EFL’s promoted teams often don’t have the Golden Boot winner – but it doesn’t matter

Every club, at all times, are in the market for a striker — at least, that is how it seems. This season’s Championship top scorer, Sammie Szmodics of Blackburn Rovers, had a career-best 27 goals — including two on the final day to spare them relegation to League One. 2023-24 Sammie Szmodics Blackburn Champ 27 No Alfie May Charlton L1 23 No Macaulay Langstaff Notts County L2 28 No 2022-23 Chuba Akpom Middlesbrough Champ 28 No Conor Chaplin Ipswich L1 26 Yes Jonson Clarke-Harris Peterborough L1 26 No Andy Cook Bradford L2 28 No 2021-22 Aleksandar Mitrovic Fulham Champ 43 Yes Will Keane Wigan L1 26 Yes Dom Telford Newport L2 25 No 2020-21 Ivan Toney Brentford Champ 31 Yes Jonson Clarke-Harris Peterborough L1 31 Yes Paul Mullin Cambridge L2 32 Yes Szmodics’ achievement is rare, but not unheard of. The same was true last season, with Championship top scorer Chuba Akpom’s 28 goals not enough to help Middlesbrough get promoted, although it did earn him a move to leading Dutch side Ajax last summer. The joint Golden Boot winners in League One in 2022-23 were Conor Chaplin, who was promoted with Ipswich, and Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris, who both scored 26 times.