Ipswich midfielder Lee Bowyer believes the Championship is more difficult to play in than the Premier League.
The veteran midfielder, 34, joined Town over the summer having tasted relegation from the top flight last season with Birmingham, for whom he briefly experienced Championship football over the second half of the 2008/09 season.
That was Bowyer's only other time below England's top flight since leaving Charlton for Leeds in the summer of 1996 and having got to grips with the demanding division at Portman Road over the last five months he can see why it is regarded by many as the toughest in England.
"It's harder to play in the Championship, football-wise," he told Town's official website. "You don't get any time on the ball, it's a very physically demanding league and a very difficult one to get out of.
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Having played in the Championship, I can definitely see why managers say it's the hardest league in the country."