We kick off this new campaign with Preston North End full of renewed hope and expectation and after two successive Play-Off campaigns the bookies have cut North End’s odds to their shortest since we’ve been in the Championship.

To win the Championship Paul Simpson’s men are 16/1 chances with pnebetting.co.uk that’s with each-way odds ¼ 1-2-3. Steve Bruce’s Birmingham City are 7/2 market leaders with Colchester and Barnsley 250/1 outsiders.

If you think that finishing in the top three is a bit of a stretch at those odds then you might fancy the shorter odds of 6/1 for PNE to be promoted. That equation of course includes the possibility of North End going up via the Play-Offs – third time lucky for PNE?

Sheffield’s finest, The Arctic Monkeys are being heavily tipped to win the prestigious Mercury Music Award this September, the indie band have had an amazing rise to prominence and are 13/8 to take the prize. If the judges decide to move away from Indie then my outside tip is a young blood by the name of Sway whose album ‘This Is My Demo’ has been bubbling under nicely this last year, he’s 12/1 to take the spoils.

Other matches

Birmingham 2/5 Draw 3/1 Colchester 6/1 – Verdict Birmingham
Steve Bruce’s Blues should be too strong at home against a Colchester side who have faced much disruption this summer, take the home win.

West Brom 8/13 Draw 5/2 Hull 4/1 – Draw
Phil Parkinson has had a bit of cash to spend at his new club and hopes are high. I’m backing the Tigers to get a draw at the Hawthorns.

Barnsley 7/5 Draw 21/10 Cardiff 7/4 – Cardiff
Andy Ritchie’s men have returned to Championship level but they will find it tough against Dave Jones’ Bluebirds. I think Cardiff will just nick this one.

Southend 13/10 Draw 2/1 Stoke 2/1 – Southend
Not many teams will look forward to going to Roots Hall this season. If Freddy Eastwood can continue his excellent goalscoring form then they could win their first ever Championship match

The Fiver Five-Fold
A £5 five-fold on Birmingham, Draw, Cardiff, Southend and Preston (8/11) pays an impressive £262