At least he was willing to point out it was his opinion Fordeck, your comment just being your own opinion. I reckon the league will most likely look how bow4fowler listed the likely suspects city, united, chelsea, arsenal, tottenham, liverpool, newcastle then everton. Liverpool could in theory compete for 4th but i think come easter there'll be a few too many points to end up having to claw back. As for money owed to Ashley (about £150m i believe) it only becomes relevant if he wants to sell the club - not like we're in hoc to banks or yanks who leveraged their way in for a cash cow.
I can see this next season us being slightly more clinical than last season, but letting in more goals. Resulting in 5th place, and another cup. Rodgers likes to use younger players, and as he has already used a lot of these players during pre-season he'll have a good idea as to who he needs to keep and who is dead weight. We do however, have a huge squad if you include the youngsters and I can't see the likes of Suso getting a game over Adam, even though the gulf in class is obvious. Leading to the only logical conclusion that they will be played outside of the PL. With players like Sterling, Suso, Shelvey, Flanagan, Robinson all young but with obvious talent I can only conclude they'll go far in any competition they are put into.
Everton have improved on last season, Manchester United won't meet Baines' asking price and Fellaini has recently(January) signed a five year contract. We've got rid of deadwood in Cahill and bought in Naismith as his replacement with Pienaar's fee looking imminent. a decent start to the season for once and we could well be contenders but underestimate us at your peril.
I don't know... Everton perform admirably but... can't see it. Not a deep enough or talented enough squad really.
I think if Chelsea can add a striker (they have enviable creativity, but not much of a focal point in their current squad beside Torres), they'll be in the top 3 with United and City. 4th is probably as good as we'll get. I expect Arsenal to be there or thereabouts, same with Spurs and Newcastle. Will be tough, but if we get a couple of results, we're in with a shout. It's a bit of a lottery, although Arsenal and Spurs have probably got an extra line on their ticket.
Neither are we. Our present owners made an outright purchase and have not leveraged the club at all. In fact they have ensured that none of the purchase costs appear upon our books and that any remaining debts (eg the H&G stadium plans costs) have been written-off. Whereas your debt to Ashley, still remains as a debt bursen upon the club itself - even if in the form of an interest free loan. Now get over yourself! I had already posted my opinion for all other contributors to comment upon if they so wished - so I'm not afraid to do that. If you look at my later post you will note that my comment was immediately followed by a 'smilie'. Hence it was meant as a humorous comment but perhaps you have no sense of humour!
Doesn't form and momentum play a large part for any team that has a successful season? It would be like saying City have a strong team but wouldn't have won the league without their good form and momentum. For me the two come hand in hand, good teams/players are more likely to produce more consistent results for longer periods of times. I think momentum plays more part in a cup win than a league placing, for example when pompey won the cup, had an average league placing but raised their game for each round of the cup the further they progressed. In response to the OP, I believe that City, Utd and Chelsea will be a cut above the rest this season, with arsenal and spurs following closely. I think us and Liverpool are closely matched and have potential for a cup win (not sure why I would think we may actually win a cup, as history would suggest otherwise) but ultimately the two teams will finish 6th & 7th. A top four challenge would be possible for both provided no injury's to key players were received, and as this is unlikely a top four finish for both is fairly slim.
Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud will not be fit to start the season for Arsenal after the new arrivals did not accompany the club on their tour of Asia. If this is true, and Van Persie leaves, this could hit Arsenal hard. If we pinch Walcott as well, it will hit even harder. Though Arsenal have proved they can recover from a slow start.
I can assure you united are the least likely to slip up. though even if it magically happened at worst we would finish second as we are miles ahead of all bit city.
Momentum makes poor players average, average players good and good player look great. 'Form is temporary, class is permanent' and all that. Not taking anything away from Newcastle though, you have some good players right now.
of course it could happen its just more likely to happen to every other club. as for squad depth, ours is arguably the best in the league and last season showed that. we don't have the biggest names but we have players who can come in and perform when major injury worries hamper us as they did last season. I think we will win the league this season ahead of Chelsea and city. city will go for the champions league and fail but by the time they do the league will be gone. 1. United 2. Chelsea 3. City 4. Arsenal -------------- 5. Spurs 6. Newcastle
In what way is your debt written off and ours is not? Are you suggesting that John W Henry will not expect a full return on his investment? With a current wage bill of only £54m, an increased revenue stream from last season and a bigger 'current' media profile, it would be expected that Newcastle will infact make a profit this season (we broke even last). Whilst some of that profit will be reinvested to the club, (lifting our Category B Academy status to Category A with a new Academy training ground and continually improving playing squad) I would expect Ashley to begin to filter money from the club, paying off said 'debt'. I imagine Henry will do the same. Success begets success and Henry has poured money into the club. This money does not just dissapear or get magically replaced. He will want a return on his investment. Perhaps I'm wrong, I'll not lie, I haven't looked into it much by for me, the difference between our club's debt to our owner and your own is purely a matter of semantics.
Not sure about that... Let's compare both teams when in a 4-2-2-2 for neatness. Hart, Pantimilion ----- De Gea, Lindegaard - City are stronger Zabaleta, Richards ----- Rafael, Smalling, Evans - City are stronger Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Savic ----- Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling, Jones, Evans - United are stronger Clichy, Kolarov ----- Evra - City are stronger Yaya Toure, De Jong, Barry, Milner, Pizarro ----- Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs - City are stronger Silva, Nasri, A. Johnson, Yaya Toure ----- Nani, Valencia, Young, Kagawa, Giggs - City are stronger (but it's tight) Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli ----- Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez - City are stronger And goodness knows who they might buy before the end of the window. I'm betting someone like De Rossi and another attacking mid.
I think at full strength Newcastle have one of the best midfield and attacking line ups in the league, if they can keep Tiote, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Cisse and Guthierez together They will be up there again. I can see Ba leaving, but they'll get some cash to reinvest, which they will do wiseley. Then Ba's knee will probably explode,giving the Geordies more to smile about. I can see us and them battling out for 5th\6th
