Gary Rowett expects the Championship to be 'a lot harder' next season due to the teams coming into the second tier. Birmingham City are expected to challenge at the right end of the table having obliterated League One in record-breaking fashion and relegated trio Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton will be armed with Championship promotion-winners and parachute payments. This year's Championship was a three-horse race but next year's edition has lots of contenders. And ex-Blues manager Rowett, who rescued Oxford United from relegation last season and guided them to a 17th-placed finish,. believes it will be a tougher league this time around. “I think the division is going to be a lot harder next year," Rowett told the Oxford Mail. "I think everyone always says that, but there are some big clubs coming up and some big clubs coming down. It’s going to be incredibly challenging. “In the end, we would’ve finished 10th over 25 games, so I think it shows the possibilities and the capability of the group. “I don’t think necessarily that’s an easy target or an obvious target, but I do think finishing higher in the division than we currently are and not flirting with those relegation places should be the aim. “Whatever that brings, it brings. If that puts us in the position to attack for the top 10, then that’s what it does, but I think that should be our aim. I don’t think our aim should be to stay up, I think it’s a really negative aim just to stay up. “I understand that externally, but when you’re with the group every day, we should aim higher than that and if we fall a little bit short, we’re pretty comfortable. “That’s the plan. That’ll be what we aim towards. It’ll be an incredibly tough challenge again in an incredibly tough division, but it’s one of the toughest divisions in the world. “I don’t think that’s ever going to change regardless of how much you spend or how big you are, but we’ll look forward to it.” Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Birmingham City content. Our dedicated reporters Alex Dicken and Brian Dick - you can follow Alex on X here and Brian here - follow Blues around the country and they offer you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Blues newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Blues team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories and insight from in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Blues stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Blues as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here . Our weekly Birmingham City podcast, Keep Right On, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here .