Image source, Rex Features

The Championship curtain was raised in typically barnstorming fashion last night by the first of two clashes between sides who played their football two divisions apart last season.

Newly-relegated Ipswich needed a controversial stoppage-time penalty from George Hirst to snatch a point in a feisty encounter at Birmingham, who won League One at a canter last season and who went ahead through Jay Stansfield early in the second half.

Click here to read Adam Lanigan's match report from pitchside.

Of course one of our early offerings this afternoon pits relegated Southampton against Wrexham, who were promoted as runners-up to Blues last season.

Are Ipswich Town the best positioned, newly relegated, side to be promoted straight back up? What are Leicester City and Southampton’s main concerns?

Charlton Athletic manager, Nathan Jones, joins the Football Daily 72+ pod after his side won promotion to the second tier via the League One play-offs.

Wrexham have made statement signings this summer, can they go for an unprecedented fourth successive promotion? And what about similarly ambitious recruiters, Birmingham City?

Aaron Paul, Jobi McAnuff, Tommy Smith and Alex Bruce preview the Championship season.

Image source, Rex Features

Without considerable fanfare, hype or bluster, the Championship comfortably sells itself each and every season as one of the most thrillingly competitive leagues in all of sport.

Parachute payments do distort the feeling of absolute parity, at the top at least, but the vast majority of the division exists in a state of relative equality that keeps competitiveness consistent and means the difference between success and failure is often paper thin.

That is evidenced by the sheer number of teams fluctuating between the prospect of promotion and relegation, often several times over the course of a campaign.

With Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester dropping down from the Premier League, albeit with two under new management, plus the prospect of Birmingham and Wrexham wanting to make a significant noise, it feels like it could be one of the strongest editions of the Championship in recent memory.

With the chaos ready to begin once again BBC Sport correspondents across England and Wales break down the 24 teams and what - at this stage at least, given the transfer window remains very much open - we can expect from them.

With 25 minutes until kick-off, there's time to click here to see what they had to say about your team.

• Charlton Athletic v Watford (12:30)
• Coventry City v Hull City (12:30)
• Southampton v Wrexham (12:30)
• Middlesbrough v Swansea City
• Norwich City v Millwall
• Oxford United v Portsmouth
• Queens Park Rangers v Preston North End
• Stoke City v Derby County
• West Bromwich Albion v Blackburn Rovers
• Sheffield United v Bristol City (17:30)

Image source, Rex Features

Welcome back!

No more summer fetes, trips to the garden centre or outings to the seaside, you've got your Saturdays back. You made it through the void. Well done, you.

It's been 77 long days since Tommy Watson strode through the Sheffield United half and curled low past Michael Cooper deep into stoppage time to send Sunderland to the Premier League in one of the most dramatic Championship play-off finals in memory.

Today we're stood at the starting line of the next race for the Premier League and if you take a look at the field, this really could be the most exciting contest we have seen.

We are welcoming some old faces back to the Championship, and some new ones too, and there is much to catch you up on, so let's get to it.

Eight straight hours of pure unfiltered Championship action starts here...