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Early Championship promotion odds and what bookies got wrong last year
Leicester City have been immediately installed as bookies’ favourites to win the Championship 2023/24 title as they prepare for life back outside the big time.
The 2016 Premier League champions had relegation confirmed on Sunday and will come down with one of the biggest budgets in the division and also the highest expectations. It remains to be seen if they will keep Dean Smith, who oversaw their demise after taking over from Brendan Rodgers, and if they can follow in the footsteps of Burnley to immediately bounce back.
Leeds United have a similar managerial decision to make and are the early second favourites while Southampton, who are taking Russell Martin from Swansea, are level with play-off semi-finalists Middlesbrough in third.
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Ipswich Town are fifth and priced 14/1 to make it back-to-back promotions while rivals Norwich can be found at the same odds as sporting director Stuart Webber comes under increasing scrutiny from supporters after two disappointing years.
As for Stoke City, they are ninth in the list at 20/1 and level with Sunderland – despite so much work needing to be done to build a squad that Alex Neil can make competitive.
Rotherham, Huddersfield, QPR, Preston North End, Plymouth Argyle and Bristol City are seen as the outsiders in a Championship which seems quite difficult to predict.
But do the bookies get it right?
At this stage last year, Norwich and Watford were the favourites to win automatic promotion – and they ended up in 13th and 11th respectively.
West Brom, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Burnley were next in the ranking and the latter two did finish in the top six, winning automatic promotion, while Boro came fourth.
Sunderland and Coventry were both 3/1 for a top six finish while Luton were 7/1 to be relegated and ended up going up via the play-offs. They were a less than generous 8/1 to win promotion by any means.
Wigan were 7/2 to be relegated while Blackpool were 9/2 but Reading (11/4) were tipped to go down. Rotherham (13/8 to be relegated) and Birmingham (11/4) defied expectations and stayed up.
Championship 2022/23 promotion odds and actual finishes
1. Watford – 9/4 – finished 11th
2. Norwich – 5/2 – 13th
3. West Brom – 3/1 – 9th
4. Sheffield Utd – 10/3 – 2nd
5. Burnley – 7/2 – 1st
6. Middlesbrough – 7/2 – 4th
7. Huddersfield – 9/2 – 18th
8. Swansea – 11/2 – 10th
=9. Stoke – 6/1 – 16th
=9. Sunderland – 6/1 – 6th
11. Hull City – 7/1 – 15th
=12. Blackburn Rovers – 8/1 – 7th
=12. Cardiff City – 8/1 – 21st
=12. Coventry City – 8/1 – 5th
=12. Luton Town – 8/1 – 3rd
=12. QPR – 8/1 – 20th
=17. Millwall – 9/1 – 8th
=17. Wigan – 9/1 – 24th
=19. Birmingham City – 11/1 – 17th
=19. Blackpool – 11/1 – 23rd
=21. Bristol City – 12/1 – 14th
=21. Preston North End – 12/1 – 12th
=21. Reading – 12/1 – 22nd
24. Rotherham Utd – 16/1 – 19th
Championship odds 2023/24
Outright winner
- Leicester City – 5/1
- Leeds United – 11/2
- Middlesbrough – 10/1
- Southampton – 10/1
- Ipswich Town – 14/1
- Norwich City – 14/1
- Watford – 14/1
- West Brom – 14/1
- Stoke City – 20/1
- Sunderland – 20/1
- Blackburn Rovers – 25/1
- Coventry City – 25/1
- Millwall – 25/1
- Sheffield Wednesday – 25/1
- Swansea City – 25/1
- Hull City – 28/1
- Birmingham City – 33/1
- Cardiff City – 33/1
- Bristol City – 40/1
- Plymouth Argyle – 40/1
- Preston North End – 40/1
- QPR – 40/1
- Huddersfield Town – 50/1
- Rotherham United – 80/1
Top six finish
- Leicester – 4/6
- Leeds – 8/11
- Middlesbrough – 11/8
- Southampton – 11/8
- Ipswich – 15/8
- Norwich – 15/8
- Watford – 15/8
- West Brom – 15/8
- Stoke City – 9/4
- Sunderland – 9/4
- Blackburn – 3/1
- Coventry – 3/1
- Millwall – 3/1
- Sheffield Wednesday – 3/1
- Swansea – 3/1
- Hull – 10/3
- Birmingham – 7/2
- Cardiff – 7/2
- Bristol City – 9/2
- Plymouth – 9/2
- Preston – 9/2
- QPR – 9/2
- Huddersfield – 11/2
- Rotherham – 7/1
Who is going up and who is doomed? Have your say in the comments section
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