http://www.cocacolachampionship.org en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:50:32 -0700 http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/queens-park-rangers/ Queens Park Rangers are based in Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London. Nowadays, they play in the Championship. In August 2007 Queen Park's were sold to Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore.

The club is is mostly called jst QPR, or sometimes just "Rangers" by fans. Other nicknames include the "Hoops" or the "Superhoops" (after the team's kit of blue and white hooped shirts). QPR are not to be confused with the Scottish clubs Rangers or Queen's Park.

QPR was formed in 1882, when a team known as St Jude's merged with Christchurch Rangers. The resulting team was called Queens Park Rangers, because most of the players came from the Queens Park area of North-West London. QPR became a professional team in 1889 and played their home games in nearly 20 different stadia (a league record), before permanently settling in Loftus Road in 1917 (although the team briefly played at White City between 1931-3 and 1962–63 in the hope of attracting larger crowds). QPR were promoted as champions of Division 3 South in the 1947–48 season. Dave Mangnall was the manager as Rangers enjoyed four seasons in the Second Division, being relegated in 1951–52. Tony Ingham was signed from Leeds United and went on to make most ever league appearances for QPR (519).

Prior to the start of the 1959-60 season saw the arrival of arguably the club's greatest ever manager, Alec Stock. The 1960–61 season saw QPR achieve their biggest win to date - 9–2 vs Tranmere Rovers in a Division 3 match. In time, Stock, with the advent as Chairman in the mid-60s of Jim Gregory helped to achieve a total transformation of the club and its surroundings.

In 1966–67, QPR won the Division Three championship and became the first Third Division club to win the League Cup on Saturday, 4 March 1967, beating West Bromwich Albion 3–2, (coming back from a two goal deficit). 40 years on, it is still the only major trophy that QPR have won. The final was also the first League Cup Final to be held at Wembley Stadium. After winning promotion in 1968 to the top flight for the first time in their history, Rangers were relegated after just one season and spent the next four years in Division 2. Terry Venables joined from Spurs at the beginning of the 1969–70 season and Rodney Marsh was sold to Manchester City. During this time, new QPR heroes emerged including Phil Parkes, Don Givens, Dave Thomas and Stanley Bowles. These new signings were in addition to home-grown talent such as Dave Clement, Ian Gillard, Mick Leach and Gerry Francis.

In 1974 Dave Sexton joined as manager and, in 1975–76 led QPR to the runners-up spot in the First Division, missing out on the Championship by a single point with a squad containing five England internationals and internationals from the home nations and Morocco. After completing their 42-game season, QPR sat at the top of the league, one point ahead of Liverpool who went on to defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers to clinch the title. Also, Wolves relegated to Second League at same season. The late 1970s also saw some cup success with Rangers reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and in their first entry into European football reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup losing to AEK Athens FC on penalties. Following Sexton's depature in 1977 the club eventually slipped into the Second Division in 1979.

In 1980 Terry Venables took over as manager and the club installed a 'plastic pitch'. In 1982 QPR, still playing in the Second Division, reached the FA Cup Final for the only time in the club's history, facing holders Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham won 1–0 in a replay. The following season 1982–83 QPR went on to win the Second Division championship and returned to English football's top division. After a respectable fifth place finish, and UEFA Cup qualification, the following year, Venables departed to become manager of Barcelona. Over the next seven years, various managers came and went from Loftus Road and the club spent many seasons finishing mid table but avoided relegation. The most successful season during this period was the 1987–88 in which QPR finished fifth, missing out on a UEFA Cup campaign due to the ban on English clubs in European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster. They were also runners up in the 1986 League Cup, losing to Oxford United.

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, was appointed manager in the summer of 1991. In the 1991–92 First Division campaign they finished mid-table in the league and were founder members of the new Premier League which began in 1992. Francis oversaw one of QPR's most famous victories, the 4–1 win at Old Trafford in front of live TV on New Years Day 1992. They finished that season in fifth place, and in the following season Francis guided them to a ninth place finish. Midway through the 1994–95 season Francis resigned and very quickly became manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer, Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to Newcastle United.

