West Ham United were relegated from the Premier League last season, finishing rock bottom and seven points behind the safety line.

Nevertheless, the Hammers are a top club as shown by the number of years they have spent in the Premier League – 18 campaigns in the last 20 years.

West Ham are one of the founder members of the Premier League in 1992-93. They were first demoted in 2002-03, spending two years in the second tier of the English game.

In 2003-04, the Hammers finished fourth and lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace in the play-off final. The following year, West Ham finished sixth but eventually clinched promotion after beating Ipswich in the semi (agg: 4-2) and Preston 1-0 in the decisive match.

In pre-season, Sam Allardyce became West Ham’s seventh manager since the turn of the century.

Harry Redknapp, Glenn Roe-der, Alan Pardew, Alan Curbishley, Gianfranco Zola and Avram Grant are the other six managers who were in charge of West Ham in the last 12 years.

At present, West Ham are level with Southampton on 50 points at the top but the Saints have a better goal difference.

Both are striving to gain auto-matic promotion and avoid the play-offs as Cardiff and Middlesbrough are lurking behind.

Like West Ham, Southampton have played in the Premiership for several years and their great desire is to get back into the top echelon.

The Saints were also founder members of the Premier League but lost their status in 2005.

This is their sixth season outside the top flight and they also spent two years in League One, only to regain their Championship status with a straight up last year.

The two other relegated clubs from the Premier League last year were Blackpool and Birmingham.

The Tangerines stuck with manager Ian Holloway. They are not far from the play-offs zone.

Birmingham are also well-placed in seventh position.

The Blues lost manager Alex McLeish, who moved to rivals Aston Villa, and the vacancy was filled by ex-Newcastle boss Chris Hughton. Birmingham are the only side in the Championship who have not lost at home so far.

Middlesbrough also tasted life on the gravy train of the Premiership but Cardiff are still vying to claim a coveted place in the lucrative league.

Last season, the Bluebirds made it to the play-offs while Middles-brough finished 12th.

Cardiff lost to Reading in the semi-finals.

Middlesbrough are under the guidance of Tony Mowbray, his second stint with the north-east club. He replaced Gordon Strachan in October 2010. Boro lost their Premiership slot in 2009.

Along with Cardiff, the other three teams who reached the deciders last year were Swansea City, now in the Premier League, Reading and Nottingham Forest.

In the semi-finals, Swansea ousted Forest while Cardiff fell to Reading.

In the showdown that carries most cash for a one-match con-test, Swansea beat Reading 4-2.

This season, Reading are again in the running for a play-off place.

The same goes for Hull City who played in the Premier League from 2008 to 2010.

Forest, twice European cham-pions, had a miserable decade in which they played in the Championship in only four seasons.

The remaining six were spent in League One and at present they are involved in another tussle to avoid the drop.

Since the late Brian Clough left his post, Forest had a managerial merry-go-round at the City Ground. The managers who followed Clough were Frank Clark, Stuart Pearce, Dave Bassett, Ron Atkinson, David Platt, Paul Hart, Joe Kinnear, Gary Megson, Colin Calderwood, Billy Davies, Steve McLaren and Steve Cotterill.

Another big team in the Championship, Leeds, are currently hovering just below the play-offs zone. They have been out of the Premier League for seven years, even spending three seasons in League One.

In 2001, as a Premier League side, Leeds reached the Champions League semi-finals.

Five changes

Five clubs have changed their manager in the Championship so far this season.

In September, Sean Driscoll lost his job at Doncaster. He was replaced Dean Saunders.

At Nottingham Forest, Steve McClaren lasted only four months as Steve Cotterill came in to replace him in October. In the same month, Bristol City sacked Keith Millen for Derek McInnes.

At Portsmouth, Michael Appleton took over from Cotterill.

Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was also shown the back door at Leicester who then handed the job to Nigel Pearson.