Ian Holloway impressed by Middlesbrough and sees hope for Cardiff

Ian Holloway believes everything is set up for another exciting Championship season and has backed Cardiff as potential title contenders.

Unbeaten Brighton lead the way after 10 games but with another 36 matches to be played, Holloway is anticipating plenty of twists and turns before the end of the season.

The international break could also have an impact, disrupting sides who have been in good form and providing a welcome break for those who have been struggling.

However, Holloway suggested that that is not always the way it works.

"It depends on the start you've had really, if you've had a good start you want it to continue, you'll be relaxed and you'll give your lads some time off," he said on the FL72 Podcast.

"If you have a bad start then it's a bit of a nightmare really because you'll need to do some work and if you haven't got your full squad there, your team structure, your team planning is very difficult."

One manager who will be feeling relatively pleased with his side's start to the campaign is Aitor Karanka.

The Middlesbrough manager has guided his much-fancied side to second place, just two points behind Brighton and they look to have a squad well capable of pushing on and cementing their place in the automatic promotion spots.

"When you look at it now you've got Middlesbrough, who are a lot of people's favourites, and that is very difficult to carry," Holloway added.

"But I've been impressed with Aitor Karanka and what he's done with his group."

As for the other sides in with a chance of promotion, Holloway thinks it is wide open.

"The likes of Cardiff, who example, if you look at their squad, man for man they're as good as anybody," he said.

"If Russel [Slade] is given enough time to galvanise them into a group then who knows? They could end up champions.

"You've got Steve Bruce and his Hull City side who have only lost one or two players, kept the majority of that group who stayed up once [in the Premier League] so I would imagine it's pretty well set.

"I would talk about 46 matches - which is a marathon - and in that time lurking lower in the division are the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers who could easily come steaming up there.

"That bodes well for a fantastic season for us neutrals. If you're heavily linked with one of these clubs then it'll be very exciting and my advice to you is to keep with it because you might lose one, you might lose two but you'll have enough talent to try and be consistent by the end of it all. It'll be really exciting."