The 2008–09 Football League Championship (known as the Coca-Cola Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the league under its current title and seventeenth season under its current league division format.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won the division to return to the Premier League after a five-year absence. They secured the Championship title on 25 April, one week after having confirmed their promotion with a victory over QPR.
Birmingham City were promoted at the first attempt following their relegation. They secured their return to the top flight on the final day of the season by winning at promotion rivals Reading 2–1. Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton Athletic were relegated;
Burnley won the play-offs to reach the Premier League for the first time after a 1–0 win in the play-off final against Sheffield United, who had been in with a chance of automatic promotion on the final day.
Team changes from previous season Joining the Championship Relegated from the Premier League: Reading Birmingham City Derby County
Promoted from League One: Swansea City Nottingham Forest Doncaster Rovers
Leaving the Championship Promoted to the Premier League: West Bromwich Albion Stoke City Hull City
Relegated to League One: Leicester City Scunthorpe United Colchester United
Team overview Stadium and locations
Team Stadium Capacity Barnsley Oakwell 23,009 Birmingham City St Andrew's 30,009 Blackpool Bloomfield Road 9,788 Bristol City Ashton Gate 21,497 Burnley Turf Moor 22,546 Cardiff City Ninian Park 22,008 Charlton Athletic The Valley 27,111 Coventry City Ricoh Arena 32,609 Crystal Palace Selhurst Park 26,309 Derby County Pride Park 33,597 Doncaster Rovers Keepmoat Stadium 15,231 Ipswich Town Portman Road 30,311 Norwich City Carrow Road 26,034 Nottingham Forest City Ground 30,602 Plymouth Argyle Home Park 19,500 Preston North End Deepdale 24,500 Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road 19,128 Reading Madejski Stadium 24,161 Sheffield United Bramall Lane 32,609 Sheffield Wednesday Hillsborough 39,814 Southampton St Mary's Stadium 32,689 Swansea City Liberty Stadium 20,532 Watford Vicarage Road 19,920 Wolverhampton Wanderers Molineux 28,525
Personnel and sponsoring Team Manager Kit maker Sponsor Barnsley Simon Davey Lotto Barnsley Building Society Birmingham City Alex McLeish Umbro F&C Investments Blackpool Ian Holloway Carlotti Floors 2 Go/Carbrini Bristol City Gary Johnson Puma DAS Group Burnley Owen Coyle Erreà Holland's Pies Cardiff City Dave Jones Joma Vansdirect.co.uk Charlton Athletic Phil Parkinson Joma Carbrini Coventry City Chris Coleman Puma Cassidy Group (H)/StadiArena (A) Crystal Palace Neil Warnock Erreà GAC Logistics Derby County Nigel Clough Adidas Bombardier Doncaster Rovers Sean O'Driscoll Vandanel Wright Investments Ipswich Town Roy Keane Mitre Marcus Evans Norwich City Bryan Gunn Xara Aviva Nottingham Forest Billy Davies Umbro Capital One Plymouth Argyle Paul Sturrock Puma Ginsters Preston North End Alan Irvine Diadora Enterprise plc Queens Park Rangers Jim Magilton Lotto Gulf Air Reading Steve Coppell Puma Waitrose Sheffield United Kevin Blackwell Le Coq Sportif VisitMalta.com Sheffield Wednesday Brian Laws Lotto PlusNet Southampton Mark Wotte Umbro Flybe Swansea City Roberto Martínez Umbro Swansea.com Watford Brendan Rodgers Diadora Beko Wolverhampton Wanderers Mick McCarthy Le Coq Sportif Chaucer Consulting
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table QPR Iain Dowie Sacked 24 October 2008 Paulo Sousa 19 November 2008 9th Watford Aidy Boothroyd Mutual consent 3 November 2008 Brendan Rodgers 24 November 2008 21st Charlton Athletic Alan Pardew Mutual consent 22 November 2008 Phil Parkinson 31 December 2008 22nd Blackpool Simon Grayson Signed by Leeds United 23 December 2008 Ian Holloway 21 May 200916th Nottingham Forest Colin Calderwood Sacked 26 December 2008 Billy Davies 1 January 200922nd Derby County Paul Jewell Resigned 28 December 2008 Nigel Clough 6 January 2009 18th Norwich City Glenn Roeder Sacked 14 January 2009 Bryan Gunn 21 January 2009 21st Southampton Jan Poortvliet Resigned 23 January 2009 Mark Wotte 23 January 2009 23rd QPR Paulo Sousa Sacked 9 April 2009 Jim Magilton 3 June 2009 10th Ipswich Town Jim Magilton Sacked 22 April 2009 Roy Keane 23 April 2009 9th Reading Steve Coppell Resigned 12 May 2009 Brendan Rodgers 4 June 2009 4th, Play-off semi-final
