West Ham lead way in race for promotion

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce admits he is under pressure to secure an immediate return to the Premier League as he prepares for the most fascinating Championship campaign in years.

The action in English football’s second tier kicked off yesterday when Hull hosted Blackpool and a full programme follows today before Allardyce’s team take on promotion rivals Cardiff City tomorrow.

That fixture should set the tone for an enthralling season and Allardyce knows only promotion will satisfy co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold after the agony of relegation last season.

Sullivan and Gold, nursing concerns over the club’s £80 million debts, can take comfort from the widespread view that Allardyce is the ideal man to restore West Ham to the Premier League.

His no-nonsense style will erase memories of the feckless Avram Grant era and Allardyce has his own incentive to return to the big time after acrimonious departures from Blackburn and Newcastle in recent years.

“We want to go up automatically,” Allardyce said.

“And if we don’t quite achieve that goal, then we are going to be left in the play-offs, at the very least, unless I become the worst manager ever overnight and the players become the worst there has ever been.”

To achieve that goal, Allardyce has signed Kevin Nolan, Matt Taylor and Abdoulaye Faye, battle-hardened pros who won’t shirk their responsibilities whatever the situation, and it would be little surprise to see the Hammers on top of the pile come May.

If West Ham stumble, there will be no shortage of candidates to leapfrog them in what should be a fiercely contested race for three lucrative spots among the elite.

Leicester, managed by former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, have embarked on the Championship’s biggest close-season spending spree and the club’s Thai owners expect a significant return on their £8.5 million investment in nine new players.

Eriksson has added the likes of Paul Konchesky, David Nugent, Matthew Mills, John Pantsil and Kasper Schmeichel to an already solid squad and that should make Leicester strong contenders for a top-two finish.

“They (the owners) want to take Leicester City up to the Premier League and they want to stay there,” Eriksson said.

“We have a big squad so I am very positive. We all know what it is about – we want to be promoted.”

Forest optimism

There is also cause for optimism at Nottm Forest, who appointed Steve McClaren as manager after Billy Davies paid the price for his tempestuous relationship with the club’s board.

Davies was sacked after Forest’s play-off semi-final defeat against Swansea, but he left an improving squad which McClaren, back in English football for the first time since his woeful spell as national coach ended in 2007, has augmented with experienced midfielders Jonathan Greening, George Boateng and Andy Reid.

“They know what it takes and are good professionals,” McClaren said of his signings.

“They will pass on that experience and knowledge on and off the field to our younger players, who probably need a bit of guidance from them.”

Neither Birmingham and Blackpool, both relegated along with West Ham, will feel quite so confident of a successful season, especially when Cardiff, Leeds and Reading all believe they can gate-crash the promotion party.

Of the three sides who came up from League One last season, Southampton look the best equip-ped to emulate Norwich’s achievement of back-to-back promotions.

League One champions Brighton, who start life in their new Amex Stadium this term, and play-off winners Peterborough would surely settle for cementing their status at this level.