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Bookie Watch - Championship Early Pre-Season Preview 2015/16

With the 2014-2015 season finished, we begin to look ahead and @Readingfanman is here to take a look at the early runners in the Championship markets, both for winning the league, and for relegation.

By Readingfanman
Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

The 2014-2015 season draws to a close for the Championship and for Reading, and as many look back to review the season, we begin to look forwards towards 2015-2016 here at Bookie Watch with a very early preview of the Championship odds for next season.

Typically the winner of this league does not come from the favourite, who at this early stage is usually found to be one of the relegated clubs, in this case it’s Hull City (10/1). Only two favourites have won the league in the past 15 years, Newcastle United in 09/10, and Manchester City in 01/02. Only six of the last 12 seasons relegated clubs have finished in the top three the following season. QPR are at 20/1, with the final relegated club Burnley (14/1).

The newly promoted teams are often looked at as teams who may "double promote" straight through the Championship and into the Premier League, this memory is perhaps fazed by the recent success in the past 5 years of both Norwich, and then Southampton managing it in successive seasons. This leads people to be looking at the newly promoted clubs to get promoted. However, the newly promoted clubs have only seen two teams make the top three in their first season in the Championship in the past decade, as mentioned. Bristol City are the highest rated amongst the books, offered at the same odds as QPR at 20/1. the MK Dons and Preston are among the lower end of the table, being offered at 33/1 and 40/1 respectively.

Losing playoff sides are also fondly looked at in the winner market. Three of the last four winners in the Championship have gone on to win the league in the following season, with Leicester in 2014, Cardiff in 2013, and Reading back in 2012 all winning the league after losing in the playoffs the season before. This shows in the odds available, with Middlesbrough as 2nd favourite at 12/1. The other losing playoff contenders, Brentford, and Ipswich, are available at 16/1 and 22/1.

Championship Promotion Odds

Hull City 10/1
Middlesbrough 12/1
Burnley 14/1
Brentford 16/1
QPR 20/1
Bristol City 20/1
Ipswich 22/1
MK Dons 33/1
Reading 33/1
Preston North End 40/1

Reading are in the bottom third of teams available according to the bookies in early pre-season, with their current price at 33/1. With the side currently in transition into a Steve Clarke style team, the price is probably about right this early on, with the Royals probably not looking like they have too much of a shot of winning the league next season.

The relegation market in the Championship is less easy to predict than last season, with Blackpool offering people a 100% ROI at evens last season early in pre season to go down. The shortest price being offered is Rotherham at 2/1 - Rotherham who stayed up thanks to a 2-1 win against Reading in their penultimate game, will see another upheaval of players in summer under the tinkerer Steve Evans. Charlton are also available at 7/2 as 2nd favourites to go down.

The newly promoted clubs tend to struggle in the league generally, with one of them usually struggling towards the lower part of the league, with Rotherham finishing just above the drop zone last season, along with Yeovil & Doncaster dropping out the season before that. This season, Preston and MK Dons are both 4/1 to go down along with Leeds. Bristol City are a bit better positioned to stay up according to the bookmakers at 8/1.


Reading are currently 6/1 to go down to League 1 this season under Clarke, the same price as Fulham. The odds unfortunately I don’t think result in it being worth a bet at the current odds, especially compared to the fantastic 25/1 which we had offered last season. The Royals may struggle again this season and will likely be found in the reaches of the middle to the lower end of the table.

Championship Relegation Odds

Rotherham 2/1
Charlton 7/2
Preston 4/1
Leeds 4/1
MK Dons 4/1
Reading 6/1
Bristol City 8/1

Later in pre-season we’ll take a review of how the odds are changing and look at a preview of the odds available on each side for the winners market, to make the playoffs, and also to be relegated, along with some specials which may become available as we move nearer to the start of August.


Leave your comments for us and let us know the odds you like for the coming season in the Championship and as always please gamble responsibly.
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