Football League First Division - 2004/2005
By Chris O'Brien
May 31 2004
With the Division One and Two play-offs done and dusted with, the 24 clubs who will compete in England's second flight next year are now known. Leicester City, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Plymouth Argyle, Queens Park Rangers and Brighton are the six new clubs on their way to Ninian Park.

City supporters can start planning their away trips for next season, with the 24 clubs who will be battling it out in the First Division now known. The bank-holiday weekend has seen the play-offs played in reverse order for the first time due to the upcoming European championships, and who will be going up to the Premiership and the First Division through the end-of-season lottery has now been decided.

Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City will all be on their way to Ninian Park next season after being relegated from the Premiership, whilst Plymouth Argyle, Queens Park Rangers and Brighton & Hove Albion have come up from the Second Division. Congratulations to all coming up, and commiserations to the relegated three.

Leicester City - Problems off the field harassed the Foxes for much of the season, with the on-going financial worries and well-publicised allegations against a trio of players on a training trip to Spain distracting the club during the season and relegation was always inevitable, particularly with Alan Cork as assistant manager! Leicester's main problem was winning games, recording only six maximums all season which was less than any other club. A high number of draws meant they finished above Leeds United and Wolves in 18th, but they were 6 points away from safety and never did they look like having the credentials to survive. However, Leicester have a much respected manager in Mickey Adams who will do all he can to take the club up once again, and the Walkers Stadium outfit will start the season as one of the favourites for promotion. The Walkers Stadium will be a new ground for the Bluebirds, with Leicester having left Filbert Street for the crisp-sponsored ground two years ago.

Wolverhampton Wanderers - After years of frustration, 2003 finally saw Wolves promoted to the big time after a play-off final win over Sheffield United at the Millennium Stadium. Unfortunately for the Midlands club, they only enjoyed one season in the top flight and never looked like staying up as the move up simply proved too much. Memorable victories over the likes of Manchester United made the season a memorable one, but Wolves will have to start again next year. Form away from Molineux was the big problem, with Wolves not recording a single win on their travels and only notching up seven draws. 26 home points was better than the other two relegated clubs, but it didn't compensate for Wolves' hapless away form as the club finished bottom of the Premiership. However, fans have hope in manager Dave Jones, and the belief is there that Wolves can bounce straight back into the big time this term.

Leeds United - The Yorkshire outfit's two matches against Cardiff City are sure to attract attention from all corners of Great Britain after the happenings of the last meeting between the two sides back in January 2002. Scott Young fired home a late winner as the Bluebirds stunned the then Premiership leaders with a 2-1 F.A Cup Third Round win, but sadly the greatest day in City's history for years was marred by events off the field that stole many of the headlines of the national press, as hooliganism took off in and around the ground. Since then, animosity has been high between City fans and Leeds supporters, so the two Football League matches are sure to be passionate affairs next term. The demise of Leeds United is an incredible story, with the Peacocks in the semi-finals of the European Cup only 5 years ago and seemingly laying the foundations to be a force on the domestic and continental stage for years to come. However, over-spending caught up with Leeds and a lack of achievement in the Premiership saw debts mount. They missed the drop just barely in 2003 after a memorable win at Highbury, but Eddie Gray, who has now been replaced by Kevin Blackwell, could not steer the club to safety this time around. A diabolical start to the Premiership season meant Leeds faced a mountain to climb to avoid the trap door, and despite a showing of resilience as the season progressed, the Bluebirds will be off to Elland Road for the 2004/2005 season.

Plymouth Argyle - The Pilgrims enjoyed a superb Second Division campaign, losing only one home game on their way to the league championship. It was testimony to the magnificent job Pual Sturrock had done with the Devon outfit that he was poached to take the hot seat at Premiership mid-tables Southampton following the resignation of Gordon Strachan. However, the departure of Sturrock did not rock the Pilgrims' ship with caretaker boss Kevin Summerfield keeping the club on course before new manager Bobby Williamson secured the league title with his first game in charge. The potential of Argyle is clear with gates of almost 20,000 attracted to the impressive Home Park during the latter parts of the season, and supporters now harbours ambitions that their team can be the first from the southern county to make it to the top flight. Plymouth built on a solid first season in the Second Division after promotion from the basement in 2002 to maintain consistency throughout the campaign which they rarely looked like not clinching promotion. Critics are already tipping Argyle to challenge again next season, and expect one of the bigger away followings at Ninian Park to be coming from Devon.

Queens Park Rangers - QPR picked themselves up from the Millennium Stadium play-off heartbreak against the Bluebirds last May in style, earning automatic promotion to England's second flight after spending three consecutive seasons in the division below. Promotion wasn't secured until the final day of the season, with the London side pulling off the required victory against Sheffield Wednesday, leaving Hillsborough with a 3-1 victory which condemned Bristol City to third place and the play-offs once again. It was a fantastic sight to see Rangers securing the runners-up slot in front of over 7,500 travelling supporters, and charismatic manager Ian Holloway leading the celebrations at full-time showed just how much it all meant to the former Bristol Rovers chief. QPR have their tremendous home form to thank for their deserved promotion season as the Hoops went unbeaten at Loftus Road throughout the league campaign, taking 55 points from a possible 69 in their own back yard. Rangers dropped out of the Premiership 9 years ago, but success this term could act as a springboard for them to return to the top flight in the not so distant future.

Brighton & Hove Albion - The Seagulls bounced back at the first time of asking after heroics in the play-offs following a 4th place finish in the Second Division. With arch-rivals Bristol City and Swindon Town reaching the top 6, Bluebirds supporters were eyeing a potential derby match next season, but we are left to only imagine the passion that such a match could have generated amongst supporters as Brighton beat both West Country outfits to clinch promotion back to the First Division only a year after being relegated. Helped by former Cardiff City favourites Charlie Oatway and Ritchie Carpenter, Brighton's home form helped them to reach the play-off positions as they lost just two games at their temporary ground, the Withdean. A poor away record denied them automatic promotion, but a hard-fought two-legged win over Swindon Town which went to penalties sent them to the play-off final where Leon Knight fired home a winning spot-kick six minutes from time to leave Bristol City, who Cardiff haven't beaten in the league since 1970, facing a sixth consecutive season outside the First Division.

England's second flight looks set to be a very tough league next season, and Bluebirds boss Lennie Lawrence has already announced that his team will find it harder next term. The likes of Ipswich Town, Wolves, Leicester City, Sunderland and West Ham United will probably start as favourites for promotion, but a whole host of teams look to have what it takes to mount some sort of challenge and the season really does look a mouth-watering one. The full list of teams can be found below, shown in alphabetical order!:

Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley
Cardiff City
Coventry City
Crewe Alexandra
Derby County
Gillingham
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Millwall
Nottingham Forest
Plymouth Argyle
Preston North End
Queens Park Rangers
Sheffield United
Stoke City
Sunderland
Reading
Rotherham United
Watford
West Ham United
Wigan Athletic
Wolverhampton Wanderers

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