The Insider looks at the changes that propelled Norwich and Southampton to promotion.
Canaries and Saints prosper from early managerial switch
While many Football League chairmen are criticised for having itchy trigger fingers, we have seen this weekend that sometimes it pays to wield the axe early.
In the last two seasons, Norwich and Southampton have both made the decision to sack their manager while the sun was still cracking the flagstones. And those decisions were vindicated on Monday night as both clubs are now basking in the glory of promotion.
Norwich's success is particularly remarkable as they have made a meteoric rise since parting with Bryan Gunn one game into last season. The Canaries were expected to bounce straight back up after being relegated into the third tier for the first time in 49 years so to start the campaign with a 7-1 thrashing at home to Colchester left them shell-shocked.
Norwich had kept the faith with Gunn even though the club legend was unable to keep them up but the board felt they now had to act swiftly. Gunn was gone by the end of week, and who better to succeed him than the architect of that opening-day drubbing, Paul Lambert, who had already impressed at Wycombe as well as Colchester.
The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder soon turned things around at Carrow Road. The Canaries were third by Christmas and ended up winning the League One title by nine points.
Shrewd signings
Yet they weren't done. Lambert kept the squad together while supplementing them with some shrewd signings, and the Canaries were third after winning six of their first 10 games in the Championship.
Summer recruits John Ruddy, Elliott Ward, Andrew Crofts and Simeon Jackson have gone on to play a key role this season while Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt have continued to impress, showing they were far too good to be playing League One football in the first place.
Norwich won five out of six over Christmas to confirm themselves as promotion contenders and Monday's 1-0 win at Portsmouth made it one defeat in 15, clinching the second automatic spot.
Lambert became the first boss to lead his side into the Premier League with back-to-back promotions since Joe Royle at Manchester City in 2000.
"It's up there with anything I've done," he said, which is quite something from a man who won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 1997. "It's a miracle what has happened."
The Norwich board - and Southampton - would argue that it was more down to sound judgement, however - making the decision to go for the right man at the right time.
Southampton's start to the season wasn't quite so demoralising. While they began the campaign with aspirations of following Norwich out of League One, there was no shame from claiming a point from their opening two games.
Unrest
The Saints won 4-0 at Bristol Rovers in their third but two days later Alan Pardew was sacked. Coming five months after leading the club to their first trophy since 1976, that decision dismayed many fans. However, chairman Nicola Cortese felt he had to act amid reports of unrest among staff, while their own relationship had soured.
Nigel Adkins was lured from Championship strugglers Scunthorpe and despite a slow start, he gradually got them going in the right direction. With youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain bursting onto the scene, the Saints were ninth at Christmas and fifth at the end of February. But a run of one defeat in their last 14 has seen them cement second spot. Huddersfield can still catch them on the final day - they just need a 17-goal swing in goal difference!
Monday's 3-1 win at Plymouth condemned the Pilgrims to the drop while making it eight wins in nine for the Saints. Rickie Lambert bagged a brace to make it 21 for the season yet there was no place for him or 16-goal Lee Barnard in the League One team of the year. A whopping five Southampton players were selected, though, namely Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kelvin Davis, Dan Harding, Jose Fonte and Adam Lallana.
While the Saints climb back into the Championship at the second time of asking, however, another former Premier League team is dropping into League One.
Sheffield United spent 2006/07 in the top flight and hoped to be challenging for promotion this season. Instead, failure to beat Barnsley on Saturday sees them heading into the third tier for the first time since 1988/89.
And it is the Blades board that may be wishing they had resisted the urge to get rid of their manager so early this term. Kevin Blackwell was given the bullet immediately after losing 3-0 at home to eventual champions QPR in just their second game of the season.
His successor, Gary Speed, won just six of his 18 games in charge before taking the Wales job in December. It then took 13 games for his replacement, Micky Adams, to get his first win. His players have given it their all in recent weeks but it's been too little too late.
United's decision to axe Blackwell was harsh, and may ultimately have resulted in relegation. But given the success Norwich and Southampton have enjoyed after early-season sackings, expect to see a few more Football League chairmen pull the trigger in August in a bid to kick-start their season.