QPR's struggled in the following season and were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season. QPR then competed in Division 1 until 2001 under a succession of managers. Gerry Francis returned in 1998 however the 2000–2001 season proved to be a disaster, and Francis resigned in early 2001. Charismatic former player Ian Holloway became manager but was unable to stop Rangers from being relegated to England's third tier for the first time for more than thirty years. Following the 2003–2004 season QPR returned to Division 1 and struggled for consistent form over the next two campaigns before Holloway was suspended amidst rumours of his departure for Leicester City. A poor series of results and lack of progress at the club saw Holloway's successors Gary Waddock and later John Gregory (both former players) fail to hold on to the manager's job.

During this same period QPR became embroiled in financial and boardroom controversy. Although the club had floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1991, in 2001 it entered administration. A period of financial hardship followed and the club left administration after receiving a £10m high-interest emergency loan which continued to burden the club. Scandals involving the directors, shareholders and others emerged in 2005–06 season and included allegations of blackmail and threats of violence against the club's chairman Gianni Paladini. In an unrelated incident QPR were further rocked by the murder of Youth Team footballer Kiyan Prince on 18 May 2006 and, just over a year later, the death of promising teenager and first-team player Ray Jones in a car crash. Following this low point in the club's history as Rangers also faced mounting financial pressure, in the same month it was announced that the club had been bought by wealthy Formula 1 businessmen Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone (see Investment below). During the 2007–08 season, Rangers competed in the Football League Championship (see also: Queens Park Rangers F.C. season 2007-08). John Gregory's reign as manager came to an end in November 2007 after a string of poor results left QPR at the bottom of the Championship and he was replaced by Luigi De Canio until the end of the 2007–08 season. Further investment followed in early 2008 as the club looked to push for promotion to the Premier League within four years, on the back of greater financial stability. On 14 May 2008 Iain Dowie was announced as the manager to begin the campaign to return Rangers to the top flight. However, on the 24 October 2008 Iain Dowie was sacked after just fifteen games in charge of the club.

After a number of years of financial difficulties which included a period in financial administration, QPR was bought by Formula One tycoons and multi-millionaires Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore in a £14m takeover in August 2007. In spending £690,000 to acquire a 69 per cent majority stake in the club, Ecclestone spent £150,000 on his 15 per cent, while Briatore bought 54 per cent for £540,000 through a British Virgin Islands registered company, Sarita Capital. In addition Briatore and Ecclestone are believed to have promised £5 million in convertible loan facilities to help buy players and have covered £13 million of debt, in a total commitment to the club of around £20 million. At the time of purchase the remaining 31 per cent of shareholders turned down the offer of 1p a share. Four months later, on 20 December 2007, it was announced that the family of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in the club from Briatore. The purchase price of the 20 per cent stake was just £200,000. As part of the investment Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law took a place on the board of directors. While Gianni Paladini remains chairman of the football club, Alejandro Agag, as chairman of QPR Holdings (the parent company) was the de facto chairman, until he was replaced by Flavio Briatore in early February 2008. Agag moved into the role of managing director, supported by a deputy managing director, Ali Russell, who moved from Hearts in the Scottish Premier League.

Despite QPR's perilous financial condition, the combined personal wealth of the club's new owners (which included the world's then 5th richest man Lakshmi Mittal) sparked speculation that QPR would receive significant further investment from their new benefactors drawing parallels to their wealthy West London neighbours Chelsea and Fulham. However, to date no significant further funds are believed to have been made available to the club other than those injected as part of the purchase of its share capital. Indeed it was reported in January 2008 that the investors had not discharged the £10 million loan from ABC Corporation together with its £1 million annual interest burden—despite the club's prospective annual turnover of between £10 million and £15 million a year. Furthermore around £2 million was still owed to a former director and major shareholder, Antonio Caliendo, who waived £4.5 million of loans when Briatore and Ecclestone bought the club. It was expected that the ABC loan would be discharged in June 2008 on its maturity and that the debt owed to Antonio Caliendo would be paid off "in early 2008" in line with a funding strategy which Ecclestone has publicly stated would not result in the wealthy owners simply bankrolling the club. In fact the ABC loan was discharged on or around 31 July 2008. Mittal's investment is thought to be primarily motivated by his son-in-law's interests and that Mittal himself will remain a silent investor while Briatore, Ecclestone and Bhatia work together to implement the strategy of slowly building the club up ahead of a push for promotion to the Premier League in 2009. The new owners have also pledged to refurbish Loftus Road and use their experience in Formula One to increase sponsorship revenues. On 25 March 2008 Q.P.R. confirmed that, from the 2008–09 season and for five seasons, their kits will be supplied by Lotto Sport Italia as part of a number of new partnerships formed by Flavio Briatore. The investment potential of the club's new backers resulted in a number of wildly speculative storylines in the football press throughout the 2007-2008 season including rumoured signings of former World Player of the Year winners Luis Figo. Also, they have announced, that they are going to sign Zinedine Zidan as a manager. Of course, that deal never happened.

