As is the way of the football world, the collective gaze of many football fans is currently centred on the Barclays Premier League with its closest season in ages rolling on. While the audience is justified for the Premier League, another English league is going through a rollercoaster season that is bringing 10 times the excitement the Premier League has.
The NPower Championship (Old Division Two for the old timers) is considered the 6th biggest league in Europe. Fox Sports have very light coverage of the league with the odd game live on TV and a weekly highlights show.
The Championship is the pathway to the Premier League and it fought with high passion and vigour as promotion to the Premier League gives clubs a 60 million pound boost from increased TV Revenue and Sponsorship. This league I feel also produces the purest football with most teams trying to attack hard.
The 2010/2011 though, has become one of the closest on record. As of the 2nd of January, 12 points separate teams placed between 5th and 19th (Teams finishing 3-6 have playoffs for the final promotional place).
Anyone can beat anyone on any given day with no match easy to predict. In the last few weeks the runaway leaders QPR, have stumbled with 3 losses after an unbeaten start to the season and Cardiff who have been perennial runners up have slipped down the ladder.
This environment is creating volatility I have never seen in sport before. For example 14th place Doncaster are only 2 games out of a possible playoff place at a time when mid-table mediocrity should set in. At the other end of the table Reading, who were 5th, dropped to 11th without playing a match. Such is the competition between teams. Burnley who sacked manager Brian Laws for lack of direction in getting his team into the Premier League, are 8th and still fighting.
It has been bemoaned in modern football that competition has been lost due to the rise of big-money clubs and their poaching of players. This league is the league you need to watch for close, passionate matches.
Every result until the end of the season will have serious implications for who goes up to the glory of the Premier League and who stays down. To all football fans, take one weekend off the big leagues and tune in to a league where every match is so crucial.
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