Relegated Teams - What threat do they pose next year?

Most of us on here are expecting to challenge for the top 6 next year, with fingers crossed for a bit of luck and a top 2 finish, we're all aware of the challenges that face us with the other teams that haven't gone up next year, but what of the 3 teams coming down?

With West Ham and Blues, a lot depends on how their financial position plays out;

Birmingham: having just read the blog on the BBC website about Birmingham http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2011/05/birmingham_city_set_for_the_bl.html it appears as though they could end up in a similar position to us, needing to slash the wage bill and undergoing a long season of re-building. It sounds very unlikely that they will be getting any kind of large investment and are losing some of their more talented players via the free transfer list. I think that Brum will be competative, like ourselves and Burnley this year but will ultimately fail to challenge for the top 6

West Ham: I think most of us hope that the hammers implode, go into admin and 'do a Leeds' and sod off to League 1 for a while, at the moment though I really don't know what'll happen to them, they have a fair few players who will definitely be sold for substantial fees, Parker, Green and Cole I expet to raise at least 14-16M between them, and if they can shift on some of the other high earners, they could be in a good financial situation, and able to do something similar to Newcastle 2 seasons ago.

Blackpool: 1 season wonders, simple as, they'll be in a good financail position, but will lose their best players and will struggle to recruit replacements which will get them back into the top flight. I think they'll finish mid table

 

West Ham and Birmingham I think will lose alot of players and Blackpool will lose Adam it all depends on how they replace them. I think out of the three they will all be mid table challenging for play offs

 

I think next year is going to be a much harder league to get out of. I was praying Wigan would drop as they would only fall deeper like Boro have.
I think West Ham and Birmingham will be automatically promoted with Blackpool play-offs. That leaves 3 play-off places for us, Cardiff, Forest, Either Reading/Swansea, TWS (hopefully not), Leicester as they will spend a fair bit and a few others who perform above expectations.

I remain optimistic but its going to be tough, just shows the quality of the championship though!

 

Don't agree with Brighton being shorter odds, however i don't agree that we will be challenging for the top 2! There can be no judgements made until we are in pre-season and our squad looks something like but I can see there being 2 better teams than us (on paper) next season! Having said that, if we get a good start, momentum and team spirit can get you through if you have a half decent squad.

Cant wait 4 the season 2 start, i'm bored on a Saturday already!

UTT

 

I can see Leicester been a great team next year. They've been linked with Heskey and Owen which would be the best strikeforce in this league by a mile.

Didn't Mcleish say that they would be able to keep hold of most of there players?

I can't see Blackpool doing much and I hope West Ham implode.

 

I wonder is Southampton will do a Norwhich? Possible former big club, back on the rise after getting into a bit of a mess.

 

What odds are we for promotion and not to win it? That looks tasty if the bookies rate us as lower mid table

 

West Ham have some good young players in Collison, Sears, Tomkins and Nouble. If they can keep Spector, Noble, Gabbidon and a few others, then they would have a pretty gd blend. For me it depends on who they get in as Manager and whether they make enough through key player sales to stabilise their finances.

Brum will most likely lose their defensive lynchpin in Dann, top scorer in Gardner and creative force in Larsson. Players like Phillips, Carr, Bowyer, Jerome, Ridgewell and Roger Johnson all have championship experience. By keeping Mcleish they also have a manager who knows how to get out of the league. I can definetely see them being in the top 4, but it depends how many key players they lose and who comes in.

Blackpool will need to rebuild their defence, replace their two best players in Adam and Vaughn, whilst also holding onto Campbell, Matt Philips and maybe importantly Holloway himself. Gilks is out of contract and was their best keeper, their financial position is probably their trump card, which will be aided by the sale of Adam. However they won't spend like crazy and they'll need to buy wisely to be competitive. I predict they'll be top half.

 

west ham are in the ****, you watch how many players they'll lose over the summer and see which they sign. their owners have their heads up their own arse, the best they'll do next season is make the play-off's.

birmingham will also lose their best players, they actually dont have that many to start with. Blackpool are doomed, all their best players are either out of contract or will be sold. they wont make the play-off's.

I think we'll find it easier next season than people imagine.

 

Didn't Birmingham qualify for European competition next season with their League Cup win? Should bring 'em a few quid.
I would say the bookies have us about right. We are not recruiting anyone who is anywhere near above average for this league - yet!

 

Think Vaughan from b'pool is S'land bound?

 

I think the real question regarding blackpool is where will Charlie Adam go ? not sure he's good enough for a top 6 club myself, will be interesting to see who signs him and for how much!

 

OLM, all of those odds you've mentioned just reinforce the issues raised in the article 'Dull Hull'. I have no idea why but everyone seems to make a conscious effort to pretend we're ****. As you have shown, the bookies seem to think we're more likely to be relegated than promoted which is most bizzare, and just as another example, the FourFourTwo list of best players outside the Premiership didn't contain one City player in the 50 (or 100 whatever it was). Rosenior is probably the best full back in the league and should walk into that list, along with Chester and Fryatt, but instead it's full of comparible players from rival teams who've done no better and have been around no longer (if that comes into it). Not sure why it is, but everyone seems to have a sort of bias against us.

As for the point of this article, I think Birmingham will be very interesting. It's hard to call. Will their championship squad get hammered in Europe? Or will their European-standard side walk the Championship? How much will finances dictate? West Ham are also tricky to call, and Blackpool I would imagine will do something similar to what Burnley have done.

 

I think Blackpool will strugle and Birmingham, i'm not sure about West Ham depends who comes in but i don't think any of them will finish in the top 2

 

They still have to play a two legged qualifier to get to the group stage, so it's no guarantee, and financially it's not that much money

 

It'll get them next to nothing. I'm sure one of the Scottish clubs a couple of years ago said that the Europa League cost them more money than it made them. It might be because they got knocked out at the last qualifying stage by some team from the back of beyond but I don't see the group stages making clubs that much more unless they get a big European team in their group.

I think Blackpool are also into Europe by the fair play table. At the start of the weekend there was an article about how we'd got one of the places and the top 4 were Chelsea, Fulham, Blackpool and I think Tottenham. Spurs and Chelsea have already qualified by their league position, and SSN were saying Gera's red card against Arsenal could cost them a European place.