2014–15 Football League Championship

The 2014–15 Football League Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons), was the eleventh season of the Football League Championship under its current title and the twenty-third season under its current league structure. The 2014–15 season began on 8 August 2014 and ended on 2 May 2015.

Football League Championship

Season	2014–15
Champions	Bournemouth 1st Championship title 1st 2nd tier title
Promoted	Bournemouth Watford Norwich City
Relegated	Millwall Wigan Athletic Blackpool
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,474 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daryl Murphy (Ipswich Town) (27 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Derby County 5–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (8 November 2014) Birmingham City 6–1 Reading (13 December 2014) Norwich City 5–0 Huddersfield Town (13 December 2014) Norwich City 6–1 Millwall (26 December 2014) Watford 5–0 Charlton Athletic (17 January 2015) Watford 7–2 Blackpool (24 January 2015) Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–0 Rotherham United (21 February 2015)
Biggest away win	Birmingham City 0–8 Bournemouth (25 October 2014)
Highest scoring	Watford 7–2 Blackpool (24 January 2015)
Longest winning run	6 games[2] Bournemouth Norwich City
Longest unbeaten run	14 games[2] Bournemouth
Longest winless run	18 games[2] Blackpool
Longest losing run	6 games[2] Blackpool
Highest attendance	33,381[3] Middlesbrough 0–0 Brighton & Hove Albion (2 May 2015)
Lowest attendance	8,250[3] Millwall 2–2 Blackburn Rovers (4 November 2014)
Total attendance	9,771,471[3]
Average attendance	17,863[3]
← 2013–14 2015–16 → All statistics correct as of 2 May 2015.

Bournemouth won the league on the last day of the season, confirming their place in the top flight for the first time in their history. Watford were runners-up and took their place in the Premier League for the first time since the 2006–07 season. Norwich were the final promoted team, bouncing straight back from their relegation the previous season by beating Middlesbrough 2–0 in the Play Off Final.

At the other end of the table, Blackpool were relegated in April having been cut adrift at the bottom of the table for much of the season. Wigan and Millwall were the other two teams to be relegated on the penultimate weekend of the season.

Changes from last season

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2013–14 season.^[4]

To Championship

Promoted from League One

• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Brentford
• Rotherham United

Relegated from Premier League

• Norwich City
• Fulham
• Cardiff City

From Championship

Relegated to League One

• Doncaster Rovers
• Barnsley
• Yeovil Town

Promoted to Premier League

• Leicester City
• Burnley
• Queens Park Rangers

Rule changes

Changes to the Championship's financial fair play system allow clubs:^[5]

• Acceptable losses of £3 million during the 2014–15 season
• Acceptable shareholder equity investment of £3 million during the 2014–15 season (down from £5 million during the 2013–14 season).
• Sanctions for exceeding the allowances take effect from the set of accounts due to be submitted on 1 December 2014 for the 2013–14 season.

Team overview

Stadia and locations

Team Stadium Capacity Birmingham City St Andrew's 30,016 Blackburn Rovers Ewood Park 31,154 Blackpool Bloomfield Road 17,338 Bolton Wanderers Macron Stadium 28,100 Bournemouth Dean Court 12,000 Brentford Griffin Park 12,763 Brighton & Hove Albion Falmer Stadium 30,750 Cardiff City Cardiff City Stadium 33,316 Charlton Athletic The Valley 27,111 Derby County iPro Stadium 33,597 Fulham Craven Cottage 25,700 Huddersfield Town John Smith's Stadium 24,500 Ipswich Town Portman Road 30,311 Leeds United Elland Road 39,460 Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium 34,742 Millwall The Den 20,146 Norwich City Carrow Road 27,244 Nottingham Forest City Ground 30,576 Reading Madejski Stadium 24,224 Rotherham United New York Stadium 12,021 Sheffield Wednesday Hillsborough 39,812 Watford Vicarage Road 20,877 Wigan Athletic DW Stadium 25,133 Wolverhampton Wanderers Molineux 31,700

Birmingham City Blackburn Blackpool Bolton Bournemouth Brighton Cardiff City Derby County Huddersfield Ipswich Town Leeds United Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Reading Rotherham Sheffield Wednesday Watford Wigan Athletic Wolves London London teams Brentford Charlton Athletic Fulham Millwall Locations of teams in the 2014–2015 Football League Championship Brentford Charlton Athletic Fulham Millwall Greater London Championship football clubs

