2009–10 Football League Championship

The 2009–10 Football League Championship (known as the Coca-Cola Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the league under its current title and eighteenth season under its current league division format. It started on 7 August 2009.^[3]

Football League Championship

Season	2009–10
Champions	Newcastle United 1st Championship title 3rd 2nd tier title
Promoted	Newcastle United West Bromwich Albion Blackpool
Relegated	Sheffield Wednesday Plymouth Argyle Peterborough United
Matches played	557
Goals scored	1,446 (2.6 per match)
Top goalscorer	Peter Whittingham (22)
Biggest home win	Reading 6–0 Peterborough
Biggest away win	Bristol City 0–6 Cardiff City
Highest scoring	Peterborough 4–4 Cardiff Derby 5–3 Preston Bristol City 5–3 Barnsley
Longest winning run	Newcastle United (7 games, twice)[1]
Longest unbeaten run	Nottingham Forest (19 games)[1]
Longest losing run	Plymouth Argyle (7 games)[1]
Highest attendance	52,381[2] Newcastle United 2–2 Ipswich Town
Lowest attendance	4,995[1] Scunthorpe United 4–0 Peterborough United
Average attendance	18,119[2]
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Newcastle United - Championship winners

Changes from previous season

Team changes

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League

• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Birmingham City
• Burnley

Relegated to League One

• Norwich City
• Southampton
• Charlton Athletic

To Championship

Relegated from Premier League

• Newcastle United
• Middlesbrough
• West Bromwich Albion

Promoted from League One

• Leicester City
• Peterborough United
• Scunthorpe United

Rule changes

On field rule changes

1. 'Home Grown Players' rule which aims to encourage the development of young footballers at League clubs. The new rule will require clubs to name at least four players in their matchday squad that have been registered domestically, for a minimum of three seasons, prior to their 21st birthday
2. For the first time clubs will also have the opportunity to name seven substitutes (previously five), three of which may enter the field of play (no change)^[4]

Note: "Amendments to the laws of the game 2009–2010" also applied^[5]

Off field rule changes

1. Financial regulations relating to tax payments. From now on, any club that falls behind with its employee related payments to HMRC will be subject to a transfer embargo until such time as the debt is cleared^[4]

Team overview

Stadia and locations

Barnsley

Blackpool

Bristol City

Cardiff City

Coventry City

Crystal Palace

Derby County

Doncaster

Ipswich Town

Leicester City

Middlesbrough

Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest

Peterborough United

Plymouth Argyle

Preston

QPR

Reading

Scunthorpe

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Swansea City

Watford

West Brom

Locations of teams in the 2009–10 Football League Championship

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Barnsley	Barnsley	Oakwell	23,009
Blackpool	Blackpool	Bloomfield Road	12,555
Bristol City	Bristol	Ashton Gate	21,497
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
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,311
Leicester City	Leicester	Walkers Stadium	32,500
Middlesbrough	Middlesbrough	Riverside Stadium	35,100
Newcastle United	Newcastle upon Tyne	St James' Park	52,387
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham	City Ground	30,602
Peterborough United	Peterborough	London Road Stadium 1	15,460
Plymouth Argyle	Plymouth	Home Park	19,500
Preston North End	Preston	Deepdale	24,500
Queens Park Rangers	London	Loftus Road	19,128
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161
Scunthorpe United	Scunthorpe	Glanford Park 1	9,088
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,609
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,814
Swansea City	Swansea	Liberty Stadium	20,532
Watford	Watford	Vicarage Road	19,920
West Bromwich Albion	West Bromwich	The Hawthorns	26,500

