Claridge is a pundit for The Football League Show and Football Focus

Watford's slide down the Championship table has left them precariously placed above the relegation zone and this week I take a look at their prospects, as well as those of some of the other teams battling to avoid the drop.

There is a similar battle going on at the bottom of League One, and I also consider Swindon's red-hot form at the other end of the table and their potential promotion showdown with Millwall.

I also give my thoughts on Shrewsbury's slump in League Two and reflect on Gordon Strachan's mixed fortunes since he took charge at Middlesbrough in October.

If you have a question for me, you can submit it through Twitter at http://twitter.com/AskClaridge or use the form on the top right of the page.

Hi Steve, as a Watford fan I'm obviously concerned about our atrocious away record and our position in the bottom three of the Championship. Only two seasons ago we were sailing 10 points clear at the top of the table. So my questions to you are: a) What has gone wrong? b) Is our manager Malky Mackay good enough to keep us up, and c) would dropping into League One be disastrous for the Hornets?
Edward Henderson, UK

It's been some slide and I don't really understand what has happened at Watford to affect the team so drastically because they were still in and around the play-off places in December. I know they have had some financial issues but they haven't had to have any sort of fire sale of their best players. Yes, they have a young squad but I'm not sure their side is so different to the one that started the season so well.

They are not a bad side either. I watched them draw with West Brom on Saturday and there was absolutely nothing wrong with the way they played. If they keep playing like that, they will stay up.

Mackay is a decent fellow who deserved his chance as a manager. He was a good, honest pro - the kind you like to see do well, but he has a big job on his hands now.

What would relegation bring? Well, sometimes when bigger teams go down to League One it can have some benefits by giving them the chance to clear the decks, revamp their squads and start again.

But I don't get that feeling with Watford - it's not as though they have got a lot of old players because their team has changed a lot since they dropped out of the Premier League anyway. Sadly, the knock-on effects of them going down could be quite dramatic.

Do you think the script is written for a Championship end-of-season survival scrap between Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace at Hillsborough on 2 May. And, out of those two teams, who do you think will stay up?
Molly Fenwick, England

BOTTOM OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP 17. Preston P42 50pts 18. QPR P41 48pts 19. Scunthorpe P41 47pts 20. C Palace P42 46pts 21. Watford P41 45pts 22. Sheff Wed P42 45pts 23. Plymouth P42 41pts 24. Peterborough P42 31pts

I don't think it is just down to just one of those two teams. For a start, it wouldn't take an awful lot for Plymouth to get their act together so both Palace and Wednesday could go down. But, whoever does end up getting relegated, it won't be much of a surprise because most of the clubs down there have been in trouble for a while now.

Who will go down? I think teams like Barnsley and Derby are safe, unless they lose six on the spin, but everybody from Preston downwards is involved.

I just don't see teams at the bottom making up more than four or five points at this stage. One team might go on a fantastic run and Wednesday could still finish comfortably in mid-table - but if they were to do it then Palace and Plymouth won't.

I've never been involved in a last-day relegation decider myself but, when you're down there, you know with a few weeks to go whether you have what it takes to stay up or not, no matter what your predicament. So I'm pretty sure most of those players involved will have a feeling one way or another about it already.

I can't understand why Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn has sacked Geraint Williams at this stage of the season? He should sack the players and not the manager.
Lionel Smith, Isle of Wight

I can understand why Williams has been sacked; it's because Orient are on a really bad run and are only above the relegation zone on goal difference. Under Williams they had won one of their last 11 games and anybody with a record like that was going to be looking over their shoulder.

BOTTOM OF LEAGUE ONE 15. Yeovil P40 45pts 16. Hartlepool P40 45pts 17. Exeter P40 44pts 18. Gillingham P40 43pts 19. Oldham P38 43pts 20. L Orient P40 41pts 21. Tranmere P39 41pts 22. Southend P40 38pts 23. Wycombe P40 32pts 24. Stockport P40 25pts

In appointing Russell Slade they have gone for a man who was in a similar situation last year with Brighton and was able to keep them up. He didn't take the Seagulls on from there and left after a really poor start to the season but he did keep them in that division. Orient are looking for him to do exactly the same, that's why they have made the change.