In May 2008, billionaire Vijay Mallya was linked with buying into the club, as part of the Ecclestone, Briatore and Mittal consortium. Following the termination of the club's sponsorship deals with Car Giant, Le Coq Sportif and Sellotape at the end of the 2007-08 season, in early July 2008 it was expected to be announced that Gulf Air would be the new shirt sponsors. Further sponsorship packages were also announced including Abbey Financial Services and Lotto Sport Italia, which was no surprise due to Italian roots of the owners. ]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:04:12 -0700 http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/queens-park-rangers/ http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/watford-fc/ Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. As of the 2007-08 season, they play in the Championship, having been relegated from the Premiership in 2006-07.

The club was founded in 1881, first playing at Cassio Road ground, before moving to Vicarage Road in 1922, where they remain to this day. Since 1997 they have shared the ground with Saracens Rugby Club. The club has the nickame of The Hornets due to its yellow and black strip. Watford have a long-standing rivalry with nearby Luton Town.

The club is best known for its two spells under the management of former England manager Graham Taylor. The first lasting from 1977 to 1987, when the club rose to the old Division One from Division Four, also reaching the FA Cup final in 1984 and competing in the UEFA Cup. The second lasting from 1997 to 2001, when Taylor took the club from Division Two to the Premiership in successive seasons. During both of these eras the club was owned by Elton John, who is now the club's honorary life president.

At the age of 34, Aidy Boothroyd was appointed manager of Watford after serving at Leeds United as a coach; 70-year-old Keith Burkinshaw was recruited as his assistant. Boothroyd's inexperience raised concerns among fans, who worried that he would not be able to keep the side in the Championship. However, Watford secured enough points to ensure survival with two games to go in the season.

Fan dissent continued throughout the summer of 2005, and increased due to the sacking of Nigel Gibbs as coach after more than twenty years of service and the departure of a large number of fan favourite players. Among those to go were star striker Heiðar Helguson and Danny Webber leaving the club with only one recognised striker.

In a flurry of late-August activity in 2005, Boothroyd signed strikers Darius Henderson and Marlon King (initially on a season-long loan), central defenders Clarke Carlisle and Malky Mackay, midfielder Matthew Spring and goalkeeper Ben Foster (also on a season-long loan), assuaging many fans' doubts about the depth of the squad. Carlisle and Spring had both worked with Boothroyd at Leeds United the previous season.

Although Watford lost the opening match of the season 2-1 at home to Preston North End, Boothroyd's first full season at the club subsequently saw strong performances from the team to take them into the top half of the Championship, with the side consistently maintaining a third place position. A strong run of form in early 2006, including an impressive 4-1 win at second-placed Sheffield United saw Watford threatening to take second place and an automatic promotion spot. A subsequent down-turn in form rendered this impossible, but a draw at home against Luton Town on 9 April secured Watford a play-off spot.

Following a 3-0 away victory at Crystal Palace and a subsequent 0-0 draw at Vicarage Road in the semi-finals Watford reached the playoff final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Watford then beat Leeds 3-0 in the final to gain promotion to the Premier League and an estimated £41m as a result (all 13,000 available season tickets were quickly sold out).

