Last season's race for the Championship title far outshone that of the battle for the Premiership crown -one could even liken the Championship to the sport of Moto GP, whilst the Premiership contest had all the thrill of Formula One, that being hardly any.

Like Moto GP, the Championship race had excitement, numerous changes of leadership, a grandstand finish and finally, a fairytale ending with 'last to first' team Sunderland walking away with the crown.

This year's fight for the top spot is just as intriguing as there is no outstanding favourite -any one of seven teams could ride off with the title.

The three 'relegated' teams; Charlton , Watford and Sheffield United all have valid claims -as do playoff losers West Bromwich Albion and Wolves .

Making up the magnificent seven are perennial contenders Southampton and tycoon Milan Mandaric's new toy - Leicester .

The bookies' favourite, Charlton , finished the Premiership season fairly well with 14 points from 11 games, but the damage had been done early on as they averaged only 0.89 goals per game. The loss of leading scorer Darren Bent (14 goals) to Spurs is a body blow to their hopes of bouncing straight back to the top flight -as are the departures of Kinishev, Rommedahl and Young. As yet, only the ex-Pompey striker Todorov has been brought in by manager Alan Pardew to bolster the goals tally.

Prediction : They have the quality in their squad to be a certainty for the playoffs, but may well find a couple of teams stronger in the race for automatic promotion.

Perhaps the greatest asset of a workman-like Watford team is their young manager Aidy Boothroyd. He inspired the Hornets to promotion to the Premier League in 2005-06 -mainly through teamwork and aided by the 22 goals of striker Marlon King.

After missing the majority of last season through injury, King, and his new striking partner Will Hoskins head a squad that is largely unchanged from the team that finished bottom of the Premier League (gaining a meagre 3 home wins in the process).

New signings include reliable keeper Mart Poom, exciting winger Jobi McAnuff and unknown Brazilian midfielder Douglas Rinaldi.

Prediction : They should be good enough to make the playoffs, but may struggle to gain promotion unless Marlon King makes a sparkling return to action.

There are many hard-luck stories in football, but few can be as costly or prolonged as Sheffield United's . Seemingly safe with a game to play, the pantomime figure of Carlos Tevez appeared to consign them to depths of the financially impoverished Championship.

But Blades' fans shouldn't worry too much, with the prospect of a big payout from the villains of the piece, West Ham and two seasons worth of parachute payments from the morally-inept Premier League, things look rosy financially. They don't look too bad on the field either -with new boss Bryan Robson getting straight to work in building a side capable of bouncing straight back to the top division. New boys Lee Hendrie and Gary Naysmith and James Beattie have plenty of Premiership experience, whilst striker Billy Sharp is coming off the back of a 33-goal season for fellow Championship side Scunthorpe .

The departure of utility man Phil Jagielka is the only real loss to a squad that is bristling with talent in the shape of Keith Gillespie, Alan Quinn, Michael Tonge and improving striker Jonathon Stead -who looks set for a very big season indeed.

Prediction: Expect shades of 2005-06 when United pushed a rampant Reading side all the way for the title.

After playing wonderfully attractive football throughout last season and scoring a division-best 81 goals, West Brom fell at the final hurdle in an uncharacteristically dour playoff final display against Derby .

The departures of Diomansy Kamara, Jason Koumas and Paul McShane may have left a big hole in the dressing room, but have brought in £12.5 million for Tony Mowbray to start re-building. He has wasted no time in bringing in former Celtic striker Craig Beattie to play upfront alongside the likes of Kevin Phillips, Nathan Ellington and Zoltan Gera.

Prediction: If they can hang on to Curtis Davies to anchor the defence with new boy Leon Barnett they can challenge for automatic promotion yet again.

Brushed aside by a rampant West Brom side in lat year's playoffs, the fans of Wolves will hope yet again that this could be their year. After gradually improving for the last two seasons, the only thing that Wolves are lacking is a 20-goal striker. Manager Mick McCarthy hopes that the enigmatic Freddy Eastwood could be the missing piece in the puzzle and will become a foil to the ever-reliable Jay Bothroyd. Like their rivals Watford , Wolverhampton Wanderers have no real superstars, but instead rely upon a combination of hard work and good organisation.

Prediction: May make the playoffs if Eastwood finds his shooting boots.

Another improving team is Southampton . Their manager George Burley definitely has the team moving in the right direction -towards the Premiership. Like West Brom , the Saints scored more than enough goals to get themselves promoted (77), but couldn't turn the away wins into draws. They pushed eventual victors Derby in two close games but were found wanting at the business end of the season. Player-wise, they have lost star defenders Gareth Bale, Martin Crainie and Chris Baird -so they may be thin at the back.

Prediction: Capable of beating anyone on their day, they may sneak into the playoffs.

Having struggled for the last four season in the Championship, Leicester may well rise from the doldrums and be this season's dark horses. Since taking over at the club back in February, chairman Milan Mandaric has vowed to take the Foxes back to the Premiership by 2010 -using his previous experience at Portsmouth as a template.

There has been a real flurry of transfer activity by manager Martin Allen, bringing in DJ Campbell & Stephen Clemence (both Brum), Carl Cort (Wolves), Radostin Kinishev (Charlton) and Shaun Newton (West Ham) to name but a few!

Prediction : If this team can gel and improve their goal tally of 49 (4 th lowest last season) then anything is possible -including automatic promotion.

Well there you are, the low-down on the main contenders for this season's Championship and here's a prediction for how they'll finish...

Position	Team	Points	Best Price For Title
1 st	Sheffield United	90	11/1 (sportingodds)
2 nd	West Bromwich Albion	86	8/1 (bet365, betfred, skybet)
3 rd	Charlton Athletic	83	7/1 (St James, betfred)
4 th	Watford	80	9/1 (vcbet, Paddy Power)
5 th	Leicester City	76	14/1 (expekt.com)
6 th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	74	8/1 (Paddy Power)
7 th	Southampton	73	10/1 (totesport, bet365)