Four players from four different sides have played just one minute in the Championship so far this season. Luke McNally of Burnley is one who is yet to really get his campaign going.
Most second-tier clubs are now at the one-third stage of their campaign with Queens Park Rangers atop the table. QPR lead the division on goal difference to Blackburn Rovers on 27 points apiece. But the Rs are also a team with one game in hand on the Ewood Park outfit.
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Only Blackburn, Preston North End and Bristol City have contested 16 games with 18 of the clubs featuring 15 times. Coventry City have played the least fixtures so far with 12 on their board. Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town have hit the pitch 14 times in 2022/23.
Four Championship players have only played one minute this season
According to FBref, Blackburn and Preston’s Thomas Kaminski and Freddie Woodman have featured the most so far. Both men have stood between the sticks for all 1,440 minutes of their 16 games. While 17 players have played all 1,350 minutes of their team’s 15 fixtures.
Goalkeepers account for six of the 17 ever-presents at teams to only play 15 games so far. They are Birmingham City’s John Ruddy, Cardiff City’s Ryan Allsop, Sunderland’s Anthony Patterson, Luton Town’s Ethan Horvath, QPR’s Seny Dieng and Watford’s Daniel Bachmann.
In contrast, four players from four different Championship clubs have only played just one minute in 2022/23 thus far. So, who are the second-tier’s perennially overlooked quartet?
Luke McNally has been a spectator with one Championship minute at Burnley
McNally has been a spectator of Burnley’s matches since Vincent Kompany took charge at Turf Moor this June. The centre-back also moved to the Lancashire natives during the off-season after completing a transfer from Oxford United. He cost the Clarets around £2m.
Yet Burnley’s move has proven to be an investment in their future rather than for the here and now. The 23-year-old played as a stoppage-time substitute in Kompany’s third league game in charge against Watford. McNally has also not made a matchday side since August.
Kompany sees McNally as a player for the future and wants to help him develop outside of games, per Lancs Live. So, the former Republic of Ireland youth international has only been kept to youth games at Burnley. He had made the bench for their first four league fixtures.
Caolan Boyd-Munce has only played one Championship minute at Middlesbrough
Caolan Boyd-Munce has only played a minute in the Championship across Middlesbrough’s 15 matches so far. He moved to the Riverside from Birmingham back in January having not established a path into the Blues’ first-team. But the 22-year-old is enduring similar issues.
The central midfielder had made eight of his nine senior outings for Birmingham during the 2019/20 campaign. He has since only added four first-team appearances at Middlesbrough. Boyd-Munce’s last game came during stoppage time in August as Boro lost 1-0 at Reading.
Tom Pearce is still waiting for his second-tier season to truly begin at Wigan
Tom Pearce might have expected a lot more this term after he signed a new contract with Wigan Athletic in January. But the left-back is waiting to see his second-tier campaign truly begin after his false start. He has seemingly slipped down the pecking order at the Latics.
Head coach Leam Richardson introduced Pearce off the bench on the opening day against Preston. But after making the bench for three of Wigan’s following five games, Pearce has not been seen. His only other inclusion in one of Richardson’s squads was in the EFL Cup.
Patrick Bauer has not offered Preston much power as they push for a play-off spot
Patrick Bauer has not offered Preston much power as the Deepdale outfit push for a play-off spot. The Lilywhites sit two points outside of the top six after 16 matches and a further three points to the automatic promotion positions. Often without Bauer getting involved.
The 29-year-old centre-half has not made any of Ryan Lowe’s matchday squads since the start of September. An operation on his appendix earlier in October will also keep him out of action for the next few weeks. But he was far from a first-choice option before the blow.
Bauer played just once for one single minute across the eight Championship games he was a part of Lowe’s plans. His sole appearance also came in the third match of the term away to Luton in August. Lowe tactically introduced Bauer for Troy Parrott during stoppage time.
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