This money was spent on several players in the 2006 pre-season, including three players who represent their country at the international level; central midfielder Damien Francis, centre-back Danny Shittu and Hungarian striker Tamás Priskin and securing the re-signing of Ben Foster (on another season-long loan) and Tommy Smith.

The Hornets secured their first Premiership point of the season with a draw against West Ham in their second game of the season. However, they had to wait until 4 November 2006 to record their first league win of the season, against Middlesbrough.

The January transfer window was busy, with the sale of Ashley Young to Aston Villa for a fee rising to £9.65 million - a record transfer fee for the club. Watford also brought in 8 new signings.

Watford only recorded five wins in the Premiership, and sat at the bottom of the league table. However, they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they lost to Manchester United. Despite drawing 1-1 with Manchester City, Watford were relegated on 21 April 2007. Despite this Boothroyd's contract has been renewed, and he is now on a new deal lasting until 2010.

The team wasted no time in bringing in new players. As soon as the season finished, veteran centre back Matt Jackson joined from Wigan after his contract expired and goalkeeper Mart Poom joined from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, Jobi McAnuff moved from Crystal Palace for £1.75 million and in a new record signing Nathan Ellington moved from West Brom for a fee of £3.25 million which may rise to £4.25 million. This move was partially funded by the £3 million departure of Hameur Bouazza to Fulham.

Watford made a good start to the 2007–08 season. With Darius Henderson and Marlon King scoring regularly, they built a lead at the top of the Championship. In November and December they had a poor run of form, particularly at home, which lead to their closest competitor, West Bromwich Albion, overtaking them in early January. Watford assured themseleves a play-off place on the final day of the season after a fortunate draw at Blackpool they will play Hull City who finished 3rd in the division. But for a dreadful home record where Watford only won 8 out of their 23 home games automatic promotion would have been possible. In the play-offs though the wretched home form continued with Hull winning 2-0 at Vicarage Road and despite Watford taking the lead at the KC Stadium Hull ran out 4-1 winners 6-1 on aggregate to condemn Watford to another season in the Championship. On 25 January 2008 Marlon King made a surprise move to Wigan Athletic when he had been linked numerous times to Fulham. Reports claimed that King failed a medical at Fulham which prompted Wigan boss Steve Bruce to step in and sign the Jamaican international. On the same day 22 year old Fulham striker Collins John made a loan move to Watford which ended following an injury to the player.

Watford fans maintain a rivalry with those of Luton Town. The two sides met regularly in the Southern and Football Leagues from 1900 to 1937, but Luton's promotion meant that aside from a Southern Cup meeting the two sides did not meet again until 1964. Throughout the sixties and seventies the two sides met sporadically, and the rivalry gradually grew in significance, bringing with it trouble in the ground and outside of it.

The two sides were promoted to the First Division in the 1981–82 season, with Luton taking the Championship ahead of Watford. The two sides were also relegated together from the new Division 1 in 1995–96. Watford's promotion from Division 2 in 1997–98 meant that the two sides did not meet again in the League until the 2005–06 season, when Luton were promoted into the Championship. Clashes in the nineties had seen a decrease in violence, but a one-off League Cup tie in the 2002–03 season was marred by violence inside Vicarage Road. The clubs' first League meeting in eight years, on 2 January 2006, passed largely without incident with Watford winning 2–1 at Kenilworth Road. Later in the season, the sides met at Vicarage Road with the game ending in a 1–1 draw.

In all meetings between the two sides Luton have the superior record, with 56 wins and 183 goals to Watford's 37 and 156 respectively. Twenty-nine matches have been drawn. According to a poll, Watford fans see QPR and Crystal Palace as their most important rivals behind Luton. ]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 13:22:50 -0600 http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/watford-fc/ http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/barnsley-championship-side/ This team has been outstanding this year in the FA Cup, knocking out Chelsea and Liverpool out of the oldest cup in the world, but they havent had that much success in the Championship in 2007-2008 season. Let's take a closer look at Barnsley, who they are and what have they accomplished.

Barnsley Football Club is an English football club, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and nicknamed the Tykes, with Toby Tyke being their mascot. The club was founded in 1887 as Barnsley St. Peter's. They currently play in the Championship after promotion was secured at the end of the 2005-06 season by beating Swansea City 4-3 on penalties in the play-off final.

