Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
One coach who was sacked in the 2024/25 season after committing the ‘biggest underachievement’ has been tipped to return to management.
Several teams are still without managers as the 2025/26 Championship season draws closer.
Notably, the underachieving Hull City look set to appoint Sergej Jakirovic, whilst West Brom and Norwich City have made the appointments of Ryan Mason and Liam Manning, respectively.
The Canaries’ appointment has left Bristol City without a gaffer, alongside Middlesbrough, who sacked Michael Carrick. Sheffield Wednesday look set to join that list with Danny Rohl’s future at Hillsborough Stadium further in doubt amid their financial issues.
The pool of potential managers at Championship level to take over is rather light, but one man has been given a glowing report by an EFL expert, despite a significant ‘underachievement’ that led to his sacking last season.
Former Luton Town boss Rob Edwards tipped as a ‘top appointment’ for Championship clubs
This season notably saw Luton Town significantly underperform under Rob Edwards, and whilst his successor, Matt Bloomfield, picked up his side’s form towards the back end of the season, it wasn’t enough to drive them away from relegation to League One.
Luton were in the relegation zone when they parted company with Edwards; it was a stark contrast to one year prior when he had them in the Premier League.
Despite such a drop-off, and being partially culpable for Luton Town’s relegation, EFL expert Ryan Dilks has said that he would still be a top appointment for Championship sides.
“Rob Edwards has had an atrocious 12 months,” said Dilks on the Second Tier Podcast. “He oversaw the biggest underachievement of a season in Championship history with Luton and was sacked a lot later than he should have been.
“But, I’m trying my best to look past last season because Rob Edwards is obviously not a bad manager. This time last year, his stock was as high as any manager in the Championship; he was getting linked with Premier League jobs, everything. That’s because he managed to pull off the remarkable. When they were there, they were competitive.
“He’s had a bit of a break from football to sort of recalibrate and he’s definitely worth giving another chance to as long as he knows what went wrong last season and he’s learnt from that, you’ve got yourself a very talented manager. That’s why I think Rob Edwards is still a top appointment for most Championship clubs.”
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The two clubs currently battling for Rob Edwards
At this stage, the two clubs keeping tabs on Edwards are Middlesbrough and Bristol City, both of which would provide widely different tasks for the former Luton Town man.
There would be plenty more pressure on Edwards to perform at Middlesbrough due to their desire to finish next season in the top six, anything else could be deemed as a failure.
Edwards thrived being the underdogs in the 2022/23 Championship season, and that could mean that a move to Bristol City could suit him more as he looks to put the previous campaign behind him.