The season finally concluded last Tuesday as Fulham defeated Brentford at Wembley to secure promotion to the Premier League. A brace from Joe Bryan sent the Whites back to the top tier meaning we will face a visit to Brentford’s new ground during the 2020/21 Championship campaign.

With Wigan Athletic’s appeal rejected, as it stands all of the Championship’s 24 teams for the 2020/21 season are now confirmed with the Royals having to travel approximately 2907 miles to away trips next season. The 24 clubs are as follows:

Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Bournemouth, Brentford, Bristol City, Cardiff City, Coventry City, Derby County, Huddersfield Town, Luton Town, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End, QPR, Reading, Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Swansea City, Watford and Wycombe Wanderers.

The shortest trip of the season will be to Wycombe Wanderers while the longest trip will be up to Middlesbrough’s Riverside stadium. Wycombe’s Adams Park will also be the smallest stadium we visit in the league at 9,448 and Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough will be the largest at 34,854.

This week’s managerial news comes from the South Coast as Bournemouth confirmed the appointment of Jason Tindall as their next boss. The 42-year-old moves up from his role as assistant manager after the resignation of long serving number one Eddie Howe.

The Ex-Bournemouth player has been Howe’s assistant for a lengthy period only experiencing the number one role in a player-manager role previously, with Weymouth for the 2007/08 campaign.

Bristol City also filled their managerial vacancy with another internal appointment. Dean Holden, who was assistant to Lee Johnson, steps up to the role of head coach with the Robins.

There have been several confirmed transfers this week with Brentford confirming the departure of defender Dru Yearwood to New York Red Bulls and duo Nikos Karelis and Kamohelo Mokotjo being released. Birmingham City goalkeeper, Connal Trueman has departed the Blues on a season long loan deal to AFC Wimbledon.

With the financial implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, free transfers are likely to be aplenty. Luton Town have signed Jordan Clark after the defender was released by Accrington Stanley while Morgan Fox has joined Stoke City after his contract expiry at Sheffield Wednesday.

Stoke also confirmed a permanent deal for defender James Chester from Aston Villa. The Welsh international spent a period on loan at the Potters last season with Chester now signing a one year deal.

Barnsley have been busy using their connections at Belgian side K.V. Oostende. Chien Lee owns Barnsley, K.V. Oostende and Swiss side FC Thun in a similar setting to that of Reading and Beijing Renhe owner Dai Young.

Toby Sibbick has therefore moved to Oostende on loan from Barnsley while Cameron McGeehan has confirmed a permanent switch to the Belgian side. This is then likely to free up funds for the Yorkshire based side to invest in their squad further for the coming season.

The big transfer of the week comes at Bournemouth who have received around £41 million for the services of former Royal loanee, Nathan Ake. The Dutch defender has completed a move to Premier League giants, Manchester City.

In other former Royals news, ex academy striker Pedro Neves has signed for FC Cartagena in the Spanish second tier while Championship winner Joseph Mills has moved from Forest Green Rovers to Northampton Town.

Meanwhile, transfer rumours are a plenty with much interest in players from Bournemouth, Brentford, Norwich and Watford expected to depart their respective clubs. Callum Wilson, Jamal Lewis and Troy Deeney lead the rumour mill with interest from a selection of Premier League sides. Bournemouth are also rumoured to have declined a £12 million bid for goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Finally, the FA have said that the possibility of stadium closures could be a punishment for any discriminative chanting from the start of this coming season.

The new rules effect all domestic competitions and any club found guilty could face partial or full stadium closures and fines.

Players found guilty will receive a minimum three match ban for any written offence such as social media and will face a six to 12 match ban for any verbal offence. This also applies to coaching staff.