2011–12 Football League Championship

Football League Championship
Season	2011–12
Champions	Reading ; 2nd Championship title; 2nd 2nd tier title
Promoted	Reading F.C.; Southampton F.C.; West Ham United F.C.
Relegated	Doncaster Rovers; Coventry City; Portsmouth
Matches	552
Goals	1,419 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rickie Lambert (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Peterborough United 7–1 Ipswich Town; West Ham 6–0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Biggest away win	Millwall 0–6 Birmingham City
Highest scoring	Leeds United 3–7 Nottingham Forest (10 goals)
Longest winning run	8 games; Reading
Longest unbeaten run	12 games; Southampton; Brighton
Longest winless run	11 games; Coventry City
Longest losing run	7 games; Ipswich Town
Highest attendance	34,934; West Ham 2–1 Hull City
Lowest attendance	6,351; Peterborough United 4–3 Cardiff City
Average attendance	17,841
	← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 Football League Championship (known as the npower Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the league under its current title and nineteenth season under its current league division format.

Season2011–12

ChampionsReading
2nd Championship title
2nd 2nd tier title

PromotedReading F.C.
Southampton F.C.
West Ham United F.C.

RelegatedDoncaster Rovers
Coventry City
Portsmouth

Quick facts Season, Champions ...

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Reading secured the Championship title on 21 April, following second-placed Southampton's 2–1 defeat to Middlesbrough. The result left Southampton four points behind Reading with only one game remaining.^[4] Southampton were promoted on the final day of the season, after winning 4–0 at home to Coventry City, who were one of three teams relegated along with Portsmouth (who were deducted ten points midway through the season for entering administration) and Doncaster Rovers. West Ham United occupied the final promotion place as they returned to the Premier League after just one year. West Ham beat Blackpool in the Play-off final at Wembley Stadium, sealing their return to the top division after narrowly missing out on automatic promotion.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Barnsley	Barnsley	Oakwell	23,009
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	30,079
Blackpool	Blackpool	Bloomfield Road	16,220
Brighton & Hove Albion	Brighton	Falmer Stadium	22,374
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate	21,497
Burnley	Burnley	Turf Moor	22,546
Cardiff City	Cardiff	Cardiff City Stadium	26,828
Coventry City	Coventry	Ricoh Arena	32,609
Crystal Palace	London	Selhurst Park	26,309
Derby County	Derby	Pride Park Stadium	33,597
Doncaster Rovers	Doncaster	Keepmoat Stadium	15,231
Hull City	Kingston upon Hull	KC Stadium	25,404
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	39,460
Leicester City	Leicester	King Power Stadium	32,500
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	34,988
Millwall	London	The Den	20,146
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham	City Ground	30,576
Peterborough United	Peterborough	London Road Stadium	15,460
Portsmouth	Portsmouth	Fratton Park	20,224
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,224
Southampton	Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,689
Watford	Watford	Vicarage Road	23,500
West Ham United	London	Boleyn Ground	35,303

Team	Manager	Chairman	Team captain	Kit maker	Sponsor
Barnsley	Keith Hill	Patrick Cryne	Jacob Butterfield	Nike	C.K. Beckett
Birmingham City	Chris Hughton	Vico Hui	Stephen Carr	Xtep	RationalFX
Blackpool	Ian Holloway	Karl Oyston	Barry Ferguson	Fila	Wonga.com
Brighton & Hove Albion	Gus Poyet	Tony Bloom	Gordon Greer	Errea	BrightonandHoveJobs.com
Bristol City	Derek McInnes	Colin Sexstone	Louis Carey	adidas	RSG (Home) & Bristol City Community Trust (Away)
Burnley	Eddie Howe	Barry Kilby	Chris McCann	Puma	Fun88
Cardiff City	Malky Mackay	Datuk Chan Tien Ghee	Mark Hudson	Puma	Malaysia
Coventry City	Andy Thorn	Vacant	Sammy Clingan	Puma	City Link
Crystal Palace	Dougie Freedman	Steve Parish Martin Long	Paddy McCarthy	Nike	GAC Logistics
Derby County	Nigel Clough	Andrew Appleby	Shaun Barker	adidas	buymobiles.net
Doncaster Rovers	Dean Saunders	John Ryan	Brian Stock	Nike	One Call Insurance
Hull City	Steve Bruce	Assem Allam	Jack Hobbs	adidas	Cash Converters
Ipswich Town	Paul Jewell	Marcus Evans	Grant Leadbitter	Mitre	Marcus Evans
Leeds United	Neil Warnock	Ken Bates	Robert Snodgrass	Macron	Enterprise Insurance
Leicester City	Nigel Pearson	Vichai Raksriaksorn	Matt Mills	BURRDA	King Power (Front), Amazing Thailand (Back)
Middlesbrough	Tony Mowbray	Steve Gibson	Matthew Bates	adidas	Ramsdens
Millwall	Kenny Jackett	John Berylson	Paul Robinson	Macron	racing+
Nottingham Forest	Sean O'Driscoll	Nigel Doughty Frank Clark	Dan Harding	Umbro	John Pye & Sons Auctioneers
Peterborough United	Darren Ferguson	Darragh MacAnthony	Grant McCann	Nike	Energy Park Peterborough
Portsmouth	Michael Appleton	Under Administration	Liam Lawrence	Kappa	Jobsite
Reading	Brian McDermott	John Madejski	Jobi McAnuff	Puma	Waitrose
Southampton	Nigel Adkins	Nicola Cortese	Dean Hammond	Umbro	aap³
Watford	Gianfranco Zola	Gino Pozzo	John Eustace	BURRDA	BURRDA
West Ham United	Sam Allardyce	David Sullivan David Gold	Kevin Nolan	Macron	SBOBET

