We have dropped below Bournmouth in the odds for Promotion..... So I thought we should assess our chances. Sky Bet Promotion Odds: Q.P.R. 15/8 + Big Harry! Big Spending! Big Ego's! - Hopefully they struggle to adapt. Reading 3/1 + Good squad. Good Manager. - Not replaced some of the experienced players lost? Bolton 100/30 + Spend, Spend, Spend - Dougie Freedman left Palace for a better shot of promotion, is he regretting it? - Not signed Dawson again (Yet) who changed their season Leicester 7/2 + (I will leave this blank for their rose tinted fans to complete) - Same Manager! Selling not buying, - Some talk captain Morgan could go? Nottingham Forest 7/2 + Dark Horses this year, Hobbs is a good player if fit - William McIntosh "Billy" Davies Watford 9/2 + Uche Ikpeazu signed from Reading (thought BM might have snaffled him) + Udinese will loan 3 good players - No more Udinese B for a full team Brighton 9/2 + Strong squad, played well last year - No Gus, so they could struggle for direction Wigan 9/2 + Signed proven goal scorer in Grant Holt + Great chairman + Kept backbone of a good Premiership team - New manager Ipswich 6/1 + Good manager with experience of promotion - Linked with Titus Bramble Bournemouth 6/1 + Eddie Howe & Bounemouth are like Don Revie & Leeds, it just seems to work + Bookies rate their chances better than Leeds? - The squad is not too strong Leeds 13/2 + No Bates or Warnock + Great manager able to build a strong team - No Money & week in some areas Blackburn 13/2 + Great players - Clueless owners Derby 9/1 + Good youngsters with growing experience - Greedy owners who will sell best players Middlesbrough 10/1 + Good squad and manager - Lack of local support and money running out Birmingham 10/1 + Some good players - Still skint Charlton 12/1 + Good team work - Not enough to challenge Blackpool 14/1 + Some good players left - Manager is Paul Ince - Chairman not spending the Parachute payments on players Sheffield Wednesday 14/1 + Dave Jones has a decent record - No real squad re-building for years now, can not even afford Danny Pugh Burnley 16/1 + Kept Austin - Austin broken Huddersfield 20/1 + Chairman willing to back success - Chairman has no patience Doncaster 25/1 + No expectations or pressure - Not the greatest team Millwall 25/1 + Vocal fans and should pick up points at home (something we seemed to have lost a little) - Manager choose relegation on his own terms, what did he know? Barnsley 33/1 + Still hanging on in, good winger from Bayern Munich B purchased - Still in Barnsley Yeovil 50/1 + Will take 3 points of teams not used to playing in Somerset. - Could be out of their depth in this league
I think its hard to say really. I think we'll be challenging for the play-offs to be honest and I think we need to expect McD to try and build the club and squad again, give him the chance to really do something and not wait/hope for a one season wonder manager to happen because thats not likely. Realistically we should have a plan of promotion within however many years time and if it happens before that then great, fans expectations of promotion just won't help and I'll be happy as long as we are playing decent stuff and are competitive
Think fair comment there, certainly about us. However, the odds are irrelevant. Last season Blackburn and Wolves were two of the favourites. One went down and the other gave relegation a good run for a while too. If we have no further squad changes either way, I'd say were mid table. Time for gfh to start pulling rabbits from hats
At the risk of sounding like Neil Warnock, we are a couple of players short of being serious contenders. A lot of the players are decent, if used properly, and we have a manager who probably will be able to work out how to get the best out of what he has got. But I can't quite believe a team with no quality on the flanks (other than the FB's, anyway) and a few doubts at CB and striker, will miraculously come up with all the answers required to win promotion over 46 games. I never believed in the tooth fairy, either, though
I honestly believe that for the first time in years, we're going to do better in the second half of the season than the first. BM has a lot to pull together in a short time & I think we might be prone to mis-firing whilst the team gels. Come January the squad should be a lot more together, and a couple of 'tweak' signings should have us kicking on & competing for the playoffs. I have no earthly clue whether we'll get promoted or not, but I think I'm going to enjoy one of our better seasons.
Bear in mind we haven't finished our transfers for this summer by any stretch. McD said he wanted 7 players and I don't think that has ever changed so saying we are short of a few players isn't totally fair to the club as they are still trying to recruit. Saying that though there is still plenty of time to get the transfers done so for now at least, I'm not panicking in the slightest
Don't forget that SkyBet have put all odds on us higher as part of the partnership deal. No way they actually think Bournemouth have a better shot of going up than us! Get on odds checker
Don't think you even need that much investment to get out of the Championship, you've just got to be clever with it. If you continually throw money at it (eg Cardiff) you'll get there eventually. I don't seem to remember Swansea spending vast amounts of money in the Championship, they just spent wisely.
Yea I've been saying this for years, steady investment if you spend it wisely is enough. The reason I think warnock did so poorly as a manager here is because he spent over 3m in the summer and we had gotten worse as a team. Saying that if we do that this summer (steady investment) I would expect a much better season with McD in charge
The league will be a lot stronger this year - the 3 teams relegated from The Prem are far superior to those promoted. Not sure where Leeds fans are getting this confidence from - In my opinion you haven't improved your team at all from last season - you have loaned out your only goalscorer and have replaced with League 1 unknowns - I think you'll do well to finish top half especially with McDermott as manager!!
Not only have they not strengthened they are weaker where would Leeds have finished last season if not for Becchios goals first half ? Byram will be lost soon, McCormack cant score for toffee.Hunt may get them 5 or 6 Smith couldnt even hold a place in league 1 Much weakened and Warnocks record is far superior to McDermotts which says enough really
Yes but you're forgetting about McDermott's diamond formation - it'll make all the difference you know
Same manager is a good thing, consistency at the top gives you a better chance of getting results And we not selling, every player who is on the transfer list other then Danny Drinkwater played little to no role for us last season and Wes wont be leaving
To be fair though, I think most people away from Leicester City don't rate Pearson. I know I certainly don't and I wouldn't be keen to have him as manager
Nigel has done a very good job for Leicester City in both spells here. Albeit we should have got promoted last season he is still under restrictions from Sven. The contracts he gave to average players is beyond belief. Nigel has recruited a very good squad for us and this season is all about results and it will define Nigel's as a manager
See me personally, I think Nigel can't handle any players than aren't perfect. Has no real idea how to get the best out of players either imo
Pearson should have been sacked at the end of April (if not before) as only winning 2 games between 1st of Feb to 30th April was criminal with that squad - was the biggest car crash of the season!!
I think any manager who sells Gradel to us for 100k and Kisnorbo for nothing deserves a big hand of applause from us for helping us out