¹ Ground contains some terracing

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Team captain	Kit maker	Sponsor
Barnsley	Mark Robins	Stephen Foster	Lotto	Barnsley Building Society
Blackpool	Ian Holloway	Jason Euell	Carbrini	Carbrini
Bristol City	Steve Coppell	Louis Carey	Puma	DAS
Cardiff City	Dave Jones	Mark Hudson	Puma	SBOBET
Coventry City	Chris Coleman	Stephen Wright	Puma	Cassidy Group (home), StadiArena (away)
Crystal Palace	Paul Hart	Shaun Derry	Nike	GAC Logistics
Derby County	Nigel Clough	Robbie Savage	Adidas	Bombardier
Doncaster Rovers	Sean O'Driscoll	Brian Stock	Vandanel	Wright Investments
Ipswich Town	Roy Keane	Jon Walters	Mitre	Marcus Evans
Leicester City	Nigel Pearson	Matt Oakley	Joma	Loros (away)
Middlesbrough	Gordon Strachan	David Wheater	Adidas	Garmin
Newcastle United	Chris Hughton	Nicky Butt	Adidas	Northern Rock
Nottingham Forest	Billy Davies	Paul McKenna	Umbro	Victor Chandler
Peterborough United	Gary Johnson	Joe Lewis	Adidas	MRI Overseas Property
Plymouth Argyle	Paul Mariner	Carl Fletcher	Adidas	Ginsters
Preston North End	Darren Ferguson	Callum Davidson	Canterbury	Enterprise plc
Queens Park Rangers	Neil Warnock	Mikele Leigertwood	Lotto	Gulf Air
Reading	Brian McDermott	Ívar Ingimarsson	Puma	Waitrose
Scunthorpe United	Nigel Adkins	Cliff Byrne	Carlotti	Rainham Steel
Sheffield United	Kevin Blackwell	Chris Morgan	Macron	VisitMalta.com
Sheffield Wednesday	Alan Irvine	Darren Purse	Puma	The Children's Hospital Sheffield
Swansea City	Paulo Sousa	Garry Monk	Umbro	32Red
Watford	Malky Mackay	Jay DeMerit	Joma	Evolution HDTV
West Bromwich Albion	Roberto Di Matteo	Scott Carson	Umbro	England 2018 (9 August 2009)
				Bluesqbet (15 December 2009)
				SBOBET (21 February 2010 and 2 April 2010)
				Bathams (20 March 2010)
				Esprit (23 March 2010 and 10 April 2010)
				Leons (24 March 2010)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Queens Park Rangers	Gareth Ainsworth	End of caretaker spell	9 April 2009	Pre-season	Jim Magilton	3 June 2009
Reading	Steve Coppell	Resigned	12 May 2009		Brendan Rodgers	5 June 2009
Watford	Brendan Rodgers	Signed by Reading	5 June 2009		Malky Mackay	15 June 2009
Swansea City	Roberto Martínez	Signed by Wigan Athletic	15 June 2009		Paulo Sousa	23 June 2009
West Bromwich Albion	Tony Mowbray	Signed by Celtic	16 June 2009		Roberto Di Matteo	30 June 2009
Barnsley	Simon Davey	Sacked	29 August 2009	24th	Mark Robins	11 September 2009
Middlesbrough	Gareth Southgate		20 October 2009	3rd	Gordon Strachan	26 October 2009
Peterborough United	Darren Ferguson	Mutual consent	9 November 2009	24th	Mark Cooper	14 November 2009
Plymouth Argyle	Paul Sturrock	Promoted to business support	10 December 2009	23rd	Paul Mariner	10 December 2009
Sheffield Wednesday	Brian Laws	Sacked	13 December 2009	22nd	Alan Irvine	8 January 2010
Reading	Brendan Rodgers	Mutual consent	16 December 2009	21st	Brian McDermott	27 January 2010
Queens Park Rangers	Jim Magilton		16 December 2009	14th	Paul Hart	17 December 2009
Preston North End	Alan Irvine	Sacked	29 December 2009	16th	Darren Ferguson	6 January 2010
Queens Park Rangers	Paul Hart	Mutual consent	14 January 2010	20th	Neil Warnock	1 March 2010
Peterborough United	Mark Cooper	Sacked	1 February 2010	24th	Jim Gannon	1 February 2010
Crystal Palace	Neil Warnock	Signed by Queens Park Rangers	1 March 2010	21st	Paul Hart	2 March 2010
Bristol City	Gary Johnson	Mutual consent	18 March 2010	16th	Steve Coppell	22 April 2010
Peterborough United	Jim Gannon		6 April 2010	24th	Gary Johnson	6 April 2010