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager[α]	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Back sponsor	Shorts sponsor
Birmingham City	Gary Rowett	Carbrini[6]	Zapaygo[7]	None	None
Blackburn Rovers	Gary Bowyer	Nike[8]	Zebra Claims Ltd.[9]	None	None
Blackpool	Lee Clark	Erreà[10]	Wonga[11]	None	None
Bolton Wanderers	Neil Lennon	Macron	FibrLec[12]/Wix.com (in FA Cup matches)	None	None
Bournemouth	Eddie Howe	Carbrini	Energy Consulting[13]	Energy Consulting[13]	None
Brentford	Mark Warburton	Adidas	Skyex	Matchbook	Matchbook
Brighton & Hove Albion	Chris Hughton	Nike[14]	American Express[14]	American Express[14]	American Express[14]
Cardiff City	Russell Slade	Cosway Sports[15]	Visit Malaysia	Visit Malaysia	Visit Malaysia
Charlton Athletic	Guy Luzon	Nike[16]	University of Greenwich	Andrews Air Conditioning	Mitsubishi Electric
Derby County	Steve McClaren	Umbro[17]	Just Eat[18]	M&DH Insurance	M&DH Insurance
Fulham	Kit Symons	Adidas[19]	Marathonbet[20]	None	None
Huddersfield Town	Chris Powell	Puma	Rekorderlig Cider (H)[21]/RadianB (A)/Cavonia (T)	Northern Commercials (H)/Rekorderlig Cider (A & T)	Stafflex
Ipswich Town	Mick McCarthy	Adidas	Marcus Evans	None	None
Leeds United	Neil Redfearn	Macron[22]	Enterprise Insurance	Help Link Direct	Help Link Direct
Middlesbrough	Aitor Karanka	Adidas[23]	Ramsdens[24]	None	None
Millwall	Neil Harris	Macron[25]	Euro Ferries	Wallis Teagan	Southwark Metals
Norwich City	Alex Neil	Erreà[26]	Aviva[27]	None	None
Nottingham Forest	Dougie Freedman	Adidas[28]	Fawaz International Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Company[29]	ICM Capital	None
Reading	Steve Clarke	Puma [citation needed]	Waitrose[30]	Thai	Legend Alliance Ltd
Rotherham United	Steve Evans	Puma	Parkgate Shopping (H)/Shedlands (A & T)	Perrys (H)/Hughie Construction (A & T)	Balreed
Sheffield Wednesday	Stuart Gray	Sondico	Azerbaijan: Land of Fire	None	None
Watford	Slaviša Jokanović	Puma[31]	138.com[31]	Football Manager (H)/Football Manager Handheld (A)[31]	None
Wigan Athletic	Gary Caldwell	MiFit	Intersport	Premier Range/Roofing Consultants Group	None
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Kenny Jackett	Puma	WhatHouse?	Reconomy	None