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Barnsley	Mark Robins	Resigned	15 May 2011^[7]^[8]	Pre-season	Keith Hill	1 June 2011^[9]^[10]
West Ham United	Avram Grant	Sacked	15 May 2011^[7]^[8]		Sam Allardyce	1 June 2011^[9]^[10]
Cardiff City	Dave Jones		30 May 2011^[11]		Malky Mackay	17 June 2011^[12]
Nottingham Forest	Billy Davies		12 June 2011^[13]		Steve McClaren	13 June 2011^[14]
Birmingham City	Alex McLeish	Signed by Aston Villa	17 June 2011^[15]^[12]		Chris Hughton	22 June 2011^[16]
Watford	Malky Mackay	Signed by Cardiff City	17 June 2011^[15]^[12]		Sean Dyche	21 June 2011^[17]
Doncaster Rovers	Sean O'Driscoll	Sacked	23 September 2011^[18]	24th	Dean Saunders	23 September 2011^[19]
Nottingham Forest	Steve McClaren	Resigned	2 October 2011^[20]	21st	Steve Cotterill	14 October 2011^[21]
Bristol City	Keith Millen	Mutual consent	3 October 2011^[22]	24th	Derek McInnes	19 October 2011^[23]
Portsmouth	Steve Cotterill	Signed by Nottingham Forest	14 October 2011^[21]	18th	Michael Appleton	10 November 2011^[24]
Leicester City	Sven-Göran Eriksson	Mutual consent	24 October 2011^[25]	13th	Nigel Pearson	15 November 2011^[26]
Hull City	Nigel Pearson	Signed by Leicester City	15 November 2011^[26]	9th	Nick Barmby	10 January 2012^[27]
Leeds United	Simon Grayson	Sacked	1 February 2012^[28]	10th	Neil Warnock	18 February 2012^[29]
Hull City	Nick Barmby	Sacked	8 May 2012^[30]	Pre-season	Steve Bruce	8 June 2012^[31]
Birmingham City	Chris Hughton	Signed by Norwich City	7 June 2012^[32]		Lee Clark	26 June 2012
Watford	Sean Dyche	Sacked	2 July 2012^[33]		Gianfranco Zola	7 July 2012^[34]

