Currently, there’s a curious and increasingly pervasive attitude within the fanbases of Championship clubs: many supporters who’ve experienced both the Premier League and the second tier say they much prefer following their clubs in the latter. Of course, everyone wants to hit the big time, this goes without saying, but perhaps the desperation is such that the enjoyment one derives from actually being there becomes somewhat secondary.
Many have realized this and subsequently retired from the fantasy of becoming big-timers at English football’s pinnacle. Some might call this inertia or worse still the product of a “small team mentality,” but can you blame those who’ve gotten used to being the big wigs in the Championship for favoring their comfortable second-tier existence over being pummelled by soulless petrodollar clubs week in, week out?
This isn’t to say that the Championship is some sort of bohemian, hippy-football free-for-all. It isn’t. Last season’s total spend amounted to £207-million, a mere 30% less than Premier League spending some ten years ago and almost bang-on equal to top tier expenditure at the turn of the century. But while these days the money flows freely in the Championship, the competition itself is infinitely more balanced than its top-flight counterpart. The banal hegemony of the top 6 and the expeditious growth of the chasing pack mean that the Premier League is becoming almost bulbously top-heavy. By contrast, the spread of talent within its understudy is such that there are at least 12 teams that could realistically challenge for promotion this campaign…
How’s this relevant to the England team? Well, the way I see it, there’s the top 10 – maybe top 12 – in England, then there’s the rest. Are Newcastle, Brighton, and Southampton really that much better than Leeds, Fulham and West Brom? Bar one or two marquee signings, the answer surely is no. We’ve seen players like James Maddison, Lewis Dunk, and James Tarkowski take to the Premier League immediately, also. This effectively means that the level of the bottom half of the Premier League and the top half of the Championship is much more equal than their disparate TV deals would suggest. Moreover, in terms of international squad selection, it demonstrates that Gareth Southgate should cast his net more widely over the football pyramid.
In recent years, the Championship has served as something of a holding pattern for future England internationals. Michael Keane, Ben Chilwell, and Mason Mount have all competed in the league during the past few seasons. Even senior England players like Kieran Trippier and Harry Maguire were plying their trade in the division as recently as 2014. In fact, 16 of Southgate’s most recent 23-man squad have, at some point, competed in the Championship. Among the seven that hadn’t were Jadon Sancho and Trent Alexander Arnold, both of whom seem to have bypassed the ‘rising star’ stage entirely and graduated immediately to ‘star’ status. There was also Eric Dier, whose footballing education took place in Portugal, and Dele Alli, who played even lower than the Championship, in League One, before moving to Spurs. Clearly then, historical precedent dictates that future England internationals are playing in the Championship, right now.
So far, Southgate has sent mixed signals regarding the likelihood that he’ll call up a Championship player. In August 2018, he said he’d be open to including Championship players, albeit in response to a game week in which barely any home-grown player managed 90 minutes. More recently, however, in March of this year, the England boss said that Jack Grealish would have to play in the Premier League before he’s considered for selection. Of course, the rationale behind his comments regarding the Villa winger is that he needs to be challenging himself at the top level if he is to compete for international selection. But now that he’s back in the Premier League will Grealish be selected? And if he is, would this mean Southgate considers him a significantly better player than he was before the summer? Or would he be basing his squad selection on the relatively arbitrary fact that he’s now played a couple more games in the top-flight? If the latter, the reasoning is spurious.
So who should we, or rather Southgate, be keeping an eye on? The most obvious pick is Stoke City’s Jack Butland, the keeper capped five times by Southgate already. Butland’s form in Stoke’s opening four matches, however, has been nothing short of disastrous. He dropped a clanger against Queen’s Park Rangers on the opening day of the season and another two away to Preston North End, culminating in the Stoke manager Nathan Jones claiming he might be forced to drop the England international. Butland is reportedly unsettled amidst speculation linking him to a move abroad, which might be something of a mitigating factor. But, on current form, he should be nowhere near the England squad. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call for the keeper, although at this point it will seem less of a kick up the backside and more a punt in the groin.
In terms of uncapped players, there’s a veritable cavalcade of number 10’s to monitor. Blackburn Rovers’ Bradley Dack’s form at the start of the season has been tepid, but he’s shown glimpses of the bombastic talent which lead to him scoring 18 goals and registering ten assists during the last campaign. Deceptively strong with an Alexis Sanchez-esque gait and eye for a nutmeg, expect to see the playmaker in the Premier League, and possibly the England setup, in the near future. Although more direct in his approach, Queen’s Park Rangers’ Eberechi Eze is of a similar mold. Capped by England at u-20 level, Eze has enjoyed a superb start to the season, registering an assist, two goals, and two man-of-the-match performances. His goal against Stoke in which he carried the ball from inside the center circle, sold Shawcross a cute dummy, and calmly slotted home, is an indicator of the youngster’s prowess. Hull City’s Jarrod Bowen – who can play as a winger or in the hole – has had an excellent start, too. In the last two campaigns, Bowen netted 37 times, making him the division’s joint-top goalscorer in that period. Given interest from Everton, Arsenal, and Leicester over the summer, Hull have been lucky to keep hold of their man.
In Championship Focus, a ?monthly? column, Gadsby’s England will keep you up to speed with all the happenings in English football’s second-tier as well as highlighting the players you can expect to see in contention for international selection sometime soon. Consider it your ?monthly? escape from the Premier League’s mismatches, primadonnas and of, course, relentless VAR discussion.
I’ll close with a few words on an unknown Englishman who’s been making a name for himself across the pond recently: a Mr. Wayne Rooney. The 33-year-old ex-pat agreed to join Derby County from DC United; he’ll complete the switch in January. Whether Rooney can adapt to the cut-and-thrust of the English game remains to be seen…
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