Bristol City may have finished a challenging 2021/22 with a flourish but Nigel Pearson’s side are not being backed by bookmakers to make an impact in the Championship next season with the Robins priced at 40/1 and only Rotherham United possessing longer odds.
City won three and drew two of their final six matches to reach 55 points - exceeding their total from the previous campaign - and after a few concerns, a healthy 18 points above the bottom three in the division.
An important summer awaits with Pearson keen to enhance his squad and put City in the best possible position to climb further up the standings following what has been widely regarded as a transitional campaign.
However, and admittedly just over two weeks after the previous season finished and with the play-off final still to be concluded, the early odds to win the Championship next season have City well down the list among the 23 confirmed teams (with Huddersfield Town or Nottingham Forest to occupy the final place).
Priced at 40/1 alongside Reading and Preston North End, only Rotherham at 66/1 have been given longer odds, with relegated Watford the favourites to win the league at 7/1, even amidst what will be a considerable squad overall and with a new head coach at the helm in Rob Edwards.
Last week Pearson admitted that 17th place next season simply wouldn’t be tolerated with a wish to push into the top half of the table and keep themselves in the play-off conversation as progress needs to be made in terms of league standing.
It should be noted that these are only the very raw “title-winning” odds and the other market that is open is “promotion” which has City at a more agreeable 12/1, albeit again well down the list and again alongside Reading and Preston.
These are still the earliest of early days and perhaps completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things but it will be interesting to see how the market fluctuates over the course of the summer dependent on how and if City can strengthen in the right areas.
Championship title odds
- Watford - 7/1
- Norwich City - 8/1
- West Brom - 9/1
- Sheffield United - 10/1
- Burnley - 12/1
- Middlesbrough - 12/1
- Swansea City - 18/1
- Stoke City - 20/1
- Sunderland - 20/1
- Hull City - 22/1
- Coventry City - 25/1
- Blackburn Rovers - 25/1
- Cardiff City - 25/1
- Luton Town - 25/1
- QPR - 25/1
- Millwall - 28/1
- Wigan Athletic - 28/1
- Blackpool - 33/1
- Birmingham City - 33/1
- Bristol City - 40/1
- Preston North End - 40/1
- Reading - 40/1
- Rotherham United - 66/1
*odds via SkyBet and correct at the time of publishing
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