Five things to watch in EFL – managerial musings and basement battles

In case you wanted to mark it on your calendar, there is only one more international break until Christmas.

After a second interruption, the Championship returns this weekend and there is a full programme in League One and League Two.

We have the Gary Rowett and Liam Manning ‘derbies’ to look forward to in the Championship along with a fixture which has been going for more than 130 years.

Local lad made good, comes back to take his throne.

That’s how Liam Manning’s appointment at Carrow Road was billed in June when he became the first Norwich-born boss of the Canaries.

Four months down the road, the crown is looking a little battered and the subjects are becoming restless.

If overseeing the first time in Norwich’s history that they have lost their opening four home league games was not bad enough, becoming the first Canaries head coach to suffer defeat by East Anglian rivals Ipswich in 16 years might have the camel’s back straining under the weight of the straw.

“If we win games, the relationship with the fans is recoverable,” Manning told BBC Radio Norfolk.

“I had it early on at Bristol. Rightly, the fans are on us, we have to accept it, but the only way to change it is by delivering, and that’s what I’m focusing on.”

So, this might not be the best time for his former club, Bristol City, the ones he guided to the play-offs last season, to come rolling into view.

The Robins were enjoying life under new boss Gerhard Struber but a four-match winless run has somewhat put the brakes on.

When Oxford boss Gary Rowett and Derby’s John Eustace meet up on Saturday they can compare very similar notes.

No home wins, one away victory apiece and only two points apart.

Unlike Eustace, however, Rowett has seen the upside as a Derby manager, having guided them to the play-offs in 2018 and the Rams faithful were hoping after avoiding the drop last season this year might offer something a bit more positive.

Three successive draws in which they have had to come from behind may be the green shoots they are looking for.

“You can see the group is growing, the bench is getting stronger so we just keep going,” Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

Whenever West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End meet there is quite a lot to unpack.

This is, after all, a fixture which goes back to the very first EFL season in 1888-89 with two FA Cup meetings in the years preceding, including a final which is one of two won by the Baggies against the Lancastrians.

Oh, it’s also seventh against fourth if we wind forward to the present day.

For the record, this will be the 123rd time these two have met with Albion holding the advantage, 53 victories to Preston’s 41, but Paul Heckingbottom’s side will rock up to The Hawthorns as the Championship’s surprise package so far.

A final-day relegation scrap last term hardly had Deepdale fans skipping into this campaign, even less so when last season’s second-top scorer Emil Riis left for Bristol City and the squad was overhauled.

But, here they are in fourth place, beaten only once and with notable wins over Leicester and Ipswich.

“I’m pleased with our levels of performance – we’re hitting levels of consistency and no matter who’s put in front of us we can give them a game,” said Heckingbottom.

The Preston boss has been there and done it but in the opposite technical area will be Ryan Mason, a man still relatively new to the management lark and possibly facing his first real test.

An unbeaten start with 10 points from his opening four games has been followed by four points from the subsequent five, culminating in a 3-0 loss at Millwall.

Rookie boss Jack Wilshere has been handed the keys at Luton Town to try to get a club stuck in reverse motoring once again.

The memories of a warm afternoon at Wembley and promotion to the Premier League have dimmed following successive relegations and a second managerial change in the space of nine months.

Wilshere’s senior coaching career consists of six months as first-team coach at Norwich City and two games as caretaker – hardly a record to read much into but, with experienced assistant Chris Powell, not a gamble according to Luton chairman Gary Sweet.

“The model is the one we feel is right – where we have energy, enthusiasm, different ideas, nimbleness, boldness, bravery – but stabilised by Chris, who will give a tap on the shoulder and a little bit of advice here and there,” Sweet said.

First, the bad news for Newport County and Cheltenham Town as they prepare to meet in Saturday’s League Two basement battle.

For the past two seasons, the sides occupying the relegation places after 12 games have gone down.

Now, the good news.

The Exiles and the Robins still have 34 matches to prevent making it a hat-trick.

Newport fans have seen worse, let’s not forget they ceased to exist in 1989 before reforming and fighting their way back from the Hellenic League to rejoin the EFL in 2013.

Under first-time head coach David Hughes, they had taken just one point from 27 before last weekend’s timely 1-0 victory at Accrington stopped the rot but they are yet to win at home.

Mind you, Cheltenham have not won away – but, under the returning Steve Cotterill, they have managed a win and a draw from his two games in charge.

Records are always there to be broken but the losers at the weekend may already start to feel the trapdoor to non-league football creaking open.