdrive with Eckert put in front of the cameras to try and suggest that it was all a big misunderstanding and that it was actually the media to blame for making him look worse but it is hard to see a scenario in which the German does not end up with some kind of ban. So what then?

Southampton have held fire on sacking him, presumably because an FA verdict would allow them to do so without compensation, but the delay has meant they enter the new season with a whole load of uncertainty surrounding them.

One thing that is certain is that Eckert will be the most booed man in the country, for football fans have long memories.

Southampton start their campaign, which has them tipped for at least a play-off place, away at Watford – and if that is not the most hostile of grounds to go to, the visit of Stoke and then Millwall to St Mary’s should make up for it.

The game everyone is waiting for against Middlesbrough is in late November (which, as an aside, is an absolute disgrace to have been scheduled at 8pm on a Friday night), but Eckert may not even be there by then.

The most flicking of the Vs by fans in one season

If you’re a fan of derbies then you’ve come to the right place; fortune has set up a number of local clashes this season.

West Ham’s first game against Millwall since 2012 is the obvious highlight but Wolves and West Brom get a chance to renew their beef.

Burnley’s relegation has also set up a number of Lancashire rivalries with Bolton, Preston and Blackburn. Bolton v Burnley will be a particular highlight given they were two divisions apart last season.

In Wales, three teams will compete to see who hates each other more but Cardiff v Swansea is the more natural rivalry given their close proximity.

On the south coast of England, the ‘Skates’ of Portsmouth and will meet the ‘Scummers’ of Southampton, although the two meetings last year were rather drab affairs.

Even away from the traditional derbies, new rivalries have been made between Middlesbrough and Southampton after the Spygate affair. Saints fans had their fun last time so expect Boro fans to return the favour.

Chris Wilder or Nathan Jones to get inexplicably annoyed at something

Premier League managers may now be highly media-trained professionals who could grace the cover of GQ and not look out of place but let me reassure you there are still some oddballs down in the Championship.

Any time a story regarding Chris Wilder hits the headlines, members of the r/championship subreddit (an excellent follow it should be said) will share an image of an angry-looking ham sandwich given he once complained an assistant dared to eat one while he was in the same room. He was fined £11,500, making it the second most expensive sandwich experience behind the joint leader of anyone who has ever bought something from Pret.

Wilder is not the only, frankly, nuts manager and Charlton’s Nathan Jones is worth a mention. Aside from goal celebrations, some of his highlights last season include being annoyed at Norwich boss Philippe Clement for shaking “25 people’s hands” before him. Expect more outbursts from him this campaign.

The owners of the third-place team who lose to the team in eighth in the play-off final to say actually the expansion was a bad idea

The EFL took the motto of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ and thought “nah” as it has decided to change the makeup of the playoffs this season.

The Championship is the guinea pig with Leagues One and Two remaining as they are but in the second division, teams all the way down to eighth will be involved.

Positions three to eight will all qualify for the playoffs with third and fourth going straight through to the semi-finals. There will be an additional round where fifth plays eighth and sixth plays seventh in what is being described as an “eliminator” – so you can expect Sky to go big on this when it comes.

The winners of those then go on to face third and fourth with the lowest-ranked team having to play third.

Fans aren’t too happy about it, though, and are suggesting that eighth should not have a chance to go up to the Premier League. As an example, it was Derby who finished in that spot last season and they were 26 points off champions Coventry.

But fans do not get a vote and so when the owners were asked “would you like an extra chance to get a ticket to the Premier League gravy train?” they said “yes please.”

Of course, that is easy to say now but we wait with eager anticipation for the words of the chairman or owner of the third-place team that somehow loses a Wembley final to a team that finished 20 points behind them. Be careful what you wish for.