League table
Play-offs
Results
Top goalscorers PosPlayerTeamGoals1 Sylvan Ebanks-BlakeWolverhampton Wanderers252 Ross McCormackCardiff City21 Jason ScotlandSwansea City4 Kevin DoyleReading185 Tommy SmithWatford166 Rob HulseDerby County14 Chris IwelumoWolverhampton Wanderers Marcus TudgaySheffield Wednesday Kevin PhillipsBirmingham City
Awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthNotesManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Mick McCarthyWolverhampton Wanderers Richard ChaplowPreston North EndSeptember Owen CoyleBurnley Kevin DoyleReadingOctober Dave JonesCardiff City Rob HulseDerby CountyNovember Mick McCarthyWolverhampton Wanderers Chris IwelumoWolverhampton WanderersDecember Steve CoppellReading Stephen HuntReadingJanuary Roberto MartínezSwansea City Joe LedleyCardiff CityFebruary Chris ColemanCoventry City Jason ScotlandSwansea CityMarch Kevin BlackwellSheffield United Robbie BlakeBurnleyApril Alan IrvinePreston North End Kyle NaughtonSheffield United
PFA Team of the Year Pos.PlayerClub GK Keiren Westwood Coventry City DF Kyle Naughton Sheffield United DF Roger Johnson Cardiff City DF Richard Stearman Wolverhampton Wanderers DF Danny Fox Coventry City MF Michael Kightly Wolverhampton Wanderers MF Stephen Hunt Reading MF Joe Ledley Cardiff City MF Jordi Gómez Swansea City FW Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Wolverhampton Wanderers FW Jason Scotland Swansea City
Events
Goal controversies On 20 September 2008, during Watford's home game against Reading, the assistant referee Nigel Banister adjudged that a John Eustace own goal had opened the scoring for Reading. In fact, the ball had gone four yards wide of the goal after Eustace challenged Royals forward Noel Hunt and a corner should therefore have been awarded. Referee Stuart Attwell followed the signal by the assistant and awarded the goal. The next day Reading manager Steve Coppell said that he was happy for the game to be replayed, but his offer was turned down when an official said, "the referee's decision is final." On 6 December 2008 an apparent Bristol City goal against Swansea City was not awarded after both the linesman and referee failed to see the ball cross the line. This led Bristol City manager Gary Johnson to add to calls for goal-line technology.
Southampton administration On 23 April 2009, The Football League announced that Southampton had been placed into administration. The ruling occurred after the deadline for immediate points deduction application, so the ten-point deduction would have to await whether or not Southampton, in 22nd place at the time of the announcement, were relegated. If they had finished above the relegation zone, then the points would have been deducted from their total for the current year to thereby relegate them. However, since their relegation was confirmed following their penultimate match, their point penalty would be applied the next season in League One.Statement on Southampton Football Club from The Football League, 23 April 2009
Attendances Source:
No. Club Average Change Highest Lowest 1 Derby County 29,440 -9.2% 33,079 25,534 2 Sheffield United 26,023 1.5% 30,786 23,045 3 Norwich City 24,543 0.1% 25,487 23,225 4 Wolverhampton Wanderers 24,153 2.8% 28,252 21,326 5 Nottingham Forest 22,299 11.7% 29,140 17,568 6 Sheffield Wednesday 21,542 0.6% 30,658 14,792 7 Ipswich Town 20,961 -4.4% 28,274 17,749 8 Charlton Athletic 20,894 -9.8% 24,553 19,215 9 Reading 19,936 -15.5% 23,879 16,514 10 Birmingham City 19,081 -27.1% 25,935 15,330 11 Cardiff City 18,044 29.4% 20,156 15,902 12 Southampton 17,849 -16.0% 27,228 13,257 13 Coventry City 17,408 -9.0% 22,637 14,621 14 Bristol City 16,816 3.3% 18,456 15,304 15 Crystal Palace 15,220 -5.1% 22,824 12,847 16 Swansea City 15,187 12.3% 18,053 11,442 17 Watford 14,858 -12.0% 16,386 13,193 18 Queens Park Rangers 14,090 0.9% 17,120 12,286 19 Preston North End 13,426 6.2% 21,273 10,558 20 Barnsley 13,189 15.4% 19,681 10,678 21 Burnley 13,082 5.8% 18,005 10,032 22 Doncaster Rovers 11,964 50.0% 14,823 9,534 23 Plymouth Argyle 11,427 -12.1% 14,789 9,203 24 Blackpool 7,843 -11.5% 9,643 6,648
References