In the final week before the season starts various 'experts' have predicted the final placings in the Championship this season. I have found three so far but I am sure more will follow. Please feel free to add any more you find. I was unable to format these as a table. I will change this if someone can tell me how to do that. Sporting Life 1 Reading 2 Bolton 3 Wigan 4 Derby 5 Nottm F 6 QPR 7 Watford 8 Leicester 9 Blackburn 10 Leeds 11 Brighton 12 Charlton 13 Barnsley 14 Ipswich 15 Middlesbrough 16 Milwall 17 Bournemouth 18 Huddersfield 19 Burnley 20 Birmingham 21 Sheff W 22 Yeovil 23 Blackpool 24 Doncaster Givemesport.com 1 Reading 2 Nottm F 3 Bolton 4 Ipswich 5 Birmingham 6 Middlesbrough 7 Blackburn 8 Leeds 9 Leicester 10 Brighton 11 Charlton 12 Wigan 13 QPR 14 Watford 15 Blackpool 16 Derby 17 Milwall 18 Huddersfield 19 Burnley 20 Yeovil 21 Barnsley 22 Doncaster 23 Sheff W 24 Bournemouth Footballfriendsonline.com 1 Reading 2 QPR 3 Nottm F 4 Leicester 5 Bolton 6 Brighton/Wigan 7 . 8 Watford 9 Leeds 10 Derby 11 Middlesbrough 12 Blackpool 13 Charlton 14 Birmingham 15 Ipswich 16 Burnley 17 Blackburn 18 Huddersfield 19 Sheff W 20 Bournemouth 21 Millwall 22 Barnsley 23 Doncaster 24 Yeovil
Do they give reasons or just give their predicted table? Preview on 5live tonight at 7:30 I think. TBH People just put the bigger names/relegated teams at the top whilst those not so big ones are at the bottom...but the Championship isn't as easy as that. I'd rather people didn't expect us to do much as we usually tend to better than with mass expectations.
Strange how the bookies differ so much from these though - for example if they paid attention to Givemesport.com, their odds would be so much more generous than the current 3/1. I suspect that their 'experts' are also responsible for the 'agony aunt' columns too...
Yes they give reasons but they are usually rather bland. The daily papers will be coming out with their predictions later in the week, I would imagine.
Most seem to think that our 'flair Italians' wont be able to cope with the physical Championship, also we'll miss Vydra, and last year we were a 'surprise package'. I quite like that despite the confidence within our own ranks we are still, to an extent, flying under the radar. Interestingly predictions made by fans of clubs in the Championship are picking us for promotion/top 6 more than the 'experts'. Guess we'll find out who knows best in about 10 months.
Well our players seem to cope with the Championship last season and yes Vydra will be a miss but remember he didn't score from around February to the Leicester game. I'd be more worried if Deeney got injured as we haven't got a player like him really.
I am confident.... our style of play worked well for us last season..... Overall we really should be up there by May.....
We don't seem too popular on the BBC site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23433504 Its not our fault the FL failed to deduct any points and didn't put us on a transfer embargo despite what the media think. That's not cheating - its just not being punishment as much as some maybe hoped. Anyway its only really one person moaning...
It was interesting to hear Deeney say on Sky Sports News Radio this evening that they've been working on how to break down teams who sit back against us.
Stateofthegame.com 1 Reading 2 Nottm F 3 Watford 4 Bolton 5 Brighton 6 QPR 7 Charlton 8 Wigan 9 Leicester 10 Ipswich 11 Middlesbrough 12 Birmingham 13 Barnsley 14 Leeds 15 Burnley 16 Sheffield W 17 Blackburn 18 Huddesfield 19 Millwall 20 Derby 21 Bournemouth 22 Blackpool 23 Doncaster 24 Yeovil
The Independent The positions are what were written in their online edition. There are errors 1 Bolton 2 Watford 3 Reading 4 Ipswich 4 Nottm F 5 Wigan 6. 7 QPR 8 Blackburn 9 Burnley/Derby 10 Leicester 11 Brighton 12 Bournemouth 13 Leeds 14 Charlton 15 Middlesbrough 16 Millwall 17 Birmingham 18 Blackpool 19. 20 Huddersfield 21 Sheffield W 22 Yeovil 23 Doncaster 24 Barnsley
Givemesport were the closest in predicting our final position but most got no more than 2 in the top six correct.
Funny how so many went for Reading as champions. If they'd known i had backed them i suspect they would have plumped for someone else
The championship is almost impossible to predict. That is what makes it far better than the premiership. The bottom of the championship was fairly predictable, but who would of predicted Burnley for promotion.
