The Betfair Big Interview: Malky Mackay tells what it takes to win the Championship

Good times . . . Mackay with the Championship trophy in 2013

The Championship is Europe's fourth most watched competition behind the Premier League, the Bundesliga and Spain's Serie A with 9.1million fans last year. It's also the toughest with 46 massively competitive games. Betfair went to meet Malky Mackay, who has won promotion as both manager and a player, to get some clues for this season.

Hi Malky. The Championship all kicks off again when your old club Cardiff play at Blackburn on Friday night. What should we expect?

Lots more of the same - a real grind that tests players, managers and fans but an amazing competition that is unique in that any one of the 24 clubs can finish up winning promotion - or going back down. It's fascinating.

So what does it take to win it?

It's a big juggling act. I think handling the amount of games is an issue, but what you have to plan for especially is that the games come in batches and sometimes you can find yourself playing seven or eight times in a month. As a manager you have to balance training load, rest, all the logistics of kit and travel - and then plan properly for the actual games themselves to prepare for who you are playing as well as taking into account variables like the climate. If teams who are either coming up or down into it don't respect or understand it, they can be massively caught out.

Okay - on the subject of teams coming down, Fulham are 3.7511/4 favourites to go back up again.

I think that's fair where they've spent so much on Ross McCormack. To pay 11million was a huge fee, but he was banging goals in for fun last season in a side that, with respect to Leeds, weren't doing so well and he is real quality at the level. In the box he is deadly. Obviously Felix Magath is a fairly new manager but he has brought in an experienced British coach in Peter Grant to help him. The squad has changed a lot, with some good youngsters coming through and they needed a couple of headline signings to give the right message. McCormack fits that description.

Derby are the other big favourites, but losing play-off finalists don't often win promotion the following season.

That's for a good reason - you can start the season with a hangover.  But the flip side is that Steve McClaren has been there nearly a year now and is beginning to mould the squad. Like Fulham there is now stability and desire from manager, chairman and chief executive to go in the same direction.  That is why Derby will be dangerous again - they've not ripped the squad about.

But they relied heavily on loan players last year, who have mostly gone back. Can they fill those gaps?

Steve's reputation helped him attract good talent because big clubs trust him to take their players, and that is a massive factor in the division.  If you can't pay big money like Fulham have done you need to add quality in different ways, and an exciting young Premier League player can help that. The only gamble is that sometimes you don't know until they get there whether they can handle the demands of the workload.

We mentioned Ross McCormack, but Jordan Rhodes is favourite to be the division's top scorer. How do you rate him?

Very highly - and getting him to sign a new deal has been massive for Blackburn. I think Gary Bowyer has done a terrific job there. In the last part of the season they really came on a charge, and he has been gradually building a younger team. They signed two of my old players from Cardiff, Rudy Gestede and Craig Conway, who I think are terrific Championship players and can make a real impact. They have the makings of a strong squad, as well as historically a good structure at the club.  They will be a side that can challenge.

You mentioned Cardiff.  We can't not ask you what you think of their chances.

I've got lots of friends there still and as another team who have come down they deserve to be among the favourites to go back up.  They have a big and strong squad, but the other real asset is the crowd and the stadium.  You get 28,000 noisy fans and it makes it a really tough place to go.

Who will be the player who makes the biggest impact?

Will Hughes is an obvious one at Derby - they have done so well to get him to sign a new long contract and the club have other good youngsters. I'm also fascinated that Watford have got Matej Vydra back. If they do hold on to him and Troy Deeney they have a proven and potent combination. And Jonny Howson will do well for Norwich - again if none of the Premier League sides pay big money for him before the deadline.

Thanks for your time Malky - we've a free 50 bet with winnings for a favourite charity.

Great - I'll back Rory McIlroy to win the USPGA at 6.25/1. My charity is Bear Cottage - it's a children's hospice near Sydney where my niece was brilliantly cared for recently before sadly she passed away.