Will they stay up? It's still in their hands but I hate saying who I think will get relegated at this stage of the season because everybody is down there for a reason - it's more about what they do next.

From Yeovil in 15th downwards there are only four points separating seven clubs and the fight starts now. The clubs down there are not suddenly finding themselves in a scrap because they have all been down there for a while. Now is the time to show some guts and character to get out of trouble.

What do you think of Exeter's chances of staying up in League One this year? They have six games left with three of them against teams in the top six. After doing so well with back-to-back promotions in the last two years, I don't want them to slip back down a division straight away.
Julian Sykes, Bermuda

Exeter are already showing they are up for the fight and I think they will be OK. They are still in a fair bit of trouble down there but they are seven games unbeaten which suggests they are in good nick.

They have been inconsistent this campaign but I'd imagine that's down to personnel because those promotions prove that Paul Tisdale is a very decent manager.

As for who they have to play, I'm not sure that will make too much difference. If you are doing badly then you could play the worst teams in that division and still get beaten. But, on the other hand, if you are confident and playing well - which Exeter are - then you will pick up points no matter who you are up against.

You keep saying 'don't rule out Swindon' in the race to win automatic promotion out of League One, and I know it can change game-to-game, but do you think Millwall against Swindon at the Den on the last game of the season will now decide who gets second?
Fletch, UK

Quite possibly, the way they are both going! If it does, then what a fantastic end to the season that would be. Both clubs are flying and they would both be full of confidence.

It's amazing looking back at Swindon's first game of the season because they got beaten 5-0 at Gillingham and Danny Wilson could easily have been sacked.

Then you look at what striker Charlie Austin has done there and that is just scary. The last player to come from that low down the pyramid and have that sort of impact was when Kevin Phillips joined Watford from Baldock Town in 1994

Austin looks a player - he does not just score tap-ins, and appears to have this innate ability to look around him in the box and know how much time he has got. Wilson will know that finding someone like Austin happens once in a lifetime but he has to make the most of it and they certainly are.

Steve, what's gone wrong at Shrewsbury Town? Back at the start of March we were hovering around the play-off zone in League Two, but since then we have lost six games on the spin, scoring only one goal. We have good players in Dave Hibbert and Kelvin Langmead, and a good manager in Paul Simpson, so I'd love to know your thoughts on our apparent collapse.
Ian Pugh

I don't know what's gone wrong there. Shrewsbury have put a lot of money into getting out of that division and it just hasn't happened. It is the same side that was doing well but now just cannot score - Paul Simpson has changed his system and it still hasn't worked.

The very least they should have done is make the play-offs and I think Simpson knows that too.

With the benefit of hindsight, how do you feel about Middlesbrough's managerial change earlier this season, when Gordon Strachan replaced Gareth Southgate in October?
Helen Katon, USA

The timing of the decision to sack Southgate was always the strange thing for me because, if he was going to go, you expected it to happen in the summer when they had just been relegated - not after he had started rebuilding.

Strachan has completely revamped Middlesbrough's squad

So, it's been a strange few months at Boro because they have gone through so many different players since Strachan arrived. He took over a club that was a point off the top of the Championship and completely dismantled that team, which left everybody scratching their heads.

He obviously wanted to put his stamp on the team, and he has got a decent track record so he knows what he is doing but at the moment it isn't working for him.

He has never had a settled side since he took charge and Boro have never really got going. Every time they look like they are going to bridge the gap and threaten to make the play-offs they fall back again.

It is very much a work in progress for them at the moment but the positive thing for Strachan is that they are only two wins off the top six now and he can look to have a real go at getting up there next season.

Steve Claridge is a BBC Football League pundit who played more than 800 matches for 15 clubs over the course of a 24-year playing career. He was talking to Chris Bevan.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version