The Winners And Losers In The Best Championship Season Ever

With last season’s Championship still fresh in the memory as one of the most competitive on record, we look back on the 2012/13 campaign from the euphoria of promotion for Cardiff, Hull and Crystal Palace, to the dismay of relegation for Peterborough, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bristol City, and everything in-between.

It was so tight there were just 14 points separating the play-off pack from the bottom three, and in a two-part review Footy Matters hands out the gongs some are happy to have, and some not so.
Glenn Murray, with 30 goals, was Goalscorer of the Season. The Crystal Palace striker beat Jordan Rhodes to this award by scoring three more goals than the Blackburn man last season.
However, the Best Defence award goes to Brighton, Murray’s old club incidentally. Brighton conceded the fewest goals in their league in 43, averaging to just 0.9 goals in each league game. Although Cardiff and Leicester were also in contention for the accolade, their defences have shipped more goals than Brighton’s backline.
Conversely, Watford have the Best Attack award this year as they netted some 85 times last season. They beat rivals Cardiff and Crystal Palace by some distance because they only scored 72 and 73 goals respectively in the Championship last year. Thought Watford failed in their bid for promotion last year, they will take heart from this achievement for next season.

It is always staggering to see one person change the fortunes of one club in the space of, often, just a couple of months in football. We encounter several of these heroes each season and, with the Championship so tight last season, the competition for the Saviour of the Season award was fierce.
However, it goes to Mick McCarthy last season for his impressive turnaround at Ipswich as manager. When he was appointed as their boss in November, the strugglers were on a run of 12 league matches without a win. Yet, McCarthy masterminded Ipswich to a 1-0 win over Birmingham City at St. Andrews in his first game in charge and went on to, not only avoid relegation with Ipswich, but come eight points off the play-offs.
On the other hand, there were a lot of contenders for the award for Villain of the Season in the Championship last campaign. Three clubs received five red cards each last season. Adlene Guedioura, of Nottingham Forest, and Nikola Zigic, of Birmingham, were in contention because they each received two red cards during the course of the campaign, however this award goes to Gus Poyet.

When Brighton manager, Poyet was suspended by the board after an incident following their play-off defeat to Crystal Palace, he reportedly told his players that he could not guarantee whether he would remain at the club, and also suggested that he had taken Brighton as far as he could.
He was subsequently fired following the internal disciplinary hearing but the former Spurs midfielder claims he first heard he was sacked when it was reported on television…

Each season sees the influx of a number of new faces to the Championship, whether that be in the form of managers, players, teams, or referees, even. The campaign of 2012/13 was no different and so competition was ferocious for the award Newcomer of the Season.

When Gary Bowyer appeared out of the wilderness to take charge of Blackburn Rovers as caretaker in December, eyebrows were raised from afar. Who was this guy? He was a former Rotherham defender, if you must know. Regardless of his lack of illustriousness of his short-lived playing career, Bowyer turned out to be a decent choice for Rovers – for a few weeks.
Though Bowyer went four games without defeat (a rarity for Blackburn these days), Michael Appleton was thrust in as permanent manager. Appleton’s tenure lasted a mere 67 days and Blackburn turned to Bowyer again. He kept them up and has now, finally, been given the permanent position.
Charlton Athletic were also newcomers to the division following their promotion last season. Tipped to go down, Charlton surpassed all expectations and, not only did they avoid relegation, they finished an impressive ninth place in the table.
However, it may surprise many but the award goes to Billy Davies. He may be recognised for previous experience in the league but Davies came back to Nottingham Forest this season after the Alex McLeish farce and won seven of his 15 remaining league games to fight for the play-offs.

Ultimately, they may have missed out but the turnaround represents success for the club and, certainly, for the Scot.

We have seen some dramatic departures too last season, including multiple players, managers and clubs. The campaign would be very dull without some juicy, controversial exits and so the award for Best Exit of the Season is very interesting. It was a tough one to judge, with some many contenders in the mix, such as Blackburn’s short-lived manager Henning Berg.
The former defender took the post in November 2012 but, after winning just one in ten, Berg was melted away 57 days later. Alex McLeish’s tenure at Nottingham Forest was similarly brief and so his departure was much of a surprise in February. He managed one win in seven games and a failed attempt at signing George Boyd, before leaving the club by mutual consent.
However, the accolade for Best Exit this season goes to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were relegated for the second season in a row. They were tipped for promotion come the start of the season but Wolves’ decision to employ Stale Solbakken as manager proved to be disastrous as the Norwegian only won 10 of his 30 games in charge and was sacked six months into his reign.

Ex-Aston Villa striker Dean Saunders did little to change things after his arrival as manager, losing 10 of his 20 games in charge, and Wolves slipped to yet another miserable relegation. Saunders has since been sacked.
Check out the Championship awards – Part 2 on FootyMatters soon for the rest of our carefully picked honours we’ve dished out to the fortunate and the ill-fated recipients, including the Most Spectacular Comeback and Worst Signing.

I'll still follow the Championship as closely I think. More entertaining on the message boards.

I hope they don't put Velikonja as the worst signing.

Still can't believe how badly Leicester fell away.
They were the biggest losers for me