League table

A total of 24 teams contested the division, including 18 sides remaining in the division from last season, three relegated from the Premier League, and three promoted from League One.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Newcastle United (C, P)	46	30	12	4	90	35	+55	102	Promotion to the Premier League
2	West Bromwich Albion (P)	46	26	13	7	89	48	+41	91
3	Nottingham Forest	46	22	13	11	65	40	+25	79	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Cardiff City	46	22	10	14	73	54	+19	76
5	Leicester City	46	21	13	12	61	45	+16	76
6	Blackpool (O, P)	46	19	13	14	74	58	+16	70
7	Swansea City	46	17	18	11	40	37	+3	69
8	Sheffield United	46	17	14	15	62	55	+7	65
9	Reading	46	17	12	17	68	63	+5	63
10	Bristol City	46	15	18	13	56	65	−9	63
11	Middlesbrough	46	16	14	16	58	50	+8	62
12	Doncaster Rovers	46	15	15	16	59	58	+1	60
13	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	15	17	58	65	−7	57
14	Derby County	46	15	11	20	53	63	−10	56
15	Ipswich Town	46	12	20	14	50	61	−11	56
16	Watford	46	14	12	20	61	68	−7	54
17	Preston North End	46	13	15	18	58	73	−15	54
18	Barnsley	46	14	12	20	53	69	−16	54
19	Coventry City	46	13	15	18	47	64	−17	54
20	Scunthorpe United	46	14	10	22	62	84	−22	52
21	Crystal Palace	46	14	17	15	50	53	−3	49[a]
22	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	46	11	14	21	49	69	−20	47	Relegation to Football League One
23	Plymouth Argyle (R)	46	11	8	27	43	68	−25	41
24	Peterborough United (R)	46	8	10	28	46	80	−34	34

Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Crystal Palace were given a ten-point deduction for entering administration.^[6]

Play-offs

Main article: 2010 Football League play-offs

	Semi-finals							Final at Wembley
	6	Blackpool	2	4	6
	3	Nottingham Forest	1	3	4
								6	Blackpool	3
								4	Cardiff City	2
	5	Leicester City	0	3	3
	4	Cardiff City (p)	1	2	3

First leg

8 May 2010

12:45 BST

Blackpool	2–1	Nottingham Forest
Southern 26' Adam 57' (pen.)	(Report)	13' Cohen

Bloomfield Road, Blackpool

Attendance: 11,805

Referee: Phil Dowd

9 May 2010

13:15 BST

Leicester City	0–1	Cardiff City
	(Report)	13' Whittingham

Walkers Stadium, Leicester

Attendance: 29,165

Referee: Alan Wiley

Second leg

11 May 2010

19:45 BST

Nottingham Forest	3–4	Blackpool
Earnshaw 7', 66' Adebola 90+2'	(Report)	56', 76', 79' Campbell 72' Dobbie

City Ground, Nottingham

Attendance: 28,358

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

Blackpool win 6–4 on aggregate

12 May 2010

19:45 BST

Cardiff City	2 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Leicester City
Chopra 21' Whittingham 69' (pen.)	(Report)	25' Fryatt 36' (o.g.) Hudson 49' King
Penalties
Chopra McCormack Ledley Kennedy	4–3	Berner Howard Solano Kermorgant Waghorn

Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 26,033

Referee: Howard Webb

Cardiff City 3–3 Leicester City on aggregate. Cardiff City win 4–3 on penalties

Final

Main article: 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final

22 May 2010

15:00 BST

Blackpool	3–2	Cardiff City
Adam 12' Taylor-Fletcher 39' Ormerod 45'	(Report)	8' Chopra 36' Ledley

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 82,244

Referee: Andre Marriner

Blackpool are promoted to the Premier League

Results

Fixtures for the 2009–10 season were announced by The Football League on 17 June 2009.^[3][7]

Home \ Away	BAR	BLP	BRI	CAR	COV	CRY	DER	DON	IPS	LEI	MID	NEW	NOT	PET	PLY	PNE	QPR	REA	SCU	SHU	SHW	SWA	WAT	WBA
Barnsley		1–0	2–3	1–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	2–2	1–3	0–3	0–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–1
Blackpool	1–2		1–1	1–1	3–0	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	4–1	3–0	1–2	5–1	3–2	2–3
Bristol City	5–3	2–0		0–6	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–5	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–1	4–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–3	1–1	1–0	2–2	2–1
Cardiff City	0–2	1–1	3–0		2–0	1–1	6–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	0–0	4–0	1–1	3–2	2–1	3–1	1–1
Coventry City	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–2		1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	0–4	0–0
Crystal Palace	1–1	4–1	0–1	1–2	0–1		1–0	0–3	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–2	1–3	0–4	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–0	1–1
Derby County	2–3	0–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1		0–2	1–3	1–0	2–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	5–3	2–4	2–1	1–4	0–1	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–2
Doncaster Rovers	0–1	3–3	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	2–1		3–3	0–1	1–4	0–1	1–0	3–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	4–3	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–3
Ipswich Town	1–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	3–2	1–3	1–0	1–1		0–0	1–1	0–4	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–3	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Leicester City	1–0	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–1		2–0	0–0	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	4–0	1–2	5–1	2–1	3–0	2–1	4–1	1–2
Middlesbrough	2–1	0–3	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	0–1		2–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–5
Newcastle United	6–1	4–1	0–0	5–1	4–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–0		2–0	3–1	3–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	2–2
Nottingham Forest	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	4–1	3–0	5–1	1–0	1–0		1–0	3–0	3–0	5–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–4	0–1
Peterborough United	1–2	0–1	1–0	4–4	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–2	3–1	1–2	2–2	2–3	1–2		1–2	0–1	1–0	3–2	3–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–3
Plymouth Argyle	0–0	0–2	3–2	1–3	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	1–2		1–1	1–1	4–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	0–1
Preston North End	1–4	0–0	2–2	3–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	3–2	2–0	2–0		2–2	1–2	3–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–0
Queens Park Rangers	5–2	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–5	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	4–0		4–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–1
Reading	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	3–0	2–4	4–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	6–0	2–1	4–1	1–0		1–1	1–3	5–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Scunthorpe United	2–1	2–4	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–2	4–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	2–2		3–1	2–0	0–2	2–2	1–3
Sheffield United	0–0	3–0	2–0	3–4	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	4–3	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–1		3–2	2–0	2–0	2–2
Sheffield Wednesday	2–2	2–0	0–1	3–1	2–0	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–3	2–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	0–2	4–0	1–1		0–2	2–1	0–4
Swansea City	3–1	0–0	0–0	3–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	0–0		1–1	0–2
Watford	1–0	2–2	2–0	0–4	2–3	1–3	0–1	1–1	2–1	3–3	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	4–1	0–1		1–1
West Bromwich Albion	1–1	3–2	4–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–3	2–0	3–1	3–2	2–2	3–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	0–1	5–0

Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2010. Source: The Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers and assists

Rank Scorer Club Goals[8] 1 Peter Whittingham Cardiff City 20 Nicky Maynard Bristol City 20 3 Gary Hooper Scunthorpe United 19 4 Andy Carroll Newcastle United 17 Kevin Nolan Newcastle United 17 6 Charlie Adam Blackpool 16 Gylfi Sigurðsson Reading 16 Michael Chopra Cardiff City 16 9 Robert Earnshaw Nottingham Forest 15 Darren Ambrose Crystal Palace 15 Billy Sharp Doncaster Rovers 15

