Whether that statement is true or not is perhaps a debate for another day, but following the decent starts made by the three promoted clubs there can little doubt that there is an abundance of talent currently plying their trade in the second tier of English football.

And with all that in mind, here are five that could cut the mustard in the Premier League.

Connor Wickham, Ipswich Town

Tractor Boys boss Roy Keane has parted with a decent amount of cash in the transfer market during his tenure at the club, but the most exciting player in his ranks is a product of the club’s youth system.

Youngster Wickham excelled during the summer, scoring a handful of goals as England under 17s won the European Championships.

Injury has robbed the striker from full participation so far this season, but Wickham caused enough problems for defences last year to suggest he won’t be in the Championship too much longer.

Tottenham Hotspur are thought to have had a bid turned down in the summer and Ipswich fans should brace themselves for more offers in the January transfer window.

Best Suited For: Liverpool

Peter Whittingham, Cardiff City

No matter what level you play at, scoring 25 goals in one season from midfield is a special achievement and that is exactly what Whittingham managed last season.

The former England under 21 international has had a taste of Premier League life with Aston Villa, but since those days Whittingham has matured as a footballer.

One of the 25-year-olds major assets is his ability from dead ball situations, something that has proved priceless during numerous tight encounters for the Bluebirds.

If Cardiff don’t gain promotion this time around then Whittingham could be moving up without them.

Best Suited For: Fulham

Lee Camp, Nottingham Forest

Watford stopper Scott Loach receives a lot of the plaudits in the Championship while Camp’s performances at Forest often go unnoticed.

Despite this Camp is comfortably the best shot stopper in the whole division and a big reason why Billy Davies’ men have such a proud unbeaten room record nearing 30 matches.

Tricky Trees manager Davies is frustrated at the lack of funds available to him and could be tempted to sell his keeper should the price be right.

Best Suited For: Aston Villa

Darren Ambrose, Crystal Palace

Without the goals of Ambrose then there is a fair chance that Palace would have been relegated to League One last season.

The midfielder was arguably the bargain of the season when boss Neil Warnock secured his services for free.

Ambrose has had Premier League experience with Ipswich Town, Newcastle and Charlton Athletic, never looking out of his depth in the process.

Another season mirroring his contributions of last year and the bigger clubs could come calling.

Best Suited For: Wigan Athletic

Jimmy Bullard, Hull City

Likeable rogue Bullard is currently not flavour of the month will the management at Hull with a return to the Premier League looking likely in January.

The midfielder enjoyed goalscoring spells in the top flight with Wigan and Fulham, but the midfielders switch to Hull turned downhill after the Tigers were relegated.

Bullard’s performances while in the Premiership also earned him a call up to the England squad.

Providing he can steer clear of injury, Bullard would be a useful acquisition for a host of bigger clubs.

Best Suited For: West Ham

We’re looking for someone to write a general Championship blog, much like the Premier League blog we have here. It’s very much unpaid, but if you want to blog about the Championship for a good size audience, then this is the place to do it.

If interested, please read our blogger’s guidelines here and then send en electronic mail to daryl[at]theoffside[dot]com

Or if you’d prefer to blog about one of the many fine Championship teams, we might be able to set you up with that too.

Hull moved into the final of the Play-Offs after a 6 v 1 demolition of Watford. Aided admittedly by the referee in the first leg, Hull showed they deserved the spot after they came from a goal down in the home leg to win 4 v 1 and book their date with Bristol City who won 2 v 1 at Ashton Gate to complete a double over Palace after they achieved the same result in the first leg at Selhurst Park.

Who will win the Play-Offs?
( polls)

Barring a turn of events that wouldn’t fool even the most gullible, West Brom are up. Stoke, level on points with the Baggies have a vastly inferior goal difference so need to better West Brom’s result if they are to snatch the Championship away from them. Hull are the only team who can spoil the two-team party. With a better goal difference than the Potters, Hull lie three points behind and must rely on Tony Pullis’ team to lose at home to Leicester while also beating Ipswich away themselves.

Bristol City are safe in the play-offs but could finish anywhere from fourth to sixth. No-one will want to be finishing sixth as they’ll play Stoke or Hull in the play-offs, so City still have some work to do.

Watford and Crystal Palace currently the last two play-off places but both could be displaced by Wolves, Ipswich or Sheff Utd who face Plymouth at home, Ipswich at home and Southampton away respectively.

