Relegated from the Championship: teams Vale will be playing next season

When a team is in the Championship, their fans have the chance to sit and watch events like the Champions League group stage and, if there’s an English team on, say “we could be playing them next season”.

Those same fans never really like to think that if things don’t go the right way for them, they could be facing teams which were in League Two last season.

For Vale fans, the playoff final win allowed the club to return to League One and face a better class of team than the season just passed. It also means Vale have momentum behind them.

This is worth thinking about that  reason again; momentum. These sides, when they come to Vale Park next season, will be only too keenly aware that a few different decisions at a few different times could have seen them heading to Anfield or the Etihad. And while the playing budgets on show are likely to be stacked in favour of the former Championship sides, it’s worth thinking about Norwich and Colchester. When they met on the opening weekend in 2009, people were using PayPal betting sites to heavily back the side that started the previous season targeting Premiership promotion. By the end of that match, Colchester had bested them 7-1. The newly-promoted hammering the newly-relegated.

So let’s have a look at the sides we will be welcoming to the Potteries in 2022/23 and think about how they might be feeling about next season’s trip.

Peterborough

For Posh, it’s not been that long since they were in League One, so they’ll probably handle the return just fine. Last year they were promoted automatically, and they’re comfortable with third-tier football. They’ve just seen Darren Ferguson resign as manager for the third time in club history, so there’ll be a lot of familiar feeling around London Road right now. Even more so as they’ve reappointed Grant McCann, who knows his way around this division. In all honesty, they may deal with the relegation best out of all the sides who came down.

Derby County

Not so long ago, Frank Lampard and his book of contacts had Derby in the Championship’s promotion playoff final. They lost, he went to Chelsea, and the club’s heavy spending – intended to get them out of the second tier – caught up with them. Administration followed, and they did indeed get out of the second tier, but not the way they wanted. 

Current boss Wayne Rooney has not been silent about the debt the club’s prospective owners owe a fanbase that stuck with the Pride Park side through a horrendous season, and he performed near-miracles to get them anywhere near escaping relegation. So much will depend on whether the purchase of the club can be finalised before the big kick-off, but they have a huge rebuild ahead, and won’t be immediate favourites to go back up.

Barnsley

The Tykes are back in the third tier for the first time in four seasons, and they have – sigh – a complicated ownership situation. The club has previously performed miracles on a shoestring budget – they finished fifth in the Championship a season ago, and in another world could have just finished their second season ever in the top tier. Martin Devaney is their current manager, but as a caretaker only right now. Whether or not he gets the job permanently, whoever is in the dugout for them next season has a lot of work on just to keep them from falling further.

All in all, the sides who have fallen into League One have more to fear than Vale do as the Valiants return to the third flight for the first time in years.