Pos Player Team Assists[9] 1 Graham Dorrans West Bromwich Albion 19 2 Wayne Routledge Queens Park Rangers/Newcastle United 15 3 Danny Guthrie Newcastle United 13 4 Jay Bothroyd Cardiff City 12 5 Peter Whittingham Cardiff City 10 6 George Boyd Peterborough United/Nottingham Forest 9 Paul Hayes Scunthorpe United 9 Radosław Majewski Nottingham Forest 9 Jobi McAnuff Reading 9 Gylfi Sigurðsson Reading 9 11 Charlie Adam Blackpool 8

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Miles Addison for Derby County against Peterborough United, 4:00 minutes (8 August 2009)^[10]
• Fastest goal in a match: 23 seconds
  • Billy Clarke for Blackpool against Preston North End (30 November 2009)
  • Daryl Murphy for Ipswich Town against Middlesbrough (6 February 2010)^[11]
• Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+6:12 – Pablo Couñago for Ipswich Town against Coventry City (16 January 2010)^[12]
• First own goal of the season: Kaspars Gorkšs (Queens Park Rangers) for Plymouth Argyle, 90+2:26 minutes (15 August 2009)^[13]
• First penalty kick of the season: Paul Hartley (scored) for Bristol City against Preston North End, 48:35 (8 August 2009)^[14]
• Widest winning margin: 6
  • Bristol City 0–6 Cardiff City (26 January 2010)^[15]
  • Reading 6–0 Peterborough United (17 April 2010)^[16]
• Most goals in one half: 6
  • Newcastle United 6–1 Barnsley (5 March 2010)
  • Bristol City 2–5 Doncaster Rovers (5 March 2010)
• Most goals in one half by a single team: 5
  • Newcastle United 6–1 Barnsley (5 March 2010)
• Most goals scored by losing team: 3
  • Sheffield United 3–4 Cardiff City (24 October 2009)
  • Sheffield United 4–3 Plymouth Argyle (27 February 2010)
  • Bristol City 5–3 Barnsley (23 March 2010)
  • Doncaster Rovers 4–3 Scunthorpe United (24 April 2010)^[17]
  • Nottingham Forest 3–4 Blackpool (11 May 2010)^[18]
• Most goals scored by one player in a match: 4
  • Michael Chopra (Cardiff City vs. Derby County) – 36, 57, 62, 75 minutes (29 September 2009)^[19]

Main article: List of Football League Championship hat-tricks

Hat-tricks
Player	Nationality	For	Against	Result	Goals scored	Date	Ref
Shola Ameobi	Nigeria	Newcastle United	Reading	3–0	3	15 August 2009
Michael Chopra	England	Cardiff City	Plymouth Argyle	3–1	3	18 August 2009
Kevin Nolan	England	Newcastle United	Ipswich Town	4–0	3	26 September 2009
Michael Chopra	England	Cardiff City	Derby County	6–1	4	29 September 2009
Peter Whittingham	England	Cardiff City	Sheffield United	4–3	3	24 October 2009
Darius Henderson	England	Sheffield United	Bristol City	3–2	3	28 November 2009
Robert Earnshaw	Wales	Nottingham Forest	Leicester City	5–1	3	5 December 2009
Freddy Eastwood	Wales	Coventry City	Peterborough United	3–2	3	12 December 2009
Paul Gallagher	Scotland	Leicester City	Scunthorpe United	5–1	3	13 February 2010