Prediction: West Brom to win the title, Stoke to go up in second. Hull and Bristol to go into the play-offs as third and fourth placed respectively. And the shocker: Crystal Palace and Wolves to push Watford out of the playoffs after Watford only manage a draw at Blackpool, Wolves beat Plymouth 3 v 0 and Crystal Palace defeat Burnley.

Relegation worries

At the bottom Blackpool, Coventry, Sheff Wed, Leicester and Southampton could all fill the final relegation spot. The Saints have by far and away the worst goal difference, followed by Coventry. Leicester have possibly the hardest match as they travel to Stoke but Blackpool must also take on Watford at home, Coventry visit Charlton, and Southampton host Sheff Utd. Sheff Wed have waht appears to be the easiest with Norwich the visitors to Hillsborough.

Prediction: Southampton to follow Scunthorpe and Colchester through the trap-door to League One.

The Matches in Full:

Sunday, 04 May 2008 at 2pm BST

Blackpool v Watford
Bristol City v Preston
Cardiff v Barnsley
Charlton v Coventry
Crystal Palace v Burnley
Ipswich v Hull
QPR v West Brom
Scunthorpe v Colchester
Sheff Wed v Norwich
Southampton v Sheff Utd
Stoke v Leicester
Wolverhampton v Plymouth

Scunthorpe’s 2 v 0 loss away at Crystal Palace over the weekend confirmed their relegation from the Championship; joining Colchester as the teams confirmed for the drop this season. That just leaves one place in the trap-door to League One, so who will fill it?

Sheff Wednesday currently sit in 22nd place, level on points with Leicester, but having played one game less; that match is at home to Plymouth on Monday night. A win for the Owls would take them up to 18th place; above Blackpool, Southampton and Coventry who are all still scrapping away to avoid the drop.

Blackpool have not won in eight matches and have what can only be described as a bloody tough run-in with fixtures at home to Sheffield Wednesday and Watford, and away to Plymouth. Southampton, who have the worst goal-difference of any of the teams battling relegation, still have to play West Brom away and meet Burnley and Sheffield United at home. The Saints have won one in their last five matches.

Coventry, who have not won away in the league since a 4 v 2 win at West Brom in early December, will be worried that two of their remaining three matches are away from home. They may fancy their chances at relegated Colchester but finish their season at home to promotion chasing Wolves and away on their last day to Charlton.

Leicester’s yo-yo form continues and they need to find some continuity if they are to avoid the drop as they travel to Barnsley and table-topping Stoke as well as meeting Sheffield Wednesday at home. Alongside the pre-mentioned fixtures against Leicester and Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday also travel to Blackpool and face Norwich at Hillsborough on the last day of the season. The Owls aren’t losing at least; drawing their last six matches. That and the match in hand may help them stay up.

Barnsley and Norwich are also still in there but seem to have enough of a gap between themselves and the relegation zone to feel a little safe. But who do you think will go down?

Photo courtesy of Scunthorpe United FC

“Two people in the vicinity of the Watford dug out on Saturday (22nd March) will be banned indefinitely from all Plymouth Argyle home games for making racist remarks towards Watford players and officials during the 1-1 Coca Cola Championship draw”, the club said in a statement today.

The statement also confirmed that Plymouth will put an exclusion zone behind the Vistor’s dug-out to prevent further incidents of the kind witnessed in the recent match.

So is racism a problem in the Championship? What are people’s experiences of racism in football?

Leicester bounced back from recent results with an impressive 4 v 1 hammering of West Brom at the Hawthorns. Bristol City suffered their curse of not scoring enough goals as they were beat 2 v 1 at home by Plymouth. Hull put five goals past Southampton without reply whilst Wolves went to Burnley and won 3 v 1. But which was the biggest achievement?

Following on from Adriano Basso claiming to have saved a penalty after god told him which way to dive, Ian Holloway has discovered the key to improving Leicester City’s form. Interviewed for the BBC in his weekly column, Holloway was advised by a reader “I think its about time you got rid of the lucky guitar pick I gave to you!”. The Leicester manager responded “I know exactly where it is and I’ll do that when I get home. I’m going to bin the ‘lucky’ guitar pick so let’s see what happens against West Brom.”

The result for Leicester, who had not won in three and had slipped into the relegation zone, away at fourth placed West Brom? 4 v 1 to the Foxes!

Photo from BBC Sport