EFL Extra: What is the best league in England?
The Game
The Times
3.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tom Clarke and Gregor Robertson with the latest from the English Football League.
Is the Championship the best league in England, Gregor Robertson thinks so.
Coventry's win over rivals Middlesbrough sends them top again but six points separate 6th to 16th. Who is best placed to come from the pack? At the bottom some huge clubs look in severe danger of relegation in West Brom and Leicester.
Lincoln fan Tom Clarke makes his pitch for the excitement of League One. It's tight at the bottom and around the play offs, but at the top are Cardiff and Lincoln away and clear?
In League Two wins for teams at the bottom who were written off and... a mystery called Walsall, any fans listening please get in touch.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the game football podcast from The Times and Sunday Times. |
| 0:08.7 | This is our EFL extra show every fortnight. |
| 0:11.1 | You've got me, Tom Clark, and the former Football League defender Gregor Robertson |
| 0:14.2 | discussing the best and worst of the drama in the championship, League 1 and League 2. |
| 0:19.1 | Gregor. |
| 0:19.9 | I think this is my favourite time in the EFL season and not just because Lincoln City on a great run. It's the end of the championship. League one and League two. Gregor, I think this is my favourite time in the EFL season and not just because Lincoln City on a great run. It's the end of February. Things are starting to take shape, but also there's still so much to play for. There's roughly 14 games in each league for all teams. There's still so much can happen. Let's get straight into it with a huge, huge game on Monday night, the top two in the championship going head to head, Coventry against Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough went into this one in amazing form under Kilmer-Haleberg, but it was Coventry and Frank Lampard that got the three points. What did you make of the game overall? We'll talk about some of the big moments in it in a minute but was this |
| 0:54.4 | Coventry reasserting themselves because to me going into it this felt like the pressure was all on |
| 0:59.3 | Coventry and that Middlesbrough were the kind of team basking in a good set of form. First of all it was |
| 1:04.2 | just a brilliant brilliant game. Brilliant spectacle brilliant kind of two teams going at it but in |
| 1:09.8 | very different ways. |
| 1:12.1 | Coventry were quite direct. |
| 1:14.0 | Middlesbrough, I've watched them a few times in the last couple of weeks, |
| 1:17.7 | just so good at like, although they're direct, it's just like a bit more kind of patient from |
| 1:23.0 | the back and sort of incisive passing and just any time Hayden Hattney gets on the ball |
| 1:27.6 | my God, what a player |
| 1:28.7 | but you're right |
| 1:30.1 | I mean the pressure was all on Coventry here |
| 1:31.9 | because they'd been on a shaky run |
| 1:33.7 | you know failed to beat |
| 1:35.9 | Oxford who are you know |
| 1:38.7 | in the thick of relegation battle at home |
| 1:40.3 | before the week before |
... |
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