1. According to current revision of List of English Football League managers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Blackpool	Barry Ferguson	End of contract	9 May 2014[32]	Pre-season	José Riga	11 June 2014[33]
Brighton & Hove Albion	Óscar García	Resigned	12 May 2014[34]		Sami Hyypiä	6 June 2014[35]
Charlton Athletic	José Riga	End of contract	27 May 2014		Bob Peeters	27 May 2014[36]
Leeds United	Brian McDermott	Mutual consent	31 May 2014[37]		David Hockaday	19 June 2014[38]
Huddersfield Town	Mark Robins		10 August 2014[39]	24th	Chris Powell	3 September 2014
Leeds United	David Hockaday	Sacked	28 August 2014[40]	21st	Darko Milanič	23 September 2014[41]
Watford	Giuseppe Sannino	Resigned	1 September 2014[42]	2nd	Óscar García	2 September 2014[43]
Cardiff City	Ole Gunnar Solskjær		18 September 2014[44]	17th	Russell Slade	6 October 2014[45]
Fulham	Felix Magath	Sacked	18 September 2014[46]	24th	Kit Symons	29 October 2014[47]
Watford	Óscar García	Resigned due to ill health	29 September 2014[48]	4th	Billy McKinlay	29 September 2014[48]
Bolton Wanderers	Dougie Freedman	Mutual consent	3 October 2014[49]	23rd	Neil Lennon	12 October 2014[50]
Watford	Billy McKinlay		7 October 2014	3rd	Slaviša Jokanović	7 October 2014[51]
Birmingham City	Lee Clark	Sacked	20 October 2014[52]	21st	Gary Rowett	27 October 2014[53]
Leeds United	Darko Milanič		26 October 2014[54]	18th	Neil Redfearn	1 November 2014[55]
Blackpool	José Riga		27 October 2014[56]	24th	Lee Clark	30 October 2014[57]
Wigan Athletic	Uwe Rösler		13 November 2014[58]	22nd	Malky Mackay	19 November 2014[59]
Reading	Nigel Adkins		15 December 2014[60]	16th	Steve Clarke	16 December 2014[61]
Brighton & Hove Albion	Sami Hyypiä	Resigned	22 December 2014[62]	22nd	Chris Hughton	31 December 2014[63]
Norwich City	Neil Adams		5 January 2015[64]	7th	Alex Neil	9 January 2015[65]
Charlton Athletic	Bob Peeters	Sacked	11 January 2015[66]	14th	Guy Luzon	13 January 2015[67]
Nottingham Forest	Stuart Pearce		1 February 2015[68]	12th	Dougie Freedman	1 February 2015[69]
Millwall	Ian Holloway		10 March 2015[70]	23rd	Neil Harris	29 April 2015[71]
Wigan Athletic	Malky Mackay		6 April 2015[72]	23rd	Gary Caldwell	7 April 2015[73]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Bournemouth (C, P)	46	26	12	8	98	45	+53	90	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Watford (P)	46	27	8	11	91	50	+41	89
3	Norwich City (O, P)	46	25	11	10	88	48	+40	86	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Middlesbrough	46	25	10	11	68	37	+31	85
5	Brentford	46	23	9	14	78	59	+19	78
6	Ipswich Town	46	22	12	12	72	54	+18	78
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	22	12	12	70	56	+14	78
8	Derby County	46	21	14	11	85	56	+29	77
9	Blackburn Rovers	46	17	16	13	66	59	+7	67
10	Birmingham City	46	16	15	15	54	64	−10	63
11	Cardiff City	46	16	14	16	57	61	−4	62
12	Charlton Athletic	46	14	18	14	54	60	−6	60
13	Sheffield Wednesday	46	14	18	14	43	49	−6	60
14	Nottingham Forest	46	15	14	17	71	69	+2	59
15	Leeds United	46	15	11	20	50	61	−11	56
16	Huddersfield Town	46	13	16	17	58	75	−17	55
17	Fulham	46	14	10	22	62	83	−21	52
18	Bolton Wanderers	46	13	12	21	54	67	−13	51
19	Reading	46	13	11	22	48	69	−21	50
20	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	10	17	19	44	54	−10	47
21	Rotherham United	46	11	16	19	46	67	−21	46[a]
22	Millwall (R)	46	9	14	23	42	76	−34	41	Relegation to Football League One
23	Wigan Athletic (R)	46	9	12	25	39	64	−25	39
24	Blackpool (R)	46	4	14	28	36	91	−55	26

Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2015. Source: Sky Sports
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. Rotherham United were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player.^[74]

Play-offs

See also: 2015 Football League play-offs

	Semi–Finals							Final
	3	Norwich City	1	3	4
	6	Ipswich	1	1	2
								3	Norwich City	2
								4	Middlesbrough	0
	4	Middlesbrough	2	3	5
	5	Brentford	1	0	1

