Four Championship clubs account for all five nominees for September's manager of the month award, with Lincoln City's co-head coaches Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw, Swansea City's Vitor Matos, Stoke City's Mark Robins and West Ham United's Nuno Espirito Santo all shortlisted. The winner is due to be announced at 06:00 on Friday, 9 October.

Lincoln's co-managers recognised for strong September

Cohen and Shaw are the most unusual entry on the list, given that they share the role at Sincil Bank. Their case rests on eight points from five September fixtures, a return that included away victories at Preston and Bristol City. For a newly-promoted side still finding their feet in the second tier, picking up points on the road is often the sharper test of a team's quality, and those two results suggest Lincoln are not simply making up the numbers this season.

The co-manager model is rare at this level, and the nomination raises a practical question: if they win, do they share the trophy? The award's organisers have given no indication, but it is a pleasant problem to have.

Matos chasing back-to-back honours

Swansea's Vitor Matos won the August award and is now in contention to collect back-to-back honours, which would be a genuine statement of intent for a club sitting top of the Championship table. The Swans took 10 points from their five September games, and it is that table-topping position, rather than the individual accolade, that will matter most to their supporters. That said, recognition for a young head coach still building his reputation at this level is no bad thing for the club's wider ambitions.

Robins reverses Stoke's rocky start

Perhaps the most compelling narrative among the nominees belongs to Mark Robins. Stoke lost all three of their opening Championship fixtures, which inevitably prompted questions about the direction of the club. What followed was a four-win-from-five September that moved them up to seventh place and silenced, at least temporarily, the early sceptics. Going unbeaten throughout the month after such a difficult opening is the kind of turnaround that awards panels tend to reward, and Robins' chances here look strong.

Whether that run reflects a genuine tactical shift or simply a fixture list that fell kindly is harder to judge from the outside. What the numbers do show is that Stoke were scoring freely and keeping opponents at bay far more consistently than they managed in August.

Nuno's West Ham free-scoring in September

West Ham's Nuno Espirito Santo oversaw a remarkable goalscoring month, with his side netting 18 times across five matches in September. The only occasion they failed to win was a 2-2 draw at Millwall, a fixture that rarely goes smoothly for visiting sides regardless of form. Eighteen goals in five games is an average of 3.6 per match: that kind of output tends to reflect both a settled attacking structure and, often, a defence that has not been tested as severely as it might be. We do not have the full defensive numbers here to say which applies, but the attacking returns are striking.

A competitive field with no clear favourite

Selecting a winner from this group is genuinely difficult. Matos has the consistency argument, Robins the turnaround story, Nuno the goals, and Cohen and Shaw the underdog angle. Swansea's league position is the one objective measure that stands above the rest, but awards panels do not always follow the table. Whatever the outcome on Friday morning, the nominations confirm that September produced some genuinely interesting performances across the division.

Frequently asked

Who is nominated for Championship manager of the month for September?
Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw (Lincoln City), Vitor Matos (Swansea City), Mark Robins (Stoke City) and Nuno Espirito Santo (West Ham United) are all nominated for September's award.
When is the Championship manager of the month winner announced?
The winner of the September award will be announced at 06:00 on Friday, 9 October.
How did Stoke City perform in September to earn a nomination?
Stoke went unbeaten throughout September, winning four of their five games to climb to seventh place in the Championship table after losing all three of their opening fixtures.