There are a fair number of empty seats to be seen at Portman Road these days.

But if you try and sense the mood north of the border, the fact that for the third October in a row the Canaries are under-whelming all concerned, suggests a similar level of Championship fatigue may be settling in at Carrow Road.

To say that we're all going round the same old block again is not wholly true. For my money, the standard of the 24 teams on show in 2008-2009 is getting worse, not better.

Briefly, Wolves looked as if they might be hitting some sort of reliable form before duly hitting a rut.

Birmingham may yet steam-roller on, but on the evidence of their visit to Carrow Road it's not exactly going to be like watching Brazil at St Andrew's.

Thereafter and – Reading apart – Plymouth's ability to hit fifth spot pretty much sums up this division.

That there they are, riding on the crest of an autumn wave, while three and five points behind them respectively both Ipswich and Norwich struggle to get their season into any sort of gear underlines just how much of a muchness the Championship has become.

The fact that 'any team can beat any other on their day' is in danger of banging a large nail into the coffin of Championship football.

Because I'm not sure punters actually think that's a 'quality' to be cherished.

Most punters would actually prefer to walk down to Carrow Road knowing that their team was all-but guaranteed to beat whoever was put in front of them rather than being told that losing at home to, say, a Plymouth was the sign of a healthy and 'competitive' division.

To be fifth on 15 points after ten games merely reinforces the point. Last year Palace finished fifth on 71 points.

If you're on 15 points after ten games, a spot of simple maths suggests that you'll be on 69 points after 46, ie the team that finishes fifth this season will be two points 'worse' than the team that finished fifth last season.

The spin kings would insist that that was merely a sign that the Championship was getting 'ever more competitive...'

The rows of empty seats at Portman Road, St Mary's and beyond - coupled by the first sense of a disinterested air at Carrow Road - would suggest that 'the customer' may be starting to think differently.

And if the current credit crunch decides to bite even harder and leave even less loose change in the pockets of supporters, that ought to be a real worry.

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