Michael Carrick (Middlesbrough)

Boro continued their upward mobility under Carrick, winning three of their four games to move into third place in the Championship table, doing so with a gritty 2-0 win over Watford which saw them leap-frog their promotion rivals.

Rob Edwards (Luton Town)

Edwards navigated a busy month, which included three cup ties, to oversee Luton’s climb into the play-off places. His side continued to impress on the road, winning at Huddersfield and Wigan, to collect nine points from four matches.

Paul Heckingbottom (Sheffield United)

Maintaining momentum can be as hard as gaining it in the first place. Heckingbottom’s side did exactly that, finding a last-gasp equaliser at QPR before beating Stoke and Hull to tighten their grip on the second automatic promotion place.

Vincent Kompany (Burnley)

Kompany is the manager who just keeps on giving, leading his side to nine points from another perfect month. So often dominating games, Burnley showed their battling qualities to come from behind and beat a resurgent West Brom.

The January nominations for the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month Award are:

Tom Bradshaw (Millwall) – striker

Relentless in his harrying of opposition defenders, Bradshaw accounted for all of Millwall’s four goals in three games, claiming three himself including a snaffled winner at Cardiff, while his shot was deflected for an own goal against Rotherham.

Kieran Dowell (Norwich City) - striker

No Norwich player has benefitted more from David Wagner’s arrival at Carrow Road than the talented Dowell. Installed on the right side of a front three, he used his vision and technique to contribute three goals and an assist in two games.

Ian Maatsen (Burnley) – full-back

Much improved in defence under Vincent Kompany, the left-back uses his pace to charge forward at every opportunity to join the Burnley attack as he did with a spectacular brace at Swansea – a dipping free-kick and a 25-yard thunderbolt.

Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City) - striker

It has been quite a last three months for Semenyo. After making two appearances for Ghana in the World Cup, he returned in dynamic form to score three goals and add an assist for City, securing himself a move to Bournemouth.

Sky Bet Championship: January Manager and Player of the Month nominees

Sky Bet Championship: January Manager and Player of the Month nominees