The height of their success was on April 24 1912, when they beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Bramall Lane to win the FA Cup. They also reached the final in 1910 but lost to Newcastle United at Goodison Park. Both results came in replays after draws at Crystal Palace.

Barnsley have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than any other club in history, and have developed some fine talents over the years who have gone on to be successful at other clubs. The most notable of these is Tommy Taylor, who was a prolific goalscorer for Barnsley in the early 1950s and went on to win two league titles with Manchester United (as well as scoring 16 times in 19 England internationals) before losing his life in the Munich air disaster. Taylor's move to Manchester United was for a then world-record fee of £29,999.

Barnsley FC was established in 1887, playing in the Sheffield and District League from 1890 and then in the Midland League from 1895. They joined the Football League in 1898, and struggled in Division Two for the first ten years, due in part to ongoing financial difficulties. In 1910 the club reached the FA Cup final, where they lost out to Newcastle in a replay match. However, they would then reach the 1912 FA Cup Final where they would defeat West Brom 1-0 in a replay to win the trophy for the first and only time in their history.

The club were never quite able to reach the top division in the early years, although they came very close on a number of occasions such as in 1922 where they missed promotion on goal difference decided by a single goal. From the thirties up to the fifties the club found themselves sliding between the Second and Third Division, and in the sixties and seventies they hovered around the Third and Fourth Division, not able to break back into the top two levels of English football.

The eighties and early nineties saw the club get back on track, earn promotion and once again establish themselves as a strong Division Two side as they had been in their early history, eventually reaching a position to once again start challenging for a place in the top tier for the very first time.

Over the past decade Barnsley have experienced a number of highs and lows as a football club. At the end of the 1996-97 season Barnsley reached the top tier of English football for the first time in their history. However, they were relegated the following season despite their efforts.

In the following years Barnsley were not as successful, with relegation to Division Two and administration both threatening the existence of the club. Barnsley suffered greatly due to the ITV Digital crisis, resulting in the club going into administration in 2002. A late purchase from Barnsley's Mayor, Peter Doyle, saved the club from folding. Doyle has since left the club, leaving Gordon Shepherd and local businessman Patrick Cryne in control. There has also been a rapid turnover of managers, with no less than ten managers in the same number of years.

Barnsley had the distinction of playing in the play-off final at Wembley before the stadium was closed for redevelopment, and in 2006 won in a play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where they beat Swansea City 4-3 on penalties (2-2 after extra-time) to earn promotion to the Championship. The manager at this time was Andy Ritchie, who was in his first season in charge after replacing Paul Hart.

The team struggled in their first season back in the Championship. In November 2006, with Barnsley in the relegation zone, Ritchie was sacked in favour of Simon Davey. Davey managed to steer the team away from relegation in the second half of the season, and eventually finishing in 20th. The following season, a much-changed Barnsley side managed a historic FA Cup run, beating Premiership giants Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield and defending champions Chelsea 1-0 in order to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1912, where they narrowly lost out 1-0 to fellow Championship side Cardiff City at Wembley.

Barnsley have played their home games in red shirts for most of their history. The only exception to this is the period 1887-1901, where it is speculated that the team first wore blue shirts with purple/claret arms, then circa 1890 the team wore chocolate and white stripes, before moving on to blue and white stripes around 1898. The team first wore their now traditional red shirts in 1901.

Since this time, the team has worn red shirts often with a white trim. In more recent times a black trim has sometimes been used. As with most football clubs the shirt design varies from season to season. One particular design that stands out is the 1989-90 season shirt which featured white stars on a red background and has been named as one of the worst shirts ever. However, the kit is fondly remembered by some fans. Sponsors names and logos were first worn in the 1980-81 season and the club has had 12 different sponsors on the shirt in total. Since manufacturers logos were added to the shirt in the 1976-77 season, the club has 12 different kit manufacturers.

Traditionally, the team has worn white shorts (sometimes with red and/or black trim) for their home games with the only exceptions coming in the early years of the 20th century. One other notable exception came in the 2000 Division One Playoff Final against Ipswich Town, where the team wore red shorts, thus having an all-red strip.

