Graphic: is this the worst Championship ever?

Comparing the Barclays Premier League to the Coca-Cola Championship is like comparing a Savile Row suit to something you can pick up in Tesco. “The quality of football in the Championship has not improved for years,” Simon Jordan, the Crystal Palace chairman, said. “It’s parasite football — you play off the mistakes of other people. It’s a bite, b*****k and bark division. You press in midfield, win the first header, you win the second ball and you win your battles. If you don’t win your battles, you’ll get ridden over.”

It has not been a good start to the year for the Championship. The top two teams won this week but, before Tuesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City had won only three of their 18 league matches this year. Automatic promotion to the Premier League is one of football’s ultimate prizes, but this season teams are staggering towards the finish line before they have reached the final bend. “There are no outstanding teams in this division,” Jordan said. “We played Wolves on Tuesday and they needed a lucky penalty to beat us. We’re struggling and out of form, so that’s saying something.”

Jordan saw Palace reach the promised land when they were promoted to the top flight in 2004. Championship clubs can expect to make about £1million a year from television revenue. That rises to between £30million and £50million in the Premier League. “If you put more money into the Championship, you would bring the two leagues closer together,” Jordan said. “We need to change the branding. Sky market the Championship as the working-man’s league and the Premier League gets all the glamour. They get pretty girls in rah-rah skirts and we get a bloke with a rattle. The glamour needs to filter down. People want glamour, so why can’t we give them glamour?”

Platini: give English football back to English

Uefa president determined to implement a plan to limit clubs' spending on players, no matter how long it takes

• Michel Platini uses Kaká bid to push for wage cap

• Manchester City riches accused of destroying football

• Michael Platini defends call to limit spending

We should bow before Wenger, not deride him

Arsenal fans have been treated to beautiful football and they now owe the manager some patience, says Patrick Barclay

• Arsene Wenger on wrong end of fan’s ire

• Arsenal bank on Emmanuel Adebayor to add extra edge

• Arsène Wenger: we are as good as golden generation

60-second interview: Paul Merson

What’s the most expensive thing I've bought? A £50,000 straight forecast on the horses. It didn’t come in.

• 60-second interview: John Aldridge

• 60-second interview: Jay DeMerit

• 60-second interview: Simon Jordan

Related Links

• Ebanks-Blake gives Wolves renewed hope

• Sheffield United cash in on rare good fortune

• Plymouth's Gallagher stuns nervous Wolves

Watching Burnley beat Blackpool 1-0 on a cold night in March is not everyone’s cup of tea, but the Championship is proud that more than nine million supporters attended games last season, making it the fourth most popular league in Europe. “That’s all well and good, but I’m not where I want to be,” Jordan said. “I don’t feel like a second-class citizen, but I feel like an also-ran.”

Marcus Hahnemann spent two seasons playing for Reading in the Premier League and the American goalkeeper is desperate to return to the big time. Reading are third in the Championship but have won only three times this year.

“The Championship is more competitive than the Premier League and more unpredictable,” Hahnemann said. “Anyone can beat anyone and you get crazy results. You can’t play like Arsenal in this division because the pitches aren’t good enough and it’s a lot more physical. In the Premier League I couldn’t come out for a lot of corners because the quality of the delivery was just perfect. In the Championship someone chips the ball in and we all battle for it.”

The Football League has signed a £264 million television deal with Sky and the BBC, which will bring live coverage of Championship matches to terrestrial television next season. The Premier League may get all the attention, but the Championship has clubs with glorious pasts (Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Wolves) and with bright futures (Swansea City, Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers).

The BBC has an excellent record when it comes to broadcasting sport and many Championship chairmen hope that the corporation’s light touch will improve the image of their league. Presenters and pundits such as Adrian Chiles and Lee Dixon will hopefully sprinkle some magic dust on the Premier League’s poor relation when the BBC shows ten live matches and a weekly highlights programme, but public perceptions about the quality of football in the Championship will change only if promoted clubs start to do better in the Premier League.

Jaws dropped when Hull City beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in September last year, but most promoted teams have had little to shout about once they have reached the top flight. Seven of the 12 clubs who have been promoted since 2004 were relegated the next season and it remains to be seen whether the present top three, Wolves, Birmingham and Reading — if they go up — fare any better next season. “It’s simple,” Jordan said. “If you’re promoted, you buy 15 players and hope for the best.”

Chris Coleman is one of the eight Championship managers who has worked in the top flight. The Coventry City manager spent four seasons at Fulham looking over his shoulder and worrying about relegation, but getting Coventry back into the Premier League is why he goes to work every morning. “You want to compete against the best,” he said. “You want to be up against managers like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger — that’s who you want to compete against. You want to play Arsenal, United and Chelsea every week because you want to see how good you are and the Premier League is the best league in the world.”

Reasons to be cheerful: four British players who prove that second-tier football is not all bad