With the almost football-free wasteland of another summer break coming to an end, the most unpredictable league in the world gets underway once again this weekend. That's right; ladies and gentlemen, the Championship is back.

Last season's relegation battle may have been all but over with a couple of weeks to spare, but the promotion battle was nail-biting to a conclusion which rivalled that Sergio Agüero goal for drama. With four teams level on points at the top with a month of the season to go, it was left to Bournemouth to complete one of the feel-good stories of the season and take their fairytale to the promised land of the Premier League.

With Watford and Norwich City no longer with us but six new teams wondering just what they've got themselves in for, we'll start from the top. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

Promotion

Picking just three teams from the second division to go up can often boil down to nothing more than a lucky dip. All of the relegated teams have managed to keep a decent squad together, but it is rarely as simple as sides such as Newcastle United have made it look in the past.

Burnley have the Sean Dyche factor on their side, with the 'Ginger Mourinho' knowing how to take a side out of this division without the help of some hefty Premier League parachute payments. The Clarets have had a good window, losing star men Kieran Tripper and Danny Ings but bringing in top-flight experienced Nathan Baker and Belgium international Jelle Vossen to fill their boots.

Dyche has already been making waves with his comments about other sides, complaining about the big spending of promotion rivals Derby County and Middlesbrough. The Rams' fall from grace was as undignified as it was unforeseen, but with Paul Clement at the helm and Tom Ince and Darren Bent making their successful loan moves permanent, they should be right up there.

However, while many bookmakers have been keen to just send the trophy to the iPro and be done with it, the pressure on a manager new to the game with big money having being spent will be enormous - a shaky start to the season could see things turn sour very quickly.

Last season's play-off final victims Middlesbrough, meanwhile, have undergone a squad overhaul of their own with loan stars such as Patrick Bamford and the aforementioned Vossen returning and others such as Lee Tomlin being allowed to move on. The return of local hero Stewart Downing could prove the best piece of business in the division this season, and while much of the attention has been deflected by the ongoing Jordan Rhodes saga, Uruguay international Christian Stuani's arrival has gone somewhat under the radar.

Brentford have had a sensational transfer window but only time will tell if their foray into the brave new world of analytics will bear fruit, and while Wolves will rely even more heavily on the consistent goalscoring form of Nouha Dicko and Benik Afobe following the departure of Bakary Sako, they have recruited well in Sheyi Ojo and Adam Le Fondre

Ipswich Town may struggle to replicate last season's play-off push with Daryl Murphy signing a new deal but not getting any younger, but Steve Bruce has the knowhow and the squad to ensure Hull City aren't feeling the pain of relegation for too long.

Relegation

It may seem a cheap shot, but the promoted League One sides are often tipped to spend the season looking over their shoulder at the prospect of relegation and MK Dons are no different. The departures of Dele Alli and loanee Will Grigg means the Dons have 38 goals to replace and while Southampton's Sam Gallagher should prove a good signing, they need to hope that former Real Madrid Castilla man Cristian Benavente can do it on a cold Tuesday night in Rotherham, so to speak.

And speaking of Rotherham United, the Millers are another side who could find their stay in the Championship cut short. Steve Evans has focused on creating strength in depth throughout his squad but last season was too close for comfort and his side will have their work cut out to avoid another relegation battle. 

The departure of Rudy Gestede leaves Blackburn Rovers more reliant on Scotland international Rhodes than ever and if he is eventually allowed to leave, Gary Bowyer will have little time to reconstruct his front line, while the loss of the talented Tom Cairney could also prove a significant one. The Venky's won't hang around to wield the axe if the seasons starts off on the wrong foot, and as Steve Kean knows all to well, managerial uncertainty and Ewood Park are not a healthy mix.

Cardiff CityReading and Brighton are all teetering on the edge of having a fairly average squad with little optimism of promotion, while any chance of an improvement from Fulham could rest squarely on the shoulders of Ross McCormack, who must further improve on last season's haul of 17 if the Cottagers are to move away from danger.

The unpredictables

Every season in the Championship is a difficult one to call, but there are some sides above all who seem to defy prediction if only because of a constant sense of madness and hysteria surrounding them. You all know who we're talking about.

Despite allegations of not being famous anymore, Leeds United make the front and back pages of the nation's newspapers more than anyone else in the league, having presumably adopted chaos theory as their footballing philosophy. They are yet to make any real waves in the transfer market but the acquisition of former Brentford favourite Stuart Dallas is a shrewd one, but at this point it would seem fair to put them somewhere in lower-mid table.

QPR will be looking a lot worse off when their stars move on as expected with Charlie Austin clearly the main man, and years of ill-advised squad building could finally be about to take its toll with the Championship more difficult than ever and a rag-tag band of players missing the spirit of other sides. 

Tjaronn Chery looks an exciting prospect but the very fact that he arrives from the Eredivisie means he can only possibly finish the season on a two or nine out of ten, with no real way of predicting which. Massive player turnover could prove the main issue once again, with the Rs likely to struggle in the bottom half.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday have spent big to attempt to achieve their promotion goal, but their acquisitions consist of average to good Championship players and foreign arrivals unused to the English game - if they gel quickly they could be a force to be reckoned with after a stop-start season last time around, but if not it might just be another Owls tale of mid-table also-rans.

So, there you have it. With Premier League players making the step down, lower-league stars making the step up and exotic foreign arrivals moving at some sort of sideways angle, the Championship promises to upstage its more showbiz top-flight big brother with another 552 games of real football.

And that's not even counting the play-offs.

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About the author
Sam France
Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Features Editor at VAVEL UK, part of the VAVEL team 2014-2018.