Championship preview: Leeds v Wolves

Stale Solbakken

The beauty of pretty much every Championship season is that when it starts you have absolutely no clue how it’s going to finish.

Having said that it’s safe to say that both Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers would be disappointed not to at least be in play-off contention come May, and both start their campaigns with a match against each other in front of the cameras.

For Leeds, a first full season under Neil Warnock promises much – and not just from their manager in the dugout.

The United boss has already hit the headlines with his move for El-Hadji Diouf – a player he branded “a sewer rat” as recently as last January – but the Yorkshireman has got the Yorkshire giants believing in a promotion push, even if a stalled takeover bid has seen chairman Ken Bates lose even more friends amongst the club’s support.

The loss of Robert Snodgrass to Norwich City is a blow of course, but Warnock has strengthened the defence by taking Adam Drury in the opposite direction, whilst the signing of goalkeeper Paddy Kenny from QPR adds one of the manager’s favourites to a squad he is rapidly moulding in his own forthright image.

Just how long it will take Ståle Solbakken to make the Wolves side his very own will remain to be seen, but with the club remaining firm on their stance on forward Steven Fletcher and – less infamously – the winger Matt Jarvis, Solbakken has managed to make it to the season’s opener with the majority of his squad intact.

That side proved inadequate for Premier League life in the last campaign of course, but under their Norwegian boss they’ll be looking to bounce back at the first attempt.

Solbakken, a former midfielder with Wimbledon and FC Copenhagen, already has experience of managing in both the Champions League and the Bundesliga, but the sheer pace of Championship life is likely to likely to take the 44-year-old by surprise, and he might need some time to settle down.

Warnock – a veteran of this division – will need no such a period, and the Leeds boss can get his campaign off to the perfect start with a welcome home victory.

The match at Elland Road is the first of Saturday’s to get underway, but by then the Championship season will have started some 17 hours earlier in South Wales.

Cardiff City – in their new red kits – will get the campaign underway when they take on newly-promoted Huddersfield Town on Friday night, when Craig Bellamy is likely to line up for the first appearance of his second coming at the now slightly altered Bluebirds.

In Heidar Helguson, Malky Mackay has bought a good foil for the Cardiff hometown hero, and whilst the kit issue understandably still divides fans the ones who have stuck with their club are likely to see them get off to a positive start.

Elsewhere, the weekend sees last season’s Premier League relegation finally hit home for Bolton and Blackburn, as they face tricky opening day trips to Burnley and Ipswich respectively.

Wanderers, and in particular their former Burnley boss Owen Coyle, will be in for a tough time when they go to Turf Moor for a local derby, whilst last season’s beaten play-off finalists Blackpool start by heading to Millwall.

Promoted Charlton have a tough opening game away to Birmingham, Gianfranco Zola’s Watford go to Crystal Palace, Sheffield Wednesday return to Championship action at Derby and Steve Bruce’s first league match in charge of Hull sees his side entertain Brighton.

Leicester, many people’s pick for promotion, host Peterborough, whilst Barnsley entertain Middlesbrough and two of last year’s strugglers, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, meet at the City Ground.

Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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