Leeds United signing Tottenham crock, ex-Newcastle star’s return among five Championship summer mistakes
Silly Leeds United signing a Tottenham Hotspur crock and Matt Ritchie’s Portsmouth return are among five summer mistakes involving Championship clubs…
Elijah Adebayo not pushing to leave Luton Town
During pre-season, I foolishly suggested Luton were the best-placed of the relegated teams to seal promotion straight back to the Premier League as they had less upheaval to deal with than Burnley and Sheffield United. What an idiot.
The Hatters have actually been the worst of the three sides and currently look more likely to go down to League One than return to the Premier League. Most of Rob Edwards’ squad are misfiring and are being hampered by the poor form of Adebyao, who is without a goal in his eight Championship appearances this season.
Luton did themselves proud as they gave the fight for survival a bloody good go and Adebayo was one of their stronger performers.
The 26-year-old was one of last season’s breakout stars as he scored ten goals in his 27 Premier League appearances, but he was sorely missed during the run-in as he was absent for eleven matches due to injury.
As mentioned, there was no frantic overhaul at Luton in the summer as Ross Barkley and Chiedozie Ogbene were the only players sold to Premier League clubs. Adebayo did enough to warrant a move back to the top flight, but very little was said about a potential move as he seemingly settled for another season with the Hatters in the Championship.
Hindsight being 20/20, Adebyao may be rueing his decision not to push for an exit in the summer while his stock was high as his current poor form means the chances of him returning to the Premier League in January or next summer are pretty slim.
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Portsmouth re-signing Matt Ritchie
Pompey were comfortably the best side in League One last season as they won the title, but the events in the summer have given Oxford United and Derby County a far better chance of avoiding the drop.
Oxford in particular did some superb transfer business as they attempted to bridge the quality gap in their squad following promotion, while Portsmouth looked set to give their title-winning side the chance to sign in the division above until they made several moves late in the window.
One such signing saw former academy product Ritchie return after his contract at Newcastle United expired.
The 35-year-old was a victim of Newcastle’s meteoric rise post-PIF takeover as he barely featured in his last two seasons at St James’ Park.
This has clearly impacted Ritchie, who has been a major early-season flop in the Championship after Portsmouth got pulled in by the lure of nostalgia.
Ritchie is presumably one of Portsmouth’s higher earners and their decision to make an over-the-hill former player their marquee summer signing was ill-informed. Their alarming 6-1 loss to Stoke City in midweek leaves them winless in eight games and with a mountain to climb to avoid relegation.
Leeds United signing Manor Solomon
There were panic stations at Elland Road in the summer as the board were under intense scrutiny following the exits of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter.
Major sales were always likely following Leeds United’s loss in the Championship play-off final, but their infuriatingly prolonged search for replacements added to the bad vibes among the fan base.
Leeds did eventually get their act together and built a squad capable of contending for automatic promotion, but their decision to sign Solomon is not paying off.
The Israel international overcame knee surgery to shine for Fulham while on loan in 2022/23 and this earned him a move to Tottenham Hotspur. This 2023 summer transfer preceded a disastrous season for the winger, who missed the majority of his debut campaign after being forced to undergo meniscus surgery.
Desperate for game time, Solomon agreed to join Leeds on loan in August. This had the potential to be a real coup for the West Yorkshire side as he had previously plied his trade at a much higher level than the Championship.
However, this is on track to be another frustrating season for Solomon, who has been out of action since Leeds United’s 1-0 loss to Burnley last month due to hamstring and back problems. So, Farke’s side appears to have got their maths wrong with this calculated risk.
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Preston keeping Ryan Lowe
Presumably learning from the Pozzo family’s play book, owners of Championship clubs have recently been increasingly rash when deciding to sack managers. But Preston appeared to outdo the rest in August as former boss Ryan Lowe was dismissed just one game into this season.
This was not simply the case of a manager being sacked after one bad result. Instead, Lowe’s exit had been a long time coming as he oversaw a steady decline last season after his side went from surprisingly topping the Championship after seven games to finishing tenth (ten points adrift of the top six).
Preston’s start to the season was unsustainable and a tenth-place finish still constituted a decent term. But by the end of the 2023/24 campaign, supporters had gotten tired of Lowe’s uninspiring style of play and were calling for a change in manager.
Despite this, Preston gave Lowe the summer transfer window and presumably built this season’s squad around his image… only to sack him after a single league game. They made the right decision eventually and Paul Heckingbottom has improved their fortunes, but his predecessor’s prolonged execution boggled the mind.
READ: Six sparkling Championship stars primed for January transfer include West Brom, Sheff Utd quartet
Watford extending Tom Ince’s contract until 2026
One of the 2023 summer window’s more intriguing signings saw Ince join Watford on a free transfer.
The 32-year-old remains in his father’s shadow, but he’s still forged a decent career in the Championship. The main reason Watford had for signing him was presumably that he often produced the goods against them as an opposing player, grabbing five goals and four assists in nine matches.
Going back to his days at Derby County, Ince had once been a standout performer at Championship level. But his best days are behind and he only made eight league starts during a stop-start debut season at Vicarage Road.
Despite this, Watford’s hierarchy felt the veteran did enough to earn himself a new two-year contract in the summer.
Yes, he scored against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup after scoring a hat-trick and notching an assist in the opening round against League Two side MK Dons. But Ince is yet to start in the Championship and has played a not-so-grand total of 54 minutes in the league this season.
Ex-Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley has built a bizarre team at Watford, who signed Moussa Sissoko and Angelo Ogbonna in the summer. Fellow veteran Ince is playing much less than his two teammates and really needed to be ushered out of the door as his previous deal neared its expiry date.
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