Team	New owner	Previous owner	Effective date
Portsmouth	Convers Sport Initiatives	Balram Chainrai	1 June 2011^[35]
Portsmouth	Administration	Convers Sport Initiatives	29 November 2011^[36]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Reading (C, P)	46	27	8	11	69	41	+28	89	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Southampton (P)	46	26	10	10	85	46	+39	88	Promotion to the Premier League
3	West Ham United (O, P)	46	24	14	8	81	48	+33	86	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Birmingham City	46	20	16	10	78	51	+27	76
5	Blackpool	46	20	15	11	79	59	+20	75
6	Cardiff City	46	19	18	9	66	53	+13	75
7	Middlesbrough	46	18	16	12	52	51	+1	70
8	Hull City	46	19	11	16	47	44	+3	68
9	Leicester City	46	18	12	16	66	55	+11	66
10	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	17	15	14	52	52	0	66
11	Watford	46	16	16	14	56	64	−8	64
12	Derby County	46	18	10	18	50	58	−8	64
13	Burnley	46	17	11	18	61	58	+3	62
14	Leeds United	46	17	10	19	65	68	−3	61
15	Ipswich Town	46	17	10	19	69	77	−8	61
16	Millwall	46	15	12	19	55	57	−2	57
17	Crystal Palace	46	13	17	16	46	51	−5	56
18	Peterborough United	46	13	11	22	67	77	−10	50
19	Nottingham Forest	46	14	8	24	48	63	−15	50
20	Bristol City	46	12	13	21	44	68	−24	49
21	Barnsley	46	13	9	24	49	74	−25	48
22	Portsmouth (R)	46	13	11	22	50	59	−9	40^[a]	Relegation to League One
23	Coventry City (R)	46	9	13	24	41	65	−24	40
24	Doncaster Rovers (R)	46	8	12	26	43	80	−37	36

2011–12 Football League Championship

Changes from last season

Team changes

From Championship

To Championship

Rule changes

Team overview

Stadia and locations

Personnel and sponsoring

Managerial changes

Ownership changes

League table

Play-offs

Results

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Top assists

Hat-tricks

Scoring

Disciplinary record by team

Clean sheets

Monthly awards

Events

Portsmouth administration

Attendances

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Semi-finals					Final

3	West Ham United	2	3	5

6	Cardiff City	0	0	0
					3	West Ham United	2

					5	Blackpool	1
4	Birmingham City	0	2	2

5	Blackpool	1	2	3

Home \ Away	BAR	BIR	BLP	B&HA	BRI	BUR	CAR	COV	CRY	DER	DON	HUL	IPS	LEE	LEI	MID	MIL	NOT	PET	POR	REA	SOU	WAT	WHU
Barnsley		1–3	1–3	0–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	3–2	2–0	2–1	3–5	4–1	1–1	1–3	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–4	0–1	1–1	0–4
Birmingham City	1–1		3–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	1–1
Blackpool	1–1	2–2		3–1	5–0	4–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–3	3–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–4
Brighton & Hove Albion	2–0	1–1	2–2		2–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	1–3	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	3–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	3–0	2–2	0–1
Bristol City	2–0	0–2	1–3	0–1		3–1	1–2	3–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–3	0–3	3–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	2–3	2–0	0–2	1–1
Burnley	2–0	1–3	3–1	1–0	1–1		1–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	1–2	1–3	0–2	1–3	5–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–2
Cardiff City	5–3	1–0	1–3	1–3	3–1	0–0		2–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–3	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	3–1	3–2	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–2
Coventry City	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–1		1–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	2–3	2–1	0–1	3–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–2
Crystal Palace	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–1		1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–3	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	4–0	2–2
Derby County	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–0	3–2		3–0	0–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–1
Doncaster Rovers	2–0	1–3	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2		1–1	2–3	0–3	2–1	1–3	0–3	0–1	1–1	3–4	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1
Hull City	3–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	2–3	2–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–0		2–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–2
Ipswich Town	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	3–0	1–0	3–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	0–1		2–1	1–2	1–1	0–3	1–3	3–2	1–0	2–3	2–5	1–2	5–1
Leeds United	1–2	1–4	0–5	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–2	3–2	4–1	3–1		1–2	0–1	2–0	3–7	4–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–1
Leicester City	1–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	4–0	4–0	2–1	1–1	0–1		2–2	0–3	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	3–2	2–0	1–2
Middlesbrough	2–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0		1–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	1–0	0–2
Millwall	0–0	0–6	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–0	3–2	2–0	4–1	0–1	2–1	1–3		2–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	2–3	0–2	0–0
Nottingham Forest	0–0	1–3	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–1	3–2	0–4	2–2	2–0	3–1		0–1	2–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	1–4
Peterborough United	3–4	1–1	3–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	4–3	1–0	2–1	3–2	1–2	0–1	7–1	2–3	1–0	1–1	0–3	0–1		0–3	3–1	1–3	2–2	0–2
Portsmouth	2–0	4–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–5	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	3–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–3	0–1	3–0	2–3		1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1
Reading	1–2	1–0	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–2	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	3–2	1–0		1–1	0–2	3–0
Southampton	2–0	4–1	2–2	3–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	3–1	0–2	3–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–2	1–3		4–0	1–0
Watford	2–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	2–2	3–2	1–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	4–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–2	2–1	2–1	0–1	3–2	2–0	1–2	0–3		0–4
West Ham United	1–0	3–3	4–0	6–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	4–3	2–4	1–1	1–1

