The conclusion of the 2025/26 Championship season is fast approaching and it's still all to play for in England's second tier.
Near the end of every campaign, a clutch of managers are nominated for the prestigious Championship manager of the season gong, highlighting the work they've undertaken over the previous eight months.
The award doesn't always go to the manager that finishes top of the pile. Last year, Burnley's Scott Parker won the award, despite the Clarets being pipped to the Championship title by Leeds United.
This season, Coventry City's Frank Lampard, Millwall's Alex Neil, Middlesbrough's Kim Hellberg and Hull City's Sergej Jakirovic have all been shortlisted for the accolade. It means the likes of Kieran McKenna, whose Ipswich Town side are currently second in the Championship, has been overlooked, while the likes of Tonda Eckert and Philippe Clement, who have both overseen impressive transformations at Southampton and Norwich City respectively, are not in the running.
So who should be named manager of the season in the Championship? Members of the bet365 News team argue who they think should claim the award.
Coventry City are the best team in the Championship and Frank Lampard is the mastermind, writes Jaquob Crooke
Jaquob Crooke
It’s always worth remembering that Coventry City were languishing in 17th in the Championship at the time Frank Lampard was named the club’s head coach in October 2024.
While there was no doubt a squad of Coventry’s calibre could achieve more, it required Lampard to call upon his man-management skills and tactical expertise to transform the Sky Blues into challengers in the upper echelons of the division.
The previous campaign may have ended in play-off heartache at the hands of Sunderland, but the foundations had been set for Coventry to make a real fist of promotion in the subsequent season.
Coventry blew away the league in the early stages of the campaign. Lampard’s bold attacking philosophy was paying dividends, and while they have been one of the league’s most entertaining sides, they have demonstrated an ability to be resilient when the situation calls.
Encountering a wobble during the middle of the campaign where they won just two of eight, Lampard masterminded a pivotal 3-1 success over Middlesbrough which acted as the springboard for the rest of the campaign.
Who knows what the league table would look like if Lampard did not have Kim Hellberg’s number on that Monday evening in February.
Since then, however, the Sky Blues have been in imperious. A return to the Premier League for the first time since 2001 edges closer to becoming a reality.
Sometimes Championship-winning managers are the beneficiaries of a superior squad. But Lampard’s not had to become a chequebook manager to steer Coventry to the summit.
The summer captures of Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Luke Woolfenden were financed by the sales of Luis Binks and Ben Sheaf, and the spine of Coventry’s team is identical to the one that finished the previous campaign, apart from the excellent Carl Rushworth between the sticks.
Players have evidently evolved under his tutelage.
Brandon Thomas-Asante, who was deemed surplus to requirements at West Brom, has delivered vital goals in Coventry’s promotion quest. Matt Grimes, a shrewd operator, has been provided with the platform to dictate proceedings. The likes of Jack Rudoni, Victor Torp and Haji Wright have all developed into better players.
Lampard has carefully rebuilt his tainted managerial reputation at the CBS Arena and he deserves every accolade thrown his way if Coventry go on to be crowned champions of the Championship.
Hull were in danger of oblivion and Sergej Jakirovic is responsible for transforming them into contenders, writes Adrian Bishop
Adrian Bishop
It’s difficult to overstate the gravity of the situation that Sergej Jakirovic inherited when he took over at Hull City last summer.
The Tigers had survived relegation to League One by the skin of their teeth at the end of the 2024-25 season, with a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth on the final day enough to save them from oblivion.
The man that led the club that day, Ruben Selles, was dismissed just two weeks later – while Joao Pedro, the club’s top scorer that season later departed by mutual consent.
If the circumstances facing Jakirovic in his first role in English football weren’t perilous enough already – Hull were then hit with a transfer embargo by the EFL, preventing them for signing any players for a fee for the next three windows.
Two signings that had been completed at that point were abruptly cancelled, and Jakirovic was forced to bolster his squad using only free transfers and loans.
Despite all of that however, the Bosnian has succeeded in bringing optimism back to the MKM Stadium.
The arrivals of Semi Ajayi and Oli McBurnie has had an inspired impact on the team, with the latter currently sitting fourth in the Championship goalscoring charts - despite missing several games over the festive period.
Injuries have been a recurrent theme for Hull throughout the campaign, and a particularly brutal stretch in January saw them reduced to just 11 fit senior players.
And yet, throughout everything the club have overachieved.
They have overachieved when it comes to expected goals, they have punched above their weight in terms of financial might and they have maintained their place in the play-offs despite an injury list that could have instantly crushed their promotion hopes.
Even if Hull fail to secure a Premier League return this season, Jakirovic deserves the award for the sheer scale of the turnaround he has presided over.
