Championship preview

Championship preview: Who are the likely contenders, strugglers, and players to watch this season?
Fulham and Cardiff could be the main contenders
Blackpool are destined to struggle with their problems off the pitch
Matej Vydra could be a star for Watford on his return to the club


Football is (almost) back. And here, Sportsmail's RIATH AL-SAMARAI gives you the lowdown on the new season of the Championship.

Best bit of business
Udinese’s Matej Vydra, 22, has returned on loan to Watford, where he scored 24 goals in his first season in English football, winning the 2012-13 Championship Player of the Year.
He was rarely used during his loan at West Brom but insisted he didn’t want a return to the second tier. If he can get over the disappointment, he might be the signing of the summer.
Already under pressure
Leeds boss Dave Hockaday. The club’s owner, Massimo Cellino, is about as unconventional as you get and this appointment was straight out of left field.
Hockaday has only previously managed Forest Green Rovers, a tenure that hardly sparkled. His reward is a club with a great history and an owner known as the ‘mangiallenatori — manager eater — because he has worked his way through 37 in 22 years in football.
Manager on the rise
Eddie Howe. Split across two spells at Bournemouth, the 36-year-old has led the club from 23rd in the fourth tier to the Championship. Loves passing football and Brendan Rodgers said: ‘It is coaches like Eddie Howe who will take the game forward in this country.’
Players to watch
Mats Daehli (Cardiff): Turned down Man United to join Cardiff and has looked superb. He’s a technically gifted midfielder.
Will Hughes (Derby): Only just turned 19 and a fine midfielder who already plays for England’s Under-21 side.
Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn): A prolific striker. With the most recent first, his goal tallies for the past five seasons are: 25, 28, 36, 16, 19.
Likely strugglers
Blackpool – Lucky to stay up last season and new manager Jose Riga arrived to find he had only six professionals to work with.
Millwall – Finished 19th last season and added little quality over the summer.
Birmingham – Survived on a dramatic end to last season and Lee Clark has instigated a mass rebuild of his squad.
Protests: Things are already bad off the field for Blackpool, let alone on it


Contenders
Cardiff — Kept most of their squad and made strong signings in Adam LeFondre, Kagisho Dikgacoi and Javi Guerra.
Fulham — Felix Magath has had an extremely busy summer in the market, signing nine players.
Derby — Looking to make up for missing promotion last season. New boy George Thorne has suffered a bad knee injury.
The big spenders
Fulham have signed nine players and spent an astonishing £11million for 27-year-old Ross McCormack from Leeds. It’s the biggest fee paid by a club in the Championship.


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Millwall will be around top 12 this season for me.