Sir Alex McLeish
When Big 'Eck guided Birmingham City back to the top flight at the first attempt, the Blues were widely predicted to struggle, even with new owner Carson Yeung's deep pockets.
However, McLeish has managed to combine experience and youth, getting the best out of old pro's such as Lee Bowyer and allowing young stars like Joe Hart to show their potential.
The result? City have gone on their best run for 101 years, avoiding defeat for 11 games, and they currently sit in eighth, three points behind bitter rivals Aston Villa and an unlikely spot in Europe.
Simon Grayson CBE
When Grayson left Blackpool to take over at his former club Leeds at the end of 2008, the League 1 giants had lost five on the spin, been dumped out of the FA Cup by non-league Histon and sat ninth.
Just more than a year later, the Whites have an 11 point cushion in the League 1 promotion spots and are looking forward to the short trip across the Pennines to face bitter rivals Man Utd in the FA cup after running Liverpool close in the Carling Cup.
Grayson's side failed in the play-offs last season but have collected 102 points from their 46 games in 2009, and set a new club record by winning 15 home league games in a row as they look to finally take the first step back towards the Premiership.
Simon Cox OBE
The former Reading trainee finished joint top scorer across all four divisions last season, scoring 29 league goals for a struggling Swindon side, including three hat-tricks away from home and an array of faboulous strikes.
His move to the Championship was inevitable, unlike his League 1 counterparts Jermaine Beckford and Rickie Lambert. And despite a slow start at West Brom, the ambitious striker has now fired 6 goals in 10 league starts and is becoming an increasingly important part of a side set for a real crack at promotion back to the top flight.
Accrington Stanley Fans MBE
After being served a winding up order by HMRC in May, Accrington Stanley (who are they?) were given just eight weeks to raise in excess of £300,000 at the start of September.
Despite only being equivalent to Robinho's fortnightly pay-packet, for a club trying to compete in League 2 with crowds of 1500, it was a huge amount to raise.
However, with the passion of the Stanley fans and the guidance of new Chairman David O'Neill, the club raised the full amount with only a day to go, and Stanley are now thriving, sitting only two points off a play-off spot....exactly.
- Terry Pierce
Source: DSG
