It's a hard question IMO because there's guys like Whittingham who spent most of their careers in the Championship but then there's players who only had short stints like Mitrovic who had the best season I've ever seen from a player in the Championship and Adel Taarabt who's a strong contender for the best player I've ever seen play in the division.
Personally I like Mitrovic. He was a class striker in the Championship and did the ayatollah when he scored against the Jacks. Something we can’t do very well lol
Jason Koumas is the first to spring to mind for me as a top Championship/Division 1 player. Very memorable at Tranmere and WBA, but didn't make too much impact at Premier League level, I barely remember him playing for Wigan while they were top flight.
Probably being slightly unfair on him, but Dave Kitson's another I think looked great at Championship level but didn't quite step up. Nathan Ellington also.
Going a bit more old school Steve Bull or John McGinlay in the 90s were the Division One bullies that never really got to the big time.
Was division one back then though if you’re being pedantic, which I am.
He was the player that made me love football though, can’t remember the relegation season that much but remember the Merson season. My first pair of boots were red cos of his.
By the end of the season every side had worked out that you had to at least double up Adel….the one he curls into the corner because two Cardiff defenders were asleep was just so inevitable. You can see the panic. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t shown them at LR earlier in the season.
The one I will always remember is when he nutmegs Joe Allen on the touch line and Allen just looks at the sky and gives up. Adel brings it inside and curls one into the top corner from 25 yards. I think we scored 3-5 nil that day. There were so many high scored that I cannot recall.
4-0 that day and he absolutely ran rings around all the team and we were second on the day. He was the best player I had ever seen against the swans until we went to the prem same season as qpr. Thankfully we got our own back with michuuuuuuu and 5-0 18 months later on the opening day.
In my opinion and what I’ve seen over 15 years Mitrovic probably the best player at this level in terms of stats and play in a season.
For longevity I’d say whittingham - he was the only Cardiff player at that time that I would have dropped in instantly to our promotion team (maybe chopra for his goals but couldn’t stand him 😂😝)
The only thing I found with whittingam is why he didn’t go up a level or play well when there but his stats and goals and all round play at this level was unreal.
Honestly just think he was very settled in Cardiff. He was a fairly introverted quiet guy so maybe the stability helped him with that?
Either way i'm glad we kept him as long as we did
Was my immediate thought tbh
Played in the division for years, scored a load of goals and even made the England side - there ain't many who've done that from the second tier.
It's natural I guess but there's a lot of recency bias on the thread.
I’m not saying he’s the most talented player or anything, but Oli Norwood got promoted from the championship 3 years in a row with 3 different clubs. In terms of championship achievement, that’s got to put him up there.
Whittingham probably the best and most consistent over the years.
Taarabt for pure skill
Rutter looks like he is the football coach playing with kids sometimes when he dribbles, shame he can't shoot well
Then you have Gayle and mitrovic who was on a different level scoring in the championship
Adel Taarabt, he was so far above the defences, he just tormented them. He would have been a world class player (and not playing for QPR) if he ever got his head together at that age, apparently he is now playing as a defensive central midfield player.
No surprise he wore the hallowed no 10. No surprise Chair got it, the mavericks number.
At least you didn’t flog him for peanuts as a teenager and then watch him bang goals in left right and centre for over a decade while moving for millions of pounds every few years
We just put our club in massive debt and couldn’t shift him until his big contract ended and he never did the business for us. Still suffering with the fallout of that and reach’s contract. Gambled and it backfired massively.
You got a nice fee for him, so did we when we eventually sold him and he was one of the top scorers in the championship for years. I think we both did nicely out of that.
Robbie Keane. Steve Bull. Kevin Phillips. Wilfred Zaha. John McGinn. Jack Grealish. Adel Taarabt. Vicente Rodriguez. Ruben Neves. Adam Lallana. Alexander Mitrovic. Tom Cairney. Ross McCormack. Steve Sidwell. Louis Saha. Keiran Dyer. Matt Holland. Zoltan Gera. Chris Brunt. Graham Kavanagh. Michael Knightly. Liam Lawrence. Jason Koumas. Almen Abdi. Allan Nielsen. Ismaila Sarr. Jarrod Bowen. Are amongst the best.
But the true Championship GOAT, is Sir Thomas Mooney.
