Blackburn Rovers were amongst The Championship's biggest overachievers compared to their financial resources, according to Transfermarkt.
Valerien Ismael's side rallied to finish seventh, narrowly missing out on the top-six on the final day of the campaign. It was a season of exceeding pre-season expectations despite the disappointment of missing out on the play-offs.
The task for Rovers will be even greater next term with Wrexham AFC and Birmingham City likely to have plenty of financial muscle. Add in the Premier League's trio of relegated clubs and Sheffield United, a top-six push will be another tall ask.
According to data from Transfermarkt, Rovers were the fourth biggest overachievers in league position, compared to their budget.
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The table adds up the perceived value of each Championship squad and compared the ranking against their final position in the table. For Rovers, their accumulative squad cost was £52.25million, the 14th highest in the division.
That gave them a plus four compared to their seventh-place finish. Only Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth exceeded that.
Alex Neil's side were the best-performing team in the Championship when squad value is compared to league position with the Lions being 11 places better off. The London club's squad value is estimated at £33m which includes loan signings.
The worst performers were Luton Town, who were relegated for a second successive season. The Hatters ended up 15 places below where they should be with a squad value of £79m, putting them third in the list of clubs in terms of value.
Hull City, Norwich City and Stoke City were also deemed as big underachievers by this metric. The Tigers and Potters only survived on the final day of the season whilst Norwich finished mid-table having ended last term in sixth. To see the full league table click here.
This again underlines how important recruitment will be for Rovers this summer. Having sold Sam Szmodics, the acquisitions of Danny Batth, Andi Weimann and Yuki Ohashi were crucial in helping them improve on the near-miss of relegation the year before.
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