Boss calls for more 'swagger' in attack

MARK Robins is starting to think this could be a once-in-a-generation Championship season.

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Coventry and Middlesbrough have opened a little gap between the top two and the rest - but the rest can hardly be separated.

Concertinaed is probably an overused word in this division but it is startling to compare the table as it stands after 21 games with how it might be expected to look given what's happened over the last 20 years.

Historically by this stage the team in third has just about broken the 40-point barrier while the team in 11th has made it through 30 points.

But this time Preston are in third and fourth with 35 points and Derby, in 12th, have already made it past 30 - and the next four teams are within two points of Derby. It's all squeezed.

Stoke are in seventh but only two points off third. The average gap between those positions after 21 games is seven points.

A rush of games over the next two weeks might have a big impact on all that - and so might the transfer window which opens after it.

Robins said: "January will be interesting to see who does what, who strengths, who can strengthen, who can put themselves at an advantage, more so. That will also be interesting. Then you can start to see things.