Football League blog: Momentum the key as promoted trio make their mark in the Championship

Published 14:27 26/08/11

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The Championship has long been labelled one of the most unpredictable divisions in the world, but there has been a crushing inevitability about the starts made by the three teams promoted from League One last season. Whether they are maintaining momentum or simply rejuvenated by a fresh start, second-tier football has so far been made to look easy by Brighton, Southampton and Peterborough.

The trio must have been buoyed by the success of Norwich City, the proximity of Leeds United to the play-off positions in May and Millwall's impressive showing on a small budget. Nevertheless, there was still hard work to do to reach their respective current league positions.

Brighton in particular, with a nomadic existence now firmly behind them and with the splendid Amex Stadium to now call home, are living the dream.

Meanwhile, Peterborough United fans must have been pinching themselves as they swatted Ipswich Town aside with the mere seven goals registered last weekend.

And then there is Southampton.

Four games played, four wins secured. Nigel Adkins rarely tasted the right end of the Championship during his time with Scunthorpe United but the former physiotherapist showed tremendous potential in his first managerial job and rightly saw the vacancy at Southampton, then a division below the Iron, as a greater opportunity to fulfil his ambitions in the game.

Fighting off Huddersfield Town's magnificent unbeaten run, the Saints clinched second spot in League One and prepared for life back from whence they came two years earlier.

In their opening game Southampton put down a marker. Not just in the way they summarily dismissed Leeds United with a ruthlessly efficient performance at St Mary's, but that they managed to cruise to victory without the services of their £12million-rated wonderkid Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

That £12million became cold, hard cash when Arsenal slapped it down in exchange for the highly-rated youngster and, given the way they had played against Leeds, it gave the impression to outsiders of being bonus money.

This wasn't necessarily a Championship club losing their most important player, a blow from which they would have to recover. It is a shame that Saints fans will not get to see their latest Academy product take to the field wearing red-and-white stripes for years to come, but they'll be used to that. The comparisons with Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott were, in that sense, inevitable.

No, Southampton have already demonstrated they have more than enough talent in their squad to sustain a promotion challenge this season. The big question is whether any of that £12million will be heading back out into the market before the transfer window slams shut next week. An expected move for Bristol City defender Liam Fontaine recently fell through, while Burnley have managed to fend off an approach for their striker Jay Rodriguez. Fontaine's much sought-after team-mate Nicky Maynard has also been mentioned in connection with interest from Saints.

Any potential recruits have a standard to meet - the likes of Jose Fonte, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert have already helped to set the bar high in that respect.

Southampton's bright start to the season means that the Oxlade-Chamberlain money isn't burning a hole in their pocket just yet. Indeed, they may well still be sitting pretty when January comes around - at which point a bit of loose change would come in rather handy.

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Follow David Bevan on Twitter @The72football and at theseventytwo.com

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