Apart from the clubs early years and the period 1921-1934 where the team wore black, the team has worn red and/or white socks for its home games. Again, the design changes from season to season.

The club's away strip (used for away or cup fixtures where there is a clash of colours) differs from season to season but usually follows the design of the season's home strip with a variation on the colours. The most common colour for the away shirt has been white but many others have been used, including blue, yellow, black, ecru, dark green and even black and blue stripes. One notable away strip was the 2001-2002 “Its just like watching Brazil” kit, where the team wore the colours of the 5-time World Cup winners Brazil for their away games. However, that season it was not at all like watching Brazil as the team were relegated to Division 1.

The current strip for the 2007-2008 season is manufactured by Surridge Sports and the main sponsor is Wake Smith Solictors. The home shirt is the traditional red with white stitching from the collar to underneath the arms and around the end of the sleeves. The collar itself is white. The shorts are white with a thick red band down each side with red stitching down the front. The socks are red with a thick white band running down the back getting wider further down.

The away strip is of the same design as the home strip substituting ecru for red and navy blue for white.

With the departure of six first team players (Daniel Nardiello, Paul Hayes, Antony Kay, Paul Heckingbottom, Neil Austin and Marc Richards), Simon Davey dipped heavily into the summer transfer market and ultimately brought in fourteen new players, the majority of whom were foreign. The most successful of these signings included goalkeeper Heinz Muller, midfielders Anderson and Jamal Campbell-Ryce, and a new defensive line-up made up of Robert Kozluk, Dennis Souza, Stephen Foster and Lewin Nyatanga (who returned on an extended loan spell after becoming a fan favourite).

Barnsley had a very positive start to the season, surpassing expectations and finding themselves in the top six of the Football League Championship with ten games played. Most of the summer signings found their way into the squad early on, making it quite common for there only to be two or three players in the starting eleven who were with the club in the previous season. Top scorer Brian Howard was rumored to have attracted Premiership interest along with new signings Heinz Muller, Dennis Souza and even manager Simon Davey. The team managed to maintain a decent level of consistency, remaining in the top half of the table throughout the first half of the season. Derby striker Jon Macken arrived on loan in November, and scored his first three goals for the club in his last two matches before being recalled by Derby at the end of December along with Lewin Nyatanga. Barnsley's form finally began to stutter through December and January, when they went for eight league games without a victory and dropped to 16th in the table. They did, however, beat both Blackpool and Southend in the FA Cup to secure passage to the last sixteen.

The first new signing of the January window was Spanish midfielder Diego Leon, followed by a short-term loan signing for Miguel Tininho and a controversial loan deal for ex-reds striker Daniel Nardiello (who had turned down a contract offer to leave the club for QPR the previous summer). Shortly before the transfer window closed, Davey signed previously-loaned players Jon Macken from Derby County and Anderson from Everton (each for an undisclosed six-figure fee), as well as securing yet another loan spell for Lewin Nyatanga, with a fee agreed for a permanent summer switch. Outgoing from the club was reserve goalkeeper Nick Colgan to Championship rivals Ipswich, so an injury to first-choice keeper Heinz Muller forced a late loan deal for goalkeeper Tony Warner on a month's loan from Fulham. Anderson also suffered an injury in late February which would keep him out for up to seven months.

Barnsley continued to maintain their lower mid-table position in the Championship, unable to put a winning streak together. On February 16th, the team travelled to Anfield to play Liverpool in the 5th round of the FA Cup and pulled off a surprise 2-1 victory, with a strong defensive display and a 'Man of the Match', 'Player of the Round' performance from loaned keeper Luke Steele (who was brought in at the last minute for cup-tied Tony Warner). After conceding a goal in the first half, it was Stephen Foster who equalised in the second and captain Brian Howard who scored the last-gasp winner which allowed them to progress to the quarter finals for the first time since 1999, where they would face Chelsea at Oakwell. Here, the Tykes put in a 'sensational' performance against the FA Cup holders and 'Player of the Round' Kayode Odejayi's second-half header (only his second goal of the season) was enough to put the Yorkshire side into the semi-final for the first time since they won the cup in 1912. Even Chelsea boss Avram Grant admitted after the game that the Championship side fully deserved their win. With Portsmouth the only Premiership side remaining in the competition, what had begun as a shock result at Anfield had now developed into a genuine chance to reclaim their FA Cup glory, and when they were drawn against Cardiff City in the semi-finals a repeat of the historic final versus West Brom was well on the cards. However, in front of a Wembley crowd of 82,752 they narrow lost the game 1-0 to Cardiff thanks to a 8th minute strike from Joe Ledley.

