An Athletic sprint down the Valley: V Charlton away 28th Oct. 3-0'clock.

[TonyDomingos]

HT Wigan 0-3 Charlton. An indication perhaps of the quality of our play on Saturday?

[officer_dibble]

Finished 2-3.
Oxford win2-0 at Lincoln.
Derby battered Northampton 4-0 which isn’t a surprise either.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Finished 2-3.
Oxford win2-0 at Lincoln.
Derby battered Northampton 4-0 which isn’t a surprise either.

It is in that Derby have been a bit bobbins and a lot unstable. Hopefully it buys Warne another fitful month rather than heralds a run starting.

[officer_dibble]

I think the split in the league moving into winter will be the haves and have nots - Northampton looked to me like a struggler!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I think the split in the league moving into winter will be the haves and have nots - Northampton looked to me like a struggler!

Oh for sure, I imagine they came into this season relatively happy to stay up. They may have quietly hoped for some momentum, because the gap between D4 & D3 isn't as big as the two divisional splits above that...

...but as you say there's now a half-dozen biggish contenders crowding round the top of our tier – whatever the season, because those who come down from D2 will usually fancy their chances.

Maybe that will change as admin bites - we're seeing Wigan and especially Reading struggle, and it's hard to see Sheffield Wednesday landing on their feet from the current farrago, which let's face it has been in the post for years. You don't have to look far into the Chansiri back pages to find dodgy ground sales, questionable sponsorships by taxi firms that appear not to exist, etc and so on. Of course, we know first-hand that being in the Champo one season is no guarantee of avoiding Division Four a short year later.

Looking at the other Champo relegation candidates: Rotherham have bounced back before, but they might have to do it without Warne – unless Derby have turfed him by then. Either way, you wouldn't expect them to plummet through this division. QPR are a bit of a mess, albeit not as much of one as they were, and replacing Ainsworth with a forriner who cites Cruyff and Guardiola as his heroes hardly smacks of joined-up thinking. Above those three it's already a sizeable jump to a clump of clubs who range from the comparatively well-run (Plymouth, Huddersfield, Cov) to those for whom relegation is really not on the agenda (Norwich, Watford). And it's tight: Cov, in 20th, are only five points behind 10th-placed Boro, who themselves are only a win off the play-offs.