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Lee Tomlin	Peterborough United	Ipswich Town	7–1	20 August 2011
Rickie Lambert	Southampton	Nottingham Forest	3–2	10 September 2011
Chris Wood	Birmingham City	Millwall	3–0	11 September 2011
Darius Henderson	Millwall	Leicester City	0–3	22 October 2011
Jonjo Shelvey	Blackpool	Leeds United	0–5	2 November 2011
Rickie Lambert	Southampton	Brighton & Hove Albion	3–0	19 November 2011
Matt Phillips	Blackpool	Barnsley	1–3	26 December 2011
Ricardo Vaz Tê	Barnsley	Leeds United	4–1 Archived 31 December 2011 at Archive-It	31 December 2011
Darius Henderson	Millwall	Barnsley	1–3	21 January 2012
Nikola Žigić⁴	Birmingham City	Leeds United	1–4	31 January 2012
Rickie Lambert	Southampton	Watford	0–3	25 February 2012
Rickie Lambert	Southampton	Millwall	2–3	17 March 2012
Garath McCleary⁴	Nottingham Forest	Leeds United	3–7	20 March 2012
Charlie Austin	Burnley	Portsmouth	1–5	31 March 2012
Radosław Majewski	Nottingham Forest	Crystal Palace	0–3	31 March 2012
Ricardo Vaz Tê	West Ham United	Brighton & Hove Albion	6–0	14 April 2012
Matty Fryatt	Hull City	Barnsley	3–1	17 April 2012

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Notes
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Notes
August	Gus Poyet	Brighton & Hove Albion	Marvin Emnes	Middlesbrough	^[46]^[47]
September	Tony Mowbray	Middlesbrough	Matthew Bates	Middlesbrough	^[48]^[49]
October	Chris Hughton	Birmingham City	Nathaniel Clyne	Crystal Palace	^[50]^[51]
November	Malky Mackay	Cardiff City	Billy Sharp	Doncaster Rovers	^[52]^[53]
December	Tony Mowbray	Middlesbrough	Alex Pearce	Reading	^[54]^[55]
January	Chris Hughton	Birmingham City	Curtis Davies	Birmingham City	^[56]^[57]
February	Brian McDermott	Reading	Adam Federici	Reading	^[58]^[59]
March	Brian McDermott	Reading	Garath McCleary	Nottingham Forest	^[60]^[61]
April	Kenny Jackett	Millwall	Ricardo Vaz Tê	West Ham United	^[62]^[63]

No.	Club	Average	Change	Highest	Lowest
1	West Ham United	30,923	-7.7%	35,000	25,680
2	Southampton	26,420	19.2%	32,363	21,014
3	Derby County	26,020	0.0%	33,010	22,040
4	Leeds United	23,283	-14.7%	33,366	19,469
5	Leicester City	23,037	-2.7%	27,720	19,806
6	Cardiff City	22,100	-4.7%	25,109	20,366
7	Nottingham Forest	21,970	-5.6%	27,356	18,506
8	Brighton & Hove Albion	20,028	172.4%	20,968	18,412
9	Reading	19,219	8.7%	24,026	15,124
10	Birmingham City	19,127	-24.9%	25,516	16,253
11	Hull City	18,790	-11.2%	22,676	16,604
12	Ipswich Town	18,267	-6.9%	24,763	15,650
13	Middlesbrough	17,558	7.9%	27,794	14,366
14	Crystal Palace	15,219	-0.9%	21,002	11,853
15	Coventry City	15,119	-7.3%	22,240	12,054
16	Portsmouth	15,016	-4.4%	19,879	11,261
17	Burnley	14,048	-5.9%	17,226	12,355
18	Bristol City	13,846	-5.2%	19,003	12,017
19	Blackpool	12,764	-19.1%	14,141	11,414
20	Watford	12,704	-3.4%	16,314	10,592
21	Millwall	11,484	-7.7%	16,085	9,062
22	Barnsley	10,332	-12.9%	17,499	8,900
23	Doncaster Rovers	9,341	-8.9%	12,962	7,572
24	Peterborough United	9,111	41.3%	13,517	6,351