Top ten deadliest Championship strikers of all time features Fulham man at the top

When we say ‘all-time’, we mean since 2004. We have a who’s who of the best minutes-per-goal strikers in the Champo. We have set the minimum minutes at 4,000 to weed out the one-season wonders.

It’s worth noting, by the way, that none of the top all-time total goalscorers are on this list; Billy Sharp, Jordan Rhodes, David Nugent and Ross McCormack have all scored over 120 Championship goals. But at a slower rate…

10) Dean Ashton (one goal every 163 minutes for Crewe and Norwich City)
It now seems remarkable that Crewe were a Championship club in 2005. That was where Ashton cut his teeth and a ridiculous 17 goals in 24 games in the first half of the 2004/05 season earned him a £3m move to Norwich in the Premier League. A year later, ten goals in 28 games for a Norwich side back in the Championship earned him another move – this time to West Ham for £7m. He was forced into early retirement at the age of 26 but his record stands as a prolific striker at this level.

9) Neal Maupay (one goal every 163 minutes for Brentford)
Maupay is eligible to play for the France or Argentina national teams; Maupay will never play for France or Argentina. He did however score 37 goals over two seasons for Brentford to earn a £20m move to Brighton, where he was almost singlehandedly responsible for some crazy-arsed xG numbers before he was offloaded to Everton, where is currently stinking out the place.

8) Charlie Austin (one goal every 160 minutes for Burnley, West Brom and QPR)
Forty Championship goals in two seasons for Burnley really should have earned Austin a Premier League move in 2013 but his failed Hull medical prompted a switch to Harry Redknapp’s QPR instead. An astonishing record of 47 goals in 89 games for the Hoops saw him score goals through promotion and relegation. He has had spells in the Premier League with Southampton and West Brom but – barring that season with QPR – he has always looked more comfortable in the second flight. Still only 33 so a surprise to see him in the fourth tier with Swindon.

7) Dwight Gayle (one goal every 150 minutes for Peterborough, Newcastle and Stoke)
Ah, there he is. Gayle’s Premier League seasons have reaped 7, 5, 3, 6, 4 and 1 goal(s). In the Championship he has scored 13, 23 and 23 goals. And he would be a hell of a lot further up this list if he hadn’t somehow failed to score in in 1352 minutes for Stoke City this season. And no, us neither. No idea.

6) Rickie Lambert (one goal every 149 minutes for Southampton and Cardiff City)
It seems astonishing that Lambert has only played 60 games in the Championship as he does seem the quintessential Championship striker. The fourth of his four consecutive 20-goal seasons catapulted the Saints into the Premier League, but he could do not repeat the trick for Cardiff in 2016/17 before he retired. He is the only man on this list with 11 England caps. That’s 11 whole England caps.

5) Teemu Pukki (one goal every 144 minutes for Norwich City)
Now that’s what we call a free transfer. After casually posting 29 Championship goals to help Norwich into the Premier League, the Finn briefly became the best striker in England with six goals in his first five Premier League games. That form did not last but there was another ridiculously prolific Championship season, another promotion and another double-figure top-flight season before he found himself back in the Championship, where the magic might have finally run out for him and the yellow yo-yo club.

4) James Beattie (one goal every 143 minutes for Sheffield United)
Played only 18 months in the Championship but was a class apart – scoring a couple of quite wonderful free-kicks for the Blades between pretty poor spells for Everton and Stoke in the Premier League. To put things into perspective, Steve Morison matched his 34 Championship goals in more than three times the number of minutes.

3) Kevin Phillips (one goal every 139 minutes for West Brom, Birmingham, Blackpool, Crystal Palace and Leicester City)
West Brom’s decision to allow the 35-year-old Phillips to leave after a 22-goal season in which he earned them promotion (they offered him a one-year deal but baulked at two) backfired as they were relegated with Roman Bednar their six-goal top scorer while Phillips claimed another promotion from the Championship with 14 goals for Birmingham. Three seasons later he was still scoring 16 goals at that level with Blackpool. Simply a bloody brilliant goalscorer.

2) Tammy Abraham (one goal every 136 minutes for Bristol City and Aston Villa)
He posted 23 and 25-goal seasons in the Championship, which are – you will be unsurprised to learn – his most productive seasons. He did manage 17 Serie A goals in 21/22 but there has been a massive reversion to the less-impressive norm in this campaign. Maybe he should return to the Championship because he looks really bloody good there. Just a thought.

1) Aleksandar Mitrović (one goal every 117 minutes for Newcastle United and Fulham)
After an astonishing 43-goal season in the Championship, the Serb is now on course to post his best ever top-flight goals tally as both Fulham and Mitrovic finally look ready to cast off the yo-yo tag. Cut the string, if you will. It helps when you have a master creator in your side.