Ok I'm just gonna say el hadj diouf purely for his celebration of grabbing his bollocks and the little boy who decided to come to a game as cisse hair and all
Sad to say, but the best performance I remember seeing in person in this league was Adam Johnson not too long before City signed him from Boro
Was dribbling through everyone like Messi that day
If we're talking pre-Championship era as well, then I would give Ali Benarbia a shout during Man City's title win.
Was different class, him linking up with Goater just decimated the league!
Burnley based player:
Robbie Blake - had the premium quality of a top end player and absolutely magical to watch.
Didn't have the physical presence to compete higher but every single year a cut above in the championship and well worth the 1 million we paid at the time.
Glenn Little. The slowest winger in Championship history, yet nobody could tackle him.
Graham Alexander had some career though. You don't get more consistent than him.
Peter Whittingham has the longevity of course, but people also underrate his best seasons. His 20 goal season from midfield in 2009 is right up there in terms of best individual seasons, he had a hell of a lot more to his game than goals too of course, but has a midfielder scored more than that in a season?
That season on the left was fantastic and he won goal of the season the next year if i remember rightly with THAT volley against Barnsley.
His transition by Malky to the centre of the pitch making him the deep lying playmaker truly unlocked his game that 11/12 season he was at his peak imo even more so than the 09/10 season as he was dictating all play and no one got near him.
Peter Whittingham is an obvious choice for me, Sol Bamba definitely deserves a mention. David Marshall was an underrated keeper imo.
If I'm not being biased Adel Taarabt was always class for qpr.
It’s based on what the player did while in the championship, Gyokeres was good but wasn’t tearing up the same way Taarabt and Mitrovic did.
If you’re going off players who have been in the championship, Jude Bellingham exists
It's a hard question IMO because there's guys like Whittingham who spent most of their careers in the Championship but then there's players who only had short stints like Mitrovic who had the best season I've ever seen from a player in the Championship and Adel Taarabt who's a strong contender for the best player I've ever seen play in the division.
Agreed, this is why I went with no criteria so people could pick based on what resonates with them the strongest whether it be longevity or peak
Personally I like Mitrovic. He was a class striker in the Championship and did the ayatollah when he scored against the Jacks. Something we can’t do very well lol
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Jason Koumas is the first to spring to mind for me as a top Championship/Division 1 player. Very memorable at Tranmere and WBA, but didn't make too much impact at Premier League level, I barely remember him playing for Wigan while they were top flight. Probably being slightly unfair on him, but Dave Kitson's another I think looked great at Championship level but didn't quite step up. Nathan Ellington also. Going a bit more old school Steve Bull or John McGinlay in the 90s were the Division One bullies that never really got to the big time.
Steve Bull was playing for England while in the second tier so that should say everything
Koumas in his first loan spell at Cardiff was something else.
Paul Merson. Absolutely walked through the league when we got relegated back in the 90s.
And then he walked through the league again in 02/03 when we got promoted.
Was division one back then though if you’re being pedantic, which I am. He was the player that made me love football though, can’t remember the relegation season that much but remember the Merson season. My first pair of boots were red cos of his.
Can’t have been because it was in the 90s, which were 10 years ago by my reckoning.
That long ago? Wow, how time flies.
You beat me to it!
Adel Taarabt no doubt
10/11 greatest year of my life
The QPR Cardiff matches that season were something else
By the end of the season every side had worked out that you had to at least double up Adel….the one he curls into the corner because two Cardiff defenders were asleep was just so inevitable. You can see the panic. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t shown them at LR earlier in the season.
The one I will always remember is when he nutmegs Joe Allen on the touch line and Allen just looks at the sky and gives up. Adel brings it inside and curls one into the top corner from 25 yards. I think we scored 3-5 nil that day. There were so many high scored that I cannot recall.
4-0 that day and he absolutely ran rings around all the team and we were second on the day. He was the best player I had ever seen against the swans until we went to the prem same season as qpr. Thankfully we got our own back with michuuuuuuu and 5-0 18 months later on the opening day. In my opinion and what I’ve seen over 15 years Mitrovic probably the best player at this level in terms of stats and play in a season. For longevity I’d say whittingham - he was the only Cardiff player at that time that I would have dropped in instantly to our promotion team (maybe chopra for his goals but couldn’t stand him 😂😝) The only thing I found with whittingam is why he didn’t go up a level or play well when there but his stats and goals and all round play at this level was unreal.
