Lincoln City Installed As Favourites For The Drop As Championship Roster Confirmed

The Championship line-up for 2026/27 has only just been confirmed, but Lincoln City are already at the bottom of the betting markets!

It’s no real surprise, we’re going to be the smallest club in the division by some distance since Bolton came up instead of Stockport or Stevenage, and that means the numbers don’t look good.

Of course, they’re no real guide as to who will do well. We were well down at this stage last season, but still, it’s good to get this bookmarked early, just in case we do surprise a few people.

Sky Bet and Paddy Power don’t have the actual odds for relegation, only promotion, and we’re at the bottom of the heap. We’re 30/1 for promotion, with Charlton Athletic next on 22/1, and then Preston 19/1. Other teams we expect to be hoping to reel in include Portsmouth (14/1), Blackburn Rovers (13/1), Bolton (19/1) and Cardiff City (14/1). They’re the only two I checked because I don’t want to spend my mornings putting betting sites into my browser.

We’re much wider for the title, and while it would be ambitious, we’re not actually ‘Leicester 2016’ levels away from the betting market. West Ham are favourites on 9/4, followed by Wolves 11/2, Burnley 15/2 and then Birmingham on 10/1. West Brom are on 33/1, which means the bookies think Lincoln City are more likely to be promoted to the Premier League than West Brom are to win the title!

Our odds of winning the Championship title are 150/1, which doesn’t quite make it impossible (that’s just an opinion), but it does give us an idea of the mountain we have to climb. Portsmouth, QPR and Blackburn are all 50/1, Bolton, Preston and Cardiff City are 66/1 and a side everyone thinks will struggle, Charlton, are 80/1, meaning even the 23rd worst team in the division (according to Sky Bet) is almost twice as likely to win the division as we are.

Personally, I am no longer a betting man; instead, putting the £20 each month in my stocks and shares, which I know is not fun but also seems more sensible than giving it to Sky or someone else. The numbers here are not the article’s premise, which is not to get you to bet (hence no links), but instead to give you an idea of how those outside the Sincil Bank bubble see our chances in the Championship.

In 2002/03, we were favourites for relegation and got to the play-offs. In 2020/21, nobody had us among the top six, and we ended up at Wembley. Last season, we were 16th at 30/1, and yet we ended up with 103 points and had promotion wrapped up before we touched our Easter eggs.

30/1 to win the league, and we did. Next season, we’re 30/1 for promotion to the Premier League….

Maybe my stocks and shares can wait!