He said: "If you watch how the players train, they want to win every training game. Whilst long-term attentions will inevitably be on Derby's first stint in the third tier since 1986, for now Rooney is adamant his players will give their all in the remainder of this campaign.Ĭounty have home matches with Bristol City and Cardiff sandwiching a trip to Blackpool - and Rooney wants his players to finish strongly. Wednesday and Wycombe, the other two sides relegated last season, are two of the sides involved in the play-off scramble. Sheffield Wednesday - relegated at the hands of Derby last season - are right in the mix for an immediate return This season, as we approach the end of the campaign, Rotherham look best-placed to go straight back up via the automatic spots. On the whole though it has generally been one from three to go up. Then, in 2014-15, Barnsley and Doncaster Rovers finished 11th and 13th respectively whilst Yeovil Town suffered a second successive relegation. The 2011-12 season saw Sheffield United stumble in the play-offs whilst Preston and Scunthorpe finished in the bottom half. There were two seasons when none of the relegated sides made it back up at the first attempt.
That year saw all three sides relegated from the Championship - Wigan, Blackburn Rovers and Rotherham - bounce straight back.
The anomaly within those campaigns occurred in the 2017-18 season. That's an average of one per season going up as either champions, runners-up or play-off winners. Of the 30 sides to be relegated from the second tier over the last decade, only 10 have won promotion the year after. The 2017-18 season saw Wigan Athletic (pictured), Blackburn Rovers and Rotherham all come straight back up the year after being relegated from the Championship