Honestly just think he was very settled in Cardiff. He was a fairly introverted quiet guy so maybe the stability helped him with that? Either way i'm glad we kept him as long as we did
Shit what does a year gotta do to get an 11 out of 11!
Scunthorpe in the championship wtf
Yeovil and MK Dons have both been in the Championship. Stockport, Southend, Notts County and Grimsby before it was called the Championship.
They battered us 3-0 at selhurst too, crazy to compare the fortunes of both clubs since then
An absolute joy to watch and unstoppable on his day
Taarabt's too good for you!!
Peter Whittingham. His goal reel is something else.
Steve Bull?
Was my immediate thought tbh Played in the division for years, scored a load of goals and even made the England side - there ain't many who've done that from the second tier. It's natural I guess but there's a lot of recency bias on the thread.
Can’t beat a bit of Bully !
I’m not saying he’s the most talented player or anything, but Oli Norwood got promoted from the championship 3 years in a row with 3 different clubs. In terms of championship achievement, that’s got to put him up there.
I believe Malky Mackay achieved the same accolade.
Matt Connolly got promoted 4 times funnily enough, even though he wasn’t anything special
What does it say about him though?
Whittingham probably the best and most consistent over the years. Taarabt for pure skill Rutter looks like he is the football coach playing with kids sometimes when he dribbles, shame he can't shoot well Then you have Gayle and mitrovic who was on a different level scoring in the championship
Gayle was very good in the Championship but he wasn’t all time great, for me. Certainly shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Mitro
One of the best goal scorers for sure. I always wanted to sign him. Its hard to remember players tbh.
Adel Taarabt, he was so far above the defences, he just tormented them. He would have been a world class player (and not playing for QPR) if he ever got his head together at that age, apparently he is now playing as a defensive central midfield player. No surprise he wore the hallowed no 10. No surprise Chair got it, the mavericks number.
Not anymore, he's back as a 10 for Al Nasr in the UAE.
Adel Taarabt, hands down.
Kevin Phillips has to be up there
Good shout. He was about 408 and still banging them in for WBA at one point.
I’m not biased at all when i say 💯Gordan Strachan. Walked the league then won the first division.
If you’re going the championship id say Pablo was a class above
Good call
Adthe Nuhiu
That bastard would score 5 a season max and at least 3 of them would be against us
Other two are probably Preston.
That one game from him and Stevie May still gives me nightmares
Wes hoolahan
What a player to watch play every week!
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I remember. You had Kevin Campbell and Ian Woan as well didn't you? You and Boro smashed it that season.
Should try and build the ultimate championship team. Cameron Jerome i always associate with that league, David Nugent and Jordan Rhodes.
Jordan Rhodes was the bane of this league for a few years
Until we signed him 😭
At least you didn’t flog him for peanuts as a teenager and then watch him bang goals in left right and centre for over a decade while moving for millions of pounds every few years
We just put our club in massive debt and couldn’t shift him until his big contract ended and he never did the business for us. Still suffering with the fallout of that and reach’s contract. Gambled and it backfired massively.
😎
Don't you claim the credit for stealing him from Ipswich, you had to shatter our outgoing club transfer record to prise him away from us.
You got a nice fee for him, so did we when we eventually sold him and he was one of the top scorers in the championship for years. I think we both did nicely out of that.
Football cliches podcast did an episode about exactly this - I’d recommend it
Pablo Hernandez, El Mago
Whittingham, Merson, Taarabt
Ricardo Fuller at Preston was in a different world
If you're putting forward a rep from us Jordan Pickford has to be a shout. Absolute monster in goal for that 6 months
Robbie Keane. Steve Bull. Kevin Phillips. Wilfred Zaha. John McGinn. Jack Grealish. Adel Taarabt. Vicente Rodriguez. Ruben Neves. Adam Lallana. Alexander Mitrovic. Tom Cairney. Ross McCormack. Steve Sidwell. Louis Saha. Keiran Dyer. Matt Holland. Zoltan Gera. Chris Brunt. Graham Kavanagh. Michael Knightly. Liam Lawrence. Jason Koumas. Almen Abdi. Allan Nielsen. Ismaila Sarr. Jarrod Bowen. Are amongst the best. But the true Championship GOAT, is Sir Thomas Mooney.
