Runners and riders: Promotion odds. QPR 2/1 Reading 3/1 Bolton 10/3 Forest 4/1 Leicester 4/1 Watford 9/2 Brighton 9/2 Wigan 9/2 Leeds 13/2 Ipswich 7/1 Blackburn 7/1 Bournemouth 7/1 Derby 9/1 M'boro 11/1 That reflects just how many teams are in with a shout this season.Wigan with Owen Coyle and Grant Holt looks good value at 9/2.Kick off Saturday August 3rd.
incredibly open division. as i always say, you've as much chance of finishing top as you have bottom! having said that i don't think it'll be as ridiculous as last year. i'm tipping brighton - had a difficult summer but i like the appointment of garcia. plays good football, comes from the 'barca breed' and has been very successful in the last season with maccabi. i see many similarities between them and swansea in the way they have a formula at the club. i think reading will be in and around the top two. good manager, knows how to get out of that league. i'd place them 2nd. the chase for the play offs will be as open as ever and i think there will be a surprise or two. maybe bournemouth, derby have signed quite well but always hit a wall, i don't think they are good enough. any team who score goals will be up there - blackburn, if they give bowyer a fair crack, bolton have some good players and a decent manager, forest with wily old billy davies. leicester will sack pearson at some point but will probably be up there somewhere. the hardest teams to place are wigan (cos of their european commitments) and qpr who i think are more likely to go down again than go back up. our friends down the road have finally got themselves a good manager but his hands are tied. i think they'll potter along in mid table most of the season. they are too bland to get near the top of the division. towards the bottom, i predict doom for three clubs who have recently been in the top flight! it's probably the most fun league to predict but also the most impossible so if i get anywhere close i'll have done bloody amazing!!: 1. Brighton 2. Reading 3. Bolton 4. Leicester 5. Forest 6. Bournemouth 7. Watford 8. Blackburn 9. Wigan 10. Charlton 11. Ipswich 12. Derby 13. Sheff Wed 14. QPR 15. Leeds 16. Huddersfield 17. Doncaster 18. Millwall 19. Yeovil 20. Barnsley 21. Middlesbrough 22. Birmingham 23. Burnley 24. Blackpool
I do fear for Blackpool, supposedly only 13 senior players, and their next signing appears to be Chopra!
And that's only because he believes that the Blackpool Golden Mile is the home straight on a race course
He is thinking of the arcades! honest opinions top 2 Wigan Reading Playoffs Ipswich Leicester QPR Bolton Relegated Yeovil Donny Millwall
just to show how hard it is to predict, i found my predictions from this time last year! (actual position in brackets) 1. Brighton & Hove Albion (4) 2. Blackburn Rovers (17) 3. Cardiff City (1) 4. Leicester City (6) 5. Wolverhampton Wanderers (23) 6. Hull City (2) 7. Birmingham City (12) 8. Nottingham Forest (8 - correct) 9. Charlton Athletic (9 - correct) 10. Blackpool (15) 11. Bolton Wanderers (7) 12. Leeds United (13) 13. Middlesbrough (16) 14. Sheffield Wednesday (18) 15. Watford (3) 16. Ipswich Town (14) 17. Burnley (11) 18. Derby County (10) 19. Millwall (20) 20. Crystal Palace (5) 21. Huddersfield Town (19) 22. Peterborough United (22 - correct) 23. Barnsley (21) 24. Bristol City (24 - correct) four right - quite pleased with that!
This season is pretty strong, considering the 3 teams that went up last season none come down from the year before. As CT said, 9/2 Wigan is a great shout and i would get money on that, OC has bought well and as much as i hate him i can see GH scoring 20+ for them.
Basically chuck all of the names in the air and the order they fall is where they finish, it is ridiculously open. Fancy Ipswich could actually be top 6 and Reading should be pretty steady, not so sure about Brighton to be honest. Blackburn could be a better bet but Middlesbrough had a dreadful second half and should continue to struggle. Yeovil could be out of their depth sadly.
the thing that worries me about wigan is the european campaign. with all those fixtures they will spend much of the season two or three games behind everyone else and its not easy to catch up, even if you're only 5 or 6 points behind - you've got to win games in hand and they come quickly - wigan experienced that to an extent last season with their fa cup run - the games came thick and fast and in the championship its even worse! i also don't think owen coyle is the manager he's made out to be.
Mick McCarthy's Blue & White Army will finish in the Top 6 next season. Mick has done some great business during the Summer and we now have strength in depth and a good mixture of experience and young hungry players. The best squad we have had since 04/05!
The point is Supers that we now have a solid collective unit without any fancy dans and this is what excites me the most. Cresswell has come on leaps and bounds, our CB,s are really solid and we have pace on the wings and some creativity in the centre of the park. McGoldrick is banging in the goals and Paul Taylor looks a decent player. The Championship is a relentless slog and we are more prepared this year then we have been in ten years. Just to add to that Mick performed a minor miracle with what he had last season in fact it was play off form since he took over and since then he has improved and strengthened in key areas.
i'm not for one minute suggesting you don't have a squad capable of doing better than recent years, and i have predicted you to finish 16th for the past three years (almost been bang on too) so i've got you higher this term - i was just asking if you have a single player on your books who genuinely you cannot wait to see pull on the blue and white, someone who excites you, someone who sky and the football league show will discuss and rave about during the next 9 months. i think your answer suggests there isn't really anybody. the reason i say this is because to get out of this league you do need at least one or two players, preferably more, who can do something that the others can't, weave a little magic, score a goal from nothing, beat three players and create something. yourselves, leeds, sheffield wednesday, charlton... you're all in the same boat. a bit too good to go down but not quite good enough to threaten the top of the league. you might flirt with the play offs - most teams do at some point in such a congested league - but your biggest asset, by a considerable margin, is mick mccarthy and i think he'll continue his terrific showing. however, you do need something a bit different to get out of the league. paul taylor is the only player you have who might be able to bring something like that but i can't see him being good enough. i'd end by saying i think you are just as likely, looking at your squad just a moment ago, to be relegated as you are promoted next season, so placing you in the middle seems fair
I have supported Town for nearly forty years and this is the most confident I have felt about my team's prospects for many years going back to Joe Royle. You are entitled to your opinion Supers but I don't agree with your analysis so let's just leave it at that.
you were very confident last summer warky - you always are confident, every summer - that's hardly unusual for a football fan! but seriously, when you look at your squad on paper, it doesn't inspire. there's no player which makes you think 'blimey, he could make the difference for them'. doesn't mean you can't have a good season, i'm just saying it doesn't inspire or excite - lots of 4-4-2, old fashioned football.
I think this season the binners have a very solid team. Plenty of hard-working players in there. I think that they have an outside chance of the play-offs. I am the type of Norwich fan that wants them to win promotion (via the play-offs, let's not go crazy now) so we can have a proper Premiership East Anglian derby.
I agree with your analysis JK In as much as Mick is a quality manager who knows how to get out of this division with teams that aren't fancied. I am very pleased with the way things are going and we stand as good a chance as most in getting to the play offs.
