Rotherham United return to the Championship for the 2022/3 season – but who will we be playing?
Championship Teams – B
Birmingham City
Birmingham City came into being in 1875 although they were originally called Small Heath Alliance. Thirteen years later they dropped the ‘Alliance’ from their name before becoming Birmingham City in 1943. Twenty years later they won their first major cup, beating rivals Aston Villa in the League Cup on aggregate, going on to win it again in 2011. 1991 and 1995 saw them win the Football League Trophy.
The Millers and Birmingham have met thirty-nine times in all competitions, thirty-six of those being in the League. The last time the pair met was at the New York Stadium in April 2021 when Harlee Dean scored the only goal of the game two minutes from time to give the visitors the win.
City finished last season in twentieth place with forty-seven points and a minus twenty-five goal difference. Scott Hogan was top scorer with ten goals.
Ground – St Andrew’s
Nickname – Blues
Manager – Lee Bowyer
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers were established in 1875 becoming a founding member of the Football League thirteen years later. Rovers were also founder members of the Premier League in 1992. They have won the FA Cup six times and the Football League Cup once.
The Millers and Blackburn have met forty times in the league in the past the last time a one-all draw at the New York Stadium in May 2021. Adam Armstrong put the visitors in front on seventeen minutes with Lewis Wing scoring four minutes from the end to give Rotherham a point.
Rovers finished two places behind the play-off places last season on sixty-nine points when Ben Brereton Díaz was top scorer with twenty-two goals. After five years at the helm Tony Mowbray left Ewood Park in May when his contract expired and in June Jon Dahl Tomasson was appointed the manager.
Ground – Ewood Park
Nickname – Rovers
Manager – Jon Dahl Tomasson
Blackpool
Founded in 1887 they won the Fylde Cup and Lancashire Junior Cup in their first season and became founder members of the Lancashire League in 1889 and joined the Football League in the 1896/7 season in the Second Division. After just one season they found themselves back in the Lancashire League but May 1900 saw them re-elected to the Football League which is also when they moved to Bloomfield Road. At the end of the 1929/30 season Blackpool were promoted to the First Division where they lasted three seasons before being relegated and were there until promoted again at the end of the 1936/7 season and were top of the table when war broke out and league football was abandoned. In 1953 Blackpool won the FA Cup – a final that is now known as the ‘Matthews Final’.
Coming up to date, the club were relegated to the Third Division at the end of the 199/2000 season but went straight back up via the play-offs and 2002 and 2004 saw them win the Football League Trophy. May 2007 saw them promoted to the Championship, again via the play-offs, beating Yeovil two-nil. Blackpool found themselves in the Championship play-off final in May 2010 and beating Cardiff City three-two saw them climb into the Premier League. Unfortunately, they lasted just that one season and were relegated alongside West Ham and Birmingham City and got to the play-off final in the Championship again, but this time lost to West Ham. April 2015 saw the Seasiders relegated to League One with six games still to play. The last game of the season was abandoned when protesting fans ran onto the pitch just after half-time. The club suffered a second relegation in May 2016 with former Miller Gary Bowyer taking over as Manager two weeks into the following season and helping them to the play-off final against Exeter City. Bowyer resigned in August 2018 and a month later Terry McPhillips, Bowyers Assistant, was given the job. February 2019 saw the club into receivership by the High Court and two months later Michael Bolingbroke was appointed as Blackpool’s executive chairman. McPhillips resigned last summer and Blackpool appointed Simon Grayson for a second spell in charge but March 2020 saw Neil Critchley sign a three-and-a-half year deal at Bloomfield Road after Grayson was sacked.
Blackpool finished last season with sixty points in sixteenth place. With ten goals Shayne Lavery was their top scorer.
Ground – Bloomfield Road
Nickname – The Seasiders, The Tangerines, ‘Pool
Manager – VACANT
Bristol City
Founded in 1894 as Bristol South End they changed their name to Bristol City in 1897 when they were admitted to the Southern League. In 1900 they amalgamated with Bedminster and joined the Football League a year later with their first game being away at Blackpool which they lost. The end of the 1905/6 saw them win the Second Division title and 1909 saw them get to their only Cup Final losing to Derby at Stamford Bridge. The end of the 1910/11 season saw City relegated for the first time. City have won the Football League Trophy three times.
The Millers and Robins have met sixty times in all competitions in the past with Rotherham winning twenty-six of those to City’s twenty-one. The pair last met in the league at Ashton Gate where Michael Smith put the visitors in front just before half-time and a second-half Richard Wood goal gave the Millers a two-nil win.
After taking over in February until the end of the season Nigel Pearson signed a three-year deal with the Robins at the end of April. Finishing in seventeen place last season City’s top scorer with twenty-two goals was Andreas Weimann.
Ground – Ashton Gate
Nickname – The Robins
Manager – Nigel Pearson
Burnley
Burnley were one of the founder members of the Football League joining in 1888 spending most of their early years in the top two divisions. They had their worst period between 1985 and 1992 when they were in the bottom tier narrowly missing relegation out of the football league in 1987. In 2009 Burnley won the Championship Play-Off Final to go into the Premier League but only lasted one season but were promoted again at the end of the 2014-15 season as runners-up but, once again after just a season, they found themselves back in the Championship but again got promoted straight back to the top tier. There they stopped, which included games in the Europa League in 2018/19, until they were relegated on the last day of the season with thirty-five points in eighteenth place.
The Millers and Clarets have met thirty times in the league in the past with Rotherham winning eleven of those games to Burnley’s eight. February 2016 was the last time the pair met in a league game at Turf Moor when a Sam Vokes penalty on twenty-seven minutes plus a eighty-sixth minute goal from Scott Arfield gave Burnley a two-nil home win.
After ten years the Clarets sacked Sean Dyche with Mike Jackson taking over for the last month of the season and Vincent Company being appointed in June. Maxwel Cornet was top scorer for the Clarets last season with nine goals.
Ground – Turf Moor
Nickname – The Clarets
Manager – Vincent Company
It’s going to be a extremely difficult season for the millers ,as usual small budget for championship standards ,free transfers and as usual bargain basement signing , that doesn’t mean we cannot compete ,we have the Rotherham way of playing and always in with a chance but am afraid lack of budget will mean we come up short again , let’s enjoy the season but this yo yo club label isn’t going to last forever sooner or later it will come to a end .
And, at the moment, the lack of players could be a problem, Stuart!
We get players on the way up in their careers wanting a platform for their skills. The Premier league is a bridge too far for many but the MILLERS don’t stand in a players way so they will play for themselves and that next big pay cheque. OK by me. UTM
I suppose that’s the modern game, Barry. But it does seem that we get in players, bring them on and when they get a better offer they go – but, can we really blame them?