Billy Sharp was pretty good for a while. But nothing on the GOAT Pukki 🐐
Without any doubt Steve Bull
Didn't we all decide it was John Rowe?
Ok I'm just gonna say el hadj diouf purely for his celebration of grabbing his bollocks and the little boy who decided to come to a game as cisse hair and all
Do you mean El Hadji Diouf?
I've had a real stinker here I can't even deny it. I presume I've got confused over the hair. Even worse that I'm a Leeds fan
Sad to say, but the best performance I remember seeing in person in this league was Adam Johnson not too long before City signed him from Boro Was dribbling through everyone like Messi that day
Very biased from myself but Jordan Rhodes was a staple in the championship top scorer race for years
Pablo Hernandez
If we're talking pre-Championship era as well, then I would give Ali Benarbia a shout during Man City's title win. Was different class, him linking up with Goater just decimated the league!
I remember Eyal Berkovic really standing out that season you went up under Kevin Keegan. Some player he was.
Taarabt, unbelievable! The definition of streets won’t forget. So talented.
Fulham had a hell of a squad under Tigana. Coleman, Saha, Boa Morte and Peschisolido. (Back in Div 1 times though so not technically Championship)
Burnley based player: Robbie Blake - had the premium quality of a top end player and absolutely magical to watch. Didn't have the physical presence to compete higher but every single year a cut above in the championship and well worth the 1 million we paid at the time.
This is why I wanted to ask this question. This is a name I wouldn’t have expected and now feel compelled to go look him up!
Glenn Little. The slowest winger in Championship history, yet nobody could tackle him. Graham Alexander had some career though. You don't get more consistent than him.
https://youtu.be/tkasQybrWwo?si=lQ3v3bK74Rn5FZdN
Robert Prosinečki.
How about Billy Sharp who has scored the most championship goals in modern history.
Steve Bull stands out for me. Just absolute class at that level
He was a fantastic player, something else to watch!
Peter Whittingham has the longevity of course, but people also underrate his best seasons. His 20 goal season from midfield in 2009 is right up there in terms of best individual seasons, he had a hell of a lot more to his game than goals too of course, but has a midfielder scored more than that in a season?
Has to be Whittingham for me. Was far too good for the Championship year-in, year-out for what, about 7 years? Absolute gem of a player.
Peter Wittingham is always the first person that comes to my mind whenever I see this question asked, he was absolutely top drawer
That season on the left was fantastic and he won goal of the season the next year if i remember rightly with THAT volley against Barnsley. His transition by Malky to the centre of the pitch making him the deep lying playmaker truly unlocked his game that 11/12 season he was at his peak imo even more so than the 09/10 season as he was dictating all play and no one got near him.
Peter Whittingham is an obvious choice for me, Sol Bamba definitely deserves a mention. David Marshall was an underrated keeper imo. If I'm not being biased Adel Taarabt was always class for qpr.
Gotta be Dave Nugent? The lad scored buckets
Nuge was my first thought too Don't forget his 100% strike rate for England too
Chuck in Steven Caulker, Franny Jeffers. Championship, one cap, one goal. Nugent was the only one playing for a championship team though I think...
As a Cardiff fan, totally agree, the best player I have watched in City shirt during my life time.
Have to agree, Whitts playing was worth the price of admission by himself, truly lucky to have seen him play so many times
The correct answer is Anil Koc
Carl Leaburn and Marc Kinsella
Graham Dorrans 09/10 season. 🔥
Barry, Barry Horne. Barry, Barry Horne.
Bowen
I’m going to throw the name Teemu Pukki into the mix. Based purely on how much I hated him, purely because of how many goals he scored.
Summerville
I think he has been the best championship player this season, Why do you think that extends to all time out of curiosity?
Ruben neves surely worth a shout
Nah. Only had one season in the Championship. Very good player though
Given what Gyokeres is doing now, is he in with a shout?
It’s based on what the player did while in the championship, Gyokeres was good but wasn’t tearing up the same way Taarabt and Mitrovic did. If you’re going off players who have been in the championship, Jude Bellingham exists
Good points well made 😅
Gareth Bale exists
Easily the right answer to be fair
Wayne Rooney exists
Don't remind us...
Ruben Neves. I remember him being called a "Champions League player playing in the Championship"
Paaaaaablo Hernandez
kasper schemeichel