As this year’s Championship promotion race heats up, unusually there is no standout team running away with the division. Even at this late point in the season, there are still a number of teams who could lift the trophy come May.

So does the fact that no teams have dominated the division mean that any teams who do gain promotion, will subsequently be relegated straight away?

A common suggestion heard around football grounds is ‘We are not ready to get promoted, we will just come straight back down.’ Particularly at my club Wolves, the idea of promotion is met with scepticism and optimism in the same amounts. If they are not good enough to win the league, they will of course be embarrassed in the Premier League. Or will they?

A look at last year’s Championship, would be the argument against any such assumption. Leicester City were by far and away the best team in the division, beating everyone in their wake to win the league with a superb 102 points. Far too good for the second tier, so it could be presumed they would be by far the best of the promoted sides.

Wrong.

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With only 19 points, they prop up this year’s Premier League and seem almost certain for the drop. Their dominance in the division below has clearly not transferred into the top flight. Burnley and QPR both finished well behind the Foxes last term but both boast, albeit slightly, better chances of survival.

If we look at the campaign before last, a similar pattern emerges. Cardiff City had won the Championship at a canter, a far superior team to the other two promoted sides, Hull City and Crystal Palace. While Hull and Palace survived their first Premier League season comfortably, Cardiff City were relegated. In bottom place.

One season previous, Reading’s Championship title meant little in their following season. It was only a distant memory when they were relegated after only one term in the top flight.

So although winning the title and dominating the division should logically give a side a better chance of adapting to the top flight, it is certainly not always the case.

The chasing pack in the Championship should take note. Promotion can never come too soon. Palace are the perfect example, a team who were promoted on the back of a campaign built on momentum. Now of course, there subsequent managerial appointments have meant they can now look to establish themselves as a fixture in the top division.

Those opportunities would have almost certainly not materialised, had they not grasped the chance of promotion glory when it came around.

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