Championship trapdoor grips clubs stifled by managerial conveyor belt

It is tough at the bottom of the Championship as a collection of former Premier League teams fight to avoid the ignominy of being relegated to the third tier. Six points separate eight clubs, with three games to play and two places below the red line up for grabs.

There have been numerous routes taken to this point: some clubs had woeful starts, others dipped in the winter and one never got going. What they have in common is the use of the manager conveyor belt. Few have found any degree of philosophy or style, instead overhauling squads to suit the latest dugout dweller, leaving them gasping for air. The bottom nine clubs have had 24 managers between them – give or take a caretaker or two – and are reaping what they sowed.

Rotherham made things easier for the others by having the sweet release of relegation confirmed two weeks ago, propping up everyone else with 23 points from 43 games. Two more Yorkshire clubs, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield, occupy the other spots of doom.

Wednesday are in their first season back at this level after two in League One. It is quite impressive that they are still in with a chance of getting out of their predicament having picked up three points in their opening 13 matches. There has been a stark improvement since Danny Röhl, having been turned down for the role when it was vacant in the summer, replaced Xisco Muñoz, after a few disastrous months. During the German’s tenure the team have collected 41 points from 32 games, and if they had started with Röhl in charge they might have been safe by now.

One place above, also on 44 points, are Huddersfield, who have another German in charge: André Breitenreiter is the Terriers’ third manager of the season, following in the footsteps of Neil Warnock and Darren Moore. Since the club finished third in 2021-22, there has been a rapid decline. Last season Warnock arrived with Huddersfield 23rd in February and led them to safety but a takeover by the American Kevin Nagle in June has done nothing to revitalise the club. They next play two home games in a row, the second against Birmingham, the team one place and one point above them.

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The Blues are on their fourth manager – five if you include Mark Venus – since August. John Eustace and Wayne Rooney were dismissed, then Tony Mowbray helped turn things around but took medical leave in February, and the club asked Gary Rowett to return as interim after Venus collected one point from six games as caretaker. After last weekend’s morale-boosting win over Coventry, Birmingham face trips to Rotherham and Huddersfield that will help decide their fate. Like the Terriers, Birmingham have new American owners with lofty ambitions. They have signed 15 players this season and a new stadium is in the pipeline but relegation would be a blow to their immediate aspirations, especially for a club last in the third tier in 1995.

Last season 45 points would have been enough to survive, 38 the year before that. Stoke have accrued 47 but are in a precarious position. Steven Schumacher replaced Alex Neil in December but has managed only to maintain mediocrity. Recruitment was the main scorn of fans, making the sporting director Ricky Martin’s exit unsurprising. Twenty-three players have joined since last season but money does not solve everything, it transpires.

Six QPR defeats in a row in October cost Gareth Ainsworth his job, and since then Martí Cifuentes has steadied the team, taking them from 23rd to 19th with a three-point buffer. The Spaniard has altered the style and made four additions in the winter window to keep the club moving in the right direction. Relegation would be a disaster after the progress made, with the inevitable loss of important players.

Above we find Plymouth, who after promotion from League One do not want to go back. When Schumacher headed north, they made the bold appointment of Ian Foster, fresh from assisting Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq, but his spell at Home Park was a disaster and he received his P45 within three months, prompting the director of football, Neil Dewsnip, to step in.

Speaking of ineffective appointments, Blackburn replaced the attack-minded Jon Dahl Tomasson with Eustace, a purveyor of defensive football, who oversaw one win in his first 12 league games. Eustace has his merits and has improved the backline to keep the chasing pack at arm’s length and a shock win over Leeds at Elland Road last weekend was much-needed before hosting Sheffield Wednesday.

Millwall, another on their third manager, would need something to go spectacularly wrong to end up facing Mansfield next season but after diversifying from their managerial blueprint by appointing Joe Edwards, they quickly saw the error of their ways and brought back Neil Harris to remind everyone how the Lions fight.

As the water circles, whoever avoids getting caught in the plug hole will do so more by luck than judgment. There is still time for short-term salvation for many but long-term planning is key in football and clubs such as Luton and Nottingham Forest have shown the way out of the Championship. The same could be said of those fighting relegation but they are not gazing at the stars.