It certainly looks as though that will be the case as the likes of Southampton and Brighton have come up from League One with big fanbases, stable management and plenty of momentum from successful seasons. Play-off winners Peterborough will also be looking to make amends for a poor crack at the Championship last time around when manager Darren Ferguson left the club early on in the campaign. Ferguson is back in charge now and has presided over a team who have scored goals for fun in 2010/11.
Down from the Premier League come Birmingham, Blackpool and West Ham United. The first two have resisted any knee-jerk reaction to relegation and Blues especially look well-placed to take over West Brom’s mantle of a yo-yo club. West Ham will have a new manager but with ambitious men in the boardroom and the Olympic Stadium to move into in 2012 will not be backward in coming forward in their attempts to spend just one season at this level.
Billy Davies, looking to build another Nottingham Forest side capable of making the play-offs at least, will also know that the likes of Leicester City and Ipswich Town will be showing plenty of ambition in the transfer market after disappointing seasons. Ipswich have already had a £2m+ bid for Billy Sharp of Doncaster Rovers rejected.