The 2009–10 Football League Championship (known as the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the league under its current title and eighteenth season under its current league division format. It started on 7 August 2009.

Changes from previous season

Team changes

From Championship

Promoted to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Relegated to League One *

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

* Charlton Athletic

To Championship

Relegated from

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Promoted from League One * Leicester City * Peterborough United * Scunthorpe United

Rule changes

On field rule changes

# 'Home Grown Players' rule which aims to encourage the development of young footballers at League clubs. The new rule will require clubs to name at least four players in their matchday squad that have been registered domestically, for a minimum of three seasons, prior to their 21st birthday # For the first time clubs will also have the opportunity to name seven substitutes (previously five), three of which may enter the field of play (no change) ''Note:'' "Amendments to the laws of the game 2009–2010" also applied

Off field rule changes

# Financial regulations relating to tax payments. From now on, any club that falls behind with its employee related payments to

HMRC His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...

will be subject to a transfer embargo until such time as the debt is cleared

Team overview

Stadia and locations

¹ Ground contains some terracing

Personnel and sponsoring

Managerial changes

League table

A total of 24 teams contested the division, including 18 sides remaining in the division from last season, three relegated from the

, and three promoted from League One.

Play-offs

First leg

Second leg

''Blackpool win 6–4 on aggregate'' ''Cardiff City 3–3 Leicester City on aggregate. Cardiff City win 4–3 on penalties''

Final

''Blackpool are promoted to the Premier League''

Results

Fixtures for the 2009–10 season were announced by

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

on 17 June 2009.

Top goalscorers and assists

Season statistics

Scoring

*First goal of the season: Miles Addison for Derby County against Peterborough United, 4:00 minutes (''8 August 2009'') *Fastest goal in a match: 23 seconds ** Billy Clarke for Blackpool against Preston North End (''30 November 2009'') ** Daryl Murphy for Ipswich Town against Middlesbrough (''6 February 2010'') *Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+6:12 –

Pablo Couñago Pablo González Couñago (born 9 August 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. After appearing in 35 La Liga matches for Celta and Málaga, scoring three goals, he spent the bulk of his career in England ...

for Ipswich Town against Coventry City (''16 January 2010'') *First own goal of the season:

Kaspars Gorkšs Kaspars Gorkšs (born 6 November 1981) is a Latvian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Gorkšs was also the captain of the Latvia national football team, Latvia nationa ...

(Queens Park Rangers) for Plymouth Argyle, 90+2:26 minutes (''15 August 2009'') *First penalty kick of the season: Paul Hartley (scored) for Bristol City against Preston North End, 48:35 (''8 August 2009'') *Widest winning margin: 6 **Bristol City 0–6 Cardiff City (''26 January 2010'') **Reading 6–0 Peterborough United (''17 April 2010'') *Most goals in one half: 6 **Newcastle United 6–1 Barnsley (''5 March 2010'') **Bristol City 2–5

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

(''5 March 2010'') *Most goals in one half by a single team: 5 **Newcastle United 6–1 Barnsley (''5 March 2010'') *Most goals scored by losing team: 3 **Sheffield United 3–4 Cardiff City (''24 October 2009'') **Sheffield United 4–3 Plymouth Argyle (''27 February 2010'') **Bristol City 5–3 Barnsley (''23 March 2010'') **Doncaster Rovers 4–3 Scunthorpe United (''24 April 2010'') **Nottingham Forest 3–4 Blackpool (''11 May 2010'') *Most goals scored by one player in a match: 4 ** Michael Chopra (Cardiff City vs. Derby County) – 36, 57, 62, 75 minutes (''29 September 2009'')

Discipline

*First yellow card of the season: Rhys Williams for Middlesbrough against Sheffield United, 49:15 minutes (''7 August 2009'') *First red card of the season: Luke Chambers for Nottingham Forest against Reading, 87:41 minutes (''8 August 2009'') *Card given at latest point in a game: Wes Morgan (yellow) at 90+7:07 minutes for Nottingham Forest against Bristol City (''3 April 2010'') *Most yellow cards in a single match: 9 **Bristol City 2–3 Sheffield United – 4 for Bristol City ( Lee Johnson, Louis Carey, Jamie McAllister and Ivan Sproule) and 5 for Sheffield United ( Jamie Ward, Kyle Walker, Darius Henderson, Jordan Stewart and Stephen Quinn) (''28 November 2009'') **Cardiff City 2–3 Leicester City – 3 for Cardiff City ( Paul Quinn, Mark Hudson, Stephen McPhail) and 6 for Leicester City ( Alex Bruce, Nolberto Solano, Andy King,

Lloyd Dyer Lloyd Richard Dyer (born 13 September 1982) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. During his 18 years as a professional, Dyer spent the majority of his career in the English ...

, Richie Wellens, Steve Howard) (''11 May 2010'') *Quickest card given at the start of the match: 26 Seconds –

Nicky Maynard Nicholas David Maynard (born 11 December 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, following over a decade in the club's Academy, and scored on his senior debut in Apr ...

for Bristol City against Nottingham Forest (''7 November 2009'') *Quickest card given after coming on: 1:07 minutes – Alassane N'Diaye for Crystal Palace against Blackpool (''20 March 2010'') *Most fouls: Jay Bothroyd 103 fouls *Total number of yellow cards: 1636 *Total number of red cards: 86

Monthly awards

Team of the Year

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Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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Peter Whittingham Peter Michael Whittingham (; 8 September 1984 – 18 March 2020) was an English professional Association football, footballer. His primary position was as a central midfielder, although he also sometimes operated as a wide midfielder on both the ...

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, - , 8 , , ST , Michael Chopra , Cardiff City

Events

Controversy

* 15 August 2009 During a game between Bristol City and Crystal Palace, Freddie Sears scored a goal that ricocheted off the

stanchion A stanchion () is a sturdy upright fixture that provides support for some other object. It can be a permanent fixture. Types In architecture, stanchions are the upright iron bars in windows that pass through the eyes of the saddle bars or horiz ...

and went back out, but the linesman didn't see the goal and so it was disallowed. Crystal Palace manager

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

called for a replay. Following the game, the three officials were suspended until it could be solved. * 28 November 2009 The tie between

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and Barnsley was abandoned after 58 minutes because of heavy rain affecting the pitch. Barnsley were winning 4–1 and manager

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Stoke City. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier League with Manchester United, Norw ...

argued that it was a "let off" for Plymouth and that the travelling Barnsley fans should be reimbursed. The postponed match took place on 30 March, where it ended in a 0–0 draw.

Crystal Palace administration

On 27 January 2010, the Football League had announced that Crystal Palace had been placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

firm P&A Partnership were appointed as administrators for the club. Palace were docked ten points and dropped from 9th to 21st. They managed to survive another season in the Championship, but only after drawing 2–2 with Sheffield Wednesday on the final day and confined Wednesday to League One football in 2010–11.Sheffield Wednesday 2 Crystal Palace 2: match report
Telegraph, 2 May 2010

References

External links

Championship official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Football League Championship EFL Championship seasons 1 2 Eng