Gareth Ainsworth joked he was “scared” as he looked forward to next season and the strength and depth of the Championship.
Queens Park Rangers manager Ainsworth feels the second tier is a much more intimidating challenge in 2023-24 after some traditional powerhouses returned at the end of last season.
Leeds United, who won the Championship title in 2020, were relegated on the last day of the season, along with Leicester City, Premier League champions in 2016 and FA Cup winners for the first time in their history in 2021. Southampton finished bottom of the table.
Those sides replace Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town.
From League One, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday were promoted and replace Reading, Blackpool and Wigan Athletic.
In total, nineteen of the clubs in next season’s Championship have been in the Premier League within a little over the last decade.
Ainsworth took over last February with the Hoops seventeenth in the table. QPR won just one of Ainsworth’s first ten games in charge, losing seven. That left them 21st in the table before they secured their status on the second-last day with a 1-0 win at Stoke City.
Ainsworth has since been busy reshaping his squad in preparation for anticipated summer arrivals.
Defender Leon Balogun, 34, and midfielder Luke Amos, 26, will leave this summer after sixteen appearances and 94 appearances, respectively, for the club.
Conor Masterson has joined League Two Gillingham, while Charlie Owens and Ody Alfa will also leave this summer.
QPR activated another year on the contracts of Chris Willock, Joe Gubbins and Charlie Kelman.
Taylor Richards’ loan from Brighton and Hove Albion has become a permanent move.
The club were also in talks with extending the deals of Jordan Archer, Chris Martin, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, Aaron Drewe and Stephen Duke-McKenna, while Olamide Shodipo.
Ainsworth has been busy taking calls about prospective transfer targets as he eyes big improvement in the next campaign.
“You’re always thinking, you’re always looking, the transfer market, the agents are super active this time of year,” Ainsworth said on talkSPORT.
“I’m getting ten, twelve, fifteen phone calls a day, and they’ve all got three players each.
“We’ve got a recruitment group nailing them all on, I think there’ll be some outgoings at QPR, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I think over the past few seasons, they’ve kept all the players to try and have a bit of success, and it’s not gone the way that they thought, so I think there’s going to have to be a few outs.
“We’re really looking forward to the season.
“It’s going to be a tough, have you seen that Championship? Where’s the small teams now? Where have they gone?
“No disrespect, Rotherham are still in there, I think that could be a smaller team than everyone else.
“Where’s your Wigans, where’s your Blackpools, where’s your Wycombes? There are none anymore.
“Sheffield Wednesday have come up, Ipswich have come up, Leicester have come down, Leeds have come down, Southampton have come down – I’m scared.”