Results

Home \ Away	BIR	BLB	BLP	BOL	BOU	BRE	BHA	CAR	CHA	DER	FUL	HUD	IPS	LEE	MID	MIL	NWC	NOT	REA	ROT	SHW	WAT	WIG	WOL
Birmingham City		2–2	1–0	0–1	0–8	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–4	1–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	6–1	2–1	0–2	2–1	3–1	2–1
Blackburn Rovers	1–0		1–1	1–0	3–2	2–3	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	0–0	3–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	3–3	3–1	2–1	1–2	2–2	3–1	0–1
Blackpool	1–0	1–2		1–1	1–6	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–0[a]	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–3	4–4	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–3	0–0
Bolton Wanderers	0–1	2–1	1–1		1–2	3–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	3–2	0–0	3–4	3–1	2–2
Bournemouth	4–2	0–0	4–0	3–0		1–0	3–2	5–3	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–2	1–3	3–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	3–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–1
Brentford	1–1	3–1	4–0	2–2	3–1		3–2	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	4–1	2–4	2–0	0–1	2–2	0–3	2–2	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	3–0	4–0
Brighton & Hove Albion	4–3	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	0–1		1–1	2–2	2–0	1–2	0–0	3–2	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–1	2–3	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–1
Cardiff City	2–0	1–1	3–2	0–3	1–1	2–3	0–0		1–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	3–1	3–1	0–1	0–0	2–4	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–4	1–0	0–1
Charlton Athletic	1–1	1–3	2–2	2–1	0–3	3–0	0–1	1–1		3–2	1–1	3–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–3	2–1	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1
Derby County	2–2	2–0	4–0	4–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–0		5–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–3	1–0	3–2	2–2	1–2	5–0
Fulham	1–1	0–1	2–2	4–0	1–5	1–4	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–0		3–1	1–2	0–3	4–3	0–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–1	4–0	0–5	2–2	0–1
Huddersfield Town	0–1	2–2	4–2	2–1	0–4	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	4–4	0–2		2–1	1–2	1–2	2–1	2–2	3–0	3–0	0–2	0–0	3–1	0–0	1–4
Ipswich Town	4–2	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	3–0	0–1	2–1	2–2		4–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1
Leeds United	1–1	0–3	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	0–1	3–0	2–1		1–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–3	0–2	1–2
Middlesbrough	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	4–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	4–1	0–1		3–0	4–0	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	2–1
Millwall	1–3	2–2	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–3	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–3	0–0	1–3	1–3	2–0	1–5		1–4	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–2	2–0	3–3
Norwich City	2–2	3–1	4–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	3–3	3–2	0–1	1–1	4–2	5–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	6–1		3–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	3–0	0–1	2–0
Nottingham Forest	1–3	1–3	2–0	4–1	2–1	1–3	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	5–3	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1		4–0	2–0	0–2	1–3	3–0	1–2
Reading	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–3	3–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	0–0	3–2	2–1	0–3		3–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	3–3
Rotherham United	0–1	2–0	1–1	4–2	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–3	1–1	3–3	3–3	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–3	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1		2–3	0–2	1–2	1–0
Sheffield Wednesday	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–0		0–3	2–1	0–1
Watford	1–0	1–0	7–2	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	5–0	1–2	1–0	4–2	0–1	4–1	2–0	3–1	0–3	2–2	4–1	3–0	1–1		2–1	0–1
Wigan Athletic	4–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–3	0–2	3–3	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–1	0–2		0–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	1–3	1–1	4–3	2–0	4–2	1–0	0–3	1–2	5–0	3–0	2–2	2–2

Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2015. Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Blackpool/Huddersfield match was abandoned, and was subsequently awarded as a 0-0 draw.^[75]

Top scorers

As of 2 May 2015

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[76]
1	Daryl Murphy	Ipswich Town	27
2	Troy Deeney	Watford	21
	Jordan Rhodes	Blackburn Rovers
4	Rudy Gestede	Blackburn Rovers	20
	Odion Ighalo	Watford
	Callum Wilson	Bournemouth
7	Cameron Jerome	Norwich City	18
	Chris Martin	Derby County
9	Patrick Bamford	Middlesbrough	17
	Ross McCormack	Fulham

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Football League Championship hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Joe Mason	Bolton Wanderers	Rotherham United	3–2[77]	16 September 2014
Britt Assombalonga	Nottingham Forest	Fulham	5–3[78]	17 September 2014
Marc Pugh	Bournemouth	Birmingham City	8–0[79]	25 October 2014
Troy Deeney	Watford	Fulham	5–0[80]	5 December 2014
Jelle Vossen	Middlesbrough	Millwall	5–1[81]	6 December 2014
Demarai Gray	Birmingham City	Reading	6–1[82]	13 December 2014
Clayton Donaldson	Birmingham City	Wigan Athletic	3–1[83]	10 January 2015
Ross McCormack	Fulham	Nottingham Forest	3–2[84]	21 January 2015
Odion Ighalo4	Watford	Blackpool	7–2[85]	24 January 2015
Gary Hooper	Norwich City	Blackpool	4–0[86]	7 February 2015
Jon Toral	Brentford	Blackpool	4–0[87]	24 February 2015
Brett Pitman	Bournemouth	Blackpool	4–0[88]	14 March 2015
Rudy Gestede	Blackburn Rovers	Nottingham Forest	3–3[89]	18 April 2015
Lee Gregory	Millwall	Derby County	3–3[90]	25 April 2015
Ross McCormack	Fulham	Middlesbrough	4–3[91]	25 April 2015

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Kenny Jackett	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Igor Vetokele	Charlton Athletic	[92]
September	Mick McCarthy	Ipswich Town	Tyrone Mings	Ipswich Town	[93]
October	Eddie Howe	Bournemouth	Callum Wilson	Bournemouth	[94]
November	Mark Warburton	Brentford	Andre Gray	Brentford	[95]
December	Eddie Howe	Bournemouth	Daryl Murphy	Ipswich Town	[96]
January	Aitor Karanka	Middlesbrough	Lee Tomlin	Middlesbrough	[97]
February	Alex Neil	Norwich City	Henri Lansbury	Nottingham Forest	[98]
March	Eddie Howe	Bournemouth	Troy Deeney	Watford	[99]
April	Slaviša Jokanović	Watford	Tom Ince	Derby County	[100]