In the Championship - Preparations underway

Paul Robinson - could be one of a number on the way out at West Brom

That's what the bookmakers are telling us, and the bookies don't often get it wrong do they? Having said that I'm sure it is Tony Mowbray in charge of West Brom and not Steve Cotterill, so maybe they do get it wrong from time to time.

West Brom were the last to confirm a place in the Championship, not as though they wanted to. But having lost in the first Championship Play Off Final at the new Wembley it means another season in our division, and one they could face without some of their bigger name players.

Aston Villa are the latest to be reported to want Jason Koumas, whilst it would be no surprise to see Curtis Davis, Diomansy Kamara and Paul Robinson all move on. Robinson could get his dream promotion to the Premiership with reported interest from Roy Keane who wants to take him to the Stadium of Light.

The three relegated clubs have already made changes since relegation was confirmed, for two of them there are new players whilst for Sheffield United it's a new manager, the wonderfully effervescent Bryan Robson. His arrival has been greeted with such enthusiasm that the press conference lasted all of one question.

They will be down on the Championship fixture list but they still think they are going to be playing in the Premiership. I think most have sympathy to some extent, West Ham broke the rules and should have been punished appropriately. They weren't, they got away with it, and everyone has to move on now and surely that should include Sheffield United.

Watford and Charlton have come down with them and neither can be a surprise. After what seemed for ever under Alan Curbishley's management Charlton had three different managers last season, that is if you can even loosely describe Les Reed as a manager. They did to be fair look as though they might get out of it when Alan Pardew got them moving but a further slump put paid to that.

Darren Bent is expected to move and they've also lost such as defender Herman Hreidarsson who activated a relegation clause in his contract. Pardew has moved quickly to strengthen his front line with the captures of Luke Varney and Chris Iwelumo from Crewe and Colchester respectively. Varney has cost £2 million as Dario G cashes in again, Iwelumo has moved on a Bosman free and you wonder what effect his departure will have on Colchester who relied last season so much on him and Jamie Cureton for the goals.

Matt Jackson - signed a two year deal at Watford

As for Watford, they'd booked their relegation place by about September last year. The upwardly looking Adey Boothroyd was already gearing up for a relegation. A late flurry kept them closer than expected but they were never anything else other than certainties for relegation.

Boothroyd is leading the way on summer signings so far with three new signings already committed to deals at Vicarage Road. One of them, Brazilian defender Douglas Rinalda, was already there on loan but the deal has been made permanent with Watford paying his club Veranopolis an initial £250,000.

Also moving in at Watford are Wigan defender Matt Jackson, so that should spare us his residency on Granada Soccer Night, and Arsenal's Estonian goalkeeper Mart Poom who finally made his Premiership debut for the Gunners last month after two years with the club. Poom is an interesting signing, once a regular at Derby he's played very few games in the last three years.

Two players who haven't made moves but will be doing soon if you believe the speculation. Polish striker Marek Saganowski will be heading for Burnley if you read the Daily Mirror, there again the Daily Mirror claim he's on his way to Southampton where he played on loan last season, and for those who read the Daily Mirror and support Leicester, he could well be your man.

Then there's Billy Sharp. Scunthorpe, despite claiming to want to keep him, are launching an auction for the striker that is bigger than anything since Ebay was launched. They've publicly turned down an offer from old boss Brian Laws who is now at Sheffield Wednesday and apparently bidding has to start at £2 million. It looks as though Sharp has indicated that a move might be the best thing for him but where will he go? This one could run for a few weeks yet.

A couple of other strikers might not be moving to the Championship after all. Norwich want to take Chris Sutton back to Carrow Road, but he doesn't appear to be too keen and might prefer to hang around in Villa's reserves. Their East Anglian rivals have upped their bid for Blackburn's Francis Jeffers and gone up to £500,000. All looked favourable until newly promoted Birmingham showed an interest and that's where he's favourite to go now.

Tony Capaldi - moving to Cardiff

There have been ins and outs at Plymouth. Ian Holloway has kept Peter Halmosi and Krisztian Timar. The two Hungarians were both on loan last season and have now both completed permanent moves, Halmosi from Debreceni VSC and Timar from Ferencvaros. The Pilgrims have lost Tony Capaldi, he's opted for a move to Cardiff.

Just two more signings to report. Aston Villa's young Irish goalkeeper Stephen Henderson has signed for Bristol City whilst the more experienced Dimitrios Konstantopoulos will be in Coventry's goals next season after he ended his stay at Hartlepool after almost four years as their first choice.

That's it for this week, other than to report a fantastic offer from Hull City. In an attempt to improve season ticket sales they offered free admission to all pre-season friendlies played at home. That's fantastic, but having rushed to get their season tickets the Hull fans learned that their pre-season games against North Ferriby, Winterton, Stockport, Grimsby, Doncaster and Chesterfield will all be played away. And just to think people mocked the Premiership Pledge.