The English Football League was back with a bang this weekend, and there was plenty to learn from the opening fixtures.
Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday raised the curtain on the 2023/24 Championship season on Friday, with the Saints sealing a late 2-1 win in their first game since their Premier League relegation.
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The rest of the EFL bar Leicester, Coventry, Leeds, Cardiff, Sunderland and Ipswich, who all play on Sunday, all got their campaigns underway on what proved to be a wet and windy Saturday.
Despite the absence of last season’s relegated Premier League sides, though, there were plenty of results across the three leagues that will have had fan WhatsApp chats pinging across the country.
So, which three games stood out and what have we learned from them? talkSPORT.com has got you covered…
QPR in trouble, again
QPR were well and truly stung by the Hornets on their opening Championship fixture at Vicarage Road.
Watford found themselves 4-0 up at the break, with Tom Dele-Bashiru, Imran Louza, Matheus Martins and Vakoun Issouf Bayo all carving the visitor’s defence open inside 43 minutes.
It’s not that surprising that the Hoops got their campaign off to a bad start, considering they ended their pre-season with a 5-0 loss against League One outfit Oxford United and haven’t spent any money this summer.
Gareth Ainsworth may well have helped them avoid relegation last term, but could the Wycombe Wanderers legend’s job be in danger already?
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Barnsley in heaven
Barnsley‘s seven goals left Tykes fans in heaven as they thrashed Port Vale at the Oakwell in League One.
Last season’s play-off finalists were unlucky not to win promotion back to the Championship at Wembley, but their hopes of going up at the second attempt will have been given a huge boost after Saturday’s showing.
Devante Cole scored a hat-trick, with Dan Jones, Liam Kitching, Jon Russell and Andrew Dallas all finding the back of the net too.
In fact, the win is the biggest victory on the opening weekend of a Football League campaign since Wolves beat Manchester City 8-1 in 1962/63. Talk about getting off to a flyer.
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Wrexham’s reality check
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know all about just how excited Wrexham and their owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were to finally end their 15-year absence from the EFL this weekend.
But the Hollywood-owned club were certainly given a rude awakening when they went 2-0 down inside 10 minutes to MK Dons at the Racecourse in their eventual 5-3 defeat.
Despite scoring three times, the result is a reality check for the Welsh club who are still flying high from their exciting race to automatic promotion from the National League last term.
Of course, this is only their opening game.
However, fans claiming a consecutive promotion is definitely on the cards may realise Wrexham need more time to adjust back to life in the EFL than they thought.
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