Championship Title Tip: Cardiff City

The Championship season kicks off on Friday night and the one thing you can normally bank on is that the bookies will get this division wrong.

This time last year Stoke were being propped up as favourites only to drift in a lowly 16th, closer to the relegation zone than even the play-off spots. Now Leeds are the oddsmakers’ pick - nothing longer than 9/2 with any firm - but you have to question if Bielsa can really work his magic two years running.

The Argentine’s squad ran out of steam last season, taking just 1 point from their final 4 matches before crashing out in the play-off semi-finals. That will be hard to recover from, even with Helder Costa arriving. With another star man Pontus Jansson out the door, there’s no real reason to expect a higher gear.

Next in line for the bookies are Fulham (7/1), but I would question the title credentials of any team who conceded 81 league goals, even at a higher level, especially with an inexperienced manager.

The same can’t be said of Cardiff City, who are the smarter choice at best odds of 10/1 with Ladbrokes.

The Bluebirds were the Premier League’s hard-luck story in 2018-19 and they have the resilience, character and quality to bounce back at the first time of asking.

Crucially, Neil Warnock is rolling the dice one final time. The veteran has said this will be his final campaign and clearly he sees that as the chance to go out on another high - a potential 9th promotion.

Cardiff have largely kept the nucleus of their squad together with Sol Bamba signing a new contract while Robert Glatzel and Will Vaulks look like shrewd additions. All the KPIs are pointing at south Wales.