Lancashire

Ben Ashton
BBC Sport England

Image source, Getty Images

Watford are getting relegated, Plymouth are staying up, Millwall are in the play-offs and Portsmouth are also battling for a top-six spot.

Does something sound a bit off? Well, that's what would have happened if the Championship season started on 1 January.

Here's a look at the 2025 calendar year table, showing who the form sides were in the second half of the season and who went into freefall.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the actual final top six and the 2025 version is that Millwall would be in the play-offs and Premier League-bound Sunderland would not.

Burnley and Leeds still comfortably occupy the automatic promotion spots, albeit the Clarets would be unbeaten at the top of the pile with the Whites in second.

Coventry improved significantly after Frank Lampard replaced Mark Robins and are third over the course of the year.

The Sky Blues would instead be pitted against Bristol City in the play-off semi-final as opposed to Sunderland. Who knows what difference that would have made to their promotion bid...

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth - who spent much of the season battling relegation and only secured their Championship safety with two games to spare - are seventh and just one point outside a play-off spot.

Pompey sit above Sunderland, who lost their final five games of the season and are down in eighth.

The data perhaps shows just how long Regis Le Bris' side effectively had a play-off spot sewn up before their victory at Wembley against Sheffield United to claim promotion.

Relegation battlers Oxford find themselves seven places higher than where they actually finished in the 2024-25 campaign (17th), reflecting the good work done by Gary Rowett after he took over as boss from Des Buckingham.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth would have survived comfortably had the season begun in January 2025, showing a significant uptick after Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney at the helm.

Middlesbrough tailed off significantly in the second half of the season, underpinning why they missed out on the play-offs. It was a drop off that ultimately cost Michael Carrick his job as head coach.

Norwich City conceded more goals (32) than any other side in 2025, which counteracted the hard work they'd done at the other end, having been the fourth top scorers (31) since the turn of the year.

Image source, Rex Features

Watford had a disappointing 2025, winning just five of their 23 games and losing 13 to finish bottom of the calendar year table.

The Hornets had the t-worst goal difference along with Cardiff (-10) and head coach Tom Cleverley was sacked following the end of the season.

Preston and Cardiff won the fewest games of any side in 2025 (4), which cost the Bluebirds their Championship status and almost led to the Lilywhites dropping into League One as they avoided relegation by one point.

Paul Heckingbottom's side would be down if only games this year were counted.

Luton and Derby scored the fewest goals in 2025 (19) and attacking output was an issue that plagued both sides throughout the entire campaign.

It had major consequences for the Hatters with back-to-back relegations, while the Rams survived by a point - and only on goal difference in the yearly table.

Data collated from Transfermarkt

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on whether Burnley need to act urgently in the transfer market as the first of the two windows this summer closes on Tuesday.

Here are some of your comments:

William: We have a decent squad, some of the extremities can hopefully be sold; the likes of Mike Tresor, Michael Obafemi, Hannes Delcroix and Darko Churlinov. We have decent players returning from loan, such as the likes of Zeki Amdouni and Hjalmar Ekdal, who would be decent replacements for what might be the departing Josh Brownhill and CJ Egan-Riley.

I think our main two foci should be keeping what we have and g a new striker. We got away with Brownhill being top scorer in the Championship, but it won't fly in the Premier League. The club needs to do serious business to get a, preferably proven, 20-goal-per season striker if they want to remain in the top flight next season.

Mark: We need to sign a striker before this window closes but don't know who. I know I don't want Jamie Vardy - he is past it now.

Ian: If we lose our central defensive partnership from last season - CJ Egan-Riley and Maxime Esteve - which is looking likely, we will struggle to get replacements good enough for the Premier League.

Today is the first of two transfer deadline days this summer as the window shuts for seven days before reopening on 16 June.

In a change to the summer transfer window norm, it opened early to allow clubs involved in the Fifa Club World Cup 10 days to sign players for inclusion in the competition.

Whether it turns out to be a day of transfer action or a pretty quiet one for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.

Follow our live text coverage throughout the day here

And keep up to date with all the latest news, views and transfers for your club

Burnley have valued their 23-year-old French centre-back Maxime Esteve at £50m amid interest from Bayern Munich, who are managed by former Clarets boss Vincent Kompany. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

It is not just at the top of the Premier League where American ownership has a foothold in English football.

Twenty years on from the Glazer takeover of Manchester United, one third of the 72 EFL clubs now have either majority or minority US backers.

In a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Kelly Cates is ed by a group of experts to investigate whether this trend is likely to continue.

Listen on BBC Sounds

On Tuesday, the first of two summer transfer windows will come to a close.

So, do you expect business to be done at Burnley before the deadline? Do you want players to come in or exit? If so, what or who do you think is needed?

Let us know