So, since the Championship regular season is over, it’s time for me to crown the top 11 players in their respective categories for the second division of English football. In this list, I’ll be using a 3-4-3 formation because it’s the attacking side of the midfield that’s so interesting this season.

GK: Adriano Basso (Bristol City)

The fact that he’s the only Brazilian goalkeeper in the English league system isn’t important; the important thing is that he was one of the central figures in taking Bristol City last season from League 1 to the Championship, and now to get them a great 4th place position in the Championship (good enough for a try for promotion to the Premier League). There hasn’t been a success story like this team since Wigan a few years back. Also given he won the BBC West Footballer of the Year this year, there’s no doubt that Basso was the best goalkeeper in the Championship this season. While the team’s GD was only 1 (55 GS / 54 GA), but it’s best to note that Bristol City were huge underdogs (think Sunderland getting a UEFA Cup spot this year in comparison).

DEFENSE : 

- Paul Robinson (West Bromwich Albion)

This, for the uninformed, is the Paul Robinson with the GOOD 07-08 season. A fan favorite at West Brom, Robinson racked up continuously good defense performances mostly at left back throughout the season. He plays hard and discipline is not his best side (2 reds and 7 yellows this season), but he gets the job done and for a top notch Championship team like West Brom, he gets the job done well. Let’s not also forget he has West Brom’s highest assist rating.

- Jay DeMerit (Watford)

This choice is both a mix of American bias and objective opinion. There’s a reason why DeMerit was the top defender on FourFourTwo’s Top 50 Football League footballers, and Watford’s performance in the Championship over the season shows it. While Watford was significantly more dominant in the first half of the season, they’ve always been floating around promotion playoff slots after their early season dominance faded away, even though they ended the season in 6th, taking the final playoff spot over Wolves by goal differential (6 vs 5, in fact). For the Green Bay born defender, his season performance was so fantastic that he replaced long-time Watford defensive midfielder Gahon Mahon as Watford captain (Mahon was since loaned off to QPR and probably not coming back). Ryan and I are both confounded why DeMerit hasn’t gotten more international caps as he has, and at the end of this Championship season it begins to be more prevalent that Bradley should be looking more closely at DeMerit. I can’t complain that he isn’t at a more successful Premier League side in the context of his Watford story (go wikipedia that shit).

- Ryan Shawcross (Stoke)

Out of the Manchester United youth system, only 20 years old. As a centre-back at Stoke, he’s garnered 39 apps for Stoke this season in regular league play, and has scored 7 goals. This is fantasy team material, everybody. Paul Scharner, anybody? To explain, Paul Scharner is a center back for Wigan who plays central midfield, basically. He scores goals. I signed him to my fantasy league team and it turned out that, except for Shaun Wright-Phillips’ like month of brilliance a while back, Scharner was one of the best performers on my team (not saying much since my team was shit). This guy reminds me a lot of him, and I’ll be excited to see him in the Premier League next season.

MIDFIELD:

- Michael Kightly (Wolves)

Here’s another Championship success story. In ‘06 Conference National side Grays Athletic loaned Kightly to Wolves, whence he immediately took front stage and scored 2 goals in 5 apps as a winger. Not surprisingly, Wolves immediately signed the young winger and he later added 6 more goals to his tally in regular season play in the 06-07 season. He took 2nd place in the Wolves player of the year voting that season; not bad for a kid who was playing 5th tier football at the beginning of the season. Although some injuries limited his playing time early in the 07-08 season, Kightly racked up 4 goals in 20 apps this season and 18 shots on goal in total. While his goalscoring is dwarfed by his teammate Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, you can’t deny this kid’s got some potentially excellent years ahead of him.

- Jonathan Greening (West Brom)

While he doesn’t score left and right like many of his teammates at West Brom, Greening this season has been where all the passes are coming from. Ever since Koumas left West Brom last summer for Wigan, there was a big open spotlight in the midfield for other West Brom players to take up the playmaker position and Greening, along with Zoltán Gera and Robert Koren, took West Brom’s midfield where Koumas left it. While Greening hasn’t been scoring like Gera and Koren have, he’s where you go for the short pass and for the development of West Brom’s attack-minded strategy.

- Zoltán Gera (West Brom)

Gera is a real Championship star, whatever that means. He scores, he has great passing ability, and probably the best Hungarian player currently in European football. Surprisingly, after West Brom’s survival in the Premier League in 04-05, he decided to stay with West Brom after a lot of attention from other mid-table sides, and every season since he’s kept a strong, consistent form of attacking midfield play.

- Zheng Zhi (Charlton)

China’s best footballer, Zhi can play defender, midfielder, or striker. While his forward ability is outmatched by his defensive ability, his versatility has served Charlton well. 38 apps this season, 7 goals, 6 assists, 28 shots on goal, and plays some of the best midfield for the mid-table Championship team, all for 2 million pounds. Pretty good deal.

FORWARD:

- Kevin Phillips (West Brom)

35 years old and still kicking major ass. He scored 22 goals, made 7 assists, and had 69 shots on goal. Phillips was a total beast this season; but this is not surprising, given that he found himself with 19 goals and 5 assists last season. Given his age, he’ll probably not make the best transition to the speedy Premier League play style, but his two seasons at West Brom have confirmed him as simply the best striker in the Championship today.

- Dean Windass (Hull)

Ok, this one is all bias. Although he’s a striker, he’s older than most veteran goalkeepers at 39. Of course, he’s slow, he can’t dribble much, but if he gets the ball he’s got a great eye for goal and his right foot’s still pretty killer. And his name is AWESOME. He wasn’t the top scorer at Hull with 11 goals in 29 apps, but that’s a moot point; he’s 39 and I’ve yet to hear any timeline for his ultimate retirement. Plus this guy tackles like a real man.

- Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolves)

First half of Ebanks-Blake’s season was spent at Plymouth Argyle, in which he scored 12 goals in 19 apps there. The second half, 12 goals in 20 apps, 7 of which were in the first 8 apps. Oh, he’s 22 and a product of Man Utd’s youth system. Maybe we’ve got some talent here? You guys tell me.

- Nathan