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Championship (p)review: How Leeds, Leicester and Southampton will handle relegation

It's a bittersweet moment for the three clubs relegated down from the Premier League into the Championship each year. I say it's bitter sweet, it's mostly bitter actually, with revenues dropping massively and star players inevitably needing to be sold for theirs and the clubs needs.

There is a silver lining however as a season of being at the bottom of the pile can in the right situation be followed by the exact opposite and actually be rather fun for what are often fairly downtrodden and depressed fanbases. Here's my take on the three newly relegated clubs joining the Championship; Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton:

LEICESTER CITY
The legacy of Leicester's nine season stay in the Premier League will go down as one of the greatest in English football history. Nobody can take away that miraculous title win in 2016 but, as much as we were all riveted by the sensational story, it means precious little seven years on when it comes to the slog ahead in next season's Championship.

Like all three of our newly relegated teams the Foxes have appointed a new manager ahead of the new season. Enzo Maresca has swapped his job as assistant on the bench at treble winners Manchester City to go it alone as boss of Leicester. Let's be honest, this is a pretty sweet gig for someone who's only previous experience in the big seat came during a very short stint in charge of Parma in Italy's second tier.

Leicester have sold starman James Maddison to Spurs with Harvey Barnes set to follow any time soon, those deals will bring in huge swathes of cash that should ensure they are right at the top of the pile when it comes to recruitment. The early evidence is that Leicester are going to be aggressive in their attempts to get straight back, with what are by Championship standards huge fees dropped on huge quality players in Connor Coady and Harry Winks.

It all seems so straightforward doesn't it? But it never is. Of course Leicester will be expected to be in the shake up for automatic promotion but the pressure will be on Maresca every second they exist as a Championship level club. Despite the big names and big muscle in the transfer market Maresca must quickly deliver winning football, with his fellow Manchester City alumni Vincent Kompany doing him absolutely no favours in making things look breathtakingly easy last season at Burnley.

Kompany's Clarets won the title with 101 points, the bar is high!

LEEDS UNITED
Leeds are back in the Championship after a typically tumultuous three year Premier League run. A superb ninth placed finish in season one under Marcelo Bielsa was followed up the next year by the iconic Argentinian being sacked and Leeds escaping by the skin of their teeth under Jesse Marsch on the final day. No such luck last season, the poor results continued, Marsch was replaced by Javi Gracia and Leeds eventually went down with Sam Allardyce in temporary charge.

Big Sam left as quickly as he arrived and in comes two time Championship title winner Daniel Farke with the task of bringing Leeds straight back. Farke's first season in the division at Norwich was a fairly nondescript mid table with the previously mentioned James Maddison appearing to carry the team by its conclusion.

But the Canaries rocketed to the title the next season, and Leeds fans won't forget in a hurry as they went on to lose in a dramatic play-off classic against Derby. The German couldn't keep Norwich in the Premier League but he took them straight back up securing a second Championship title as Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki once again strolled through the second tier.

There feels a little more jeopardy for Leeds than for Leicester as they haven't added to their parachute payments with any large sales as yet, with a few of their big name saleable assets going out on loan already. Add into the equation that we're still waiting for the final admin to be completed on the transition of the club from Andrea Radrizanni to the 49ers and you can see why Leeds are maybe a month or so behind their direct rivals.

It's all well and good having a proven Championship winner in the dugout but that expertise needs to be met by the new owners in the summer window, where it feels like a very quick and effective recruitment drive will be needed to set Leeds on their way.

SOUTHAMPTON
The longest run at the top level for any of our three relegated teams belongs to Southampton. The Saints were up for 11 seasons and at times during that run were seen as the blueprint for developing stars and competing with the established big clubs. In the end they weren't able to repeat the trick any longer and Southampton are down in the Championship once again.

Just like Leeds and Leicester there's a new manager in charge in Russell Martin. He's not a complete unknown quantity like Maresca at Leicester, nor is he a totally proven commodity like Farke at Leeds, fascinatingly Martin actually treads the line between the two. His work at MK Dons and Swansea has built him a strong reputation but there's a nagging sense of potential over winning substance so far, with a tenth place finish the highest thus far he's delivered in his much discussed EFL career.

At times his teams have appeared over-coached, fragile and too obsessed with an ultra possession philosophy, but equally there have been times where they've dominated more stereotypically EFL style teams with some beautiful football on show.

This one does feel like it's all about the manager and his moment of reckoning. If MK Dons was his apprenticeship and at Swansea his talents were hampered by the ambition of the owners, this feels like Russ Martin's time to deliver with a squad and spend that should amongst the most powerful in the division.

Much like at Leicester we're expecting star players James Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia to leave but to also fetch giant transfer fees that can be reinvested in the squad. Martin knows his way around the division but will need his squad to adjust quicker to his methods than at Swansea where it did feel like a bit of a slow burner.

In an ideal world it looks like manager and club can be exactly what each other needs, but I can't reiterate enough that it's never quite that simple in the weird and wonderful world of the Championship.



Follow Benjamin Bloom on Twitter @BenjaminBloom

The Benjamin Bloom Football Channel - www.youtube.com/benjaminbloom

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