Jewell: Championship Tougher Than Ever
Saturday, 6th Aug 2011 08:32

Blues boss Paul Jewell says he expects a tough opening game at Bristol City this afternoon but would expect a similarly difficult afternoon wherever the Blues are playing in what he says is likely to be one of the tightest Championships for years.

Jewell said: I think it’s a tough place to go. If we’d have been playing Leicester, that’s tough, Doncaster’s tough. There are no easy games at this level.

“Bristol City have got some good players, they’ve got a player that Leicester have been enquired about and been quoted £6 million in Nicky Maynard, they’ve got an England goalkeeper. Whenever you look through the Championship, it’s littered with quality players.”

The Town manager says plenty of clubs will go into the season with the same aim: “There are a lot of teams in this division will be thinking they can get in the play-offs.

“I think the teams that have come down think they can because they’ve got the parachute money behind them.

“And the teams that have come up. Brighton have spent £3 million on a striker [Craig Mackail-Smith], Southampton have spent money in the transfer market and have good players and one [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] worth £10 million reputedly.

“So that’s five teams without really thinking about it, and then you’ve got Forest and Cardiff. It’s a tough league. I think we’ve all got to think we’ve got to get in that top six but we’re not all going to get there.”

The strength of the division is illustrated by the high profile of some of the managers with Sven-Göran Eriksson at Leicester and Steve McClaren with Nottingham Forest: “There are two ex-England managers in the Championship, which shows the quality of it.

"I guess that in years gone by you won’t have had two ex-England managers going down to the Championship. They know it’s a tough league and the rewards if you get out of it are great.

“Sven was at Notts County and now he’s at Leicester, so he obviously sees a way through because we all want to get in that Premier League.”

Jewell is clear on what he will see as an achievement for Town come May: “What is success this season? As long as we improve and progress, I think that’s the long-term aim, as I keep on stressing. We want to progress. Progression is success [for us] I think.

“Getting to the Premier League is the goal and if we get there as quickly as we can, great. If it takes an extra year or two, it’s worth the wait when you get there.”

Photo: Action Images

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broomfield123 added 08:59 - Aug 6 Now let's stop the sweet talking and let's atart winning which at the end of the day is what its all about. We've bought the players with experience and quality and now its up to them to deliver and show peaple what they are made of
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broomfield123 added 08:59 - Aug 6 Now let's stop the sweet talking and let's atart winning which at the end of the day is what its all about. We've bought the players with experience and quality and now its up to them to deliver and show peaple what they are made of
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Karlosfandangal added 09:11 - Aug 6

We have a team that can compete but only short term as we are low on numbers, more have left the club than come in, feel we need 2 or 3 more by the end of the transfer window in key areas and we are in with a good shout.

We will need to look for the players who will take over from the Bowyers/Ingarmarsson as they look only short term players for the club

ie Hunter/Beattie to Osman/Butcher

broomfield123 added 09:48 - Aug 6 agree with you to a degree. Hopefully the likes of bowyer and ingarmarson will bring quality to lift us up the table, be more competitive which will then bring in a better quality of player
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AJblue added 10:05 - Aug 6

No doubt about it, the Championship is the toughest league to get out of.
I think we all would love instant promotion this season, but perhaps given one more season to consolidate and add to the team, would be better in the long run, its not just about winning promotion, its about staying in the Premie League.
2-1 win today, top half finish, more players added, and I will be a happy bunny this season.
Lets get behind the manager and boys today....( and the rest of the season). COYB!!!!!!

brogansnose added 10:05 - Aug 6

True, it will be a difficult league this year , but there are a lot of teams who may well wobble this season, Barnsley, Doncaster, P'boro and Coventry plus I feel that some of those clubs that had a good showing last season Leeds , Millwall will struggle this one. Let's face it the two to beat will be West Ham and Leicester with a slew of teams who will be able to beat each other on thier day. As usual it will be a case of who wants it the most, something we have failed to display in recent times.

das_bones added 10:12 - Aug 6 I'd just like it if we still had something to play for come may (ie play-offs). The last few seasons have been over by march with our mid table mediocre. Believe we are going in the right direction under jewell.
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pazelle added 10:25 - Aug 6 They always say that it's the toughest ever! Fact is, a few big teams will stumble, most teams will struggle with consistency and 1 or 2 teams will run away with it. Hopefully it's us!
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