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Rhys Williams for Middlesbrough against Sheffield United, 49:15 minutes (7 August 2009)^[20]
• First red card of the season: Luke Chambers for Nottingham Forest against Reading, 87:41 minutes (8 August 2009)^[21]
• Card given at latest point in a game: Wes Morgan (yellow) at 90+7:07 minutes for Nottingham Forest against Bristol City (3 April 2010)^[22]
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 9
  • Bristol City 2–3 Sheffield United – 4 for Bristol City (Lee Johnson, Louis Carey, Jamie McAllister and Ivan Sproule) and 5 for Sheffield United (Jamie Ward, Kyle Walker, Darius Henderson, Jordan Stewart and Stephen Quinn) (28 November 2009)
  • Cardiff City 2–3 Leicester City – 3 for Cardiff City (Paul Quinn, Mark Hudson, Stephen McPhail) and 6 for Leicester City (Alex Bruce, Nolberto Solano, Andy King, Lloyd Dyer, Richie Wellens, Steve Howard) (11 May 2010)^[23]
• Quickest card given at the start of the match: 26 Seconds – Nicky Maynard for Bristol City against Nottingham Forest (7 November 2009)^[24]
• Quickest card given after coming on: 1:07 minutes – Alassane N'Diaye for Crystal Palace against Blackpool (20 March 2010)^[25]
• Most fouls: Jay Bothroyd 103 fouls
• Total number of yellow cards: 1636
• Total number of red cards: 86

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Notes
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Chris Hughton	Newcastle United	Shola Ameobi	Newcastle United	[26]
September	Chris Hughton	Newcastle United	Leon Best	Coventry City	[27][28]
October	Dave Jones	Cardiff City	Peter Whittingham	Cardiff City	[29][30]
November	Chris Hughton	Newcastle United	Darren Ambrose	Crystal Palace	[31][32]
December	Billy Davies	Nottingham Forest	Lee Camp	Nottingham Forest	[33][34]
January	Alan Irvine	Sheffield Wednesday	Charlie Adam	Blackpool	[35][36]
February	Nigel Pearson	Leicester City	Paul Gallagher	Leicester City	[37]
March	Brian McDermott	Reading	Gylfi Sigurðsson	Reading	[38][39]
April	Chris Hughton	Newcastle United	Kevin Nolan	Newcastle United	[38][40]

Team of the Year

No. Nat. Position Name Club 1 GK Lee Camp Nottingham Forest 16 RB Chris Gunter Nottingham Forest 2 CB Fabricio Coloccini Newcastle United 2 CB Ashley Williams Swansea City 3 LB José Enrique Newcastle United 17 RM Graham Dorrans West Bromwich Albion 4 CM Kevin Nolan Newcastle United 26 CM Charlie Adam Blackpool 7 LM Peter Whittingham Cardiff City 24 ST Andy Carroll Newcastle United 8 ST Michael Chopra Cardiff City

Camp Williams Coloccini Gunter José Enrique Nolan Adam Dorrans Whittingham Carroll Chopra

Events

Controversy

• 15 August 2009

During a game between Bristol City and Crystal Palace, Freddie Sears scored a goal that ricocheted off the stanchion and went back out, but the linesman didn't see the goal and so it was disallowed.^[41] Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock called for a replay.^[42] Following the game, the three officials were suspended until it could be solved.^[43]

• 28 November 2009

The tie between Plymouth and Barnsley was abandoned after 58 minutes because of heavy rain affecting the pitch. Barnsley were winning 4–1 and manager Mark Robins argued that it was a "let off" for Plymouth and that the travelling Barnsley fans should be reimbursed.^[44] The postponed match took place on 30 March, where it ended in a 0–0 draw.^[45]

Crystal Palace administration

On 27 January 2010, the Football League had announced that Crystal Palace had been placed into administration and Sheffield firm P&A Partnership were appointed as administrators for the club. Palace were docked ten points and dropped from 9th to 21st.^[46] They managed to survive another season in the Championship, but only after drawing 2–2 with Sheffield Wednesday on the final day and confined Wednesday to League One football in 2010–11.^[47]