Meanwhile in the league, losses against Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Burnley saw them drop to a precarious position and relegation fears were brewing, but a surprise 0-3 away win at Watford (with Kayode Odejayi scoring only his second and third league goals of the season) was a big boost to their survival hopes. ]]> Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:09:23 -0600 http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/barnsley-championship-side/ http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/coca-cola-championship/ The Football League Championship (often referred to as The Championship for short, or the Coca-Cola Football League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League.

The Football League Championship was introduced for the 2004-2005 season. It was previously known as the Football League First Division. According to Deloitte, in 2004-05 it was the richest non-top flight football division in the world, and the sixth richest division in the world.

After analysis of the 2006-2007 season only 13 points separated the top 6 teams.

The championship is truly an incredible league. While all the top leagues from all over the world have potential winners, this league cannot predict nothing. No team has absolutely any advantage before the first 10 rounds. By end the of the season it could be last season's struglers, who top the spot and the team which has qualified from the lower division - League One, could bounce back. In 2004-05, the Football League Championship announced a total attendance (including postseason) of 9.8 million, which it said was the fourth highest total attendance for a European football division, behind the FA Premier League (12.88m), Spain's Primera división (11.57m) and Germany's Bundesliga (10.92m), but beating Italy's Serie A (9.77m) and France's Ligue 1 (8.17m). The total figures were aided somewhat by the presence of 24 clubs, compared to 20 clubs in both Serie A and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga. A major factor to the competition's success comes from television revenue.

The television rights for the Football League Championship are currently held by Sky Sports. Sky Sports will hold the exclusive rights until the 2009-2010 season. Highlights of Championship matches and goals of league one and league two matches are shown by ITV on The Championship. From 2009-2010 Sky Sports will show 65 live matches. The BBC will show 10 live games a season and has rights to show a highlight show. The deal is on a three year contract and is worth £264m that will mostly be paid by Sky.

The standings according to 11th of March are -

1 Bristol City 38 18 13 7 45 42 3 67 2 Stoke City 38 18 12 8 61 49 12 66 3 Watford 37 17 12 8 57 43 14 63 4 West Bromwich Albion 36 18 8 10 72 43 29 62 5 Charlton Athletic 38 15 11 12 53 45 8 56 6 Hull City 37 15 11 11 46 40 6 56 7 Plymouth Argyle 38 15 10 13 49 39 10 55 8 Burnley 38 14 13 11 51 49 2 55 9 Ipswich Town 37 14 11 12 54 48 6 53 10 Crystal Palace 38 13 15 10 42 37 5 54 11 Wolverhampton Wanderers 36 13 12 11 36 38 -2 51 12 Blackpool 39 11 15 13 53 52 1 48 13 Cardiff City 36 12 12 12 43 42 1 48 14 Queens Park Rangers 38 12 12 14 40 54 -14 48 15 Sheffield United 37 11 14 12 39 41 -2 47 16 Preston North End 39 13 8 18 38 43 -5 47 17 Barnsley 37 11 13 13 42 52 -10 46 18 Norwich City 38 12 10 16 35 46 -11 46 19 Southampton 38 11 12 15 49 61 -12 45 20 Coventry City 37 12 7 18 39 52 -13 43 21 Sheffield Wednesday 36 12 6 18 38 43 -5 42 22 Leicester City 38 9 14 15 34 35 -1 41 23 Scunthorpe United 37 9 11 17 35 53 -18 38 24 Colchester United 37 6 14 17 49 63 -14 32 ]]> Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:48:36 -0600 http://www.cocacolachampionship.org/coca-cola-championship/