Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Burnley are the three teams that have been promoted to the Barclays Premier League for the 2009-10 season.
Birmingham City had been relegated in the 2005-06 season along with West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland and now just after three years of absence they are back again in the Premier League. Birmingham City came runners-up to champions Wolverhampton Wanderers which earned them an automatic place but Burnley had the hard way through a playoff. Burnley finished 5th in the Coca-Cola Football League by winning 4-0 against Bristol City and secured the play-off spot. In the knockout phase they met 4th place Reading who already had Premiership experience and were determined to walk over Burnley but The Clarets had other ideas. They won both the legs and came through the finals 3-0 on aggregate. Only 3rd place Sheffield United came in between Burnley and the Premier League. A Wade Elliott strike was more than enough to see Burnley in the Premiership since 33 years.
Meet the Managers: • Mick McCarthy (Wolverhampton Wanderers) • Alex McLeish (Birmingham City) • Owen Coyle (Burnley ) Among the three managers Mick McCarthy is the most experience in terms of English football. He has spent over a decade in England playing for Manchester City and Barnsley before moving to Lyon. In 2003 he returned to England but this time as a manager for Sunderland who eventually got relegated but got the Black Cats back into Premiership in 2005. Four years from then he is back with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were crowned Football League Championship Champions and is ready for top flight football. Birmingham City who were runners up were also automatically promoted along with Wolves. This was manager’s Alex McLeish first season in the Premiership as before City he has coached only Scottish teams and the Scottish national squad. Since 1994 he took managed teams like Motherwell, Hibernian (Scottish First Division winners) and Rangers where he won Scottish Premier League twice (2002–03, 2004–05) , Scottish Cup (2002 & 2003 ) and Scottish League Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Owen Coyle took over Burnley in 2007; ironically his reference was given by Alex McLeish (who was the Scotland manager then). Coyle’s biggest test was the playoffs and he surpassed it in great style. Players To Watch Out For: • Sylvan Ebanks-Blake – Top Scorer of the The Football League 2008–09 • Chris Iwelumo – Scored 14 goals in 31 appearances • Kevin Phillips – Returns back to the Premier League having scored 14 goals • Steven Caldwell – Captain Courageous • Richard Stearman – The Wall
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